A bill by state Sen. Joe Pittman, R-41st, regarding the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative deal was approved in a bipartisan vote Monday.

Senate Bill 119 prohibits the state Department of Environmental Protection from joining the initiative without legislative approval. The bill passed by a 35-15 vote, and moved Tuesday to the House Environmental Resources and Energy committee.

The initiative is a cooperative effort among 11 states to cap and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and other operations. Pennsylvania is the only state in the Mid-Atlantic and northeast regions that has yet to join.

In a statement Monday, the Clean Power PA Coalition expressed disappointment. “(This bill) flies in the face of what's best for Pennsylvania and what voters want. More than 70% of Pennsylvanians support caps on power plant pollution like RGGI's,” the coalition said. “The bill is the latest in a series of attempts to obstruct progress, rather than come to the table with ways for adopting a RGGI plan that protects Pennsylvania communities and best positions them for the future.”

Gov. Tom Wolf issued an executive order in October 2019, directing the DEP to begin preparing to join, and chose 2022 for the estimated date of joining.

“If Pennsylvania joins the RGGI scheme under this circumstance, we would be the only state in RGGI that was joined without the consent of the general assembly,” Pittman said. “What this legislation does is if we do join, that we the general assembly will have a voice in this process just like every other state that joined it.”

The bill requires the DEP to publish its initiative legislation in the PA Bulletin and provide a public comment period of at least 180 days.

During the comment period, the DEP would be required to hold at least four public hearings in locations directly affected economically by the proposal.

Then, the DEP would be required to submit a report to the House and Senate Environmental Resources & Energy Committees detailing the economic and environmental impacts that joining RGGI would have on communities, the state and the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection region.

In statements made on the floor before the vote, Pittman said about $5 million in property taxes are paid by carbon emitting power plants in his district.

He also said that as plants close under the strain of the initiative's taxation, surrounding states will pick up the slack, and added it would be wrong to hand jobs over to other states.

He said the state has already reduced emissions by bringing natural gas to the marketplace, putting emission controls on waste coal power plants and cleaning acid mine drainage areas.

But the Clean Power PA Coalition said the impact of the RGGI would be a 227 million ton reduction in pollution, and it would generate about $500 million in state funding that could be invested in cleaner energy and helping workers and communities adjust to that production.