In a split vote Wednesday, the state Independent Regulatory Review Commission approved Pennsylvania's participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative that includes a regional cap or limit on carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning electric generation plants.

Commission members voted 3-2 to approve the regulation at the end of a day-long meeting in Harrisburg.

Sen. Joe Pittman, R-41st, urged the commission to disapprove the regulation that now goes to the General Assembly for review.

The goal of RGGI is to reduce CO2 emissions from fossil fuel burning power plants by setting a regional cap on emissions from plants in the participating states.

The regulation requires that plants with the capacity to produce 25 megawatts or more of electricity must acquire CO2 allowances equal to the amount of CO2 emitted. Each state has its own allowance budget, but the only firm cap is the regional one. Plants in each state can purchase and trade allowances — for efficient and cost-effective emissions reductions, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.

Because RGGI is a market-based approach, a quarterly auction sets the price for the purchase of allowances, to ensure transparency.

The revenue from the quarterly auctions is returned to the states for reinvestment in efficiency and other greenhouse gas reduction programs that further reduce power sector emissions.

At the meeting, the commission heard public comments from some of those who submitted written comments, including Pittman.

Pittman called the proposed rule “personal and emotional” because it would have a negative impact on his constituents, the local economy and essential revenue for school districts.

He said the broad scope of RGGI is beyond the authority of the Department of Environmental Protection to implement without approval of the General Assembly.

None of the 11 states currently in RGGI (Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia) joined the compact without legislative approval, Pittman said.

“Your disapproval of this regulation simply requires the department and the administration to truly come back to the table, truly engage and explain how the costs and benefits do bear out,” Pittman said. “From where I sit as an elected member of the Pennsylvania Senate, I can assure you I don't see a way to benefit versus the enormous costs that the constituents I represent will bear. I encourage your disapproval.”

The House and Senate environmental resources and energy committees have asked the commission not to approve joining RGGI.

Senate Republicans have said 19 coal-fired power plants have or are in the process of closing or converting to natural gas. If Pennsylvania adopts a carbon tax by joining the RGGI, the remaining coal-fired plants would be forced to close instead of paying hundreds of millions in additional taxes, according to Senate Republicans.

Some commissioners said they regret the negative impact the regulation will have on employment in communities where coal burning power plants are located, and called on the DEP to find ways to assist those communities.

But they also said studies and research conducted by third parties found the regulation would save residents billions of dollars in health care costs, create 30,000 jobs and add nearly $2 billion to the gross state product.

The Indiana County commissioners also submitted comments opposing the regulation. The commissioners wrote:

“Indiana County, and neighboring Armstrong County, with whom we share a regional natural resource economy have three coal, and one coal refuse electric generating unit operations. In which they produce $1.3 billion in total economic impact, supporting 1,225 jobs with $59 million in employee compensation annually. These jobs are blue collar, family sustaining, union wage jobs — jobs that pay.”

“Additionally, thousands of jobs, including Boilermakers Local 154, and IBEW Local 159, are sustained annually during routine facility maintenance and through the production of the fuels necessary to generate the electricity. The potential closure of these facilities would mean tremendous harm to our regional economy.”

Gene Barr, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, said the chamber is disappointed in the commission's vote.

“We have noted throughout this process that addressing climate change requires business to have a seat at that table. While we were afforded the opportunity to provide input into this process, the final regulation did not, in our view, adequately address the potential for Pennsylvania to lose vital power generation capacity to neighboring states. Nor did it adequately protect our industrial manufacturers, and the rule will impose significant cost on ratepayers, families and businesses at a time when Pennsylvania is struggling to recover from the pandemic,” Barr said.

According to the DEP, Pennsylvania has the fifth-leading CO2 emitting electricity generation sector in the United States, and RGGI will help in achieving the state's goals to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 26% by 2025 and 80% by 2050.

RGGI provides a two-prong approach to reducing CO2 emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants. The first prong is a declining CO2 emissions budget, and the second prong involves an investment of the proceeds resulting from the auction of CO2 allowances to further reduce CO2 emissions. Each participating state establishes its own annual CO2 emissions budget, which sets the total amount of CO2 emitted from fossil fuel-fired plants in a year, according to the DEP.

What is commonly called the “RGGI cap” on emissions refers to the total of all the state CO2 emissions budgets. The regulation includes a declining annual CO2 emissions budget, which starts at 78 million tons in 2022 and ends at 58 million tons in 2030. This is anticipated to reduce CO2 emissions in Pennsylvania by 31% compared to 2019. The declining annual CO2 emissions budget is equivalent to the CO2 allowance budget, which is the number of CO2 allowances available each year, according to the DEP.