Category: Energy
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Dominion Hides Huge Offshore Wind Cost-Risk
by David Wojik The offshore wind industry is suffering a runaway cost crisis, but Dominion Energy says the cost of its monster project will not go up. Apparently, there is not even a risk of it going up. This preposterous claim is worth exploring. On the crisis side, I recently wrote about it in general…
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Virginia’s Forced Technology Hits a Speed Bump
by Bill O’Keefe The Virginia General Assembly, as a result of past Democrat control, has mandated through the Clean Economy Act and a 2021 law a low-emission and zero-emission motor vehicle program for model year 2025 and beyond. In the process it has demonstrated the folly of using technology to force through large subsidies, as…
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One Hand Applauds for Dominion “Bill Relief”
by Steve Haner Dominion Energy Virginia’s customers still owe it $1.26 billion for fuel they have already used, as of the end of June. The utility is going to give us either seven or ten years to pay off that debt, but at a total cost of over $1.54 billion if we take seven years…
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Electricity Bill Caps for Poor Start in November
by Steve Haner Beginning next winter, low- income customers of Dominion Energy Virginia or Appalachian Power Company will be eligible to have their monthly bills capped under a new state financial assistance program. The income cut off to qualify for Virginia’s new Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP) assisting low income households with their electric…
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Clean Virginia Win is Bad News for Gas Consumers
By Steve Haner Renewable energy donor Clean Virginia Fund was the biggest winner in Tuesday’s Democratic primaries, going head to head against Dominion Energy Virginia in several nomination contests and often winning. Senior incumbent Democrats with strong Green New Deal voting records went down to defeat, because good wasn’t good enough.
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RGGI Reg Repealed, But RGGI Tax Returns to Bills
by Steve Haner Virginia’s Air Pollution Control Board voted Wednesday to remove Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, keeping Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin’s promise to eliminate the related carbon tax that has been imposed on electricity ratepayers under RGGI since January 2021. The bad news is the tax itself won’t disappear until at the…
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Mountain Valley Pipeline Back Thanks to McCarthy-Biden Debt Deal
by Shaun Kenney As part of the debt ceiling deal, the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), long thought dead, is now suddenly back in the cards. But don’t expect bulldozers back in Virginia anytime soon, as the 4th Federal Circuit Court of Appeals is not expected to grant permission to cross any streams or wetlands before…
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New Offshore Wind Power Project Proposed to Come Ashore in a Virginia Beach Flood Zone
by James C. Sherlock There is a dominant engineering problem in bringing offshore wind-generated electricity ashore in Virginia Beach. Flooding and water tables very close to the surface are the twin reasons there are few basements in Virginia Beach. And those that have them regret it. The 2020 Virginia Beach FEMA Flood Hazard Map is…
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Is Dominion Campaigning Behind a Front Again?
By Steve Haner An electric power industry lobbying and public relations group which has been financially supported by Dominion Energy Virginia is mailing out flyers to voters praising legislative incumbents who helped Dominion pass favorable legislation this year. A mailer supporting incumbent Fairfax Democratic Senator George Barker caused the Democrat blog Blue Virginia to respond…
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First Lawsuit Over Whales and Wind Dismissed
By Steve Haner A federal district judge in Massachusetts has rejected an effort to stop an offshore wind project near Nantucket Island on the basis of danger to whales, apparently the first court test of similar claims being raised against wind turbine proposals along the U.S. eastern seaboard, including here in Virginia. On May 17,…
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The Folly of Electrification
by Bill O’Keefe Although Dominion Energy seems to be hedging on its 2040 goal, Virginia is still stuck with the Virginia Clean Economy Act net zero mandate and its participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which seeks to achieve an 80 percent reduction in emissions by 2050. However, neither the General Assembly nor Dominion…
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Dominion Seeks Permit to Harass 100s of Whales
By David Wojick The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is taking public comments on a massive proposal to harass large numbers of whales and other marine mammals off Virginia by building a huge offshore wind complex. There is supposed to be an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed harassment, but it is not there…
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Renewables? Fossil Fuels? Americans Want Both.
by Steve Haner Given a choice between an energy future that is dependent on a) generation using sun, wind or falling water; or b) thermal generation sources using fossil fuels or uranium; or c) a combination of both, which do Americans prefer? Should it surprise anybody that the answer is both? Reliance on both, the…
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Christie Using FERC Pulpit for Dire Prophecy
by Steve Haner Virginian Mark Christie is using his position on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as a national pulpit to preach a message of energy reliability doom, and he is being heard. It helps that he is not alone in spreading the alarm. It also helps that he is basing his warning on actual…