By Laura Vogel
The Southern Environmental Law Center has fought—and won—some mighty environmental battles in its 35 years of existence. Right now, though, it’s in the midst of one of its biggest legal challenges: Pulling Virginia away from the brink of leaving the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative for good, after Governor Glenn Youngkin encouraged the state Air Pollution Control Board to repeal the regulation.
RGGI (sometimes pronounced “Reggie”) is a 2009 Northern creation that was making great headway in the South. The first group of states to join the greenhouse-gas-fighting, regional intergovernmental market included Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
As a program, RGGI works by mandating a cap on CO2 emissions from fossil fuel-powered stations within each states’ borders by making facilities buy allowances equal to the pollution they produce. The funds collected by RGGI then go toward investments in their communities: Residents get help with home improvements like weatherization, bill assistance for lower-income households, and other clean-energy benefits.
A study by the Clean Air Task Force on public-health benefits of the program found that the transition to cleaner energy in RGGI-member states saves hundreds of lives, prevents thousands of asthma attacks, and lowers citizens’ medical expenses by billions of dollars. As well, more than $6 billion has been raised in RGGI states from sales of CO2 allowances.
But Virginia’s Air Pollution Control Board removed the commonwealth from RGGI in June 2023. That August, the SELC filed a petition on behalf of four clients challenging the action. In a November 3 ruling, the Fairfax Circuit Court dismissed three of those clients—Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions, Appalachian Voices, and Virginia Interfaith Power & Light—and transferred the case to Floyd County, where the SELC’s fourth client, the Association of Energy Conservation Professionals, is headquartered. Now, the pending state budget proposal includes a provision that would require Virginia to rejoin RGGI. At press time, Youngkin had not made a decision on the budget.
For the SELC, these are promising steps forward. Senior attorney Nate Benforado, who is the leader of the nonprofit’s initiative to get Virginia back into RGGI, says, “We are pleased with [the court’s] decision, which allows this case to move forward and will ensure the administration’s decision to leave RGGI—which we have repeatedly alleged is unlawful—will be reviewed by a court. We look forward to the next steps in this action and will work as expeditiously as possible to get Virginia back in RGGI.”
Some may wonder why the Youngkin administration is against what seems to be an overwhelmingly positive environmental program. When asked by C-VILLE for a statement, the governor’s press office replied with a quote from Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources Travis Voyles, who says, “RGGI functions as a regressive tax that does not do anything to incentivize the reduction of emissions in Virginia. Our state Air Pollution Control Board has concluded that Virginia is not required to be in RGGI and that the citizens of Virginia should not be forced to pay higher energy bills to support the previous administration’s failed programs. The Office of the Attorney General confirmed the state Air Pollution Control Board has the legal authority to take action on the regulatory proposal using the full regulatory process—and the board voted to do just that—furthering Virginians’ access to a reliable, affordable, clean, and growing supply of power. Virginians will see a lower energy bill in due time because we are withdrawing from RGGI through a regulatory process.”
Cale Jaffe, the director of the University of Virginia’s Environmental Law and Community Engagement Clinic, filed an amicus brief for Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action and the Virginia Energy Efficiency Council in support of RGGI in Virginia in the Fairfax hearings. When questioned about the Youngkin administration’s repeal of RGGI, he says, “It’s impossible for me to conjecture what their motives are.” When asked if he believes SELC and other stakeholders will reinstate RGGI, Jaffe says, “There’s a really strong argument in the law that participation in RGGI is in the Virginia code, which makes it more than just an easy-to-repeal legislation. It was codified in statute, a legislation that had passed both houses and was signed by the governor, not just a simple law that a past governor [Democrat Ralph Northam] approved and the next one can repeal.”
The positive effects of RGGI are quantifiable. “The science and the policy are clear: We need to reduce carbon pollution, and generating power is the largest source of this pollution in our atmosphere,” Benforado explains. “RGGI gives flexibility to power-plant owners. It’s not micromanaging, it’s giving a market-based solution to reigning in greenhouse gas. In RGGI’s first two years in Virginia—we joined in 2020—carbon emissions from power plants dropped a whopping 22 percent.”
The state of Virginia gives about half the proceeds of RGGI fees to communities along coasts and rivers that face the threat of flooding. The remaining 50 percent goes to new energy-efficient, affordable housing, reducing pollution and lowering utility bills for families—most of whom are lower-income.
