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.
The case was initially heard in September following multiple state-led attempts to toss the case out failed.
According to Judge Designate C. Randall Lowe's five-page opinion, dated Monday, the AECP's claims that leaving RGGI demonstrably hurts its members have merit and that the decision to exit was "beyond the statutory authority" of the commonwealth — and therefore illegal. (Lowe, who is retired, was assigned to oversee the case after a Floyd County judge cited a conflict of interest.)
"By its very language, the RGGI Act explicitly circumvents the Air Board. It instructs the DEQ to incorporate its provisions into the RGGI Regulation and exempts said incorporation from the provisions of the Virginia Administrative Process Act," Lowe wrote.
A Wednesday press release from SELC, on behalf of its client, applauded the ruling.
“All along we knew that the actions taken by the Air Board and DEQ were wrong. This is a win for communities across Virginia who have benefited from the state’s participation in RGGI in the past and those that now will have a chance to continue to see those benefits,” said Billy Weitzenfeld, former AECP executive director.
Christian Martinez, Youngkin's press secretary, issued a brief statement on the decision.
"We respectfully disagree with the judge's decision and will pursue an appeal. Governor Youngkin remains committed to lowering the cost of living for Virginians by continuing to oppose the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which fails to effectively incentivize emission reductions in the Commonwealth," Martinez told VPM News. "Instead, it functions as a regressive tax, hidden in utility, bills passed on to all Virginians.”
During the state budget negotiations earlier this year, statehouse Democrats dropped an amendment that would order the Air Board to rejoin. As WHRO’s Katherine Hafner has reported, Virginia is not the only state whose RGGI participation is pending litigation.
Disclosure: The Southern Environmental Law Center is a VPM sponsor.
