Virginia one step closer to joining groundbreaking climate initiative

By Keya Vakil

April 19, 2019

The Virginia Air Pollution Control Board on Friday approved a significant climate plan to slash carbon pollution from Virginia’s power plants by 3% each year over the next decade.

The plan also allows power plants to join nine other states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cap-and-invest program that has reduced power plant carbon pollution in half since 2009 in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states.

The Board’s decision was praised by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a nonprofit environmental organization.

But the board’s vote does not mean Virginia’s involvement in the RGGI is guaranteed. That will depend on whether Gov. Ralph Northam vetoes a Republican-backed budget measure the General Assembly passed that would block Virginia from participating in the RGGI.

Northam has until May 3 to decide and the NRDC’s Virginia Policy director, Walton Shepherd, has already called on Northam to veto the measure.

https://twitter.com/NRDC/status/1119325488323993602

Keya Vakil

Keya Vakil is the deputy political editor at COURIER. He previously worked as a researcher in the film industry and dabbled in the political world.

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