Category: Environment
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Ethics Issues Go Far Beyond McDonnell
By Peter Galuszka The major focus of speculation in Richmond these days may be on whether or not Gov. Robert F. McDonnell will be indicted, but there are plenty of other, lesser situations involving public officials that show just how badly Virginia’s ethics rules need fixing. State and local officials have a long history of…
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Compare and Contrast: Chesterfield and Henrico on the Meals Tax
by James A. Bacon Henrico County isn’t the only Virginia jurisdiction where citizens will vote on a meals-tax referendum this fall. Chesterfield County leaders also are seeking a meals tax. But the approach taken by the two localities is very different, which may explain why Henrico residents are restive while their neighbors south of the…
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The Sky Is Alive
When you live in a hilly, wooded urban area like Henrico County, Va., you never see the horizon. If you can’t see the horizon, you can’t see the sun rise. One of the beauties of the beach is the wide-open sky with its sunrises, sunsets, and parades of towering, billowing clouds. I am a confirmed…
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Moonrise at Murrell’s Inlet
The water and sky are spectacular down here on the South Carolina coast. No sign of global warming this week — temperatures were blessedly and unseasonably cool yesterday. Good thing the Bacons aren’t adventure kayaking in the Arctic this summer. According to the Danish Meteorological Institute, the extent of Arctic sea ice is 50% greater…
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“Near Certainty” on Humans and Global Warming
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in Business and Economy, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Energy, Environment, Land use & Development, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Property rights, Public safety & health, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & TechnologyBy Peter Galuszka Here’s some red meat for global warming deniers: A draft report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says there’s “near certainty” that humans cause global warming. This is the group of hundreds of scientists and other experts who review global warming data under the auspices of the United Nations and are…
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Where is McDonnell’s Gas Pump Relief?
By Peter Galuszka When Gov. Robert F. McDonnell won approval earlier this year for his far-reaching transportation plan that would eliminate the 17.5 cent per gallon gas tax to provide $4.3 billion for roads and public transit, a big question was what it might mean to consumers at the pump. In exchange for eliminating the…
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Oysters and Other Biological Breakwaters
Broadly speaking, there are two ways to go about buttressing Virginia’s waterfront communities from flooding, storm surges and other risks associated with rising water levels: with hard infrastructure and soft infrastructure. Hard infrastructure consists of walls, levees, berms, jetties, pipes, pumps, sand replenishment and other expensive, engineered solutions. Soft infrastructure entails building up of biological…
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Coal, Power Lines and Historic Jamestown
By Peter Galuszka Captain John Smith would be shaking in his boots. Now the National Trust for Historic Preservation agrees. Dominion Virginia Power’s plan to erect a $155 million, 550-kilovolt power line across the James River just east of the Colonial Jamestown settlement would “compromise scenic integrity of historic cultural areas surrounding the river.” The…
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The Good and Bad of Exporting LNG
By Peter Galuszka Riding a chunky, balloon-tire bicycle may seem awkward enough, but imagine pedaling in a six-feet-wide concrete tunnel for one mile on the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It’s amazing what we Bacon’s Rebellion bloggers do to keep you readers informed, but it’s all in a day’s work — just like…
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Yet Another Owner for Richmond’s Unwanted Road
By Peter Galuszka Richmond’s “Road to Nowhere” is about to get yet another owner, showing again how the public-private partnership craze can result in unneeded transportation projects while denying resources elsewhere. Australia’s Transurban which owns Route 895, otherwise known as “Pocahontas Parkway” is dumping the tollroad it picked up in an emergency financial deal in…
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Climate Alarmists Admit: They’re Flummoxed
by James A. Bacon Well, well, well, Justin Gillis with the New York Times has acknowledged an inconvenient truth: “The rise in the surface temperature of earth has been markedly slower over the last 15 years than in the 20 years before that. And that lull in warming has occurred even as greenhouse gases have…
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Stakes Alive!
Back in March volunteers with the Countryside Homeowners Association in Henrico County planted some 500 live stakes along severely eroded sections of Westham Creek. We were rubes. We didn’t know what we were doing. Our hope was to establish thickets of Red Osier Dogwood and Black Willow along the waterline that would produce a dense…
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“You Want Maggots With That, Hon?”
By Peter Galuszka Free trade capitalists may cheer the proposed $4.7 billion takeover of Virginia icon Smithfield Foods by a Chinese firm, but there is plenty to give pause and the blowback is creating some strange bedfellows. The major issues are whether one should want Chinese-style management in charge of American corporations given their record…
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My Moment of VPAP Clarity
By Peter Galuszka Last week, the Virginia Public Access Project held its annual luncheon and invited gubernatorial candidates Kenneth Cuccinelli and Terry McAuliffe to speak. No debate. No questions. Just a few minutes of remarks. The ballroom of the downtown Richmond Marriott was filled with the usual suspects, including lobbyists, lawyers, corporate officials and politicians.…
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Battle for the Battlefield
The Manassas Battlefield has become the scene of yet another irreconcilable conflict: this one involving VDOT, the park service and local residents.