The State Senate Environmental Resources & Energy Committee yesterday approved a concurrent resolution that turned thumbs down on the state Environmental Quality Board’s regulation that joins Pennsylvania to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and committee Vice Chairman Joe Pittman strongly disputed his Democratic colleagues’ claim that RGGI is a done deal.
The resolution will next be considered by the full Senate for consideration, and if approved, to the House. From there, if approved, it would land on Governor Wolf’s desk and surely be vetoed, before returning to the Senate for an override vote. Pittman predicted that even if an override is not approved, RGGI would not automatically take effect.
The state Constitution grants the legislature the exclusive power to impose taxes in Pennsylvania and Republicans contend that the RGGI carbon exchange clearly is a tax.
Pittman pointed out that by allowing Pennsylvania to join RGGI and become the only state to do so without the approval of the General Assembly, the state would be giving future governors the same right to implement policies with long-term consequences and bypass future legislatures.
Pittman said that Democrats on the committee have turned a deaf ear to the calls from organized labor against RGGI.
