Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
 
Agency
Department of Environmental Quality
 
Board
Air Pollution Control Board
 
chapter
Regulation for Emissions Trading [9 VAC 5 ‑ 140]
Action Repeal CO 2 Budget Trading Program as required by Executive Order 9 (Revision A22)
Stage Final
Comment Period Ended on 8/30/2023
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8/22/23  7:47 pm
Commenter: Brad Pearce

Keep RGGI
 

I’m commenting in favor of Virginia staying in RGGI.  From my understanding, RGGI states have decreased climate change causing greenhouse gasses at 2 times the rate of non-participating states.  I’ve also heard RGGI does a pretty good job of helping those most vulnerable to climate change caused flooding, which an alternative program may not.  Virginia does a pretty bad job compared to most states with how much of a percentage of income in working class households goes to power bills.  RGGI is a great step to help people fight climate change and at the same time, to give people an avenue to save money.   Estimates say this program will create 2,000 jobs by 2030 and impact over 100,000 households.  Lastly, I learned from an opinion piece in the Virginian Pilot that analysis shows that environmentally conscious policy does spur private investment overall, and, as a previous comment has pointed out, getting out of RGGI does seem like part of an overall trend to increase reliance on fossil fuels.

CommentID: 219722