Author: Steve Haner
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Despite Success, a Failure Warning from SCHEV?
Hiding the silver lining deep in a grey cloud, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia reported today that Virginia is meeting its educational attainment goals to date and is on track to meet its aggressive 2030 higher education target.
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Three 2016 Dominion Solar Plants Missed Targets
Some of Dominion Energy Virginia’s recent solar installations, despite using technology designed to track the moving sun, have turned in disappointing energy results, fueling skepticism at the State Corporation Commission toward the utility’s claims for future solar energy success.
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SCC Demanding Data in Future EE, DSM Cases
Two recent State Corporation Commission rulings on utility-sponsored energy efficiency and demand management programs produced contrary results for the applicants but a consistent theme of SCC skepticism in the absence of hard data and a demand for more data going forward. The SCC last week approved all eleven new or continued programs proposed by Dominion…
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Dominion Tool? The GA Is an Entire Toolbox
Retiring state Senator Frank Wagner gets appointed to some job by Governor Ralph Northam Friday and the headline on Blue Virginia labels him a “Dominion tool.” But has the other legislator being rewarded with a full-time job, Delegate Mathew James, cast any votes against the state’s favorite political whipping boy?
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Is the Goal Cutting CO2 or Imposing a Tax?
While it would have been a popular step with his political base, and one he was expected to take, Governor Ralph Northam may have been smart to pass on seeking to veto state budget language preventing Virginia membership in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
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All Fatal Wounds Are Self-Inflicted
There’s no better example of how great Virginia Republicans are at forming circular firing squads than the disaster underway in the 97th House of Delegates district, where allies of the incumbent are seeking to change the rules and cancel a nominating convention he was about to lose.
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Bacon Bits: Restored Licenses; Dominion’s Millstone Plant; RGGI
Wait. How many suspended licenses? Today’s Virginia Mercury has one of those stories that raises more questions than it answers, this one about the suspended driving license issue. My warning that there would be massive lines at DMV were groundless because, hey, these people still have their actual licenses. DMV never got them back or…
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Dominion Projects Tied To Facebook Approved
Ratepayers of Dominion Energy Virginia will start in June to pay for construction and operation of two solar energy facilities in Surry County intended to meet Facebook’s renewable energy goals. The State Corporation Commission decided one issue created by the case in favor of consumers but punted on another that pit one group of customers…
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Is Winter Coming For Virginia Pipeline Projects?
The building season is here, but for developers of Virginia’s two hotly-contested natural gas pipelines, activity is back in the government agencies and courthouses. The construction sites remain largely silent, delays running up the ultimate cost of the projects, including the cost of failure. Here is my (probably flawed) attempt at a status report. And…
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Medicaid: Report The Taxes Along With The Growth
Virginia makes is easy to track the growth of Medicaid enrollment since the decision a year ago to expand coverage but tracking the tax dollars behind the scenes is another matter. The new enrollment expansion dashboard on the Department of Medical Assistance Services website is updated every couple of weeks, with the April 4 report…
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Bacon Bits: I-81 Taxes, VCCS Shrinkage, Solar
The Numbers on Interstate 81: Tax First, Explain Later When you approve a major tax increase with amendments proposed just a few days before the General Assembly’s reconvened session, as happened last week, discussion is limited and there is almost no hard data on the financial impact available to the public. You tax first and…
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Tuition Monster Tamed? Don’t Relax Just Yet.
It is premature to declare victory in the effort to restore sanity to tuition decisions at Virginia’s state colleges, but several factors seem to be coming together to give students and their families a break for the coming school term. Repeat: For the coming school term.
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2019 Assembly Had No Bark, Bite On Ethics
It is always important to listen for the dogs that don’t bark, and the 2019 General Assembly showed neither bark nor bite on issues of money, politics and ethics. Everything in Virginia is just fine with the legislators themselves, apparently. So fine that the only significant bill involving the Virginia Conflict of Interests and Ethics…
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Another Double Dip? That’s One Issue With Dominion’s Proposed Market-Based Rate
Dominion Energy Virginia’s proposed market-based pricing structure for large industrial customers has been criticized as a way for the utility to double collect, harking back to a key issue during the 2018 legislative push for its Grid Transformation and Security Act.
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How Government Creates Poverty: Fines and Fees
Government is much better at creating poverty than at curing it. Yesterday the General Assembly voted to end the practice of suspending driving licenses for non-payment of fines or restitution or both and ordered Department of Motor Vehicles to restore driving privileges for hundreds of thousands of Virginians. If you need to do business at…