Virginia Agency’s Proposal Puts Vital Flood Risk Reduction Program at Risk

The Pew Charitable Trusts submitted comments on Oct. 26, 2022, to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality regarding its proposal to end Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Pew’s letter urged Governor Glenn Youngkin’s administration to reverse course, noting that among its other benefits, RGGI’s auction of carbon allowances generates essential revenue for the Community Flood Preparedness Fund (CFPF), the commonwealth’s only dedicated funding source for community-scale flood mitigation projects. To date, the CFPF, which was established in 2020 with broad bipartisan majorities in both legislative chambers, has collected more than $200 million through RGGI and allocated $46 million to flood risk-reduction projects and local capacity building.