Commentary
Op-Ed: Pennsylvania Governor’s Climate Regulations Draw Bipartisan Opposition as Hearings Begin
Originally published in The Daily Signal.
- Elected officials in both parties say that Wolf is circumventing the Pennsylvania General Assembly in an effort to impose taxes that only the state lawmakers can approve or reject.
- The Institute for Energy Research, a nonprofit based in Washington that favors free-market policies in the energy sector, cites figures that show electricity prices in RGGI states are 50% higher than those in Pennsylvania.
- Pennsylvania’s carbon emissions have dropped by more than 30% since 2009, the year RGGI was established, according to news reports.
Other elected officials in Pennsylvania continue to question the constitutionality of Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed carbon tax in the run-up to 10 public hearings that begin Tuesday on the disputed regulations to address climate change.
The Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board has approved a “cap and trade” plan to cap carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
The plan, which the board OK’d in mid-September, would require power plants to obtain carbon dioxide allowances equal to the amount of the greenhouse gas they emit. Electric utilities that emit more than their assigned cap would have to purchase allowances at an auction to offset the excess.
Elected officials in both parties, however, say…
Read more at The Daily Signal.