State Attorney General Josh Shapiro told the online news site The Center Square yesterday that he has doubts about Governor Wolf’s determination to join Pennsylvania with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
Shapiro wrote that “it’s not clear” that RGGI would address climate change, protect and create energy jobs, and ensure the state has reliable, affordable, and clean power for the long term.”
The Center Square says Shapiro has received support from labor unions such as the Pittsburgh Building Trades, the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers and other locals that represent steamfitters, plumbers and pipefitters across the state. But John Hughes, the business manager of Boilermakers Local 154 told the Associated Press that Shapiro is questioning RGGI only to cozy up to the unions for the election.
In a joint statement yesterday, Senators Gene Yaw and Joe Pittman said “Candidate Josh Shapiro acknowledged…that RGGI could have a detrimental impact on Pennsylvania,” but they could only hope that “Attorney General Josh Shapiro will look at RGGI in the same light.”
In an appearance on Indiana In the Morning on WCCS this week, one of Shapiro’s possible opponents in the race for governor, Republican Cuy Ciarrocci, said that as Attorney General, Shapiro can stop RGGI dead in its tracks.
Shapiro told The Center Square that RGGI should be subject to legislative approval. Yaw and Pittman say Shapiro “had the power to stop (RGGI) as part of the regulatory review process previously, and his office failed to act.”
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