Following a Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania order dissolving a previously issued stay, the Legislative Reference Bureau has advised the court that it intends to publish Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) regulations joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on Saturday, April 23, 2022.  On April 18, 2022, the Commonwealth Court recognized that its stay expired by operation of law.  The stay order precluded the publication of regulations in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, the last procedural step to finalize those regulations. 

On the same day, DEP sought to dismiss its appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court over the Commonwealth Court’s stay of the publication of the RGGI regulations.  

While it does appear the regulation is slated for publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin and completion of the rulemaking process, what will happen next remains unclear – will the regulations be upheld?  Will they be stayed during litigation challenging the rule’s legitimacy? These questions create significant decisions for affected power plants about whether and how to plan for the regulations.