Pennsylvania Governor Flirts with Reckless ‘Green’ Initiatives

Originally published at National Review

In efforts to keep the war drums of climate alarmism beating, Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro is employing one reckless acronym after another: RGGI, PACER, and PRESS. This alphabet soup of big-government initiatives, however, threatens the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians and the economic vitality of one of the nation’s largest energy-producing states.

Shapiro’s green gambit starts with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI, or “Reggie”). RGGI is a multistate cap-and-tax program that sets strict emission standards on member states and imposes a tax on carbon-emitting power generators. RGGI sycophants refer to these taxes as, in true Orwellian euphemism, “allowances,” creating a “market” for generators to buy and sell units of carbon dioxide.

Shapiro entered the governor’s office with Pennsylvania’s RGGI membership tied up in the courts. RGGI’s legality in the Keystone State was problematic from Day One because of Shapiro’s predecessor, former governor Tom Wolf, and his use of executive power. Wolf leapfrogged the legislature and unilaterally entered Pennsylvania into RGGI via executive order.

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