Pennsylvania Governor Flirts with Reckless ‘Green’ Initiatives

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is attempting to rebrand big-government environmental programs that threaten “the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians and the economic vitality of one of the nation’s largest energy-producing states,” writes Commonwealth Foundation Senior Manager of Energy Policy André Béliveau in National Review yesterday. 

Writes Béliveau:

Shapiro’s green gambit starts with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI, or “Reggie”). RGGI is a multistate cap-and-tax program that sets strict emission standards on member states and imposes a tax on carbon-emitting power generators. RGGI sycophants refer to these taxes as, in true Orwellian euphemism, “allowances,” creating a “market” for generators to buy and sell units of carbon dioxide. …

RGGI would result in an estimated 30 percent increase in residential electricity bills. Even worse, RGGI also threatens to cut 22,000 energy jobs and siphon off $7.7 billion from the state’s economy. …

Following RGGI’s return to litigious limbo, Shapiro presented two new initiatives: the Pennsylvania Climate Emissions Reduction Act (PACER) and the Pennsylvania Reliable Energy Sustainability Standard (PRESS).

PACER is ostensibly RGGI 2.0, and the governor has said he would stop his RGGI legal battle if the Pennsylvania General Assembly passes PACER. Shapiro’s rebranded cap-and-tax program is his attempt at “thinking locally.” Rather than allowing eleven other states to run roughshod on Pennsylvania’s energy markets, PACER provides only self-inflicted wounds.

Much like PACER is a rebranded RGGI, PRESS is Shapiro’s effort to repackage Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act (AEPS). Initially codified in 2004, AEPS requires energy suppliers to provide 18 percent of total electricity sales from alternative energy sources as defined in statute. PRESS raises the benchmarks of AEPS and adds additional layers by increasing the amount of intermittent renewable sources to 35 percent, 10 percent to things such as battery storage, and 5 percent to “ultra-low emission” fuels.

Simply put, PACER and PRESS taken together is a progressive central-planning scheme to lift up the renewable energy industry that would deliver the goods to green-lobby donors. Shapiro’s overzealous approach to energy presents a political liability for the governor. Polling finds that RGGI and RGGI-like policies are wildly unpopular among Pennsylvania voters. Nearly two out of three voters oppose RGGI. …

Instead of taxing and regulating Pennsylvania’s robust energy markets and redistributing taxpayer dollars to environmentalist donors and lobbyists, Shapiro can chart a different course — one that reduces emissions and creates jobs, all while employing a hands-off strategy. …

Driving this mutually beneficial trend of reduced carbon and increased economic growth is the transition to natural gas. Carbon Brief, a website funded by the European Climate Foundation, called the shift from coal to natural gas “the largest driver” for reduced greenhouse emissions. …

Shapiro’s new tax and regulatory schemes threaten to undermine his state’s most important economic sector, punishing the industries delivering the emissions reductions he claims to desire. …

Does the governor care about creating jobs, improving the environment, and reducing costs for Pennsylvania taxpayers and consumers? Or is he more concerned about delivering the goods to his radical environmentalist donors and supporters?

You can read the full piece in National Review here.

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The Commonwealth Foundation turns free-market ideas into public policies, fostering prosperity for all Pennsylvanians.