RGGI Tax on Pennsylvanians Spiked Again in Huge Victory
Jim Willis on NGL Pipelines
Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN)
[Editor’s Note: Pennsylvanians have been spared again from the RGGI tax that Democrats want to impose on them for the sake of worthless but dangerous green virtue signaling.]
Thanks to the good work of Pennsylvania’s Senate Republicans, residents and ratepayers across the Commonwealth have been spared a spike in their electricity rates for a seventh time. The state just missed the latest so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) “auction” that forces coal- and gas-fired power plants to pay obscenely high taxes to continue operating. As a bonus, missing the auction denies Democrats in Harrisburg millions of dollars in play money they can line their pockets with (and line the pockets of those who support them). That’s called a win/win!
In May, the six sitting justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (there was one vacancy due to the death of Chief Justice Max Baer last fall) heard oral arguments in a case about RGGI. As is often the case, the Supreme Court case is about a technicality in the law.
A lower court (PA Commonwealth Court) blocked the state’s entrance into RGGI last year until a lawsuit brought by PA Senators challenging PA’s participation could play out (see PA Judge Reinstates Order Blocking PA’s Entry into RGGI Carbon Tax). The Supremes heard arguments about whether or not the lower court should have temporarily blocked RGGI. However, the discussion in May by the Supremes during oral arguments kept drifting back to the core issue: Is RGGI a “fee” as it claims, or is it a tax?
It’s an important question. If RGGI is a fee, then under PA law, a regulatory agency (like the DEP) may assess and collect the fee, and life goes on. If indeed RGGI is a tax (as it most certainly is), then Gov. Wolf, who tried to force RGGI on an unwilling state, had no constitutional right to force the state to join it. The power of the purse–to levy and collect taxes–is the exclusive power and responsibility of the legislative branch, NOT the executive branch. That is the core issue of the main lawsuit under consideration in Commonwealth Court. Yet that’s the issue the Supremes kept dancing around in May–fee or tax?
Analysts tried to read the tea leaves and discern how the Supremes would rule based on their questions, comments, and discussion. Antis appeared worried the justices would rule in favor of the lower court’s injunction against joining RGGI. (Still no ruling yet.)
The RGGI lawsuit in Commonwealth Court concerns whether RGGI is a tax or a fee. It’s possible once that court rules that it’s a tax (as we suspect will happen), the case may end up at the Supreme Court again.
The good news from the Pennsylvania Capital-Star is that while the Commonwealth Court does its thing with the main case and while the Supremes ruminate over lifting the temporary block on joining RGGI–RGGI is still blocked. Every day that RGGI is blocked is a good day for all Pennsylvanians.
Pennsylvania has missed seven carbon credits auctions since formally joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in April 2022 due to ongoing litigation.
Pennsylvania remains unable to participate in the carbon credit auction, the most recent of which occurred on Sept. 6, due to two “separate but related” lawsuits, regarding the constitutionality of the commonwealth’s involvement in the multi-state program, aimed at limiting and reducing industrial carbon emissions.
The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments for the cases in late May but has yet to issue an opinion.
Opponents of RGGI have questioned the process by which Pennsylvania entered the program, through an executive order by then-Gov. Tom Wolf.
Environmental advocates calculate that the commonwealth has missed out on a cumulative $1.5 billion in missed revenue. They say that figure is based on “evaluating the likely number of allowances that Pennsylvania would have offered for sale at each quarterly auction and multiplying those figures by the respective allowance clearing price at each auction.”
The final RGGI auction for 2023 is set to take place on Dec. 6, 2023.
Can you imagine what Harrisburg Democrats would do with $1.5 billion?! And can you imagine how electric rates in the state would have spiked to pay that insane tax? Thank God that Republican Senators continue challenging the legitimacy of the RGGI carbon tax.
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