Tag: Stephen D. Haner
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Virginia Has a Rising Sea Problem, Relatively
by Steve Haner and Kip Hansen When discussing sea level rise, on Virginia’s coast or anywhere else, watch the terms being used very carefully. Absolute sea level is the height of the ocean compared to the center of the Earth. Relative sea level is the height of the ocean compared to a specific point on…
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The Other Side of the “Intensifying Rain” Claim
by Steve Haner and Kip Hansen With the rainy remnants of another hurricane heading for Virginia from battered Louisiana, the stories of a coming Climate Armageddon will again ramp up. A couple of good examples of what to expect recently appeared in Virginia Mercury, the main one quoting numerous sources claiming Virginia is seeing more…
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Nantucket Wind Suit May Have Virginia Echoes
by Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. A group of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts residents have filed suit challenging the pre-construction environmental review on a massive offshore wind complex planned off its shores. The issues raised may have a direct impact on the similar wind energy project planned off…
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Correction: Vaccination Advantage Exaggerated
by Steve Haner Twenty to one? Where did that math challenged fellow get that? Oh, wait, I am the math challenged fellow and I have to offer a big correction to my post from yesterday. Yes, the advantage to being vaccinated is evident in that new data set on the Virginia Department of Health dashboard,…
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VDH Data: Vaccinated Improve Odds by 20 to 1
According to the Virginia Department of Health’s count, just more than 400 fully-vaccinated patients have ended up in a Virginia hospital with a case of COVID-19, and 83 have died. This was the count for the period of January 17 to August 14 and represented five percent or less of the total hospital cases and…
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An Energy Reform Agenda for Virginia
By Steve Haner What should Virginia’s energy policy be? What should the next Governor and General Assembly do? What should candidates be promising? Based on what has now been my 15 years of close observation and direct involvement, here is the policy outline I would suggest to any candidate who asks (not that the phone…
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Solar Industry Poll Favors (Surprise) Solar Industry
by Steve Haner You will never find a better example of blatant question bias in a poll: “Do you agree or disagree that solar farms are better than other types of development because they do not pollute the environment and help lower the cost of electricity for homes and businesses?” They “do not pollute” and…
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Kendi Blames Capitalism, Prescribes Discrimination
By Steve Haner The book was one the local librarian chose to display on the new acquisitions shelf, my curiosity was high, and by all accounts some leaders in Virginia’s educational establishment are taken with and listening to the author. So I read Ibram X. Kendi’s “How to Be an Antiracist.” I will largely let…
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DMV Still Hiding Full Gas Tax Amounts
by Steve Haner The Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles is now hiding only 22% of the state’s existing motor fuels tax with misleading website data, not the 26% it was hiding when I wrote about this last year. In the chart you first find searching DMV on motor fuel tax rates, set out below, there…
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RGGI Tax Appears on Dominion Bills in September
by Steve Haner In a polite but clear “the emperor has no clothes” message, a member of the State Corporation Commission has questioned the need to impose a carbon tax to cut carbon emissions from electric generation by 30%, when the General Assembly has passed another law requiring a 100% reduction with no tax. Judge…
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Got $26,000 To Replace All Your Gas Appliances?
by Steve Haner Maybe not today or tomorrow, but soon the War on Fossil Fuels will be fought in the equipment room or garage of your house. A push to prohibit new natural gas connections and remove existing home gas services is inevitable if Virginia’s current leaders are serious about zero carbon within 20 to…
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SCC Hikes Electricity Bills For New PIPP Subsidy
By Steve Haner All customers of Dominion Energy Virginia and Appalachian Power in Virginia will begin soon to pay an extra monthly charge related to the coming Percentage of Income Payment Program, the General Assembly’s new electricity cost subsidy for low-income residential customers. The PIPP was initially created in the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act…
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Vital COVID Issue: Paid Student Athletes?
by Steve Haner I warned everybody to watch for extraneous issues buried in the new budget bill pending at the special session which starts tomorrow. Who knew that regulating the potential income of student athletes was a vital COVID emergency issue that couldn’t wait for the regular General Assembly meetings in January? What follows should…
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Dominion Takes $206M From You Off the Top
by Steve Haner As of late 2020, Dominion Energy Virginia had forgiven $206 million in unpaid electric bills for customers financially stressed by last year’s COVID-19 pandemic and recession. Those unpaid bills are not being covered by any of the billions in federal COVID emergency funding, nor are stockholders eating a loss. We, the other…
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SCC Starts Review of Dominion Wind Proposal
by Steve Haner Acting on its own initiative, the State Corporation Commission has established a docket to consider the coming application from Dominion Energy Virginia for its massive offshore wind proposal, the centerpiece of Virginia Democrats’ plan to save us all from catastrophic climate change. Earlier this month, the utility started the federal review process…