Category: Regulations, Gov’t Oversight
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Solar as Economic Savior for Wise County?
When I covered the coalfields beat for the Roanoke Times in early 1980s, Virginia coal companies employed more than 25,000. The number has dwindled to one-tenth that number today. Not only has the number of miners plummeted, but so has employment in the industries that supply them with everything from timbers, rock dust and roof…
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Fostering the TNC Revolution
It’s always refreshing when Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly play well together. We don’t hear about such instances very often — reporters are drawn to conflict — but I suspect they occur more frequently than we hear about. An illuminating instance is how legislators from the two parties collaborated to create what Sen. Jennifer McClellan,…
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Virginia Colleges Spend Millions on Federal Regs
The University of Virginia estimates that it spends $20 million a year complying with unfunded federal mandates, just for its academic division, reports Karin Kapsidelis with the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The College of William & Mary estimates its compliance costs at $4.5 million to $6.7 million, and Virginia Commonwealth University puts the number at $13 million.…
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No Simple Answers on the Electricity Rate Freeze
Former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli joined state Sen. J. Chapman Petersen, D-Fairfax City, down at the General Assembly yesterday to put pressure on Governor Terry McAuliffe to resurrect Petersen’s bill that would roll back a rate freeze on Dominion Virginia Power and Appalachian Power. Petersen summarized the argument in a nutshell: “In reality, it was…
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Just a Thought: Instead of Extending Regs to Airbnb Rentals, Let’s Roll Back Regs on Hotels
It’s totally understandable that the hotel lobby would want to tighten regulation over Airbnb rentals. As Bart Hinkle observes in a Richmond Times-Dispatch op-ed today, hotels want government to protect their market share. The hotels put it a little differently. They want to create a “level playing field.” Said Eric Terry, president of the Virginia Restaurant,…
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Prince William Supervisors Demand Coal Ash Studies
Four members of the Prince William County board of supervisors appeared at a public hearing last night to express concerns about Dominion Virginia Power’s plan to pursue the “closure in place” option for disposing the coal ash at its Possum Point Power Station. The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) held the hearing as part of…
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Dams in Virginia: How Many Are Deficient?
Speaking of deficient bridges (see previous post), how about deficient dams? The potentially disastrous erosion around the Oroville dam in California, which prompted the evacuation of 188,000 people living down river earlier this week, prompted two correspondents to raise the issue with Bacon’s Rebellion. John Butcher passed along an article noting that the Oroville dam…
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The Legislative Logic of Proton Therapy
I just love it when legislators tell insurance companies whose services they should insure. Lawmakers are obviously so much more qualified to judge the efficacy of different medical treatments — why shouldn’t we trust their judgment? Pardon my snark. A bill has passed the House of Delegates and moved to the state Senate that would…
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Virginia Is for Lovers, Not Lobbyists
by Christopher Mitchell Pop quiz: Should the state create or remove barriers to broadband investment in rural Virginia? Trick question. The answer depends very much on who you are – an incumbent telephone company or someone living every day with poor connectivity. If you happen to be a big telephone company like CenturyLink or Frontier,…
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McAuliffe Reverses, Now Opposes Electric Rate Freeze
Governor Terry McAuliffe said yesterday that he supports legislation that would cancel the freeze in base electric rates on Dominion Virginia Power and Appalachian Power if President Trump kills the Clean Power Plan. The endorsement came a little late for state Sen. J. Chapman Petersen, D-Fairfax City, whose bill to roll back the freeze was…
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Nonprofit Hospitals, Market Power and Charity Care
A new study of California hospitals between 2001 and 2011 has found no evidence that nonprofit hospitals provide more charity care when they gain market power. Nationally, 58% of all non-federal, general hospitals are nonprofit. Nonprofits dominate the health care sector in Virginia as well. “Economic theory indicates that a balancing of social benefits against harm from market…
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Pro-Solar Tweaks Advance in General Assembly
As the General Assembly reaches the mid-point of its session, solar-energy legislation sponsored by Republicans has a very good chance of passing, reports Robert Zullo with the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The proposals emerged from lengthy discussions in a working group of Virginia’s electric utilities, electric cooperatives, and solar industry proponents. While the package is “a mixed…
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Is Recycling a Practical Solution for Coal Ash?
State Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Mount Vernon, represents homeowners living near Dominion Virginia Power’s Possum Point Power Station, which is in the process of disposing of millions of cubic yards of coal ash accumulated over the years. The coal combustion residue, he told the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation & Natural Resources this afternoon, is a “booming,…
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Why the Controversy over Burying Electric Lines?
The Senate Commerce and Labor Committee voted unanimously yesterday to approve a bill, SB 1473, that would declare that burying electric lines lines is “in the public interest.” The bill would apply to local distribution lines, or “tap” lines, that have a 10-year average of nine or more unplanned outages per mile. Dominion Virginia Power…
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State Oversight of Physicians Needs Tightening
by Victoria Nicholls State Sen. Diobhan S. Dunnavant, R-Henrico, a Henrico County physician, broke federal health privacy laws when she sent a political solicitation to her patients during her 2015 campaign, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported two weeks ago. And what were the consequences? Nothing. The first-term senator won’t face fines or penalties, according to a letter from…