November 17, 2023

Environmental Justice

Pittsburgh, PA and Washington, DC

PIOGA Press

(By Sean McGovern and Amanda Brosy)

Federal Action

Environmental Justice (EJ) efforts continue to expand as a programmatic priority for federal and state governing bodies. On April 21, 2023, President Joe Biden passed a new Executive Order on Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All (E.O. 14096) that builds upon a series of similar orders he signed over the last three years. E.O. 14096 specifically says the Biden administration will pursue a “whole-of-government” approach to EJ.

Accordingly, the Order directs each agency to make achieving EJ a part of its mission and, among other things, take proactive steps to address inequities in federal policies and practices. Notably, the Order also sets forth a new, broader definition of EJ than the EPA’s current definition, specifically including “Tribal affiliation” and “disability” within the list of protected groups. To advance EJ initiatives and coordinate the development of “policies, programs, and partnerships to achieve the policies” described in E.O. 14096, the Order establishes a new White House Office of EJ within the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). In addition, to “address the need for a coordinated federal strategy to identify and address gaps in science, data, and research” related to EJ, the Order directs the creation of an EJ Subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Council. This Subcommittee is tasked with preparing a Research Plan (updated biennially) to provide recommendations to the CEQ and federal agencies on data collection, research techniques, and public accessibility of information, with the goal of advancing EJ.

Following clear and consistent directives from President Biden, EJ funding has increased as a result of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). …

November 17, 2023

Court Holds Pennsylvania RGGI Rule Unconstitutional

Pittsburgh, PA and Washington, DC

PIOGA Press

(By Kevin Garber and Jessica Deyoe)

On November 1, 2023, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania held that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s CO2 Budget Trading Program Regulation is an unconstitutional tax, declared the rule to be void, and enjoined DEP from enforcing it. See Bowfin KeyCon Holdings, LLC et al v. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (No. 247 M.D. 2022). The Regulation would have linked Pennsylvania’s cap-and-trade program to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which is the regional, market-based cap-and-trade program designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel-fired electric power generators with a capacity of 25 megawatts or greater that send more than 10 percent of their annual gross generation to the electric grid.

The Court reaffirmed its earlier July 8, 2022 opinion in which it preliminarily enjoined the Regulation as an unconstitutional tax. In this November 1 decision on the merits, the Court held that the Regulation constitutes a tax imposed by DEP in violation of the Pennsylvania Constitution.

Undisputed facts of record established that only 6 percent of RGGI auction proceeds are necessary to cover the cost of administering the program and that the annual revenue anticipated from RGGI would be three times greater than the total amount allocated to DEP from the General Fund in a single year. The Court found that the money to be generated by Pennsylvania’s participation in RGGI would be “grossly disproportionate” to the costs of overseeing participation in the program and DEP’s annual needs. Relying on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s opinion in Flynn v. Horst, 51 A.2d 54, 60 (Pa. 1947), which found that

[n]o principle is more firmly established in the law of Pennsylvania than the principle that a revenue tax cannot be constitutionally imposed upon a business under the guise of a police regulation, and that if the amount of a ‘license fee’ is grossly disproportionate to the sum required to pay the cost of the due regulation of the business the ‘license fee’ act will be struck down,

the Commonwealth Court concluded that Pennsylvania’s participation in RGGI “may only be achieved through legislation duly enacted by the Pennsylvania General Assembly, and not merely through the Rulemaking promulgated by DEP and EQB. …

November 15, 2023

States Continue to Adopt the “Continuous-Trigger” Theory of “Occurrence” Under Commercial General Liability Insurance Policies

Charleston, WV and Pittsburgh, PA

Litigation Alert

(by Mychal Schulz and Erin Hamilton)

A growing number of states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and most recently, West Virginia, now follow the “continuous-trigger” theory when examining coverage under an occurrence-based Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance policy.

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals recently confirmed in Westfield Ins. Co. v. Sistersville Tank Works, Inc., No. 22-848 (Nov. 8, 2023), that West Virginia law recognizes the “continuous trigger” theory to determine when insurance coverage is activated under a CGL policy that is ambiguous as to when coverage is triggered.

