Category: Regulations, Gov’t Oversight
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A Third Way for Coal Ash Disposal
By Dominion Energy’s most recent estimate, it will cost between $2.77 billion and $3.36 billion to recycle the utility’s 30 million tons of coal ash or bury it in synthetically lined landfills — as much as $2 billion more than burying it in place. Environmental groups say the risk is justified to offset the risk that…
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When Businesses Welcome Regulations
by Richard W. Hall-Sizemore The recent news that the General Assembly may not confirm Governor Ralph Northam’s appointment for director of the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) triggered one of my longstanding complaints. It is not about Jay DeBoer, the beleaguered appointee; I know nothing about his record as director of this agency.…
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Uh, Why Does JLARC Scare AG Herring?
Just what does Mark Herring have to hide? One of my goals during four years as director of administration for Attorney Generals Mark Earley and Randy Beales was to keep the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission busy somewhere else. Having JLARC combing through your office asking inconvenient questions is no fun. But had JLARC…
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Doctors Without (State) Borders, Coast to Coast
If taken ill traveling in New York or Texas, or any other of the 50 states, odds are you would not question the basic competence of the medical professionals who treated you there. But consult that same doctor over Skype from within Virginia and state licensing laws might get in the way. A bill introduced…
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Bacon Bits: Rider U Screws U Know Who
Now that the State Corporation Commission has finally approved Dominion Energy Virginia’s Rider U, mandated by the General Assembly to force us all to pay for underground lines serving just a few customers, let me explain how perfectly this scheme put the company ahead of its customers. (For case details, the Richmond Times-Dispatch has this…
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Clean Virginia: A Powerful Swing That Misses
Clean Virginia’s recent report accusing Virginia’s two investor-owned electric utilities of annually “taxing” their customers $254 or $89 respectively has a strong basis in fact, and beautifully packages the information, but ultimately is flawed and unfair. Which is a shame, because the basic premise is correct. The utility regulation process in Virginia has been badly…
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Fools Rush In: Coal Ash Scene Setter
“I hate to give out directions without knowing what the cost is going to be. There’s far too much of that in government.” That was Senator Frank Wagner of Virginia Beach expressing his deep reservations about various proposals to deal with the 27 million cubic yards of coal ash that Dominion Energy Virginia has collected…
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Green Virtue, Certified By The Hour
Is it enough to be green and virtuous on a month by month basis, or must one be green and virtuous every hour of every day? That is a facetious version of a real question facing the State Corporation Commission as it considers the most recent effort by Dominion Energy Virginia to create a 100-percent…
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IRP Rejection Part of a Pattern of Trouble
The State Corporation Commission’s decision Friday to reject the Dominion Energy Virginia integrated resource plan is just the latest sign the energy package sold by the utility to a compliant General Assembly in early 2018 still has an uncertain future. Two headline elements of the legislation – the promised massive renewable projects and a rebuild of…
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“Incomplete!” SCC Sends Back Dominion IRP
The State Corporation Commission today rejected the 2018 integrated resource plan (IRP) filed by Dominion Energy Virginia, stamping it “incomplete” and asking the utility for additional information in a supplemental submission. The IRP is only a planning document, and the one for 2017 was just approved by the Commission a few months ago. But in response…
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Altria rumored to be in talks to buy Canadian cannabis company Cronos Group
High in Henrico. Henrico County based Altria, makers of Marlboro cigarettes among other products, is rumored to be interested in buying Canadian cannabis company Cronos Group. Altria is refusing comment while Cronos said it “confirmed that it is engaged in discussions concerning a potential investment by Altria Group … in Cronos Group.” Cronos went on…
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The Uncertain Economics of Offshore Wind
As Virginia hurtles towards a renewable energy future with lots of solar and wind power, ratepayers and taxpayers should acquaint themselves with the complexities of Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) analysis. LCOE incorporates the costs associated with electricity generation — up-front capital costs, fuel costs, ongoing operations and maintenance costs — to compare the economic…
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2019 General Assembly Session – Sports Betting Legislation Prefiled
I’ll take the Giants by 2. Sports betting was made illegal in the United States through the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA). The legislation was signed into law by George H.W. Bush. I’ll bet the Supreme Court overturns PASPA. Had you made that bet you would have won. In May, 2018…
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Could Co-ops Save Money Buying Cheap Electricity from Wholesale Markets?
The Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) provides electric power to eleven regional cooperatives in Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. The Virginia co-ops supply electricity to about 10% of Virginia’s population. Now comes a study by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) claiming that customers of Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) are paying 1.4 to…
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Energy-Efficiency and Unintended Consequences
Long ago Benjamin Franklin produced an economic analysis of Daylight Saving Time (DST). He showed how much tallow and candles would be saved if Americans arose earlier during long summer days to take greater advantage of natural sunlight. Similar energy-efficiency arguments are advanced today in support of the practice. The practice persists despite the lack…