{"id":453818,"date":"2026-07-04T07:16:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T14:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=453818"},"modified":"2026-07-04T07:16:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T14:16:20","slug":"the-green-shell-game-why-virginias-return-to-rggi-is-a-bad-deal-for-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=453818","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cGreen\u201d Shell Game: Why Virginia\u2019s Return to RGGI Is a Bad Deal for Families"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Stephen Heins, The Word Merchant<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For 15 years, I have watched the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) be sold to the public as a climate-saving necessity. For 15 years, I have seen the same pattern emerge: lofty promises, complex regulatory jargon, and a very predictable outcome\u2014higher electric bills for families who are already struggling to keep up with the cost of living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Virginia\u2019s recent re-entry into this \u201ccap-and-invest\u201d scheme, it\u2019s time to stop treating this as a policy debate and start calling it what it is: a permanent, regressive tax on every single household in the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Illusion of \u201cInvestment\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proponents of RGGI love to talk about \u201cproceeds\u201d and \u201creinvestments.\u201d They point to state-funded energy-efficiency programs or flood-mitigation grants as evidence that the program is working. But let\u2019s be clear about where that money originates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every dollar the state \u201cinvests\u201d through these programs is a dollar taken directly from your pocket via your monthly utility bill. It is not found money; it is a forced transfer of wealth. When the state collects hundreds of millions of dollars from ratepayers and then redirects a fraction of it back into government-approved projects, they are essentially taking your grocery money to fund a bureaucratic experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If these efficiency programs were truly cost-effective and beneficial to the average household, they wouldn\u2019t require a carbon tax. The fact that the state must artificially inflate the cost of electricity to fund them proves that they are not, in fact, an economic benefit\u2014they are a luxury of the government\u2019s choosing, funded by the people least able to afford them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shifting Emissions, Not Reducing Them<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the most infuriating aspect of the RGGI narrative is the claim that it lowers carbon emissions. Even if we accept the premise that emissions are the primary problem, RGGI is a masterclass in failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because RGGI is a regional compact, it only regulates activities within our borders. It does nothing to stop the flow of electricity from out-of-state plants. When a regulation makes it too expensive to generate power in Virginia, the market doesn\u2019t magically switch to wind and solar; it simply shifts the burden. Utilities are forced to buy power from neighboring states that aren\u2019t hampered by these same self-imposed restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We saw this during our last stint in the program: Virginia utilities curtailed cleaner, in-state natural gas production, and increased their reliance on coal-fired generation from across the border. We ended up with the same amount of CO2 in the atmosphere\u2014or, according to some analyses, more<\/em>\u2014while Virginians paid a premium for the privilege of \u201cgreening\u201d our grid. It is the height of environmental hypocrisy to claim a victory while merely exporting the pollution to a different zip code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Real Cost of \u201cPolicy Fiat\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most dangerous part of this entire ordeal is the erosion of our regulatory safeguards. When the State Corporation Commission (SCC) is stripped of its ability to prioritize the cheapest and most reliable power, the \u201cfree market\u201d ceases to exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By declaring specific, intermittent energy sources like offshore wind to be \u201cin the public interest\u201d by law, the government has essentially given utility companies a blank check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They no longer have to compete on price or reliability. They build what the politicians demand, knowing that the cost can be passed through to you, the ratepayer, without any of the usual oversight that would protect a consumer from a bad deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Call for Reality<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are currently facing a massive surge in energy demand driven by the rise of data centers and the electrification of everything from transit to home heating. Now, of all times, is the moment for common-sense energy policies that prioritize the stability and affordability of our grid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, we are doubling down on a system that acknowledges its own impact by raising prices, then insults our intelligence by pretending those prices are somehow \u201cgood\u201d for us. There has been no meaningful benefit for ratepayers in the last decade and a half, and there will be none in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The math is simple, and it is cruel: RGGI is an anchor on the household budget. It is time we stopped subsidizing this experiment and demanded a return to energy policies that put the people of Virginia before the optics of a political agenda.<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RGGI (Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative) is a cap-and-trade program among Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states (now including Virginia again) that sets a declining cap on CO\u2082 emissions from power plants (>25 MW). Power plants must buy allowances at quarterly auctions; proceeds go back to participating states for energy programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":453820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691843926,691821324,691843927,691818417],"class_list":["post-453818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cap-and-invest-4","tag-regional-greenhouse-gas-initiative-rggi","tag-state-corporation-commission-scc","tag-virginia","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0-The-Green-Shell-Game-Why-Virginias-Return-to-RGGI-Is-a-Bad-Deal-for-Families.jpg?fit=1168%2C784&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1U3E","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":262214,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=262214","url_meta":{"origin":453818,"position":0},"title":"Virginia 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carbon tax plan that elected officials are in the process of reinstating.","rel":"","context":"In \"carbon dioxide (CO\u2082)\"","block_context":{"text":"carbon dioxide (CO\u2082)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=carbon-dioxide-co%e2%82%82"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0AQORBFcW-Ae7jieIEhYST3P8UYMxqmLe4KUjrWznaxtFfhUkHshLHFdXuNErGvFVZ4eujRC_rZ31x6PIEyRRuzeUpea_ZrPW8JbD_u070KXbemRFthagsJqOgKn6RIWM-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C590&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0AQORBFcW-Ae7jieIEhYST3P8UYMxqmLe4KUjrWznaxtFfhUkHshLHFdXuNErGvFVZ4eujRC_rZ31x6PIEyRRuzeUpea_ZrPW8JbD_u070KXbemRFthagsJqOgKn6RIWM-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C590&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, 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RGGI","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"11\/08\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cRGGI, like all so-called green initiatives, is based on the false premise that emissions of carbon dioxide from human activities are overheating the planet,\u201d Wrightstone explained. \u201cCO2 is in fact an essential plant food, and modern increases in atmospheric levels of the gas have contributed to record crop harvests and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Carbon Tax\"","block_context":{"text":"Carbon Tax","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=carbon-tax"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/0fromshutterstock1280x640.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/0fromshutterstock1280x640.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, 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