Lawmakers, please return Virginia to RGGI
In Hampton Roads, we see the effects of climate change every day: entire neighborhoods and communities flooded, roadways and other infrastructure washed away. Flood insurance premiums are rising and property values are falling, leaving families financially locked into homes with no way out. And air quality advisories keep our kids inside during recess.
A few years ago, Virginia finally started to get serious about climate solutions. The General Assembly came together in 2020 and passed a law requiring Virginia to participate in a successful market-based incentive program to reduce carbon pollution from power plants.
And for three years, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative delivered results for Virginia. From 2021 to 2023, power plant carbon pollution dropped 22% — following a decade without any progress. Thanks to RGGI, air quality is finally improving for communities near these operations, many of which are underserved.
Not only does RGGI improve the air we breathe, but it also delivers much needed critical revenue to Virginia.
Localities finally had a steady and reliable source of funding to combat flooding issues through the Community Flood Preparedness Fund, which was funded solely by Virginia’s participation in RGGI. Communities in every corner of the state — from far southwest, to Northern Virginia, to the coast and everywhere in between — have benefited from the hundreds of millions of dollars invested through RGGI.
Hampton Roads has been a major beneficiary of RGGI. Hampton and Newport News have already received almost $15 million combined for resiliency planning and projects. Chesapeake and Portsmouth have collectively received nearly $2 million for resiliency planning and other mitigation projects. Virginia Beach has received $7 million for stormwater and floodplain improvement projects, while Norfolk has received more than $27 million risk management and flooding studies and other resiliency projects.
Virginia’s participation in RGGI also brought in hundreds of millions of dollars to help low-income households slash energy bills. More than $4 million has been awarded to projects in Newport News to construct highly efficient affordable housing units; Portsmouth has received $4 million, Norfolk projects have been awarded more than $5 million, and Virginia Beach has received about $3 million. These home upgrades will help struggling families make ends meet, by ensuring their energy bills are low — in some cases as low as a few dollars a month.
All of this work is a direct result of Virginia’s participation in RGGI. Flood resilience and energy efficiency are nonpartisan solutions to help communities adapt to climate impacts and save money over the long term — both for our individual wallets and local governments’ budgets.
Unfortunately for Virginians, the Youngkin administration has turned this win-win program into a lose-lose. In 2023, the Air Pollution Control Board voted to pull Virginia out of RGGI and, as of Jan. 1, Virginia is no longer participating in RGGI. With this misguided (and possibly unlawful) action, Virginia has lost a critical tool in the climate fight, and now has a massive hole in its budget.
While the Youngkin administration’s action is the subject of a lawsuit, people in Hampton Roads know that we can’t afford to wait to get back into RGGI. Virginia lawmakers have the perfect opportunity to get Virginia back in RGGI and to do so quickly: through the budget. The House has already provided the pathway by including a provision in its version of the budget that requires the administration to get Virginia back in RGGI immediately. If the entire body were to adopt this provision, the General Assembly would ensure that Virginia continues to see steady progress on pollution, while continuing to fund these important programs, which have already proven so critical to the Hampton Roads region.
General Assembly, we are looking to you: Please pass a budget that gets us back into RGGI.