RICHMOND, Va. β Virginia Democratic lawmakers are taking steps to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a multi-state compact that former Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin withdrew the state from in 2023.
Wednesday, a House subcommittee approved legislation that is a part of that effort.
"Nothing worthwhile comes easy. It feels good that we're going to continue to move," said House Majority Leader Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria), who is carrying the legislation, after the vote.
Herring said she has submitted a budget amendment to rejoin RGGI and the legislation contains language aimed at preventing future governors from withdrawing Virginia from the initiative.
Virginia joined RGGI in 2020, but then-Governor Republican Glenn Youngkin withdrew the state in 2023 calling it a "regressive tax".
That move was defeated in court, but remains tied up in appeals.
Gov. Abgail Spanberger voiced her support for rejoining RGGI during her joint address to lawmakers on Monday.
"This is about cost savings. RGGI generated hundreds of millions of dollars for Virginia, dollars that went directly to flood mitigation, energy efficiency programs and lowering bills for Virginia families who need help most," said Spanberger. "Withdrawing from RGGI did not lower energy costs. We have seen them rise, in fact. Of course, the opposite has happened. It just took money out of the pockets of Virginians. And so, it is time to fix this mistake now."
The multi-state compact limits how much CO2 energy companies can emit and requires them to buy credits or allowances for those emissions.
That money goes back to states to use for things like energy efficiency upgrades and flood prevention. Advocates said the end goal is to encourage cleaner types of energy production and reduce CO2 emissions.
"This is a critical program for Virginia to continue participating in, both in terms of pollution reduction, health benefits and long term affordability," said Nate Benforado, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, who spoke in favor of the bill during the hearing.
However lobbyists for energy companies and Virginia's business community expressed concern about rejoining as the costs that power companies incur have been passed on to consumers.
"We are concerned about the potential for higher energy costs for Virginia businesses at a time when businesses already face substantial cost increases. Similarly, we are concerned about the impact on Virginia's overall economic competitiveness," said Ethan Betterton, vice president of government relations for the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. "Our major competitor states are not members of RGGI. We do think that rejoining the initiative will impact negatively economic development efforts."
According to Dominion Energy, the average Virginian was paying an extra $4.40 on their bill when the state was last enrolled in RGGI. Del. Lee Ware (R-Powhatan) said Democrats have talked about addressing affordability, but this goes the other way.
"That, along with other things that have been incrementally added to the ordinary electric rate payer, have tremendously affected folks. I get emails on a regular basis from people who are struggling to do what they need to do meet their bills," Ware said.
But Herring said in the long-term this will bring energy costs down as the money is reinvested in Virginia.
According to the Virginia Conservation Network, the state has received over 827-million dollars from RGGI and put that money back into energy efficiency and flood mitigation programs.
"Those states with RGGI in place, actually their energy cost has not escalated as much as those without so energy costs are rising. There's no doubt across the country, but with RGGI, we can help reduce our costs overall," Herring said.
Attorney General Jay Jones' office has not responded to questions about the ongoing lawsuit and whether his administration will drop it. However, when Jones was inaugurated Saturday, he said his office was conducting a 30-day review of lawsuits the state was involved in under the previous administration.
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