As with similar measures related to climate change, the proposals proved divisive in the General Assembly, nixing the potential for an override of Northam’s veto.

Both bills passed along party lines in the legislature, where Republicans hold power by just a handful of seats. Legislators would need a two-thirds vote in each chamber to override a veto.

“We’re disappointed but not surprised,” Parker Slaybaugh, a spokesman for Speaker of the House Kirk Cox, said in a statement about Northam’s vetoes. “He is apparently as beholden to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her ‘green new deal’ as the rest of the Democratic Party,” Slaybaugh said, referring to the congresswoman from New York.

Dominion Energy has also opposed the RGGI regulation, telling state environmental officials last week that the initial cap of 28 million tons per year is too high.

“We remain concerned that the commonwealth’s linkage to the RGGI program through the Virginia carbon proposal with its now significantly lower proposed starting emissions cap would disadvantage Virginia generation ... and result in an undue burden on its customer,” the company’s statement reads.