On February 28, the individuals and organizations petitioning the Environmental Quality Board to establish a cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions added over 100 groups and individuals to the original list of 64 petitioners and resubmitted the petition to the Board.

DEP notified the petitioners late Friday it was reviewing the petition to see if it still meets the requirements to be considered by the EQB for study.

In its letter, DEP said if the revised petition meets the criteria, it will be presented to the EQB for consideration at its April 16 meeting.

Robert B. McKinstry, Jr., the Clean Air Council, Widener University Environmental Law and Sustainability Center and eco(n)law LLC were the primary petitioners who originally submitted the petition to the EQB last November.

The petitioners now include 33 religious and faith-based or affiliated organizations, 11 education institutions and organizations, 22 environmental and health advocacy groups, 8 municipalities or municipal organizations, 7 community organizations, 26 businesses and business and investment organizations, and 97 individuals.

Among those added by the submission were the PA Council of Churches, the Chair of the Ferguson Township supervisors in Centre County, the American Friends Service Committee, Swarthmore College Office of Sustainability, University of Pennsylvania Environmental Law Project, Climate Reality: Pittsburgh and Southwest PA and others.

The submission also provides 7 pages references to additional studies and other information supporting the petition, including Gov. Wolf’s Executive Order establishing a statewide goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The 407-page rulemaking petition asks the Environment Quality Board to establish a market-based cap-and-trade greenhouse gas emission reduction program that eliminates those emissions from major sources by 2052 in Pennsylvania.

The petitioners said these reductions would put Pennsylvania on track to meet the greenhouse gas reduction goals established by the 2015, achieving the reductions that the most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change indicates are necessary to avoid the worst impacts of climate disruption.

Click Here for a copy of the updated petition.

How We Got Here

OK, for those of you at home trying to follow along, here’s the timeline of how we got here--

-- November 27: Petitioners submit original cap-and-trade petition to EQB

-- December 26: Petitioners notified by DEP the petition meets the criteria to be considered by the EQB for acceptance for study;

-- February 15: DEP notifies EQB members it has determined the petition meets the criteria for consideration and will be on the agenda of the next meeting;

-- February 19: Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler), Majority Chair of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, wrote to DEP saying the proper notification requirements were not followed by DEP when the completeness determination was made and said the petition should be resubmitted by the petitioners.

-- February 25: Petitioners submit supplemental information on the petition, including over 100 additional petitioners, and say if needs be, DEP should consider this a resubmittal per the issue raised by Rep. Metcalfe.

-- February 27: DEP notified the petitioners the supplemental information needed to be added to the original petition and the whole new form submitted to the EQB/DEP for a determination if it still meets the criteria to be considered by the Board for study.

-- February 28: Petitioners submit the entire package, with the supplemental information, to the EQB/DEP for its determination if it is complete.

-- March 1: DEP notifies petitioners it is reviewing the petition to see if it still meets the requirements to be considered by the EQB for study.  In its letter, DEP said if the revised petition meets the criteria, it will be presented to the EQB for consideration at its April 16 meeting.

Everyone is now caught up.

By the way, anyone can submit a rulemaking petition to the Environmental Quality Board proposing a new regulation or to change an existing one. For more on the petition process, visit the EQB’s Rulemaking Petitions webpage.

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Related Stories:

Clean Air Council, Widener Law & Sustainability Center, 61 Others Petition EQB To Set Up A Cap-And-Trade Program To Reduce PA Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Greenhouse Gas Cap-And-Trade Petition Complete, Will Be On Next EQB Meeting Agenda

Majority Chair Of House Environmental Committee Asks DEP To Make Climate Petitioners Resubmit Cap-And-Trade Petition

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[Posted: Feb. 26, 2019]

3/4/2019