Cap and Trade Gets a Big Win in Pennsylvania. Will It Last?

"Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) announced that his administration had finalized a regulation to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cap-and-trade program for power plants encompassing 12 Northeastern states."

Why this is important: The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative ("RGGI") is a cap and trade program designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There are currently 11 states that participate in RGGI: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia. In October 2019, Governor Wolf issued an executive order instructing the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection ("DEP") to join the RGGI. To effectuate this order, DEP drafted and submitted regulations through the regulatory review process. The Pennsylvania General Assembly voted on a concurrent regulatory resolution to oppose the regulations, which was subsequently vetoed. Since there were insufficient votes to override the veto, the final regulations were published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on April 23, 2022.