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mahatmakanejeeves

(60,915 posts)
Thu Nov 21, 2024, 04:36 AM 3 hrs ago

Floyd County judge rules Virginia's RGGI exit was illegal

Hat tip, WTOP

Floyd County judge rules Virginia's RGGI exit was illegal

VPM | By VPM News
Published November 20, 2024 at 6:38 PM EST

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Organizations suing the commonwealth for its attempt to leave the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative won their case in Floyd County Circuit Court, challenging Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's efforts.

As VPM News previously reported, the Association of Energy Conservation Professionals — represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center — filed suit against the Air Pollution Control Board, the Department of Environmental Quality and DEQ director Mike Rolband earlier this year by alleging that state officials lacked the ability to remove Virginia from the 10-state carbon market.

RGGI's primary function permits power producers and member-state stakeholders to purchase carbon allowances that cover electricity generation emissions, reducing the number over time and causing the cost of carbon to go up. The effect is designed to encourage power producers to seek cheaper forms of energy generation.

In its suit, AECP stated that the General Assembly’s 2020 act ordering Virginia’s RGGI membership, plus Youngkin’s lack of provided evidence for exiting the initiative as the law requires, made the Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board’s 2023 decision to leave illegal.

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