Category: Environment
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Should Choice of Supplier Extend to Natural Gas?
by Steve Haner Should there be retail choice for natural gas? The developers of a proposed natural gas-fired merchant electricity plant are testing the waters with a proposal to bypass their local monopoly supplier by building their own one-customer pipeline to another source. In the electricity arena, this is an old issue as large industrial…
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Finally, Virginia’s Political Class Starts Thinking about Grid Reliability
by James A. Bacon At last — a serious discussion has occurred about the reliability of Virginia’s electric grid as the state moves toward zero-carbon electricity generation by 2050 (and 2045 in the Dominion Energy service territory). Reliability was a prime topic of conversation at the third Virginia Clean Energy Summit Tuesday. A panel discussion…
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Climate Rationality Preached in a UVA Pulpit
by Steve Haner Efforts to rapidly expand our reliance on wind and solar generation for electricity, while at the same time closing baseload natural gas generation with similar haste, makes no sense economically. “The only explanation for that policy is you want to shut down the economy.” Another voice of reason has emerged to challenge…
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McAuliffe Promise to Accelerate VCEA Schedule Will Accelerate VCEA Consumer Bill Increases
by Steve Haner When a State Corporation Commission staff analysis warned last year of $808 annual increases in Dominion Energy Virginia residential bills by 2030, that 58% increase was based on the existing deadlines set for Dominion’s conversion away from using fossil fuels. Change the deadlines, change the cost. Shorten the deadlines by half, as…
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The New, Woke Approach to Saving the Bay
by James A. Bacon The Chesapeake Bay Program, a partnership of nonprofits, academic institutions, and federal, state and local governments, is now officially woke. In a new directive, the Executive Council has declared that the program will view Bay restoration through the lens of climate change and social justice. “We acknowledge the consequences of climate…
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More Ignored News: Bag Tax Coming to Richmond
by Steve Haner The plastic bag tax recently approved in Roanoke and several Northern Virginia localities, created by the General Assembly in 2020 as a local option, is also coming to the City of Richmond. It was promised in the same September 13 Richmond City Council “climate crisis” resolution that implied a future closure of…
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The Environmentalist Case Against Renewables
If you missed the Virginia Energy Consumer Conference last week, here’s your chance to catch up. The highlight is Steve Haner’s interview of Michael Shellenberger, author of “Apocalypse Never.” Addressing the energy debate from a national perspective, Shellenberger makes the case that renewable energy sources are no panacea for the environment. Subsequent presentations in the…
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Henrico, Chesterfield Users of Richmond Gas Unprotected by SCC, State Law
by Steve Haner Sec. 13.10. No sale or lease of utilities except when approved by referendum. There shall be no sale or lease of the water, wastewater, gas or electric utilities unless the proposal for such sale or lease shall first be submitted to the qualified voters of the city at a general election and…
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The Economics of Flood Control in Virginia
by James C. Sherlock We have work to do, and need to do it quickly and well. If we want to get storm defenses built before major storm damage rather than after; and if we want the federal government to pay 65% of the costs. Let’s assume we do. The “Virginia Coastal Resilience Master Planning…
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Louisiana Shows How Flood Control Can Work at Massive Scale
by James C. Sherlock Louisiana has half the population of Virginia. Virginia is ranked the 18th richest state in per capita income, Louisiana 48th. So, why has Louisiana been so phenomenally successful in flood control efforts since Katrina while Virginia writes its own framework for action that it is too expensive here? Primarily because Louisiana…
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Conference Explores VA Rush to Copy CA Energy
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by Steve Haner Californians were again this week under an electricity “flex alert,” a conservation order required because of its reliance on unreliable solar and wind energy. They often cannot keep up with demand on the hotter days. Is this Virginia’s future? The government is telling Californians: Set your thermostat at 78° or higher Avoid…
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The Costliest Floods in Interior Virginia Since 1969
by James C. Sherlock I offer this survey of Virginia’s biggest interior floods since 1969, mostly courtesy of the National Weather Service, as equal time for my reporting on coastal flooding in Virginia. The interior is where the most deaths have occurred in Virginia floods, not the coast. The deaths reach those levels in interior…
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Virginia’s Coast and Flood Control – The Past Is Prologue
by James C. Sherlock So how do we picture how bad a hurricane or Nor’easter could be along Virginia’s coast? What might it look like? Won’t the Outer Banks catch the worst of any hurricane and break it up? Well, no. Consider some stunning historical examples.
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Flood Control — Fatal flaws in Virginia’s Approach
by James C. Sherlock It is hurricane season, if you had not noticed. This is the first of a multi-part series of articles on flood control in Virginia. This first one will provide a brief overview of where we stand in flood control planning and construction in the Commonwealth with an emphasis on Hampton Roads.…
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Horse Play
A herd of horses live on Shackleford Banks, a barrier island near Beaufort, N.C., where the Bacon family is vacationing. The horses do not comprise a thundering herd of popular imagination, rather they are dispersed in small groups — “harems” — with a stallion, two or three breeding mares, and their colts. Five or six…