Category: Business and Economy
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Wojick on Whales II: Missing BOEM Report?
by David Wojick In my previous article I raised this question: what is the potential adverse impact of Virginia’s massive offshore wind project on the severely endangered North Atlantic Right Whales? Answering this basic question should be a central feature of the upcoming Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA) required for the wind project by the National…
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Regulations and the Costs of Doing Business in Virginia
by James C. Sherlock About the only category I found interesting in the “Top States for Business” rankings by CNBC, other than the progressive metrics that are featured in many of the categories, is “Cost of Doing Business.” Virginia’s worst score among the six categories of metrics is that one. The methodology used for costs…
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What About That Price of Gas?!!
by Dick Hall-Sizemore There was much wailing — on this blog, in Virginia, and in the nation — as gas prices approached and then exceeded $5 per gallon recently. Governor Youngkin and President Biden used those price levels to call for suspension of gas taxes. And what was the reaction of the general populace to…
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Can Dominion Be Made To Stand Behind Promises?
by Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Second of two articles. In promoting its proposed Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project, Dominion Energy Virginia has made many specific projections about its costs and performance. The State Corporation Commission is now being advised to convert one or more…
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Offshore Wind Risks Stressed in SCC Briefs
by Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. First of two articles, with the second coming tomorrow. Virginia’s State Corporation Commission has now received a series of legal briefs offering opinions on what steps, under the law, it can take to protect Dominion Energy Virginia consumers from the…
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This Year the VRS “Diet COLA” Will Really Hurt
by Steve Haner The most recent year-over-year inflation measure approached 9%, with many key food or energy items growing in cost even faster. The official inflation estimate just used to increase the state’s gasoline taxes as of July 1 was 7%. So what inflation factor will be used to adjust state and local employee pensions…
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Dropping? Nope, Gas Tax Now Rises July 1
by Steve Haner Virginia’s gasoline and diesel taxes will rise 7% on July 1, about three more cents per gallon when all the elements of the tax are combined. This is the inflation-driven cost of living adjustment which Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) and most legislative Republicans tried to short circuit, but which was preserved by…
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How Many Pieces Did You Say It Will Take To Build This Plant?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore There is more good news for the Commonwealth. As reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Governor Youngkin announced on Wednesday that the Lego Group will invest at least $1 billion to build a new manufacturing facility in Chesterfield County. It would be Lego’s only manufacturing facility in the United States. The company projected…
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America’s Petroleum Refining Capacity in the News – What is Going On?
By James C. Sherlock This is a note about perhaps the highest profile national inflation issue, the price of gasoline and diesel. The President is demanding more supply from U.S. refineries. Headlines like this one blare at us today: Biden threatens oil companies with ’emergency powers’ if they don’t boost supply amid inflation spike. The…
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A History Lesson for the Governor
by Dick Hall-Sizemore In announcing the latest revenue collections (they are high), Governor Youngkin renewed his pitch for tax cuts, commenting, “This report confirms that the time is now to deliver meaningful tax cuts to Virginia families who are getting crushed by five-dollar gas and record-high inflation.” That statement gave me pause. “Record-high inflation”? I…
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Oink! Another Supply Chain Disruption
by James A. Bacon Virginia-based Smithfield Foods has announced its intention to close its Vernon, Calif., meat-packing plant, which employs 1,800 people and pays $21 per hour on average. The company cited “high costs and over-regulation” for the decision. The costs of doing business in California “are significantly higher than other states where we operate,”…
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Fuel Costs Explode on Dominion Bills in July
by Steve Haner Are you enjoying paying more for gasoline? Have you noticed how that works its way through and inflates the price of just about everything else you buy? The other shoe drops in July when Dominion Energy Virginia increases its prices to reflect the rising cost of fuel. It will also spread more…
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Commonwealth Set for Major Broadband Expansion
by Dick Hall-Sizemore One of the issues underlined by the pandemic was the need for all areas of the state to have access to broadband internet. Without access to broadband, kids (and adults) in rural areas cannot take advantage of courses offered online. To the extent that more people will be working remotely, rural areas…
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The Defense Production Act as a Political Tool to Boost Solar Farms
by James C. Sherlock We have had multiple discussions, good ones, on the issues surrounding solar farms in Virginia. Jim Bacon wrote an excellent column about it in February of 2021 titled “The Political Economy of Solar Farms.” It was good then and prescient as of yesterday. He wrote another one two days earlier. From that…
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Virginia Snags Another Fortune 500 H.Q.
by James A. Bacon Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon Technologies has announced that it will establish its global headquarters in Arlington. Following the recent decision of The Boeing Company to relocate its headquarters from Chicago to Arlington, the move cements Northern Virginia’s standing as the leading defense/aerospace cluster in the United States. “The location increases agility in…