No one would dispute that participation in the RGGI has helped low income families weatherize their homes and enabled flood prone communities to stave off the impacts of climate change. The governor opposes RGGI because the costs of carbon allowances born by public utilities are passed on to ratepayers. It is precisely because there are costs and benefits involved with the carbon allowances RGGI disburses that legislative review is needed to either scrap the program or improve upon it going forward. 

By attempting to scrap RGGI through regulation rather than legislation, the Governor is not only violating the law he took the oath to uphold, he is short circuiting the General Assembly’s deliberative process, which is the only way to reach an optimal decision on a subject as complex as regulation of carbon emissions. 

In this context it is remarkable that Virginia’s Attorney General has refused to comment on the Governor’s proposed regulation. If the AG can’t bring himself to support scrapping RGGI by fiat, how is this regulation going to fare when challenged in court?