Governor Youngkin's effort to withdraw the Commonwealth from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is wrongheaded, untimely, and illegal.
It is wrongheaded because our participation in the emissions trading scheme has in fact helped to reduce emissions (according to VDEQ) and has promoted economically efficient reductions of greenhouse gas emissions in our state. Terminating this successful program will make it harder and more expensive for the state to transition away from fossil fuels. Perhaps this is the essence of the wrongheadedness of Youngkin's proposal.
It is untimely because the need to transition away from fossil fuel energy ASAP has never been clearer, as very recently emphasized by the most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This puts Youngkin's proposal beyond mere wrongheadedness and into a different cateory, something like criminal obtuseness or extreme political pandering to "the base."
Finally it is illegal, because Virginia's participation is mandated by law, passed by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor. The current Governor does not have the legal ability to simply decide to take actions against existing laws. It is also arguably illegal because it violates Article XI of the Constitution of Virginia.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this proposal.

Sincerely,

Richard A. Roth
Blacksburg, Virginia