Category: Environment
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Who’s Behind the Virginia Resistance to Trump Climate Policy?
On June 1 of this year, President Donald Trump announced that he was pulling the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement. The next day, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney posted on Facebook that he stood with the Mayors National Climate Action Agenda, committing to cut CO2 emissions and support “binding federal and global-level policymaking.”…
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Dominion, DONG Seal Deal on Two Offshore Wind Turbines
Dominion Energy Virginia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with DONG Energy, the world’s largest offshore wind-power company, to build two 6-megawatt turbines off the Virginia Beach coast — a critical step toward opening up 2,000 megawatts of off-shore wind to development. Dominion will own the $300 million project, while Dong has committed to…
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A Fourth Force in Virginia Energy Politics
The political economy of energy in Virginia used to be simple. Three main interest groups contended to formulate energy policy in the state: environmentalists, consumers, and electric utilities. Consumers, both homeowners and businesses, pressed for lower electric rates. Environmentalists fought for cleaner air and, more recently, lower CO2 emissions. And utilities — the only parties…
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Workgroup Seeks Compromises to Move Solar Forward
The consensus-building workgroup that fostered 2017 legislation to promote community solar energy in Virginia reconvened Monday to grapple with more intractable issues that stand in the way of widespread adoption of solar power. Participants in the Solar Policy Collaborative Workgroup had clashed repeatedly in the General Assembly over the years, but decided to pursue a…
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Why Would Dominion Want a $19 Billion Nuclear Plant?
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has indicated it will issue a license within the next few days to build a third nuclear reactor at Dominion Energy’s North Anna power station, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported earlier this week. Dominion has spent $600 million so far on planning, engineering and developing the 1,450-megawatt facility, which has been widely…
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Building on Virginia’s Data-Center Boom
Data centers are the hottest trend in Virginia economic development these days. But the state is only beginning to think through the implications. Loudoun County, home to 75 facilities, has developed the largest cluster of data centers in the country (and perhaps the world), and next-door-neighbor Prince William County is rising fast. Rural Mecklenburg County…
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Anyone Remember the Coal Ash De-watering Controversy?
Environmental controversies are flying so fast and furious in Virginia these days that it’s hard to keep track of them all. As for last year’s disputations, they are quickly forgotten. Remember, for instance, the wrangling over Dominion Energy’s plans for de-watering coal ash ponds at its Bremo and Possum Point power stations? After intense negotiations,…
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The Nightmarish Complexity of Environmental Regs
As far as I’m concerned, the environmental regulatory process governing the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline is incomprehensible. And that’s a bad thing. If only a handful of regulators, industry players and environmentalist activists can navigate the layers of bureaucracy and thicket of rules, the public is the loser. In the latest hoo-ha,…
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Where Is Politifact When You Need Them?
“Democracy dies in darkness,” declares the tag-line of the Washington Post, which poses as a defender of the country from fake news peddled by the Trump administration. Perhaps the newspaper should consider fact-checking content on its Opinion page as well. Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), and LaDelle McWhorter, chairperson of Virginia Organizing, are certainly…
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McAuliffe Moves to Cap Utility Carbon Emissions
Big news yesterday: Governor Terry McAuliffe issued an executive order to cap greenhouse gas emissions from Virginia power plants. Unfortunately, I’m out of town on personal business today, so I don’t have time for anything more than a cursory analysis. Said McAuliffe in a press release: ““The threat of climate change is real, and we have a…
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Bristol Home Builder Proposes Solar Subdivision
Developer Aaron Lilly is seeking Bristol planning commission approval to construct 30 upscale townhouses using solar power to offset electric bills. He envisions the project as the first solar-powered subdivision east of the Mississippi, reports the Bristol Herald-Courier. The project would be built on 12.5 hillside acres near an Interstate 81 exit. The townhomes would…
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Shareholders Pressure Dominion on Climate Policy
At Dominion Energy’s annual meeting earlier this month, shareholders submitted numerous shareholder proposals requiring the energy giant to adopt more environmentally friendly measures. I took note of some of them in my story about the event but never bothered to inquire about the vote results. I’ve attended plenty of annual meetings in my time, and I’d never…
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Farrell Defends Dominion’s Environmental Record
Under continual pressure from politicians, protesters and even shareholders to develop more renewable energy, Dominion Energy (which has changed its name from Dominion Resources) offered a vigorous defense of its environmental policies at its 108th annual meeting in downtown Richmond today. Since 2000 the company has cut nitrogen-oxide emissions 81%, sulfur dioxide emissions 95% and…
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McAuliffe Signs 11 Renewable Energy Bills into Law
Governor Terry McAuliffe has signed 11 solar and renewable energy bills into law. Quasi-community solar. The most significant is SB 1393, which creates a mechanism for Dominion, Appalachian power Co. and Virginia’s electric cooperatives to sell solar-generated electricity to subscribers. While the law does not provide everything that solar enthusiasts would like, it does open up economic space…
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Electric Utilities Increasingly Open to Renewables
by Thomas Hadwin Editor’s note: Tom Hadwin submitted this article before Dominion and Appalachian Power filed Integrated Resource Plans Monday detailing forecasts of dramatically higher solar energy generation over the next 15 to 25 years. According to a recent article in Utility Dive, U.S. electric utility concerns about integrating higher levels of renewables into the…