Virginia is about to get a new governor next week, and that will come with a new outlook on environmental policy.
Virginia has been in and out of an exclusive club. And now, it's about to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative – RGGI – a group of states that cap and trade carbon emissions. Ralph Northam entered the group, and then Glenn Youngkin exited. Now, Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger is poised to reenlist. Steven Haner at the Thomas Jefferson Institute says that will raise power bills because utilities will have to pay for all those carbon emissions.
"And that's a cost. I mean, the cost was at that time about $18 or $19 per ton. Now, it's $26 per ton in the last RGGI auction," Haner says. "Virginia was collecting about $400 million a year. Now, it's going to be collecting about $500 million a year. The power companies are entitled to recover every dime of their cost. One way or the other, they pass that on to the customer.”
Lee Francis at the League of Conservation Voters says renewable energy is cheaper than fossil fuels.
"There's no fuel costs. These aren't multi-billion-dollar power plants that have to turn off," Francis says. "You don't have to pump money into these facilities like you do these aging coal and gas plants. So, that's how we lower costs, by moving away from the volatility and the antiquated maintenance costs that come with fossil energy."
An appeals court is still considering a lawsuit challenging Youngkin's hasty exit of the club; a lawsuit that could become moot if the new governor's air board rejoins RGGI.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
