Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin announces he will pull Virginia out of RGGI
He blames rising costs to Virginians because Dominion increased their rates to pay for it.
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Youngkin plans to back Virginia out of RGGI
At a chamber event in Hampton Roads on Wednesday, Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin announced that he will be using executive action to remove Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).
RGGI is a market-based cap-and-invest initiative. Within the 11 states participating in RGGI, regulated power plants must acquire one RGGI CO2 allowance for every short ton of CO2 they emit. The RGGI states distribute allowances at quarterly auctions, where they can be purchased by power plants and other entities.
After joining the initiative in 2020 with 10 other states, Virginia made more than $227 million during the first year. Last week, the latest quarterly numbers were released showing Virginia bringing in $85.6 million. The money is intended to be reinvested in toward low-income energy efficiency programs and a Community Flood Preparedness Fund.
Earlier this week, Youngkin aides told Virginia Scope that the gov.-elect was concerned with the cost of this program being passed onto Virginians through Dominion Energy rate increases. His comments on Wednesday confirmed that.