Pennsylvania’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission yesterday called for a one-year moratorium on the implementation of Governor Tom Wolf’s order for the state to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and questioned whether the governor has the right to unilaterally join the compact without the approval of the state legislature.
A joint news release by Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee chair Gene Yaw and vice chair Joe Pittman outlines the IRRC’s nine-page comment document, which asks the DEP’s Environmental Quality Board to delay the RGGI implementation by a year, directs it to provide details on Wolf’s unilateral decision, and explain point-by-point how it was empowered to develop the regulation despite the rejection of RGGI by the Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee, the Citizens Advisory Council, and the Small Business Compliance Advisory Committee.
The RGGI compact now includes nine states, including the New England states, New York, Maryland, Virginia, and most recently, New Jersey.
Senator Pittman and Representative Jim Struzzi have been leading the opposition to the regulations, which impose a cap-and-trade system on power plants. The lawmakers say the effect of RGGI would be to close the power plants.
THE STATEMENT BY SENATORS YAW AND PITTMAN:
Comments