DEP Citizens Advisory Council Votes Against Moving Proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Program For Power Plants To EQB

On May 19, the DEP Citizens Advisory Council voted 9 to 4, with one abstention, against a motion to move DEP’s proposed carbon pollution reduction program covering power plants that is compatible with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to the Environmental Quality Board for consideration.

The Council spent two-and-a-half hours hearing from more than 40 commenters for and against the proposal as part of its virtual meeting.

This action follows a May 7 meeting of DEP’s Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee that took no position on the proposal, after voting 9 to 9 with one abstention, on a motion to recommend DEP present the proposed regulation to the EQB for action.  Read more here.

Tim Weston, the abstention on the Council, said he believed the public had a right to see the economic impact analysis of the proposal, which is not available, and all the information related to the proposal when they comment, but acknowledged Gov. Wolf’s Executive Order directed DEP to present a regulation to the EQB in July regardless of what the Council says.

Additional Background

Gov. Wolf signed an Executive Order in October directing DEP to join the interstate Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative through a regulation adopted by the Environmental Quality Board.

RGGI is a market-based cap-and-invest by northeast states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

DEP met with the Citizens Advisory Council on November 19 to outline the process for developing the regulations needed to implement the program.

DEP released a draft regulation establishing a proposed cap-and-invest program on January 30, However, it did not include key provisions related to the overall cap on carbon emissions and how much the cap would be reduced each year.

DEP first reviewed it with the Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee on February 13, DEP’s Citizens Advisory Committee on February 18 and the Climate Change Advisory Committee on February 25.

DEP again met with the Citizens Advisory Council and the Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee April 23 on the proposal to hear a presentation on the latest modeling results.

The Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee met on May 7 to discuss the proposal and voted 9 to 9, with one abstention, to not approve a motion to recommend DEP go to the Environmental Quality Board with the proposal.

DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell also said the agency has been holding meetings with individual stakeholders on the proposal.

In addition, there have been multiple hearings and information meetings in the Senate and House already on the proposal.  Click Here for more background on Senate and House reviews.

Gov. Wolf’s Executive Order directs DEP to present a proposed regulation reducing carbon pollution from power plants to the Environmental Quality Board in July.

For more information on RGGI, visit DEP’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative 

For available handouts and presentations, visit the DEP Citizens Advisory Council webpage.  Questions should be directed to Keith Salador, Executive Director, 717-787-8171 or ksalador@pa.gov.

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[Posted: May 19, 2020]  PA Environment Digest