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Association of Energy Conservation Professionals v. Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board
Association of Energy Conservation Professionals v. Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board ↗
CL23000173-00Va. Cir. Ct.4 entries
Filing Date
Type
Action Taken
Document
Summary
03/06/2025
Decision
State respondents' request to suspend execution of judgment granted.
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Southern Environmental Law Center <a href="https://www.selc.org/press-release/virginia-to-stay-out-of-rggi-while-state-appeals/">announced</a> that a Virginia Circuit Court had granted a request by the Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board and other respondents to suspend execution of the court’s November 2024 judgment that the respondents lacked authority to repeal the regulation that implemented Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The judgment will remain suspended while the State proceeds with an appeal.
11/18/2024
Decision
Repeal of RGGI regulation found unlawful and null and void.
A Virginia Circuit Court nullified the Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board’s repeal of a regulation that implemented Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a regional cap-and-trade program to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector. A 2020 law required Virginia to participate in a market-based trading program consistent with RGGI and directed the Department of Environmental Quality to incorporate the 2020 law’s provisions into a regulation to bring Virginia into RGGI. The court found that an association of weatherization professionals had standing to challenge the repeal because the association’s members would be injured by being deprived of funding through a Weatherization Deferral Repair program funded by RGGI revenues, an injury that was fairly traceable to the repeal and redressable by the court. On the merits, the court ruled that neither the 2020 law nor any other law gave the respondents authority to repeal the regulation.
06/24/2024
Press Release
Motion to dismis granted in part and denied in part.
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On June 24, 2024, Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) <a href="https://perma.cc/YRL7-TQUE">announced</a> that a Virginia Circuit Court had ruled that the Association of Energy Conservation Professionals adequately pleaded its standing to challenge Virginia’s decision to leave the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the multi-state cap-and-trade program for carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector. SELC reported that the court would allow two of the plaintiff’s three claims to proceed: a claim that the Air Pollution Control Board, the Department of Environmental Quality, and its director do not have the authority to remove the State from RGGI and that a claim that the decision to remove the State from RGGI was not supported with the evidence required by the Virginia Administrative Process Act. The court denied a request to suspend the State’s action while the lawsuit is pending.
02/05/2024
Press Release
Motion to dismiss granted in part and denied in part.
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Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) <a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/press-release/rggi-case-proceeds-in-floyd-county-circuit-court/">announced</a> that a Virginia Circuit Court had concluded that the Association of Energy Conservation Professionals had standing to challenge Virginia’s decision to remove the state from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). SELC reported that the court would allow two claims to move forward: (1) a challenge to Virginia agencies’ authority to remove the state from RGGI and (2) a claim that the decision was not supported with the evidence required by the Virginia Administrative Process Act. The court dismissed a third claim and said it would take under advisement the request for suspension of the state’s action while the lawsuit is pending.
Association of Energy Conservation Professionals v. Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board ↗
2023 12061Va. Cir. Ct.3 entries
Filing Date
Type
Action Taken
Document
Summary
11/03/2023
Decision
Motion to dismiss for lack of standing granted in part and denied in part and motion to transfer venue granted as to remaining petitioner.
In a lawsuit challenging the Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board’s repeal of regulations regarding Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a Virginia Circuit Court in Fairfax County concluded that the only Fairfax County-based petitioner did not have constitutional or statutory standing and that the County therefore was not the proper venue for the suit. RGGI is a multistate market-based program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The court found that Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions, the Fairfax County-based petitioner, and two other petitioners lacked constitutional standing because they asserted only “generalized grievances concerning a world-wide issue” (i.e., climate change, air pollution, and a transition to renewable energy). Similarly, the court found that the three petitioners did not satisfy the “affected by” standard for statutory standing under the Virginia Administrative Procedures Act. The court transferred the appeal to the Circuit Court of Floyd County, for a determination of whether a fourth petitioner had standing. That petitioner, the Association of Energy Conservation Professionals, alleged that the RGGI repeal would disrupt its members’ businesses and impede weatherization projects funded by RGGI.
10/27/2023
Other
Oral argument held.
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On October 27, 2023, the court heard oral arguments. The Virginia Mercury <a href="https://www.virginiamercury.com/2023/10/27/fairfax-county-judge-weighing-fate-of-suit-over-youngkins-carbon-market-withdrawal/">reported</a> that the issues discussed included whether the plaintiffs had demonstrated a harm and whether the case should be transferred to another venue.
08/21/2023
Petition
Petition for appeal filed.
Four petitioners challenged a Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board (Board) rule that withdrew Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a regional cap-and-trade program that reduces carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. The petitioners were a trade association for energy conservation professionals, a nonprofit corporation with a mission “to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and transition to a clean energy economy in a way that is beneficial and fair to Appalachian communities,” “a not-for-profit corporation comprised of congregations and persons involved in faith communities across Virginia” with a mission to “advocate for solutions to climate change with a key focus on environmental and social justice,” and a nonprofit corporation composed of “over 200 faith communities and over 2,800 people of faith” whose mission includes “develop[ing] local solutions to the climate crisis by sounding an ethical and spiritual call to address climate change.” The petitioners asserted that the Board and other respondents exceeded their delegated authority under the “2020 RGGI Act” (the Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act), which the petitioners alleged required Virginia’s participation in RGGI. In addition, they argued that the respondents exceeded their statutory authority and contravened state law by justifying the withdrawal from RGGI as necessary to reduce utility costs. They also contended that the respondents acted without sufficient evidentiary support in violation of the Virginia Administrative Process Act.