During a Senate Appropriation Committee hearing, Senator Joe Pittman and Department of Community & Economic Development Secretary Dennis Davin argued yesterday over the effects of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and the state’s attempt to address them.
Pittman contended that RGGI would force Indiana County’s coal-fired power plants to close. Davin claimed that the plants are going to close anyway, as 14 other coal-fired plants have closed in the last decade, but blamed “market forces” rather than RGGI. The secretary said the state will work with Pittman’s office and local officials to offset the job losses.
That prompted this response from Senator Pittman.
Pittman said the effects of RGGI are already being felt in Indiana County.
Repeating that “market forces” would force the plants to close – not RGGI – Secretary Davin said the state will work to find solutions to the job and tax revenue losses that losing the power plants would bring about.
Pittman closed by saying that neither he nor Secretary Davin had a crystal ball to conclude that the plants would close with or without RGGI, but he said he has “a nine-month cliff” approaching when the plants will definitely close if RGGI is implemented.
