Category: Regulations, Gov’t Oversight
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Once in Four Lifetimes
The conservative assumptions behind Virginia water-discharge permits, says DEQ, reduce the odds of harming aquatic wildlife to fewer than three incidents in a thousand years. by James A. Bacon Earlier this year Dominion Virginia Power was granted permits to drain water from coal ash ponds at its Bremo and Possum Point power stations, treat the water to remove heavy metals,…
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No Consensus on Clean Power Plan, but McAuliffe Cutting CO2 Emissions by Other Means
After five meetings of stakeholders to discuss the best way to implement the Clean Power Plan, “there is no consensus” on how to proceed, said David K. Paylor, director of Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality earlier today. “What works for some people doesn’t work for others.” On the positive side, it looks like Virginia may…
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Coal Ash Mishmash
Dominion has narrowed its differences with environmental groups over how to dispose of coal ash, but the conflict is not easily resolved, and uncertainty about the final outcome prevails. by James A. Bacon Dominion Virginia Power has settled disagreements with two foes over its plans to discharge coal ash wastewater from its Possum Point and Bremo power…
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Disrupting Education and Health Care
by James A. Bacon Education and health care are the two most moribund economic sectors in the U.S. economy, plagued by lagging productivity and poor outcomes. Not coincidentally, both sectors are joined at the hip with government. Democrats are determined to preserve the status quo, while Republicans offer no clear market-based alternative. Is there any reason…
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SCC Approves Greensville Gas Plant
by James A. Bacon The State Corporation Commission (SCC) approved yesterday Dominion Virginia Power’s filing to build a $1.3 billion natural gas-powered power station in Greensville County. The power station will generate 1,588 megawatts of electricity, upping Dominion’s reliance on natural gas to 39% of its energy mix by 2020. Construction, expected to begin later this…
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Riverkeepers, Dominion Spar Over Year-Old Release of Coal Ash Water
by James A. Bacon The Dumfries Town Council is still calling for a criminal investigation into Dominion Virginia Power’s release of untreated coal ash water into Quantico Creek last spring, reports InsideNova. After a presentation by the Potomac Riverkeeper Network March 1, the council voted unanimously to ask the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to look into…
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Why Is Virginia a “Dark State” for Solar Power?
by Erik Curren Around America, there’s a boom in solar energy. More solar power generation was installed in 2015 than ever before and 2016 could be even better, doubling in U.S. solar capacity. Although solar still provides less than one percent of America’s total electricity, it’s the fastest growing source of new energy since shale…
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Assembly Punts on Airbnb
by James A. Bacon Virginia could have been one of the first states in the nation to legalize the short-term rental industry, but after taking a good hard look at HB 812, the so-called Airbnb bill, the General Assembly decided to punt. The legislature will revisit the issue next year, reports the Washington Post. Airbnb,…
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Econometric Studies at Fifty Paces!
by James A. Bacon From the perspective of theoretical economics, the debate over the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) is getting quite interesting: To what extent do natural gas pipelines diminish the value of property they cross? A coalition of five community groups opposed to the pipeline contend that landowners along the proposed route will lose up…
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Navigating the Clean Power Plan Maze
by James A. Bacon Stakeholders in Virginia’s electric grid got a close-up look last week at the wild and woolly world of Clean Power Plan regulation. One of the few things that can be said for certain is that the plan will make a complex industry even more complicated. To make an informed decision about how to proceed,…
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How Clean Is Clean Enough?
Regulations for cleaning up Virginia’s coal ash ponds are much stricter — and more expensive –than the old rules. But do the new standards do enough to protect water quality? by James A. Bacon Two years ago, few Virginians had any idea that coal ash posed a threat to the environment. Then in February 2014…
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COPN Update: Hospital Monopolies Charge 15% More
As the General Assembly debates a rollback of the Certificate of Public Need (COPN) process, a new study has found that markets served by monopoly hospitals charge privately insured patients 15.3% more on average for a variety of routine procedures than hospitals do in competitive markets. “Hospital market structure stands out as one of the…
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Domenech Claims about Clean Power Plan Detract from Serious Debate
by James A. Bacon There is a principled conservative-libertarian argument to be made against the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP), which would compel Virginia’s electric utilities to cut CO2 emissions by 32% from 2005 levels by 2030. Unfortunately, Doug Domenech, Secretary of Conservation and Natural Resources during the McDonnell administration, didn’t make it in a Sunday…
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A Greater Role for Nurse Practitioners
by James A. Bacon While Medicaid expansion may have been dead on arrival at the General Assembly this year, the Senate Education and Health Committee has been thinking of other ways to improve medical access for Virginia’s poor. One solution is to loosen the regulatory restrictions that limit the ability of nurse practitioners to handle…
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Gas Worse Carbon Polluter than Coal, Says Sierra Club
by James A. Bacon The Sierra Club has attacked the idea of natural gas as a “clean fuel” in a new broadside against the proposed construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) and the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) through Virginia. When viewed over the “natural gas fuel cycle” — including production, transportation and combustion — natural…