The legal battle over whether Virginia can withdraw from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative begins

As promised, the Southern Environmental Law Center this week sued Virginia to stop it from withdrawing from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Virginia joined that 11-state partnership in 2021, during the Northam administration. The initiative’s goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by capping the amount of carbon pollution that electric companies can emit. Basically, power companies have to buy permits for every ton of carbon they emit, and if they exceed their permitted amounts they are fined.

RGGI was around for more than a decade before Virginia joined. And during that decade, a study by the environmental advocacy group Acadia Center showed that power plants in the nine states initially involved cut their emissions nearly in half. And according to the Southern Environmental Law Center’s suit, emissions from Virginia’s power plants dropped 16.8% in the two years we’ve been involved.

To read the full article from Charlottesville Tomorrow, click here.