State Representative Jim Struzzi says after watching most of the arguments over the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative last week that he believes the case laid out by anti-RGGI attorneys “has a strong chance of winning.” Senator Joe Pittman said in a statement that he looks forward to a swift Supreme Court decision “so we can quit wasting time on unnecessary lawsuits and focus on implementing strong energy policies to benefit Pennsylvania families and businesses.”
Lawyers for Governor Shapiro argued that the legislature gave governors the right to bypass the General Assembly and enter Pennsylvania into the RGGI compact decades ago, but the Senate leadership’s attorney countered that the General assembly must have a say, because the purpose of RGGI is not just to regulate CO₂, it’s to “change the entire dynamic” of electricity generation.
The court must decide if Commonwealth Court correctly ruled that RGGI is a tax, rather than a fee, as the Shapiro administration claims. In its brief, the administration wrote, “By any standard, the allowances are not a tax. Most importantly, they do not exist to raise revenue. Rather, they exist for a single and focused purpose: to control air pollution.”
A skeptical Justice David Wecht likened RGGI to “environmental Bitcoin” and asked what authority DEP has to create a product and reap profits from its sale without legislative approval, but Chief Justice Debra Todd said in framing a question to the DEP attorney, “It is not general revenue. It is a fee.”
