Category: Environment
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Renewable Portfolio Standards: To Mandate or Not to Mandate?
This blog posting represents the first in a debate series developed by authors of Bacon’s Rebellion and Blue Virginia on actions that Virginians can take to address climate change. All articles will be simultaneously posted on both blogs. Introduction. Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) are laws or regulations designed to increase the percentage of energy…
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Conservative vs. Progressive: Global Climate Change
Killer Bs. In an unprecedented move, two prominent Virginia blogs, Bacon’s Rebellion and BlueVirginia, have agreed to cooperate in a structured debate over a series of possible programs designed to combat global climate change. The programs were selected based on two major criteria – they had to be applicable to Virginia and they had to encompass actions…
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Where the Poor Are
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in Business and Economy, Demographics, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Media, Money in politics, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Social Services and Entitlements, UncategorizedBy Peter Galuszka With expanding Medicaid about to become a major issue with the incoming Terry McAuliffe administration, it is curious to see exactly where the poor people in Virginia live. An intriguing New York Times interactive graph provides clues and allows one to draw some rather disturbing conclusions. The single worst pocket of poverty…
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Six Reasons to Feel Good about 2014
by James A. Bacon Despite awakening this morning with a hangover resulting from a fabulous New Year’s celebration last night, I was curiously and uncharacteristically upbeat about the year ahead. I still have grave reservations about the fiscal future of this country and I still believe Boomergeddon is in our future. But for some odd…
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A Stupid Tax Break Gets Even Stupider
A portion of the federal commuter tax benefit will expire January 1, which upsets a number of people on the grounds that the change hoses transit riders and benefits drivers. As someone who qualifies for no benefit at all because I work at home, my reaction to the partial wind-down of this special-interest benefit is,…
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Behind a Massey Energy Lawsuit Settlement
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in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Money in politics, Politics, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & TechnologyBy Peter Galuszka It might have otherwise gone unnoticed, but Bristol-based Alpha Natural Resources, one of the country’s largest coal companies, has agreed to settle a leftover securities fraud lawsuit for $265 million involving Massey Energy Co., the notorious, formerly Richmond-based firm that Alpha bought in 2011. The settlement with the Pension Reserves Investment Management…
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Can McAuliffe Thread the U.S. 460 Needle?
Will Gov.-elect Terry McAuliffe reverse one of the biggest legacies of the McDonnell administration, construction of the new U.S. 460 between Petersburg and Suffolk? The $1.4-billion, Interstate-grade highway, upon which the McDonnell administration has already lavished $200 million, has cleared all significant hurdles but one: approval by the Army Corps of Engineers. But the project…
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The Zany, Crazy Cold War Days Return
“Give me back the Berlin wall give me Stalin and St Paul I’ve seen the future, brother: it is murder.” Leonard Cohen By Peter Galuszka The other night I watched Dr. Strangelove, one of my favorite movies. Then I read the headlines. China is cracking down on U.S. journalists, especially those representing The New York…
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Pope Francis Slams “Trickle Down”
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in Abortion, Feminism, Women’s Rights, Business and Economy, Children and Families, Consumer Protection, Demographics, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Government Finance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Social Services and Entitlements, TaxesBy Peter Galuszka In a sharp rebuke to traditional conservative economic thought, the leader of the world’s Roman Catholics says he wants the church to rethink its strategies towards addressing income inequality and poverty and shun “the idolatry of money” and “trickle down” philosophies that give the rich far too much influence. Pope Francis outlined…
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Smart Cities around the World Are Saving Money Now. How about Your Home Town?
by James A. Bacon Suggested reading for every elected official, senior administrator and department head in Virginia government: “Smart Cities Readiness Guide” published by the Smart Cities Council. This easy-to-read document walks government practitioners (and interested citizens) through the process of using sensor, communications and analytic technologies to collect, communicate and crunch data. Proven smart…
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Why McAuliffe Is Saying No to Uranium Mining
By Peter Galuszka Governor-elect Terry McAuliffe has made one of his first pronouncements and it is an important one: he will veto any law the General Assembly passes to lift the decades-long ban on mining uranium in Virginia. The bigger question is whether he was start disassembling the energy-industrial complex that outgoing Gov. Robert F.…
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Your Way, My Way and the “Virginia” Way
By Peter Galuszka As usual, I am constantly amazed at “the Virginia Way” which means a kind of parallel universe of political reality that keeps the stay back in the 18th century, at least when it comes to political thinking. This morning, the editorial section of the ever-other- worldly Richmond Times-Dispatch has a front-page piece…
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Thank God It’s Over: Seven Election Takeaways
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in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Gun rights, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, LGBQT, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Science & Technology, Social Services and EntitlementsBy Peter Galuszka The awful Virginia gubernatorial contest is over. Utter disaster has been averted with the defeat of strident rightwinger Kenneth Cuccinelli. Here are seven takeaways from Election Day: 1. Winner Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, now gets to deal with a contentious General Assembly where the GOP maintains firm control on the House of…
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How Will McAuliffe Govern?
by James A. Bacon Terry McAuliffe, the governor-elect of Virginia, has a tough job ahead of him. Democrats picked up only one seat in the House of Delegates, leaving Republicans with 66 seats, or a veto-proof majority. Most likely, he will have to work with a Republican, Mark Obenshain, in the attorney general’s office. He…
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Will Wetlands Controversy Swamp the Commonwealth Connector?
The Virginia Department of Transportation has spent $192 million on design and other work on the U.S. 460 Connector but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has yet to give a permit for the project, which would destroy an estimated 480 acres of wetlands. VDOT officials quoted by the Virginian-Pilot‘s Dave Foster say work is…