The Senate Environmental Resources & Energy Committee on Wednesday approved a letter to the Independent Regulatory Review Commission opposing a regulation to have Pennsylvania join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, according to state Sen. Joe Pittman, 41st District.

The commission reviews regulations from nearly all state agencies, boards and commissions before they go into effect.

Pittman told the committee that the letter represented the thousands of households in his district that rely on the production of carbon-emitting electricity for their livelihood.

Pittman told the committee that the carbon tax the initiative would impose would eliminate jobs and devastate local families.

“It’s easy to talk about the impacts when you don’t live in the backyard of 6,000 megawatts of carbon-emitting electricity that happens to be keeping our lights on right now and keeping us cool,” Pittman said.