NORFOLK, Va. — A Circuit Court judge in Floyd County has ruled Virginia cannot be removed from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, known as RGGI, scoring a win for environmental groups, but the governor is planning an appeal.
Minutes after taking office in Jan. 2022 Gov. Youngkin signed an executive order directing his administration to take steps to remove Virginia from RGGI.
His team carried that out, removing Virginia from RGGI through regulation in the state's Air Pollution Control Board.
Watch previous coverage: Fight over Virginia's participation in RGGI continues
RGGI requires power plants to buy credits to emit carbon into the atmosphere in an effort to address pollution.
Money from the credits is then given to the states participating who then can use the money to address flooding and sea level rise.
Gov. Youngkin has argued the costs outweigh the benefits.
Virginia originally joined RGGI due to a law passed in the General Assembly in 2020, so environmental groups sued saying the governor and his administration don't have the power to override a law.
Watch previous coverage: Youngkin Administration continues to take steps to remove Virginia from RGGI
A judge has now ruled in favor of them, saying only the General Assembly could remove Virginia from RGGI.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares disagrees.
"I think you've seen from the beginning this was in the governor's powers and how the law was actually written in the Virginia code," he said. "We obviously have a disagreement in the interpretation of the law and the code. We look forward to making this argument in the next step in the appeals process."
Virginia Senate Democrats called the ruling a "decisive victory," saying Virginia was benefiting from participating in the program.
With an appeal on the way, this debate is not over.
