By Kevin Mooney
Virginia Set to Join Climate Pact
As The Daily Signal previously reported, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, has advanced his own regulatory proposal to make his state part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
The Virginia proposal, which could go into effect in December, has attracted criticism from lawmakers, policy analysts, and citizen activists who say the state should not enter the climate pact without the approval of the Virginia General Assembly.
Related: Virginia Governor Set to Bypass Legislature to Join State-Based Climate Agreement
“Gov. Northam is sadly encumbering the state of Virginia with a regulatory monster that will have no impact on the climate even if you believed every claim made by Al Gore or the United Nations,” Marc Morano, a prominent climate change skeptic, told The Daily Signal in an email. “RGGI will do nothing but saddle Virginia with meaningless climate change inspired regulations on Virginia industry.”
Morano, executive editor and chief correspondent of the Climate Depot website and author of the bestseller “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Climate Change,” has been critical of state policymakers who implement climate change regulations without popular support.
“RGGI will make states like Delaware and Virginia less competitive with other states wise enough to avoid this virtue-signaling nonsense,” Morano said. “If Gov. Northam bypasses the legislature to impose these economically strangling regulations, it will prove once again that the governor lacks the support of the people and the legislature to impose this monstrosity on the state of Virginia.”
“The same is true in Delaware, where stringent regulations are imposed without legislative approval,” he said.
