E&E News: “Climate Cash Is About to Pour into East Coast States. Here’s Why.”
New analysis from RFF and commentary from Dallas Burtraw add to this story about Virginia’s reentry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
“The move essentially turns the cap-and-trade program into a way for the state’s data centers and other large businesses to subsidize residents’ power bills.
Such a policy design turns the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) into an ‘affordability strategy’ as well as a climate tool, said Dallas Burtraw, a research fellow at Resources for the Future.
Virginia’s rebate is estimated to be about $3 per month. But according to modeling from Resources for the Future, the commonwealth could potentially lower bills long-term by more than RGGI’s costs.
‘The higher the RGGI price, the greater the reduction for electricity prices for households,’ Burtraw told Virginia lawmakers in June as they considered that change. At the same time, he added, RGGI would continue to drive emissions reductions regardless of where the state spends the money.
‘A carbon market like this is widely viewed by economists as the most effective way to achieve emission reductions,’ he said.”
