By Victor Skinner | The Center Square contributor
(The Center Square) – Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration is suing the Legislative Reference Bureau for refusing to publish regulations that would include Pennsylvania in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a multistate cap-and-trade program intended to fight climate change.
Patrick McDonnell, secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection and chair of the Environmental Quality Board, filed a lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Legislative Reference Bureau and its directors in the Commonwealth Court.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday, asks the court to compel the Legislative Reference Bureau to publish “CO2 Budget Trading Program” regulations regarding the RGGI approved by the Environmental Quality Board in the next available issue of the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
The lawsuit is the latest in a years-long dispute between the Wolf administration and the Republican-controlled General Assembly over the Democratic governor’s attempt to join the RGGI through executive action.
The RGGI is central to Wolf’s plans to fight climate change. Republicans, labor groups and others have opposed the move. They contend it unnecessarily will increase costs for Pennsylvania’s 58 fossil fuel-burning plants and consumers, as well as result in the loss of thousands of high-paying energy jobs.
The General Assembly approved Senate Concurrent Regulatory Review Resolution 1, which disapproves of the Environmental Quality Board’s move to join RGGI, in mid-December with vote totals just shy of the two-thirds needed to override a Wolf veto.
Wolf vetoed the resolution Jan. 10.
McDonnell repeatedly has requested the Legislative Reference Bureau publish the RGGI regulations, which would take effect immediately, as Republicans in the General Assembly have argued they have more time to attempt to muster the two-thirds vote required to override Wolf’s veto, The Associated Press reported.
The lawsuit argues the delay is costing the commonwealth millions in credit purchases that could be used to reduce pollution, while Republicans have countered by illustrating the rising cost of joining the RGGI.
Allen Landis, the Department of Environmental Protection employee charged with developing the RGGI program in Pennsylvania, submitted a declaration as part of the lawsuit.
“As a result of respondents’ refusal to publish the Trading Program Regulation in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, Pennsylvania’s entry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative … has already been delayed from January 1, 2022 to April 1, 2022,” the declaration read.
“As a result of this delay, Pennsylvania has been unable to participate in the first auction, and has already lost approximately $162 million in proceeds and associated air pollution reductions,” it continued. “If Pennsylvania cannot join RGGI until July 1, 2022, I estimate that Pennsylvania will lose approximately $283 million in proceeds and associated air pollution reductions.”
State Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Williamsport, chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, penned a letter to McDonnell in mid-January, urging him to reconsider a rejected invitation to testify before the committee.
Yaw pointed to taxpayer funded modeling that failed to predict “skyrocketing RGGI allowance prices” in recent quarters. Modeling by ICF international on behalf of the Department of Environmental Protection predicted the credits would cost less than $3 per short ton of carbon.
Auction prices set Dec. 1, however, exceeded $13 per short ton – four times the forecast and 40% above prices set Sept. 8. Yaw also has said Pennsylvania has reduced emissions by 38% since 2006 without RGGI – “more than all the 12 participating states combined” – while maintaining electricity rates 30% to 60% lower than RGGI states.