Virginia has taken a first step toward joining the East Coast’s regional carbon-trading market, a move that would drive down the state’s greenhouse gas emissions and help reshape the power sector in the traditional coal state.

State regulators on Thursday unanimously approved a draft proposed rule that would cap emissions from Virginia’s electricity sector beginning in 2020 and reduce them by 30 percent over a decade. Under the proposal, Virginia would join nine other states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the nation’s longest-running mandatory carbon market.

Read More (Inside Climate News)