Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) is spotlighting Virginia‘s debate over the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, portraying his decision to vacate the group as an effort to promote affordability, as Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) has made clear her intent to rejoin.
Virginia joined the RGGI, a program focused on capping and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, in 2020 under former Gov. Ralph Northam. Youngkin yanked the commonwealth from the initiative after taking office in 2022, citing increasing utility costs for ratepayers.
Spanberger tossed the RGGI back into the state’s political discourse when she announced her intent to rejoin the initiative on the 2025 campaign trail. But Youngkin isn’t going down without a fight, parlaying the initiative’s ratepayer costs again as an issue of “affordability,” the cornerstone word of Spanberger’s campaign that helped her win by over 15 points in November.
“Getting back into RGGI would be bad news for affordability in Virginia!” Youngkin wrote on X on Monday, alongside a graphic titled, “Annual costs for Virginia residents and businesses.”
“Virginians are no longer paying the unaffordable Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) tax, which saved Virginians nearly a billion dollars on their electricity bill over the last two years! From the time Virginia was forced into RGGI in 2020 until we got out, Virginians paid $828 million in a regressive interstate tax applied to their power bills. By getting us out of RGGI, we’ve already saved Virginians $937 million,” Youngkin said.
Youngkin’s administration is currently appealing a state judge’s ruling that he cannot withdraw from the RGGI without consent from the Virginia legislature. Spanberger spoke about her views on the program in an interview with the Virginia Scope.
“As we’re seeing some some real devastation in Virginia, recognizing that in a future where we rejoin RGGI, it’s not only important to the goal of reducing our state’s emissions and meeting some clean energy goals, which are incredibly important, but it’s also unbelievably valuable for our ability to use this revenue to make investments in our community,” Spanberger said to the outlet.
A similar battle between state Democrats and Republicans is playing out over the RGGI in Pennsylvania, where GOP legislators just got their exit wish.
As part of a deal to end Pennsylvania’s 4 1/2-month stalemate on its state budget, Keystone State Democrats agreed to withdraw from the RGGI to appease GOP legislators, who worry the initiative inhibits the state’s natural gas programs.
