Statement from Kate Courtin on Reports that Pennsylvania’s Participation in RGGI Could Be Traded Away in Budget Negotiations 

HARRISBURG, Pa. — “Any effort to trade away Pennsylvania’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) as part of budget negotiations would undermine the Commonwealth’s most effective tool to cut household electricity bills, protect Pennsylvanians from pollution, and create family-sustaining jobs modernizing our energy system. 

“Since its launch in 2009, RGGI has proven itself in 10 other states as a model that works — reducing power plant pollution by half and delivering investments in energy efficiency, clean energy, and bill assistance programs that are projected to save families and businesses an estimated $20 billion. 

“Pennsylvania’s power sector is among the most polluting in the nation, making the opportunity RGGI offers to reduce climate and health-harming air pollution across the Commonwealth both locally and nationally significant. Trading away this proven, cost-saving policy would deny Pennsylvanians the economic, environmental, and health benefits that RGGI participation can deliver. 

“At a time when consumers face rising energy costs, Pennsylvania’s elected leaders should be strengthening, not sacrificing, policies that make electricity more affordable, reliable, and less polluting. RGGI’s track record of lowering electricity costs and reducing pollution is clear. EDF Action urges Governor Shapiro and legislative leaders to hold the line on RGGI and reject any deal that would trade away the Commonwealth’s best opportunity to lower bills, create jobs, and take meaningful action to reduce pollution.” 

— Kate Courtin, Senior Manager of State Climate Policy & Strategy at EDF Action 

Background 

• The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is a proven program in several Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states that has cut climate pollution from power plants in half since it began over a decade ago. The program works by placing an enforceable, declining cap on the amount of pollution that power plants are allowed to emit. 

• Since the program’s inception, participating states have realized over $9 billion in program investments benefiting over 8 million households and projected to save ratepayers $20 billion on energy bills. 

• In 2019, Governor Tom Wolf signed an executive order directing the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to start the process of joining RGGI. During the public comment period process, the department received around 40,000 individual comments in support of moving forward with the RGGI rule. 

• Since that time EDF has worked with partners PennFuture, Clean Air Council and the Sierra Club to defend the constitutionality of the Department of Environmental Protection’s rule against a legal challenge from coal industry groups and Republican lawmakers, which now awaits a decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. 

• In 2023, Gov. Shapiro convened a working group with representatives from organized labor, the energy industry, environmental groups and consumer advocates which found that a cap-and-invest program for the power sector, like RGGI, “would be the optimal approach for the Commonwealth to protect and create energy jobs, take real action to address climate change, and ensure reliable, affordable power for consumers in the long-term.”