Pennsylvania Court Rules State Cannot Force Power Plants to Pay for Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Court permanently blocks Pennsylvania from joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, with ruling based on argument that carbon-pricing plan constituted an unconstitutional tax requiring legislative approval.

A Pennsylvania court recently ruled that the state cannot enforce a regulation requiring power plant owners to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions. This decision represents significant setbacks for the climate plans of former Governor Tom Wolf.
Last year, the Commonwealth Court blocked Pennsylvania from becoming the first major fossil fuel-producing state to implement a carbon-pricing program. The recent ruling makes that decision final, a major victory for Republican lawmakers and coal-related interests.
These groups successfully argued that the carbon-pricing plan constituted a tax needing legislative approval. The regulation would have authorized Pennsylvania to join the multistate Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative that imposes a price and declining cap on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
The ruling's implications now rest with Wolf’s successor, Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro, who has yet to publicly disclose whether he would challenge the decision in the state’s Supreme Court or pursue the plan to join the consortium, should the court permit it.
While Republican lawmakers and opponents of the initiative celebrated the victory, advocates of the plan, including environmental advocates as well as solar, wind and nuclear power producers, worry about its potential impact on climate change. Critics of the scheme argued it would increase electricity bills and incentivize power generation in other states without significantly combatting climate change.