Watro signs petition to bring RGGI repeal to vote
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL FILE - The John B. Rich Memorial Power Station, owned by the Gilberton Power Company, is seen on Sept. 30, 2024.
HARRISBURG – A local state representative joined House colleagues to bring a bill to repeal Pennsylvania’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative up for a vote.
Rep. Dane Watro (R-Schuylkill/Luzerne) signed a petition to bring Senate Bill 186 up for a vote in the House.
“Pennsylvania is home to an abundance of energy resources, but we need to get government out of the way of our energy industry to allow it to reach its full potential and ensure we have an affordable, reliable energy supply,” said Watro.
Several states – Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont – are part of the RGGI arrangement that Watro’s office says imposes a tax on carbon dioxide emissions by power generators, such as, coal- or natural gas-fired plants that produce electricity. That tax burden, his office says, is passed on to energy consumers.
The regulation is under a court injunction but is creating uncertainty in the energy industry, Watro’s office says.
“Since 2019, when former Gov. Tom Wolf, without legislative authority, began the process to force Pennsylvania into RGGI, electricity rates have jumped – driving up all of our energy bills – and new energy projects in the Commonwealth have dried up, with no new natural gas plants proposed,” said Watro. “The threat of RGGI has driven private investments in energy projects – along with the jobs that money creates – to other states that aren’t part of RGGI, such as Ohio and West Virgina, which is costing our state billions of dollars and weakening our ability to meet ever-growing electricity needs.”
Senate Bill 186, which would repeal the RGGI regulation, was approved by the state Senate in early February with bipartisan support. It was then referred to the House Environmental and Natural Resource Protection Committee, where it has stalled.
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