The Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board on Thursday unanimously approved a draft regulation to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and link Virginia to a carbon-trading network of nine other states.
The draft rule was the product of months of study by an advisory group of industry, environmental and government representatives convened in 2016 by Gov. Terry McAuliffe and a string of meetings earlier this year by a regulatory panel who worked with the state Department of Environmental Quality to hammer out the regulation.
If the rule is adopted, Virginia would become the 10th state to trade carbon allowances through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and the 12th state to impose carbon pricing regulations on the power sector, according to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group in Arlington.
