Virginia is at a crossroad. Either we decide to plan for the next 50 years now or we face energy shortages in the future. If we wish to maintain our robust business climate we must have a consistent, high quality supply of electricity and transportation fuels.
Without question, coal is an important resource to Virginia and to make changes in production and use will require a well thought out energy plan and a large capital outlay.
While the potential exists, if renewable sources are to provide energy in Virginia they have a lot of growing up to do. Questions surrounding commercial viability, cost and integration make it unlikely that they are a near term option.
If Virginia wants to continue to be the number one business friendly state we need to plan for and implement a strategic energy plan. A daunting task if not for the potential of Generation IV nuclear reactors.
Virginia needs to plan and implement now to provide adequate and reliable electrical energy well into the twenty first century. For economic growth to continue Virginia needs to expand energy production.
A Renewable Energy Standard will hurt Virginia. Congress needs to take it out of the climate change legislation they are currently considering.
As hard as it may be to believe, politicians seem to have forgotten all about the energy price spikes from just a year ago. However, unless something drastic changes the restrictions on domestic energy production will only bring a return of higher energy costs as the economy recovers.
Capturing CO2 from power plants in the quantities required is currently not technically feasible, and would substantially increase the cost of electricity.
Drilling for oil and natural gas off our coast makes economic and national security sense. We need to start exploring now in order to know how much we can produce.
Renewable energy has been making big promises for a long time. Maybe it really is time to drill here and drill now.
