WEXFORD, Pa. (Nov. 22) – The Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA) issued the following statement regarding Governor Shapiro’s recent decision to appeal Commonwealth Court’s RGGI decision:

“Governor Shapiro’s decision to appeal a 4-1 Commonwealth Court ruling to affirm the Pennsylvania Legislature’s role in enacting state taxes is extremely unfortunate and ill-advised. The effort to unilaterally join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative now spans more than four years, during which there were multiple determinations that the development of tax policy such as joining RGGI requires the authorization of the state House and Senate. The Governor’s position that he supports the recommendations of his RGGI Working Group in the form of some type of “RGGI Lite” ignores the fact that the group did not endorse RGGI and did not agree on a policy framework to establish any type of carbon tax in the state. Such a program would cost Pennsylvanians billions of dollars in taxes, put our power grid at risk and impact thousands of hard-working residents of the Commonwealth, without benefiting our environment. This has always been an unconstitutional power grab by the executive branch, and PIOGA will join a broad-based coalition of businesses, labor unions, energy producers and taxpayers’ rights organizations to oppose this scheme before the State Supreme Court.”