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By Christen Smith | The Center Square
Published: March 15, 2024 5:54pm
Gov. Josh Shapiro’s new carbon tax plan won over some unlikely allies – Pennsylvania’s building and construction trades.
And they say they want lawmakers to get on the same page, too.
“The governor acknowledged that we need the Legislature to act,” said Robert Bair, president of the Pennsylvania State Building and Construction Trades. “And as I told a couple of them yesterday: Equate this to the governor has set the Thanksgiving table, now it's time to sit down and eat.”
Bair’s support comes after a years-long alignment with Republican and Democratic lawmakers opposed to joining a regional pact that places the onus on energy plants to lower air pollution. Critics say Pennsylvania’s role as one of the nation’s largest power suppliers makes its participation economically untenable.
Active in 11 states, the pact – called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI – tightens the cap on allowable emissions every year until reaching zero in 2040. The money made from selling and trading of these caps supports green energy programs across the member states.
In 2019, former Gov. Tom Wolf signed Pennsylvania up to become the pact’s 12th member without permission from lawmakers. In November, the Commonwealth Court ruled that doing so was unconstitutional because RGGI would impose a tax on energy plants that were not legislatively approved.
Shapiro appealed that decision, though he promised to drop the issue if his Pennsylvania-specific carbon tax plan becomes law instead.
That plan, announced Wednesday, comes in two parts: the Pennsylvania Climate Emissions Reduction Act and the Pennsylvania Reliable Energy Sustainability Standard. The administration calls them PACER and PRESS, for short.
The former would cap carbon emissions from power plants and require companies to buy carbon offsets, much like RGGI does but in Pennsylvania alone. The latter would require 35% of the state’s electricity to come from clean sources.
Making energy more expensive does not allow people to keep more money or create jobs.
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By Christen Smith | The Center Square
Published: March 15, 2024 5:54pm
- Article
- Dig Deeper
Gov. Josh Shapiro’s new carbon tax plan won over some unlikely allies – Pennsylvania’s building and construction trades.
And they say they want lawmakers to get on the same page, too.
“The governor acknowledged that we need the Legislature to act,” said Robert Bair, president of the Pennsylvania State Building and Construction Trades. “And as I told a couple of them yesterday: Equate this to the governor has set the Thanksgiving table, now it's time to sit down and eat.”
Bair’s support comes after a years-long alignment with Republican and Democratic lawmakers opposed to joining a regional pact that places the onus on energy plants to lower air pollution. Critics say Pennsylvania’s role as one of the nation’s largest power suppliers makes its participation economically untenable.
Active in 11 states, the pact – called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI – tightens the cap on allowable emissions every year until reaching zero in 2040. The money made from selling and trading of these caps supports green energy programs across the member states.
In 2019, former Gov. Tom Wolf signed Pennsylvania up to become the pact’s 12th member without permission from lawmakers. In November, the Commonwealth Court ruled that doing so was unconstitutional because RGGI would impose a tax on energy plants that were not legislatively approved.
Shapiro appealed that decision, though he promised to drop the issue if his Pennsylvania-specific carbon tax plan becomes law instead.
That plan, announced Wednesday, comes in two parts: the Pennsylvania Climate Emissions Reduction Act and the Pennsylvania Reliable Energy Sustainability Standard. The administration calls them PACER and PRESS, for short.
The former would cap carbon emissions from power plants and require companies to buy carbon offsets, much like RGGI does but in Pennsylvania alone. The latter would require 35% of the state’s electricity to come from clean sources.
Making energy more expensive does not allow people to keep more money or create jobs.
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