In 2016 and 2017, former employees of Sistersville Tank Works, Inc. (STW), filed three separate civil lawsuits West Virginia state court alleging personal injuries as the result of exposure to various cancer-causing chemicals while working around tanks that STW supposedly installed, manufactured, inspected, repaired or maintained between 1960 and 2006. STW purchased CGL policies from Westfield each year for the period 1985 to 2010. Typical of virtually all CGL policies, the Westfield CGL policies issued to STW were occurrence-based and provided coverage for bodily injury and property damage “which occurs during the policy period.”  Under the Westfield CGL policies, the bodily injury or property damage must be caused by an “occurrence,” defined under the policy as “an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same general harmful conditions.”

Westfield denied coverage for the three underlying lawsuits and filed a declaratory judgment complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia seeking a declaration that it owed no duty to provide a defense or indemnification to STW because the former employees were diagnosed after the expiration of the last CGL policy, and, therefore, STW could not establish that an “occurrence” happened within the policy period. …

November 10, 2023

The Business of Law

Pittsburgh, PA

(By Daniel Bates featuring Donald C. Bluedorn II)

Some things never change.

And that’s a good thing, according to Donald C. Bluedorn, II, managing shareholder of Pittsburgh law firm Babst Calland, who has devoted most of his career at the firm to championing a business model and culture that, he said, have fostered long-term, sustainable growth since the firm’s inception in 1986.

That business model and culture, Bluedorn said, are what attracted him to the firm in the first place as a young lawyer, only a year after Babst Calland was established. He also credits this with fueling the firm’s growth across five office locations, including Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., Charleston, W.Va., State College, Pa., and Harrisburg, Pa., along with several remote “outpost” offices. Such growth also has made Babst Calland one of Pittsburgh’s top law firms.

“When I came to Babst Calland from another larger firm, there were two things that really impressed me and made me want to become part of Babst Calland,” Bluedorn said. “One was there was a lot of flexibility and a lot of ability to control your own destiny as a lawyer and become what you want to be – an opportunity to practice law, manage clients, and gain a lot of hands-on experience, and that really appealed to me as a young lawyer.”

The second factor, he continued, was – and still is – the firm’s culture. “I loved the culture. People were treated with mutual respect, and everyone worked together. And although we’ve grown in size and we’ve added lawyers and practice areas, I think those two attributes of the firm have really stayed the same. They’re part of what define us and are part of what we work to make sure we maintain because this is what differentiates us and makes us so successful in the marketplace.”

He added: “It allows us to retain and attract really sophisticated talent. …

November 10, 2023

2023 Babst Calland Report—Legal & Regulatory Perspectives For The Energy Industry

The American Oil and Gas Reporter

(By Del Torkelson)

Featuring a Briefing from U.S. Senator John Barrasso

In “The 2023 Babst Calland Report—Legal & Regulatory Perspectives for the Energy Industry,” which offers updates on top legal and public policy matters confronting the country’s oil and natural gas industry, U.S. Senator John Barrasso, R-Wy., stresses the importance of permitting reform. The law firm’s annual report also explores several other major topics, including climate policy and ESG matters, as well as trends in litigation,

“The U.S. energy sector remains as dynamic as ever as Babst Calland offers its 13th annual perspective on the challenges and opportunities facing all parts of the energy value chain,” the report opens. “This year, U.S. natural gas production and demand is expected to reach record highs. Natural gas production has doubled since 2006 and increasing demand has turned the United States into a leading global natural gas producer. Investments in liquified natural gas infrastructure continue as the United States becomes the top LNG exporter in the world.”

Principles For Reform

Barrasso’s briefing appears in a short video introduced by Babst Calland attorneys A.A. Moore Capito, a shareholder in the Charleston, W.V., office, and Jim Curry, managing shareholder in the Washington office. They also close the video by reflecting on the senator’s remarks.

Barrasso opens by lamenting the extent to which the Biden administration’s energy policies have frustrated U.S. production of traditional energy sources.

