State officers are refusing to launch a doc that purportedly undercuts Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s need to take away Virginia from a greenhouse fuel discount program.
Youngkin desires the Virginia State Air Air pollution Management Board to think about an emergency regulation that will take away Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gasoline Initiative, a multi-state program by which power producers cost their prospects to cowl the prices of lowering air pollution.
However a member of the air board mentioned on the panel’s April 20 assembly that the legal professional normal’s workplace believes solely the Common Meeting can take away Virginia from this system.
Hope Cupit mentioned she’d acquired an “opinion” in March from the legal professional normal’s workplace. However she and the legal professional normal’s workplace declined to launch it. A staffer with the Virginia Division of Environmental High quality mentioned somebody there had the doc “at one level.”
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DEQ’s Natalie Womack declined to clarify how somebody at DEQ had the doc “at one level” however supposedly now not has it.
Persons are additionally studying…
In any occasion, the mysterious doc – which might undercut Youngkin’s purpose – stays secret.
After he was elected, Youngkin gave a speech in December saying he would take away Virginia from the greenhouse program, referred to as RGGI, by government motion. However the Common Meeting handed a legislation in 2020 requiring Virginia to affix this system, and a governor does not have the ability to overturn a legislation.
Underneath RGGI, power producers in plenty of states commerce emission reductions for credit, or purchase credit to emit carbon dioxide previous a cap. The states in this system are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia.
Youngkin backed off his plan, and as an alternative issued an government order calling on the air board to think about a regulation eradicating Virginia from RGGI. Environmental teams say even that will be unlawful as a result of a regulatory board cannot overturn a state legislation.
Cupit, the air board member, requested Division of Environmental High quality Director Mike Rolband on the April 20 board assembly concerning the administration’s plan for an emergency regulation for the air board to think about. (Air board members are appointed by the governor and DEQ acts as employees to the air board).
DEQ employees in March issued a report – as requested by Youngkin’s government order – about how the company believes Virginia might take away itself from this system.
Rolband informed her the method was “sophisticated” and is being “vetted by a variety of completely different individuals.”
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He mentioned the emergency regulation would want assessment and approval by the air board, and that will start the method of eradicating the state from RGGI, which DEQ’s report mentioned was an “emergency” due to the prices. Rolband mentioned the legal professional normal’s workplace would assessment all the things first.
That is when Cupit launched a problem that appeared to shock Rolband.
“I did attain out to the legal professional normal’s workplace and was informed that this isn’t an motion of the board, it truly is an motion of the Common Meeting,” Cupit mentioned on the assembly.
She added: “I bought an opinion from the legal professional normal’s workplace again in March saying that it is not the accountability of the board, that it is the accountability of the Common Meeting.”
Rolband requested Cupit to supply him with a replica of it, and he or she mentioned she would.
The Richmond Occasions-Dispatch requested Cupit after the assembly for a replica of what the legal professional normal despatched her; she mentioned she’d verify to see if she might launch it, however by no means responded.
Victoria LaCivita, a spokeswoman for the legal professional normal, mentioned by e mail for this story that there had been “no official or unofficial AG’s opinion on RGGI issued by this administration.”
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However pressed as as to if the legal professional normal’s workplace supplied Cupit with something in writing, a particular counsel within the workplace, Stephanie Hamlett, mentioned there was a doc. She mentioned the legal professional normal declined to launch it, and he or she cited a discretionary FOIA exemption for written recommendation of authorized counsel.
Womack, the DEQ staffer, declined to clarify the circumstances below which somebody at DEQ had the doc “at one level” however now not did.
Womack additionally responded this week on behalf of Cupit, the air board member, saying Cupit was opting to not launch the doc. Womack cited the discretionary FOIA exemption for authorized recommendation.
Nothing within the Freedom of Info Act stops the legal professional normal’s workplace or Cupit from releasing the doc, however FOIA permits them to withhold it, of their discretion.
So for now, the thriller of the key air board doc stays unsolved.
Underneath RGGI the income Virginia will get is directed to packages that assist low-income individuals scale back power utilization – thereby decreasing their value of electrical energy – and for packages combating sea stage rise in coastal areas and inland flooding throughout the state.
Underneath the preliminary RGGI value restoration request from Dominion Vitality, the state’s largest electrical utility, a typical buyer’s invoice elevated $2.39 a month due to this system.
pwilson@timesdispatch.com
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