Pa. Moving Forward On Power Plant Emission Caps

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration says it’ll start working to bring Pennsylvania into a regional consortium that sets a price and caps on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.  Administration officials said Wolf will make the formal announcement Thursday that he’s ordering a start to the process of joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a consortium of northeastern and mid-Atlantic states.  Wolf’s aides have approached top lawmakers in recent months about passing legislation to authorize the move, without success. However, Wolf’s administration also has maintained that it can write regulations for the cap-and-trade program under its existing authority to regulate air pollution.  The Democrat’s move is part of his effort to fight climate change in the nation’s No. 3 electric power state and could mean the worst-polluting power plants must pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the state annually.