Category: Environment
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League of Conservation Voters Scorecard
Check out the 2016 League of Conservation Voters Scorecard. There are a lot more environmental issues in Virginia than coal ash, natural gas pipelines and the Clean Power Plan. –– JAB
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Making Net-Zero Energy Affordable
The new Rocky Mountain Institute headquarters building in Basalt, Colo., demonstrates how to drive net energy consumption down to zero at a cost that offers a four-year payback. by James A. Bacon When the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) decided to build a new headquarters building in Basalt, Colo., it had its own high standards to…
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Putting the Clean Power Plan in Perspective
by James A. Bacon Governor Terry McAuliffe has created a working group to recommend concrete steps on how to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions from Virginia’s power plants. As the task force undergoes its deliberations, I hope it will consider the tradeoffs between economic costs and environmental benefits. Writing in the Wall Street Journal today, Bjorn Lomborg, president of…
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How Not to Turn Enemies into Friends
by James A. Bacon Does Governor Terry McAuliffe deliberately misrepresent what skeptics of the prevailing Global Warmig Orthodoxy think, or does he simply repeat what others have said about what skeptics supposedly believe? Either way, we have a problem. Here’s what he said yesterday before signing an executive order to convene a work group to deliver recommendations for carbon…
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Republicans and Leftists Are Outraged, Outraged, I Tell You
by James A. Bacon Here’s what I missed in yesterday’s quickie post about Governor Terry McAuliffe’s plan to convene a clean energy task force: Both Republicans and leftist environmental groups are attacking the move, though for opposite reasons. Republican legislators see the initiative as an end run around the state budget, which specifically prohibits any spending…
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McAuliffe Establishes Clean Energy Working Group
by James A. Bacon Governor Terry McAuliffe has set up a work group to recommend concrete steps to reduce “carbon pollution” from Virginia’s electric power plants. Utilities cut carbon emissions 21% between 2005 and 2014, and the group will focus on how to continue the trajectory “in a way that makes clean energy a meaningful part…
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Sierra Club’s Coal Ash Gambit
by James A. Bacon The Sierra Club has filed a lawsuit charging that coal ash stored at Dominion Virginia Power’s shuttered coal plant in Chesapeake is leaking arsenic into the Elizabeth River. The environmental organization wants the U.S. courts to compel Dominion to scrap plans for burying the coal ash in place at four power stations around the…
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Bikes, Bees, Beauty
by James A. Bacon New York City has its High Line park built upon an abandoned, elevated freight rail line. The City of Richmond has its Low Line park, built underneath CSX Corp. railroad trestles. In the seven years since opening to great fanfare, Manhattan’s High Line has attracted millions of visitors and inspired the construction of nearly…
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Maryland Drops Coal Ash Appeal
The state of Maryland has dropped its appeal of permits granted to Dominion Virginia Power for discharging treated water from its Possum Point Power Station coal ash ponds into Quantico Creek and the Potomac River. “Maryland is supportive of recent agreements in Virginia to increase wastewater treatment protections and monitoring protocols,” Ben Grumbles, Maryland’s secretary…
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Activists Pressure McAuliffe on Environmental Agenda
by James A. Bacon Governor Terry McAuliffe is getting heat from his far left flank for endorsing the construction of natural gas pipelines in Virginia, supporting offshore drilling and supporting Dominion Virginia Power’s plans for disposing of coal ash. While crediting McAuliffe for “small steps” in supporting solar power, energy efficiency and coastline resiliency in…
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The Tradeoffs of Burying Electric Power Lines
by James A. Bacon Anyone who regards the State Corporation Commission as a wholly owned subsidiary of Dominion Virginia Power really isn’t paying attention. SCC commissioners have their own priorities, and they aren’t necessarily those of Dominion. An example was on display yesterday when the commission held hearings on a Dominion request to spend $140…
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Duke Study Documents Coal Ash Leakage into Groundwater
by James A. Bacon New tests and analysis conducted by Duke University add to the body of evidence indicating that heavy metals in coal ash ponds leach into the water and and make their way into surrounding water, sometimes in excess of federal standards for drinking water and aquatic life. The researchers sampled surface water…
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Amazon-Dominion Renewable Energy Deal a “Game Changer”
An energy-services deal between Dominion Virginia Power (DVP) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a “first-of-its-kind agreement” that could accelerate the integration of renewable energy into the electric grid, according to a recent analysis by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), an organization dedicated to unlocking market-based solutions to combat climate change. “This is a turning point in the…
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Coal Ash, Parts Per Billion, and Risk
Kudos to Robert Zullo with the Richmond Times-Dispatch for digging beneath the dueling press releases to shed light on the contamination risks that coal ash ponds pose to drinking water. Focusing on the carcinogenic chemical hexavalent chromium, which has been detected in well water near Dominion Virginia Power’s Possum Point Power Station, he broaches key questions: How much…
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Doubling Down on Natural Gas
Dominion says its new Brunswick County Power Station is clean, super-efficient, and a good deal for rate payers. Environmentalists question whether the natural gas-fired facility is a wise investment over the long run. by James A. Bacon Dominion Virginia Power’s new $1.2 billion gas-fired power plant in Brunswick County is state-of-the-art. Three of the most…