Author: Steve Haner
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Virginia Climate Alarmist-In-Chief Making Summer Weather Scary
By Steve Haner Virginia’s most prolific climate alarmist is back at the keyboard trying to scare people with normal weather. Despite his working now for a dedicated climate propaganda outlet, our friends at the Virginia Public Access Project are treating his output like straight reporting and included his most recent effort in their “news” feed…
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Both Parties Threaten Free Trade Crucial to Virginia Economy
By Derrick Max One issue that is not getting enough attention in this election, especially for its impact on Virginia, is the growing “anti-trade” mentality of both major parties. In Tuesday’s debate, former President Donald Trump stated, “other countries are going to finally, after 75 years, pay us back for all that we’ve done for the world,…
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Advocates for the Energy Poor Want to Make Them Poorer
By Steve Haner A national industry group that advocates for home energy efficiency contractors has produced another report on how energy costs squeeze the poor the hardest, with Richmond one of its examples. The data was then used as an excuse to call for (you guessed it) the return of an energy carbon tax which…
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APCo Rate Case is a Battle of Accountants Over Details, Profit Margin
By Steve Haner The latest review of base rates for the Appalachian Power Company’s 540,000 Virginia customer accounts may end with yet another price increase, the second in two years, but a fierce and detailed battle of accountants will determine the size. The State Corporation Commission held a public comment session Monday and a full…
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RGGI Tax Spikes Again. Democrats Will Bring it Back, Virginia.
By Steve Haner The dollar cost for permission to burn hydrocarbon fuels in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative region spiked another 22 percent in just three months. This is one more sign electric power producers in those states know they will need to keep using hydrocarbons despite the political policy push to eliminate them. The…
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New Battle of the James Centers on Dominion Gas Plant
By Steve Haner Lee pulled his army out of the trenches along the James River south of Richmond and retreated to Appomattox just under 160 years ago (I’m rereading some Civil War history this month). Now the peace of the region is about to be shattered by the next battle in America’s great energy civil…
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Tax Reform Ideas a Stalemated Assembly Could Adopt
By Steve Haner During his four-year term, tax reductions approved by Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) will save Virginians just under $8 billion, and approximately $1.5 billion or more in additional annual savings after he departs. Most of the rule changes that have produced these benefits occurred in the 2022 and 2023 General Assembly sessions. Then…
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Now It’s Hot. You Still Thank Coal and Gas for Staying Cool.
The story on this hot day in August is the same as it was on a cold day in January. You need to thank coal and natural gas for the air conditioning keeping you cool and forget the fantasy that it will eventually be wind turbines and solar panels doing the job. It certainly won’t be…
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Dominion Wind Partnership Deal Drawing No Opposition at SCC
By Steve Haner Dominion Energy Virginia’s proposal to sell a half-interest in its first offshore wind farm to a hedge fund is drawing no opposition at the State Corporation Commission, which will hold a hearing on the issue August 27. The only analysis of the impact of the transaction has come from the SCC’s own…
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Ranked Choice Voting is Spreading. Do We Like It?
By Steve Haner Virginia’s experiment with ranked choice voting may soon expand to a second locality, as the Charlottesville City Council is now considering that method for its future local elections. It is time for more people to pay attention to this voting method and decide whether they think it is a good idea. The…
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How Dead is the Richmond Times-Dispatch? Very Dead.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch, a once-great newspaper, is done. You can put a fork in it. Just before 5 p.m. Sunday a brief but fierce thunderstorm struck our part of western Henrico County, knocking down trees and power lines and finishing with a rare burst of hail. I watched amazed as the steel lamp post in our…
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Reagan Biopic: “He Understood His Principles”
By Chris Braunlich It has been 30 years since Ronald Reagan walked off the American political stage; two decades since he was laid to rest in the lengthening shadows of Simi Valley’s “golden hour.” But with the coming August 30 release of the big-budget biographical film Reagan, he will again spring to life, albeit on…
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Dominion Acquires Wind Lease Adjacent to CVOW
The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced today that Dominion Energy Virginia has successfully bid on the second wind energy lease area off Virginia Beach, the plot which is adjacent to, and further out to sea from, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. If developed, along with the recently acquired North Carolina project,…
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AP Flash: Sometimes the Weather is Hot!
Today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch contained one of the most ridiculous statements of the blatantly obvious ever distributed by the once-venerable Associated Press. The headline: “Poll: Extreme Heat Impacting Most Americans.” We needed a poll to learn that. Except in the coolest of summers here in North America there are always days, or a stretch of days, when high…
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New PJM Capacity Costs Likely to Impact Dominion, Coop Ratepayers
By Steve Haner Just how much the huge increase in energy capacity prices within the PJM Dominion Zone next year will cost Virginians depends on a several variables. Do not accept claims of negligible impact on face value. In its most recent integrated resource plan filed with the State Corporation Commission, Dominion Energy Virginia projected…