Author: Steve Haner
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Wojick On Whales IV: Deaths Spiked with Surveys
By David Wojick The recent deaths of seven whales off New Jersey, mostly humpbacks, drew national media attention. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Directorate is responsible for whales. An outrageous statement by their spokesperson got me to do some research on humpback whale deaths. The results are appalling. The evidence seems clear that…
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Is Unnamed Partner on Wind Project Driving This New Dominion Regulation Rewrite?
By Steve Haner Without fanfare and without awakening the drowsy Capitol press corps, Dominion Energy Virginia dropped in legislation last week to set up a partnership on its most massive capital investment, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. Just who that partner might be, what if any benefits that provides to Dominion’s 2.6 million Virginia…
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School Choice for Poor Still Hard Sell to Democrats
By Chris Braunlich On being told that peasants were starving for lack of bread, Marie Antoinette is reputed to have said “Let them eat cake.” Marie Antoinette had nothing on Delegate Suhas Subramanyam. At a House subcommittee meeting on Wednesday, Delegate Subramanyam was confronted with more than a dozen low-income families and Black community leaders…
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SCC Term Bill Could Break Deadlock on Vacancies
By Steve Haner A Northern Virginia state senator has introduced legislation to change the terms of the members of the State Corporation Commission, perhaps creating a path to compromise on picking two or more new judges. Political deadlock between the Republican-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate has stalemated that process for more than a year. Democratic…
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After Federal Threat to Gas Stoves, Virginia Republicans Try Again on Right to Gas
by Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Legislation to enshrine the right to use natural gas and propane in Virginia law, a repeat of a failed effort from 2022, cleared a House of Delegates committee Tuesday. The ultimate showdown will come not in the Republican-controlled House but…
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Consumers Be Wary When Energy Elephants Dance
By Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. The Virginia House of Delegates is expected to vote this week to exempt certain Virginia manufacturers, which ones to be determined later, from the coming wave of energy costs created by Virginia’s rapid transition to unreliable forms of power generation.
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Has COVID Already Peaked for Winter 2023?
Last year in Virginia, the COVID-19 hospital count hit its winter season peak on January 12 at more than 3,700 beds occupied. Now the 7-day average is below 1.100, and Thursday’s daily count (reported Friday) dropped below 1,000 to 990. The most recent peak was Jan. 4. Flu and RSV are also on the wane,…
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Dominion Wants To Rewrite Its Own Rules Again
by Steve Haner First published today by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. The headlines in the coming General Assembly may be captured by fights over abortion and taxes, but the deepest reach into your pockets will involve your energy bills. The state’s dominant electric utility appears to once again be seeking to amend…
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New Youngkin Tax Cuts Total $7 Billion By 2028
by Steve Haner The set of Virginia tax changes Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) has baked into his proposed 2023 budget amendments is far more extensive and involves substantially more tax relief than the descriptions he offered in his December 15 presentation.
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SCC Drops Wind Energy Performance Standard
by Steve Haner The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) has abandoned its push for an offshore wind performance standard fiercely opposed by Dominion Energy Virginia. It agreed instead to some capital cost limitations for its project that the utility has endorsed . In a decision released today, the two commissioners accepted in full a stipulation put…
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Virginia Agrees To Compensate Fishing Industry For Damage From Offshore Wind
by Steve Haner Nine states, including Virginia, have agreed to establish a major compensation fund to pay their private commercial and recreational fishing companies for damages caused by offshore wind turbines. Three guesses where the money comes from. The announcement, made December 12, hints at it coming from project developers, but in Virginia of course…
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RGGI Tax, On Path to Repeal, Reaches $524 Million
by Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. The tax on each ton of carbon dioxide emitted by Virginia electricity plants dropped to below $13 a ton in the most recent sale of CO2 allowances conducted by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). That meant Virginia collected only…
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Why Does Dominion Fear a Wind Output Promise?
By Steve Haner While we await a decision by the State Corporation Commission on competing approaches for protecting consumers from unexpected offshore wind costs, some additional relevant information is worthy of notice. Two items call into question Dominion Energy Virginia’s refusal to assume financial risk for poor turbine performance.
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Feds: Whales Must Be Protected from Turbines
by Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Soon after a group of opponents to proposed East Coast offshore wind projects hired a law firm with environmental regulation expertise, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced a new plan to protect North Atlantic Right Whales and…
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No Climate Crisis. Very Little Climate Change.
by Steve Haner Wednesday’s climate propaganda sermon in the Richmond Times-Dispatch focused on the most recent failure of alarmist media messaging concerning the now-completed Atlantic hurricane season, which turned out to be average. It was predicted to be far more active than average, so once again the prophets of doom were wrong. Folks in Florida…