When Barrasso began his Senate tenure in 2007, he recounts, the United States imported 29% of its energy, but by 2019, U.S. producers had transformed the country into a net energy exporter. Although growing domestic production has boosted the U.S. …

November 10, 2023

Appealing a Collateral Order? Fresh Guidance on Rule 313

Pittsburgh, PA

Litigation Legal Perspective

(By Jenn Malik)

Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure 313 provides for appeals as of right from a collateral order of a trial court. 210 Pa.Code Rule 313(b) defines an appealable collateral order as “an order separable from and collateral to the main cause of action where the right involved is too important to be denied review and the question presented is such that if review is postponed until final judgment in the case, the claim will be irreparably lost.” The following is a summary of recent appellate decisions on the collateral order doctrine.

First, the Commonwealth Court, in Bethke v. City of Philadelphia, No. 406 CD 2022, 2023 WL 3295555 (Pa. Cmwlth., May 8, 2023) (memorandum), Bethke v. City of Philadelphia, 406 C.D. 2022, considered the collateral-order doctrine in a matter involving an untimely response to a Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law (RTKL) request.  After the City did not respond to the request, resulting in a deemed denial, the requester appealed to the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records (OOR), which held that that there were no applicable exceptions under the RTKL and ordered the City to produce the records. Id. at 1.  After failing to timely appeal the OOR’s decision to the Court of Common Pleas, the City produced redacted documents; the requester then filed an action in mandamus seeking the unredacted records. Id.  Of note, the trial court ordered the City to file a motion nunc pro tunc to appeal retroactively the OOR’s determination, which order the requester appealed to the Commonwealth Court. Id. at 1-2.  On appeal, the Commonwealth Court held that the matter was immediately appealable as a collateral order and that the trial court lacked jurisdiction over an untimely appeal of the OOR’s determination, which could not be remedied by nunc pro tunc relief. …

November 9, 2023

Divided Commonwealth Court Holds Local Agencies are Prohibited from Adding Non-Emergency and Non-De Minimis Agenda Items to the Posted Agenda

Pittsburgh, PA

Public Sector Alert

(By Max Junker and Anna Jewart)

On June 30, 2021, Governor Tom Wolf signed Senate Bill 554 into law as Act 65 of 2021 which amended the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act, 65 Pa.C.S. §§701-716, (Sunshine Act) to require that agencies subject to the Act make their meeting agendas available to the public, and set restrictions on taking official action on any item not listed on the agenda as published. These changes took effect on August 30, 2021.

Act 65 amended Section 709 of the Sunshine Act to require that agencies post a copy of the agenda for the meeting, including a listing of each matter of agency business that will be or may be the subject of deliberation or official action on its official website, at the meeting location, and at its principal office no later than 24 hours in advance of the time of the convening of the meeting. In addition, Act 65 added a new Section 712.1 which identified the instances in which official action could be taken on an item not included in the posted agenda. Early interpretations of Section 712.1 indicated that the new subsection (e) could be used to add any item to the agenda so long as it was added by majority vote and the agenda was revised and reposted within 24 hours of the meeting.  Schmidt v. Ringgold School District, No. 2022-0128 (Ct. Comm. Pls. Washington Co. Dec. 9, 2022).

However, in a reported decision issued November 8, 2023, the Commonwealth Court, in Coleman v. Parkland School District, No. 1416 C.D. 2022 (Pa. Cmwlth. Nov. 8, 2023) rejected this interpretation and determined that in order for official action to be taken on an item not included on the agenda posted in accordance with Section 709 of the Sunshine Act, the issue must meet one of the three enumerated exceptions identified in Sections 712.1(b),(c) or (d) of the Sunshine Act. …

November 7, 2023

Trick or Treat? EPA Tightens Reporting Requirements for PFAS and other Chemicals of Special Concern

Pittsburgh, PA and Washington, DC

Environmental Alert

(By Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe)

In a final rule published in the Federal Register this Halloween, which we previewed at the time of proposal, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) increased the reporting requirements for per-and-polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other chemicals of special concern under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know-Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 11001-11050 (EPCRA), and the Pollution Prevention Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 13101-13109 (PPA). 88 Fed. Reg. 74360. EPA believes that these changes will provide regulators, industry, and the public with more insight into the presence of these chemicals. The rule will take effect on November 30, 2023, and will apply to the reporting year beginning on January 1, 2024.

EPCRA § 313 establishes a toxics release inventory (TRI) that requires certain facilities manufacturing, processing, or using chemicals above certain threshold amounts to report environmental releases and waste management activities for those chemicals on an annual basis. PPA § 6607 requires facilities to report pollution prevention and recycling data for chemicals listed on the TRI, as well. Among the chemicals listed on the TRI, EPA has designated certain chemicals as “chemicals of special concern.” See 40 C.F.R. 372.28. Chemicals of special concern are excluded from de minimis exemptions, as well as the use of simplified reporting forms and range reporting. Historically, chemicals of special concern were those that EPA had identified as persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic.

As part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (NDAA), Congress established two methods for adding PFAS to the TRI. Section 7321(b) of the NDAA added 14 PFAS by name or Chemical Abstract Service Registry Number and other PFAS that met specified criteria. …

November 6, 2023

Abigail Reecer Joins Babst Calland

Washington, DC

Abigail M. Reecer recently joined Babst Calland as an associate in the Energy and Natural Resources Group and Pipeline and HazMat Safety Practice. Ms. Reecer represents client in pipeline safety matters before the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), state agencies, and federal courts.

Prior to joining Babst Calland, Ms. Reecer was an associate with Hollingsworth LLP. He is a 2021 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center.

 

November 6, 2023

CAA Gag Clause Attestation Deadline Soon Approaching

Pittsburgh, PA

Employment Alert

(By Jenn Malik)

Employers and plan sponsors: December 31, 2023 is the deadline for submission of the inaugural Section 201 Gag Clause Prohibition Compliance Attestation (Attestation) to the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury (collectively, the Departments). The federal government passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act in 2020 (CAA) with the goal of improving price and quality transparency in healthcare. Specifically, Section 201 of the CAA prohibits employers/plan sponsors from entering into contractual arrangements that contain “gag clauses”, i.e. contractual provisions that would prevent a plan from accessing provider cost and quality information for plan participants. To ensure compliance, Section 201 requires that plans submit an annual attestation that the plan did not enter any agreements that contain gag clauses. This requirement applies to ERISA plans, non-federal governmental plans, church plans, grandfathered group health plans, and plans sold on the health insurance marketplace.

The Attestation can be completed online on CMS’s website either by the plan, on its own behalf, or a third party – typically, a TPA or health insurer. Submissions require an authentication code generated by the federal government to access the webform where the attestation can be made which is available here: https://hios.cms.gov/HIOS-GCPCA-UI.

The individual submitting the Attestation (Submitter), whether it be an authorized representative of the plan or a third-party, should be prepared to provide the following information to complete the Attestation:

  • Submitter’s name and contact information;
  • The Reporting Entity’s, i.e. Plan’s, information including a point of contact that can respond to the Departments’ questions about compliance with the prohibition on gag clauses;
  • A certification that the Reporting Entity is in compliance with the prohibition on gag clauses and has not entered into an agreement with a provider, network, or association of providers, TPA, or other service provider offering access to a network of providers that would directly or indirectly restrict Reporting Entity from disclosing information on cost, quality of care data, and certain other information to participants, beneficiaries or enrollees.1

Thereafter, plans must file an Attestation annually by December 31. …

November 2, 2023

University of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania Department of Health Release Studies Exploring the Relationships Between Unconventional Natural Gas Development and Specific Health Issues in Southwestern Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh, PA and Washington, DC

The Foundation Mineral and Energy Law Newsletter

Pennsylvania – Oil & Gas

(Joseph K. Reinhart, Sean M. McGovern, Gina F. Buchman and Matthew C. Wood)

In August 2023, the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health and the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) released three “observational epidemiological” studies presenting findings of potential health impacts from human exposure to unconventional natural gas development (UNGD) activities. The studies, which were conducted in eight counties in southwestern Pennsylvania, excluding the City of Pittsburgh, focused on three specific health issues: (1) asthma, (2) birth outcomes, and (3) certain childhood cancers.

In the Asthma Study, researchers reviewed medical treatment for asthma (categorized by severity), as well as how close the patient lived to UNGD activities (considering the number of wells, production volume, and the phase of well development, i.e., preparation, drilling, hydraulic fracturing, and production). The study found no relationship between asthma exacerbations and proximity to wells during the well pad preparation, drilling, or hydraulic fracturing phases, but found an increase during the production phase. The increases were fairly consistent in the lower, moderate, and higher exposure groups and therefore, the expected dose/response relationship (i.e., more asthma exacerbations with more exposure) was not found. See Univ. of Pittsburgh Sch. of Pub. Health, “Hydraulic Fracturing Epidemiology Research Studies: Asthma Outcomes” (July 31, 2023); DOH, “PA Health and Environment Study: Asthma” (Aug. 15, 2023).

For the Birth Outcomes Study, researchers reviewed birth records and the distance mothers lived from UNGD activities and other industrial activities. Researchers for the Birth Outcomes Study considered the number of wells, production volume, and the phase of well development, in addition to potential exposure from certain facilities, i.e., impoundment ponds, facilities accepting oil and gas waste, compressor stations, Superfund sites, and industrial sites with a toxic release inventory. …

November 2, 2023

To Infinity and Beyond? Pa. Supreme Court Casts Doubt Upon Presumptive Constitutional Limit for Punitive Damages

Harrisburg, PA and Charleston, WV

Legal Intelligencer

(by Casey Coyle, Stefanie Mekilo and Austin Rogers)

1995 was a watershed year.  Michael Jordan returned to the NBA after a two-year hiatus, Brad Pitt was named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine, and the world met Buzz Lightyear for the first time.  Today, Buzz remains a constant fixture in pop culture, thanks largely to his signature catchphrase: “To Infinity and . . . Beyond!”  Indeed, Buzz himself may use that phrase to describe the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s recent decision in Bert Co. v. Turk, 298 A.3d 44 (Pa. 2023), which calls into question the presumptive constitutional limit for punitive damages awards.

Background

In 2017, four employees with non-solicitation agreements left their employment with The Bert Company d/b/a Northwest Insurance Services and joined First National Insurance Agency, LLC.  They moved as part of what is known in business parlance as a “lift-out,” a practice in which a group of employees from one company are hired by a competitor.  Northwest filed suit and obtained a preliminary injunction enforcing the agreements.  At the ensuing trial, the jury exonerated three employees from any liability and exonerated the corporate defendants on two claims.  While they found the remaining employee and corporate defendants liable on other claims, the jury only awarded Northwest $250,000 of the roughly $4 million in compensatory damages sought; the award was joint and several.  However, the jury awarded Northwest $2.8 million in punitive damages—representing an 11.2:1 ratio of punitive-to-compensatory damages on a per-judgment basis.

Appellants challenged the punitive damages award as unconstitutional.  Under U.S. Supreme Court precedent, courts must consider three guideposts when determining if a punitive damages award comports with the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. …

November 2, 2023

Court Holds Pennsylvania’s RGGI Rule Unconstitutional

Pittsburgh, PA and Washington, DC

Environmental Alert

(by Kevin Garber and Jessica Deyoe)

On November 1, 2023, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania held that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s CO2 Budget Trading Program Regulation is an unconstitutional tax, declared the rule to be void, and enjoined DEP from enforcing it. See Bowfin KeyCon Holdings, LLC et al v. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (No. 247 M.D. 2022). The Regulation would have linked Pennsylvania’s cap-and-trade program to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which is the regional, market-based cap-and-trade program designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel-fired electric power generators with a capacity of 25 megawatts or greater that send more than 10 percent of their annual gross generation to the electric grid.

The Court reaffirmed its earlier July 8, 2022 opinion in which it preliminarily enjoined the Regulation as an unconstitutional tax. In this November 1 decision on the merits, the Court held that the Regulation constitutes a tax imposed by DEP in violation of the Pennsylvania Constitution.

Undisputed facts of record established that only 6 percent of RGGI auction proceeds are necessary to cover the cost of administering the program and that the annual revenue anticipated from RGGI would be three times greater than the total amount allocated to DEP from the General Fund in a single year. The Court found that the money to be generated by Pennsylvania’s participation in RGGI would be “grossly disproportionate” to the costs of overseeing participation in the program and DEP’s annual needs. Relying on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s opinion in Flynn v. Horst, 51 A.2d 54, 60 (Pa. 1947), which found that

[n]o principle is more firmly established in the law of Pennsylvania than the principle that a revenue tax cannot be constitutionally imposed upon a business under the guise of a police regulation, and that if the amount of a ‘license fee’ is grossly disproportionate to the sum required to pay the cost of the due regulation of the business the ‘license fee’ act will be struck down,

the Commonwealth Court concluded that Pennsylvania’s participation in RGGI “may only be achieved through legislation duly enacted by the Pennsylvania General Assembly, and not merely through the Rulemaking promulgated by DEP and EQB. …

November 2, 2023

Babst Calland Ranked in 2024 Best Law Firms®

Pittsburgh, PA, Charleston, WV and Washington, DC

Babst Calland has been recognized in the 2024 edition of Best Law Firms®, ranked by Best Lawyers®, nationally in 8 practice areas and regionally in 31 practice areas:

  • National Tier 1
    • Environmental Law
    • Litigation – Environmental
  • National Tier 2
    • Land Use & Zoning Law
    • Natural Resources Law
    • Oil & Gas Law
  • National Tier 3
    • Energy Law
    • Litigation – Construction
    • Mining Law
  • Regional Tier 1
    • Pittsburgh
      • Bet-the-Company Litigation
      • Commercial Litigation
      • Construction Law
      • Corporate Law
      • Energy Law
      • Environmental Law
      • Information Technology Law
      • Land Use & Zoning Law
      • Litigation – Construction
      • Litigation – Environmental
      • Litigation – Land Use & Zoning
      • Municipal Law
      • Natural Resources Law
      • Water Law
    • Charleston-WV
      • Commercial Litigation
      • Energy Law
      • Environmental Law
      • Litigation – Environmental
      • Oil & Gas Law
  • Regional Tier 2
    • Pittsburgh
      • Admiralty & Maritime Law
      • Labor Law – Management
    • Charleston-WV
      • Mining Law
      • Natural Resources Law
    • Washington, D.C.
      • Energy Law
      • Environmental Law
      • Litigation – Environmental
      • Oil & Gas Law
  • Regional Tier 3
    • Pittsburgh
      • Mergers &

    • …

November 1, 2023

Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Holds RGGI Rule Unconstitutional

Pittsburgh, PA and Washington, DC

The Foundation Mineral and Energy Law Newsletter

Pennsylvania – Mining

(Joseph K. Reinhart, Sean M. McGovern, Gina F. Buchman and Christina M. Puhnaty)

On November 1, 2023, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania held that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s (PADEP) CO2 Budget Trading Program Regulation (RGGI Rule) is an unconstitutional tax, declared the rule to be void, and enjoined PADEP from enforcing it. See Bowfin KeyCon Holdings, LLC v. PADEP, No. 247 M.D. 2022, 2023 WL 7171547 (Pa. Commw. Ct. Nov. 1, 2023).

After a lengthy rulemaking process, the RGGI Rule was published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. See 52 Pa. Bull. 2471 (Apr. 23, 2022). The RGGI Rule would have linked Pennsylvania’s cap-and-trade program to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which is the regional, market-based cap-and-trade program designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel-fired electric power generators with a capacity of 25 megawatts or greater that send more than 10% of their annual gross generation to the electric grid.

Two days after the RGGI Rule was published, a group of stakeholders filed a petition for review of the rule and an application for preliminary injunction in the commonwealth court. The court held a hearing on the preliminary injunction on May 10 and 11, 2022, and in a July 8, 2022, opinion, the court preliminarily enjoined the regulation as an unconstitutional tax.

In its November 1 decision on the merits, the court reaffirmed its earlier July 8, 2022, opinion, holding that the RGGI Rule constitutes a tax imposed by PADEP in violation of the Pennsylvania Constitution. …

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