Court Upholds Nonprofits’ Right To Sue in RGGI Case
Thursday, July 18, 2024, Harrisburg, P.A. (PennFuture) — Today, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania recognized the fundamental right of PennFuture, Clean Air Council, Sierra Club, and Environmental Defense Fund and their members to defend Pennsylvania’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), by overturning the Commonwealth Court’s June 28, 2022 denial of intervention.
Participation in RGGI would benefit Pennsylvanians and our economy by lowering carbon emissions, reducing air pollution, saving consumers money, and creating clean energy investment and family-sustaining jobs.
At issue was whether the environmental nonprofit organizations could intervene and become parties to defend the RGGI Regulation in several challenges before the Commonwealth Court. The nonprofits sought, among other things, to protect their members constitutional rights to a clean and healthy environment under Article I, section 27 of Pennsylvania’s constitution, often called the “Environmental Rights Amendment.” The Commonwealth Court believed that Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) “adequately represented” the nonprofit organizations’ interests in this case and denied the organizations’ application to participate as parties in the RGGI litigation.