“Most of our effort is aimed at monopoly utility companies, like Dominion and Appalachian Power,” says Benforado, “as they produce 70 percent of carbon emissions. RGGI is focused on pollution going down, steadily reducing emissions over time. Since we’re in active legislation, I can’t really go into the defense; the Youngkin administration says it’s not working. It obviously is. This is a very successful policy tool, bringing down emissions, bringing in cleaner energy.”
When asked how RGGI is benefiting the Charlottesville area, Benforado excitedly talks about the energy-efficient redevelopment of Kindlewood (formerly Friendship Court), the downtown low-income housing complex. “One of the really cool things that RGGI money has done for our town is helped fund the complete renewal of this community-owned property,” he says. “The Piedmont Housing Alliance was able to use RGGI proceeds to make new units with super-efficient HVAC systems as well as weatherizing and updating the systems in older housing. So, instead of, say, $100 a month in utilities, a tenant may now pay as little as $10.”
Set just a few blocks southeast of the SELC headquarters, Kindlewood was initially a Section-8 complex. First built as a 12-acre master block after the previous African American neighborhood fabric was erased during “urban renewal,” the community has largely remained economically and physically isolated from the rest of the city, but the Piedmont Housing Alliance is working to change that. The 150-unit structure has recently undergone new-unit construction and energy-efficiency upgrades funded by RGGI capital.
Sunshine Mathon, executive director of the Piedmont Housing Alliance, is the leader of the Kindlewood renovation and new construction. “We are driven to promote deep energy efficiency and affordable housing benefiting lower-income Charlottesville residents,” he says. “For about 20 years, we have worked diligently to highlight the good stories and impact of RGGI funds.”
“Each state has its own control over its RGGI funds—here, 50 percent goes into HIEE [Housing Innovations in Energy Efficiency], so a lot goes into weatherization for low-income houses,” Mathon continues. “One of the beautiful things about RGGI is that it pairs HIEE program funding parallel with other sources. Rental projects that would be out of our reach are made possible by RGGI money. It’s a game-changer. Before Virginia officially joined RGGI we were learning about deep energy efficiency, and now we are able to put that knowledge to use for people that need it most.”
When asked about the Youngkin administration’s repeal of RGGI, Mathon says, “It doesn’t make sense. I don’t know why he did it.”
The cool office that’s cooling the planet
Started in Charlottesville in 1988 by environmental lawyer Rick Middleton, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, the SELC has always been at the forefront of environmental law in the United States. Many organizations had given up on fighting environmental injustice in the South due to its conservative politics, but SELC flourished, and grew from a small office in downtown Charlottesville to also encompass centers in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, with over 200 employees in total. The Charlottesville office remains its headquarters, with a sprawling new modern space, and a team of over 50, just south of downtown on Garrett Street.
Apex Plaza at 120 Garrett Street is the largest mass-timber building on the East Coast. Encompassing the entire fourth floor of the building, the SELC offices are LEED Gold–certified.
The building is made of structural wood harvested from fast-growth timber, and the building is actively helping the environment: Much like a healthy tree stores carbon dioxide, one square meter of cross-laminated timber can remove approximately one ton of the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. Additionally, the building’s 875 solar panels produce approximately 364,000 kWh per year of electricity, the equivalent of 88 tons of recycling being saved from landfills.
The SELC headquarters was awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification in August 2022, and features progressive amenities such as bike parking, a shower and changing room, and EV charging stations. Apex Plaza was constructed on an underutilized lot in Charlottesville, just a five-minute walk from downtown’s existing amenities, helping to reduce sprawl and promote dense, multi-use neighborhoods.
During construction, emphasis was put on reducing waste and repurposing materials. To that end, more than 60 percent of the furnishings, by cost, were reused or salvaged and contractors diverted more than 70 percent of their waste from the landfill. Recycling stations for paper, cardboard, plastics, aluminum cans and metals, batteries, and e-waste are distributed throughout the space to continue minimizing what is sent to landfills.
Other more subtle design choices with a green impact include window placement to maximize natural light, and toilets, faucets, and dishwashers all chosen for their efficient use of water.
Additional features contributing to the office’s LEED status are hydration stations to avoid single-use water bottles, sensors that turn lights out when a room isn’t being used, compost collection, and power sourced from solar panels.