State Representative Jim Struzzi yesterday joined a bipartisan effort to support a concurrent resolution disapproving of DEP’s Environmental Quality Board approval of Governor Wolf’s executive order to enroll Pennsylvania in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
Struzzi led the floor debate on the issue, and after the vote issued a statement criticizing Wolf’s “authoritarian way” of imposing RGGI on the state. He said if RGGI is instituted, “we stand to lose approximately 8,000 jobs in western Pennsylvania, 1,500 of them in Indiana County alone. We will also say goodbye to more than $2.8 billion from our economy, $837 million of it from Indiana County.”
Struzzi and Senator Joe Pittman have long pressed for the general assembly to have a say in the RGGI issue, but Wolf bypassed the legislature. If the governor gets his way, the state will enroll in RGGI in the new year, perhaps as early as next month.
Struzzi says, “If nothing else, RGGI needs to go before the General Assembly, just as consideration of any tax should do.”
Representative Jim Struzzi’s statement:
“For the past two years, we have been fighting against RGGI and the authoritarian way it is being imposed on Pennsylvania by Gov. Wolf. Why is the number of businesses joining the ranks of the opposition? Because the initiative will be devastating to Pennsylvania.
“We need to send a clear message to the governor and the people of Pennsylvania that we care about jobs, families and communities…that’s what this is about. Indiana County has two of the largest coal-fired electric generation plants in the area. We already know if this tax is imposed, those plants will close here and move to Ohio or West Virginia, states that rely on their energy industry. Pennsylvania should be making investments in its power plants.
“If RGGI is imposed, we stand to lose approximately 8,000 jobs in western Pennsylvania, 1,500 of them in Indiana County alone. We will also say goodbye to more than $2.8 billion from our economy, $873,000 million of it from Indiana County. We also stand to relinquish our status as the No. 1 energy-exporting state in the country.
“RGGI will hits Pennsylvanians’ wallets in so many ways, from property tax bills to energy bills. It will kill small businesses and negatively impact local communities. RGGI is bad for Pennsylvania, and the governor needs to end his personal crusade. If nothing else, RGGI needs to go before the General Assembly, just as consideration of any tax should do.”
