Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey tax carbon emissions from in-state fossil fuel generators while neighboring states in the same electricity marketplace do not. The result is regional havoc: failed wholesale markets, soaring retail prices, eroding reliability, blackouts and higher regional greenhouse gas emissions.

The policy culprit is the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) — a cooperative agreement among 11 northeastern states that caps CO2 emissions from power plants. In practice, RGGI functions as a carbon tax: Fossil fuel plants in member states must buy allowances in proportion to their emissions.

A carbon tax can be an effective policy when applied evenly across a single market. But that’s not the case here. Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey are part of the regional power m

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