RGGI is Feckless Climate Policy: Pennsylvania Must Do Better

For Immediate Release

Today, the Wolf administration announced its intention to enter Pennsylvania into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a carbon trading program for Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. 

Mitch Jones, the Climate & Energy Program Director at Food & Water Action, released the following statement:

“RGGI is a flawed and ineffective program that does not meaningfully reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Political leaders who are serious about tackling the climate crisis must take bold, immediate action to cut the emissions that are cooking the planet. RGGI does not come close to meeting that goal.

“Most alarmingly, RGGI excludes any consideration of methane emissions, the highly potent greenhouse gas linked to the gas fracking boom in states like Pennsylvania. This deliberate evasion props up the fracking industry’s bogus image as a clean alternative to coal. 

“By joining RGGI, Governor Wolf would not only be embracing a false climate solution, but he would be bringing Pennsylvania into a broken system that allows polluters to buy and sell ‘credits’ rather than reduce emissions. These trading schemes actually increase harmful pollutants in disadvantaged communities, reinforcing the toxic burdens for people of color and low-income neighborhoods. RGGI and other cap-and-trade programs harm environmental justice and are not sufficient replacements for regulation.

“If Governor Wolf wants to be a climate leader, his policy goals should include a ban on fracking in Pennsylvania and a just transition to clean, renewable energy, which will deliver substantial clean energy jobs to Pennsylvania while protecting clean air and water. RGGI would do nothing more than promote more fracking, which has been a disaster for Pennsylvania.”

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