Some Republican members of the state senate are criticizing gubernatorial candidate and attorney general Josh Shapiro for recent remarks concerning the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, better known as RGGI.
The remarks came in a joint statement from Republican Senators Joe Pittman, Gene Yaw and President Pro Tempore of the Senate Jake Corman. They say that Shapiro, who is running for the Democratic nomination for Governor, failed to keep a promise to help protect jobs in the energy industry by failing to stop Pennsylvania from joining RGGI. They claimed there were two opportunities to stop the “unilateral carbon tax that will lead to plant closures and cost countless Pennsylvanians their jobs” in September of 2020 and last November, but on both occasions, his office sided with the Governor. They also showed a recent article in the Capital Star, where Shapiro said his office could not challenge the department’s interpretation that RGGI revenues would be a fee and not a tax. Corman, Yaw and Pittman said that the statement was false, as if the AG did not have that authority, there would be no purpose in reviewing for legality in the first place.
In a campaign stop in Indiana County, Shapiro said that he was concerned about how RGGI would hurt families. The three senators said that if he meant that, they would welcome his vocal public support of the disapproval resolution that is under consideration in the General Assembly.
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