Judge: Youngkin did not have authority to remove Virginia from climate change program

The Youngkin Administration plans to appeal the ruling.

Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin did not have the authority to end Virginia’s participation in a regional effort to fight climate change, according to a judge’s ruling Wednesday that was celebrated by environmental advocates.

A Floyd County Circuit Court Judge ruled Youngkin’s 2022 executive order to remove Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, which today involves eleven states on the East Coast that set a cap on greenhouse gasses, was unlawful, according to a press release from the Southern Environmental Law Center, or SELC, which challenged Youngkin’s order. 

The Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board, Department of Environmental Quality, and its director, removed the state from the RGGI in June 2023, according to the SELC.

Virginia in 2020 became the first southern state to enter the RGGI through legislation passed by the then Democratic-controlled General Assembly and when Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam was in office. Only the General Assembly has the authority to take the state out of the regional initiative, the judge ruled.

“This is a win for communities across Virginia who have benefited from the state’s participation in RGGI in the past and those that now will have a chance to continue to see those benefits,” said Billy Weitzenfeld, a former executive director of the Association of Energy Conservation Professionals, in a statement. 

The Youngkin Administration pledged to appeal Wednesday’s ruling and doubled down on its initial reasoning for backing out of the RGGI. The RGGI “fails to effectively incentivize emission reductions in the Commonwealth. Instead, it functions as a regressive tax, hidden in utility bills, passed on to all Virginians,” Christian Martinez, Youngkin’s press secretary, posted on X.

Democratic leaders across the state celebrated the ruling and defended the impact the RGGI has had in Virginia. Programs funded by the RGGI through money raised from power plants that bought CO2 permits have helped Virginians cut household energy costs and combat flooding, said Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Del. Don Scott. 

“Governor Youngkin’s reckless attempt to undermine this critical program has been rightfully stopped,” Scott posted on X. “And we remain committed to building and affordable and more sustainable future for all.”