Category: Environment
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VCEA Added Costs Exceed $2,000 per Household?
by Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. By 2050 Virginia’s transition to wind and solar power under the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) could add almost $200 a month on average to a residential electric bill. Previous estimates of the consumer cost of dumping all fossil fuels…
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Infrastructure Bill, Meet Richmond’s United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
by James C. Sherlock The President and members of Congress have celebrated the enactment of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act into law. In Virginia and the other states (Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia) of the federal Fourth Circuit, good luck with that. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit just published two…
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Weather Writer/Climate Warrior Defends RGGI Tax
by Steve Haner The Richmond Times-Dispatch weather reporter has entered the political debate over Governor Glenn Youngkin’s efforts to exit the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). But is he really a weather reporter, or a climate warrior? Sean Sublette’s on-line report on RGGI is packaged as a simple recitation of facts, but it is the…
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Bills Reversing Green New Deal Advance, Stutter
by Steve Haner “To say that an electric stove is as good as a gas one is misunderstanding the art of cooking.” That line was used by a restaurant industry lobbyist February 3 in a House of Delegates committee debate on a bill seeking to protect the use of natural gas in Virginia homes and…
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Energy Reform Bills Due for Decisions Soon
by Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. The highest priority on a Virginia energy reform agenda proposed a few weeks ago was restoring State Corporation Commission oversight over decisions on massive renewable energy investments. Under current law, the General Assembly has basically dictated billions of dollars in such…
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First Bill to Amend VCEA Buried by Committee
by Steve Haner The first of several pending bills to slow Virginia’s rush to an expensive energy future based on unreliable electricity just failed in a Republican-controlled committee. There is every reason to expect the same fate for two other pending measures with similar goals. In past years energy bills have gone to a subcommittee,…
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Youngkin Backs Virginia Senate, House Bills that Offer Real Coastal Flood Protection
by James C. Sherlock Some of us, led by then-Delegate Jason Miyares, have been trying for years to establish a state authority that finally can bring regional storm surge protections to Virginia. Now we have a chance. For whatever reasons, we could never get a governor behind the proposal. Gov. Youngkin has stepped up and…
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Do Not Move RGGI Tax Into Utility Base Rates
by Steve Haner Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) is seeking to get Virginia out of a regional carbon tax compact, yet inexplicably has offered supporters of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) a path to protect it. His proposal would remove the tax on monthly electric bills which has galvanized opposition and move the cost of…
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Poll: Most Democrats Dislike RGGI Carbon Tax
by Steve Haner First published today by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. The high consumer cost of Virginia’s forced conversion to a fossil fuel-free economy remains unpopular with Republican and Independent voters, but is supported by many Democrats, a recent poll revealed. Even Democrats, however, dislike a new carbon tax that is now…
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Bill Creates, Protects Right to Natural Gas Service
by Steve Haner Efforts to repeal or amend the Virginia Clean Economy Act are not the only bills pending at this 2022 General Assembly to mount a bit of defense against The War on Fossil Fuels. If the City of Richmond decides in the future to close its municipal natural gas utility, a step its…
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Energy Reliability, Cost Concern Some Democrats?
by Steve Haner First published by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. The Department of Energy, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Quality, shall analyze the life cycle of renewable energy facilities, including solar, wind, and battery storage components. The analysis shall assess the (i) feasibility, costs, recycling and salvage opportunities, waste strategies,…
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Impractical Solar Power, Illustrated With the Math
by David Wojick This was first published at cfact.org and is reproduced with Wojick’s permission. Many states and the utilities they regulate are talking about replacing their coal and gas fired generators with solar and wind power. For example, I recently wrote about how the crazy-named Virginia Clean Economy Act already has almost 800 square…
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A Regulatory Path to End the RGGI Carbon Tax
by Steve Haner First published today by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) will proceed to remove Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative carbon tax compact by the same route Virginia entered it: he will push to repeal the underlying regulation. As with much else in his promised “Day…
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Can Financially Failing Coal Plant Be Closed?
by Steve Haner The economic decision on whether and when to cut and run from a losing investment is always complicated. The debate over the future of Dominion Energy Virginia’s economically failing coal plant in Wise County will be complicated by power politics. The State Corporation Commission has been asked to accept an agreement between…
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Time for Fireworks — Youngkin Appoints Trump EPA Chief
by James A. Bacon Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin has signaled a major shift in Virginia’s environmental policy with two appointments: Andrew Wheeler as Secretary of Natural Resources and Michael Rolband as Director of Environmental Quality (DEQ). “Virginia needs a diverse energy portfolio in place to fuel our economic growth, continued preservation of our natural resources, and…