Floyd County Circuit Court Judge Randall Lowe determined Wednesday that Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin acted unlawfully by withdrawing Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a program to reduce climate changing emissions that has funneled hundreds of millions to the state to deal with the impact of extreme weather events.

In his five-page opinion, Lowe wrote that “the only body with the authority to repeal the RGGI regulation would be the General Assembly. This is because a statute, the RGGI Act, requires the RGGI regulation to exist.”

“For the reasons set out in this opinion, the court finds that the attempted repeal of the RGGI Regulation is unlawful, and thereby null and void,” Lowe wrote. 

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is a multi-state program in which electricity producers in participating states are required to buy allowances for the emissions they produce.

The proceeds from the allowances are returned to the states, where, in Virginia, about $830 million had been generated for programs increasing flood resiliency and energy efficiency efforts.

In Virginia, utilities are allowed to recover the costs of those allowances from ratepayers, which prompted Youngkin to call the program a “hidden tax.” In the fall of 2022, Youngkin began the process of repealing the regulation through the State Air Pollution Control Board, and the board approved Virginia’s withdrawal from RGGI in August 2023.

Environmental groups and Democratic lawmakers repeatedly said the withdrawal was unlawful and hurt Virginians.

Billy Weitzenfeld, the former executive director of the Association of Energy Conservation Professionals said in a statement,

“All along we knew that the actions taken by the Air Board and DEQ were wrong.”

His group, which filed the challenge over the repeal, was granted standing in the case by Lowe because the repeal of the regulation meant the association was injured by losing a source of revenue to carry out their energy efficiency work.

“This is a win for communities across Virginia who have benefited from the state’s participation in RGGI in the past and those that now will have a chance to continue to see those benefits,” Weitzenfeld said.

In response to Lowe’s determination, Christian Martinez, Youngkin’s press secretary said, “We respectfully disagree with the judge’s decision and will pursue an appeal.”

“Gov. Youngkin remains committed to lowering the cost of living for Virginians by continuing to oppose the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which fails to effectively incentivize emission reductions in the Commonwealth,” Martinez said. “Instead, it functions as a regressive tax, hidden in utility bills passed on to all Virginians.”

This story originally appeared at virginiamercury.com.