I'm writing today to respectfully urge you to withdraw your plan to try to remove our state from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

A bipartisan two-thirds of Virginia voters support RGGI's climate, energy, and economy-focused initiatives. In only the first year of RGGI's operation in our Commonwealth, it has slashed pollution, provided more than $200 million to improve energy efficiency initiatives in low-income communities and to help protect our communities from devastating floods, delivered Virginians $34 million in health benefits annually through avoided hospital visits, and so much more.

RGGI is working to protect my family and community from climate disasters and will help provide savings on our energy bills - an estimated average of $676 in annual energy savings per household.

Yet, your administration incorrectly states that RGGI presents a financial burden on Virginians, despite ample evidence that what Virginia faces is structural issues that harm electric ratepayers. Continuing our dependence on increasingly volatile fossil fuels like natural gas are only going to make the problem worse. In fact, RGGI is a proven, market-based program that will help address climate change and hedge against the skyrocketing cost of fossil fuels for all Virginians by promoting investments in a zero-carbon grid.

It does not make sense to play politics with our climate and economic future. If Virginia is to address climate change, invest in cost-saving energy efficiency and shore up our readiness for future flooding disasters, we must keep our state in RGGI. Protect your fellow Virginians by stopping this needless attack on a bipartisan, market-based climate initiative.