November 21, 2023
Harrisburg, PA –
Pennsylvania Coal Alliance (PCA) Executive Director Rachel Gleason today issued the following statement regarding Governor Shapiro’s appeal of the Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court’s decision affirming RGGI is an unconstitutional tax and declaring it void. PCA, along with Bowfin KeyCon Holdings, LLC, Chief Power Finance II, LLC, Chief Power Transfer Parent, LLC, KeyCon Power Holdings, LLC, GenOn Holdings, Inc., United Mine Workers of America, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers filed an application for summary relief regarding the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) rulemaking in November 2022. The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court granted the application for summary relief on November 1, 2023, which Governor Shapiro has chosen to appeal.
“It is very disappointing that the Governor has chosen to appeal the Court’s majority decision and instead has elected to endorse a misguided, illegal policy that does not reduce overall CO2 emissions and places the reliability our electric grid at risk, all at the expense of jobs with family-sustaining wages and Pennsylvanians’ wallets. Pennsylvania’s Constitution expressly delegates the authority of taxation to the General Assembly. The RGGI regulation is a multi-billion-dollar tax scheme, and the Governor does not have the unilateral authority to assess billions of dollars in taxes on Pennsylvania residents, consumers, and businesses.”
“The Governor claims he is willing to implement the recommendations of his RGGI Working Group, yet they never endorsed RGGI nor was a broad policy consensus reached. While major energy policy should be determined by the General Assembly, embracing an illegal energy rulemaking that the Court has deemed an unconstitutional tax with today’s appeal is not the General Assembly’s call.”
“PCA stands ready to participate in developing energy policy that protects jobs, the reliability and resiliency of our electric grid, and ensures our state’s energy customers do not shoulder the cost of misguided energy policy.”
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