The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court dismissed as moot a petition filed by the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in February 2022 seeking to compel the Pennsylvania Legislative Reference Bureau respondents to publish a rulemaking concerning Pennsylvania’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The court noted that it was undisputed that the questions of law raised by the petition were moot due to the subsequent publication of the rulemaking. The court further found that no exception to the mootness exception applied. The court said that the case raised “remarkable” legal questions of first impression but that any determination would be advisory. The court therefore dismissed the petition, as well as related preliminary objections and the Secretary’s application for expedited special and summary relief. The court said counterclaims by Pennsylvania Senators who intervened “remain extant.” Those claims challenged the validity of the RGGI regulation. In addition, separate challenges to the RGGI regulation are still pending.

Proceeding concerning the publication of Pennsylvania regulations to implement the State's participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative cap-and-trade program for carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

Ziadeh v. Pennsylvania Legislative Reference Bureau

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Said Case that Sought to Compel Publication of RGGI Rule Was Moot

Filed

United States of America

Pennsylvania

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

A subsidy is a direct or indirect payment to individuals or businesses, typically provided as a government cash payment or a specific tax reduction.

Zoning and spatial planning are both methods for guiding the distribution of people and activities in a space, and are regulatory restriction.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

A long-lived, colourless gas, chiefly emitted from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and cement production.

Air pollution involves harmful contaminants in the air, affecting both indoor and outdoor environments. It can lead to health issues like respiratory diseases and heart problems, and climate impacts such as global warming. Pollutants can damage plants, trees, habitats, and water bodies like rivers and lakes.

Any compulsory, unrequited payment to the government levied on corporations or individuals. This can be for environmental reasons, such as introducing a Carbon tax to set a price that emitters must pay for the greenhouse gases they emit.

The activities of industries involved in the production, distribution, and sale of energy, including electricity, gas, and renewables.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

This sector involves activities that impart knowledge and skills to individuals, including formal schooling, vocational training and educational support.

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Said Case that Sought to Compel Publication of RGGI Rule Was Moot

Policy instrument

Risk

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance