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Governor Glenn Youngkin’s pledge to remove Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) was approved on June 7 by the state’s Air Pollution Control Board, raising the prospects that Virginia’s ratepayers may soon be rid of an onerous RGGI-related carbon tax.

“Today’s common-sense vote by the Air Board to repeal RGGI protects Virginians from the failed program that is not only a regressive tax on families, but also does nothing to reduce pollution,” Youngkin, a Republican, said in a statement after the vote.

Now that Youngkin’s proposal has cleared the Air Pollution Control Board, it will move to an executive review period, after which it is expected to be posted in the Virginia Register. Once it is posted in its final form, environmental groups favorable to RGGI are expected to file lawsuits challenging the governor’s move. The state’s administrative procedures, coupled with the…