Tag: Dominion
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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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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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Updates: Deadly Road Diet? Rider T1 Case
The Powerful Law of Unintended Consequences A raging forest fire is hard to imagine in Northside Richmond, but there could be other emergencies where the city and its residents would come to regret the loss of vehicle travel lanes on Brook Road. A recent deadly fire in California we all watched on television may be…
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Dominion Grid Plan Battered in Testimony
Two witnesses told the State Corporation Commission Tuesday that Dominion Energy Virginia’s proposed grid transformation program will not bring the utility’s customers into the modern energy economy. Both Scott Norwood of Texas, an expert witness often used by the Office of the Attorney General, and Caroline Golin, an expert from Georgia hired by environmental groups,…
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SCC Staff: Convert A Dominion RAC Into A PPA
“Facts are facts, and the SCC does a really good job of compiling them.” Former State Senator John Watkins of Chesterfield. After demonstrating that two solar energy facilities Dominion Energy Virginia has proposed in a deal with Facebook leave ratepayers holding all risks, reported already in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the State Corporation Commission staff suggested…
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Delayed, ACP Price Tag Reaches $7 Billion
Delays mainly caused by continuing regulatory battles have added another half a billion dollars to the price tag for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project now crossing Virginia. Dominion Resources CEO Thomas Farrell used a new top figure of $7 billion in a discussion of the project with investors and analysts on November 1. Back in…
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Environmental Racism and Conservation Easements
I have to give Governor Ralph Northam credit: It took a lot of guts to remove two members from the State Air Pollution Control Board knowing full well that it would open himself to charges of indifference to environmental racism. Earlier this week, Northam informed Rebecca Rubin and Samuel Bleicher that they would be removed…
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Yeah, Recycling, Landfilling Coal Ash Will Cost Billions
Under the gun to clean up its coal ash ponds, Dominion Energy hired a consulting firm to develop estimates of what various alternatives would cost. The alternatives preferred by environmentalists and activists — recycling the combustion residue and burying the rest in lined landfills far from rivers and streams — would cost billions of dollars,…
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Experimental Turbines, Risk and the Looming Offshore Wind Boom
Despite major reservations, the State Corporation Commission has approved the two-turbine Commonwealth of Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project at a cost of $300 million. The idea is to test a novel design of turbine blades and deep-water mooring before proceeding with a full-scale $1.8-billion wind farm off Virginia Beach. The logic, as I have understood…
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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…
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Imprudent, Unreasonable, Unnecessary, Approved
The State Corporation today found as a factual matter that the two-turbine Commonwealth of Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) demonstration project 27 miles off the coast is imprudent and places unreasonable costs and risks on Dominion Energy Virginia’s ratepayers. It then approved the project citing the clear legislative mandate in an omnibus energy regulation bill passed…
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Dominion Grid Plan Panned For Lacking Detail
The specific phrase is not used, but the general theme in testimony filed with the State Corporation Commission as it considers Dominion Energy’s massive grid modernization proposal is this plan is not ready for prime time. That thread runs through pre-filed testimony from the Office of the Attorney General, the staff of the State Corporation…
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Update: SCC Hearing on Off-Shore Wind
If the State Corporation Commission holds a hearing and Bacon’s Rebellion is not there to cover it, does it make news? Well it turns out there is a transcript. Having first held a hearing to debate whether it had the authority to reject a two-turbine, $300 million off-shore wind “demonstration” facility blessed by the General…
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Dominion Files to Extend Surry Nukes
Dominion Energy has filed an application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to renew operating licenses for its Surry Power Station for an additional 20 years, the company announced today. Like all nuclear units, the three-loop Westinghouse pressurized water reactors, capable of generating 1,676 megawatts each, were originally licensed to operate 40 years. Under its current licenses,…