By MARC LEVY, 9/1/21
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The centerpiece of Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to fight climate change passed its last regulatory hurdle Wednesday, in a hard-fought bid to make Pennsylvania the first major fossil fuel state to adopt a carbon pricing policy.
The plan to impose a price on carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants in Pennsylvania won a 3-2 party-line vote from the Independent Regulatory Review Commission, a five-member panel of gubernatorial and legislative appointees.
The commission voted after almost six hours of testimony and nearly two years of Wolf’s administration working on the regulation and shepherding it through the long regulatory process.
The vote allows Pennsylvania, through regulation, to join a multistate consortium, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which sets a price and declining limits on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
By joining the consortium, “Pennsylvania is taking a historic, proactive and progressive approach that will have significant positive environmental, public health and economic impacts,” Wolf said in a statement after the vote.
Read more at https://apnews.com/article/business-pennsylvania-climate-change-a6a5985ff6a5bed396b40509c9f26f34.
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