Repeal of RGGI Can Light the Future for Pennsylvania
Last month, Gov. Josh Shapiro signed Pennsylvania's budget into law. While this signatory duty of the governor may appear unceremonious, this year’s budget took a near-record of 130 days to pass through the General Assembly for the governor to effectuate. A large portion of the debate, and in turn the impasse, revolved around the price tag. While many Republicans wanted the budget to hold steadfast at $47.9 billion, the final product allotted $50.1 billion to the 2025-2026 budget. With this knowledge, one may ask how this garnered the votes necessary to pass. After all, Democrats currently control the Pennsylvania House of Representatives 102-101 and Republicans the Senate 27-23, with a Democratic governor and lieutenant governor – proof of a divided government.
A major concession from the left came in the form of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). RGGI formed in 2005 and exists as a coalition of Mid-Atlantic and New England states implementing cap-and-trade policies for carbon emissions. The current states include Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. While the object of the group may sound benevolent in nature, the disparate impact and cost associated with such an organization hinder any measurable gain from its implementation. To approve the budget, Democrats and Republicans collaborated and gave the Commonwealth an exit door to this regional initiative.
State rep. Roman Kozak (R-Beaver) cites numbers from CO2 Coalition's Gregory Wrightstone that RGGI threatened 22,000 jobs and a cost of $7.7 billion per year, with economic loss from 2022-2030 being upwards of $50 billion (almost the size of the entire 2025-2026 budget). These regulations and constraints would only further hinder the people of Pennsylvania who already suffer from burdensome government roadblocks, such as the fourth highest gas tax in the nation (at 58.7 cents/gallon), the thirteenth highest corporate tax rate (7.99% as of 2023), and the thirteenth highest electricity cost in America (20.46 cents/kWh). In addition to high costs, some that directly correlate with RGGI like electricity and fuel, the jobs sacrificed in the name of environmental falsehoods further exacerbate the unemployment rate in Pennsylvania, which ranks in the bottom half of states at twenty-ninth.
Despite the economic dismay, particularly in energy, that stems from Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth holds a secret superpower that can combat its own – and the nation’s – energy quagmire: Marcellus Shale. In 2014, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (under the Obama administration) reported that, “Despite recent declines in Pennsylvania’s overall economy, the state’s oil and natural gas industry has seen substantial growth in terms of both employment and wages. From 2007 to 2012, total annual average employment in Pennsylvania declined by 74,133 (–1.3 percent), to 5,578,414; by contrast, employment in the oil and natural gas industry increased by 15,114 (259.3 percent) over the same period.” While this information comes from a dated source, it exemplifies the economic engine that could roar to life now that Pennsylvania discarded RGGI and can conceivably attract new investments into this financial plateau. The fact that it would largely benefit southwestern and northeastern Pennsylvania, two areas darkened by the long shadows of dwindling industries, could provide a stable future for the residents of these post-industrial havens.
This possible boom should not prove partisan. Pennsylvania boasts many beautiful rivers, forests, lakes, and mountains that residents and the government should care about; however, halting a groundswell of commerce for a 0.169% reduction in carbon emissions over a decade (according to the former state Secretary of Environmental Protection, Pat McDonnell) proves foolish. Just like the energy produced lights homes, the repeal of RGGI can light the future for Pennsylvania. In addition to stronger wages will come better schools, cleaner roads, and safer communities filled with hope instead of rejection. This rejection of RGGI could, quite literally, fuel Pennsylvania’s future.
