In a few months, I will graduate from VCU medical school and begin working as a doctor. I am dedicating my career to helping people lead healthier lives. I support economic policies that help people stay healthy. RGGI does just that.

I am not alone in the medical field in supporting legislation to combat climate change. In 2021, over 200 medical journals worldwide called for urgent action to slow climate change. Locally, a group of health professionals that I am part of--the Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action--recognizes the health problems that come with environmental degradation. This growing chorus recognizes that many of us--Virginians included--are suffering from the health effects of climate change, and that RGGI is part of the solution.

Since Virginia joined RGGI in 2021, it has helped thousands of us avoid health problems. Data from other RGGI states indicate that, over five years, improved air quality saved residents of those states from over 6,000 asthma attacks, over 100 pre-term births, and, potentially, over 500 deaths. Those same benefits now apply to Virginians.

Those arguing against RGGI say it's too expensive for taxpayers. But sickness costs taxpayers, too. The EPA has estimated that improving air quality results in public health benefits that exceed the costs by over 30 times. Put simply, for every dollar we put into RGGI and programs like it, we taxpayers save $30 down the line--and we are healthier for it, too.

Last year, I took care of a young woman with an asthma attack so severe that she needed to be on a ventilator for multiple weeks. With better air, maybe she wouldn't have had that asthma attack. Maybe her stay in the hospital would have been shorter. She is who I think about when I think about clean air. Virginia needs RGGI for her. For all of us.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 2011. The Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act: 1990 to 2020. https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-07/documents/fullrept.pdf