Commonwealth Court Issues Injunction on RGGI

​As the budget and Spring Legislative Session were being finalized, the Common Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania on the same day issued a preliminary injunction that blocks PA from entering the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) until the full court case have been adjudicated.  However, this injunction was quickly lifted when the Wolf Administration appealed it to the PA Supreme Court. 

​This news came just hours after the United States Supreme Court voted, 6-3, that the United States Department of Environmental Protection does not have the authority to regulate carbon emissions at the federal level under Obama-era “Clean Power Plan” rules. The basis of the ruling is that only congress, not the EPA or any other bureaucratic agency, has the authority to institute cap-and-trade programs; a theme that will be argued in Pennsylvania’s courts in the months to come on the issue of RGGI.
 
The Wolf Administration finalized the regulation to allow Pennsylvania to participate in RGGI with DEP’s CO2 Budget Trading Program regulation published on April 23, 2022, issue of the Pennsylvania Bulletin.  The Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin, said the rule will be published even if another court order is issued. That’s because of the physical requirements to publish the bulletin.