Gov. Youngkin’s climate rollbacks are illegal

As a former member of the House of Delegates, my fellow lawmakers and I took this threat seriously and passed a number of landmark policies aimed at charting a path to a secure energy future. These included the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), our commonwealth’s roadmap to reach 100% clean energy by 2045 and create thousands of new jobs, lower household energy costs and drive the kind of economic growth we’re starting to see in Hampton Roads due to offshore wind deployment.

In that same legislative session, the General Assembly also voted to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), cut power plant pollution, reduce Virginians’ energy costs and keep communities safe from flooding. In 2021, the Legislature voted to adopt the Advanced Clean Car Standards (Clean Cars), an effort that addressed our largest source of pollution by working to bring cleaner and in-demand plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles to auto dealerships here in Virginia as we transition to a more secure energy future.

Sadly, Gov. Glenn Youngkin has wasted no time in sabotaging these major climate policies. In an extraordinary and unconstitutional use of executive branch authority, Gov. Youngkin unilaterally removed Virginia from RGGI, resulting in legal action that is currently in progress. Moreover, in June the governor moved to end Virginia’s participation in Clean Cars, even as Virginians suffered record high temperatures brought on by climate change.

Both of these climate rollbacks have one thing in common: They ignore and prevent legislation passed by the General Assembly and signed into law. Gov. Youngkin has simply opted to ignore the laws he swore to uphold and enforce in his inaugural oath, and Virginians will be in harm’s way as a result.

In the three years that Virginia was actively a part of RGGI, we saw a 22% drop in air pollution from power plants and upward of $830 million to help reduce Virginians’ energy bills and protect communities from flooding.

Hampton Roads, where five generations of Joneses were born and raised and still call home, is second only to New Orleans in its vulnerability to rising sea levels. We grapple with flooding in our streets, homes and businesses on a regular basis — even on dry, sunny days. Taking resources away at a time when extreme weather and the threat of rising waters is only getting worse isn’t just bad policy, it’s irresponsible.

Likewise, the scorching heat reminds us each month just how much it costs to keep cool. It is no secret that greater energy efficiency not only lowers household costs, but also lowers demand on power plants and cleans our air. But Virginians are now paying the price for Gov. Youngkin’s reckless withdrawal from RGGI’s energy efficiency programs.

Under standards enumerated in the Clean Cars law, Virginia was poised to see cleaner air, improved public health and a stronger economy. According to the American Lung Association, widespread transition to clean electric vehicles could, by mid-century, help Virginians avoid billions in annual health costs, innumerable premature deaths, and thousands more asthma attacks and lost workdays each year by cutting the air pollution that is disproportionately concentrated in low-income communities and communities of color.

In pulling Virginia out of this program, Gov. Youngkin was armed only with a flimsy opinion from the attorney general that conflicts with his own office’s earlier position that repealing Clean Cars would require “an amendment or repeal of the mandate legislation.” The executive branch cannot simply ignore the law — and the two-thirds of Virginia voters who want to see their elected leaders prioritize climate action — to suit its own out-of-touch political agenda.

This is the democratic process: Policy arguments are won or lost at the ballot box. No elected official is above the law, and Virginians deserve better.