Author: Steve Haner
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New Estimate of State Tax Cut with Conformity: $2.3 Billion in 3 years
By Steve Haner Virginia’s Department of Taxation has now released its estimates on the revenue changes that would result if the state’s tax laws were amended next year to conform to the new federal tax rules signed by President Donald Trump. To taxpayers, the question is will they get a big tax cut at the…
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Are Urban Heat Islands Behind “Global Boiling”?
By Steve Haner Two prominent American climate researchers who focus on data rather than models have examined 40 years of summer temperatures at Reagan National Airport. They found the hottest summer days are barely warmer than in the 1980s, an imperceptible change, but the coolest overnight temperatures have gotten dramatically warmer. The change in the…
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The Times-Dispatch’s Slow Suicide Must Be Near Its End
The Richmond Times-Dispatch must be on its last legs. The out-of-town investors are just running some pricing algorithm to see how much addicted fools will pay to keep their access to a shrinking amount of information. There are many people, as we all know, who pay no attention to the billings that just show up on their…
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More Evidence the VCEA Is Based On a False Premise
By Derrick Max For several years now, Virginians have been told that the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) is necessary to save Virginia and is a necessary step to save the planet. We’ve been told that rising seas, worsening storms, and other supposedly catastrophic impacts of man-made climate change justify a radical restructuring of Virginia’s…
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Sow the Wind, Reap the Whirlwind
“I told you so” leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, but the tragic news yesterday about Charlie Kirk took my memory back immediately to the debate on Bacon’s Rebellion after another tragedy in Charlottesville. Far too many of the usual suspects rejected my argument then that the condemnation of political violence had to go…
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SCC Staff Sees Need for More Gas Because Wind Will “Collapse”
by Steve Haner The staff of the State Corporation Commission (SCC) has concluded that Dominion Energy Virginia cannot meet the energy demands of our data- center based digital economy with renewable energy projects alone, and “does not oppose” adding natural gas. “It is unlikely, in Staff’s opinion, that renewable energy development alone will suffice to…
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Electricity Carbon Tax Advocated by Spanberger Rises Again
By Steve Haner Based on the most recent carbon tax imposed on the member states of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), Virginians will pay about $500 million more per year for electricity if Virginia again becomes one of those member states. Your vote in November may determine that. Democratic nominee for governor Abigail Spanberger…
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Once Divided, Data Giants Now United on Dominion Rate Proposal
By Steve Haner Several of the technology giants that own data centers in Virginia and are planning many more have settled their internal dispute over Dominion Energy Virginia’s proposal about how to charge them for electricity. The document laying out their new favored compromise was being prepared just as Bacon’s Rebellion last week highlighted their…
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NOVA-Only Vehicle Emissions Tests are Ripe for Repeal
By Derrick Max and Gabrielle Brohard For more than four decades, Northern Virginia drivers have dutifully lined up every two years to have their vehicles inspected for emissions (separate from the equally onerous safety inspections required throughout Virginia). The mandate, which only applies to localities in Northern Virginia, was enacted in 1982 under the 1970…
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Sunday Memes (On Monday)
Sunday Memes–Stupid Woke in Great Britain and crime in the US – The Bull Elephant
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Two Virginia Wind Energy Grants Cancelled by Trump’s DOT
by Steve Haner President Donald Trump’s war on the offshore wind industry has finally reached Virginia with the cancellation of two U.S. Department of Transportation grants intended to help develop Hampton Roads as a hub for that now-endangered industry. The decision was announced Friday. There still has been no attempt, and not even any public…
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Data Industry Giants Split on Proposed Future Rates
By Steve Haner Dominion Energy Virginia’s proposed changes to how and how much it charges data centers for electricity appear to have divided the industry, based on testimony filed at the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC). The utility’s ideas are in general being supported — with some caveats — by the Office of the Attorney…
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A Trusted Source Crawls Out on a Political Limb
By Steve Haner One nice thing about detailed economic prognostication is that the predictions can later be checked and compared to reality. But the grim forecast for Virginia produced recently by the Weldon-Cooper Center for Public Service will have done its political damage long before the results are tallied. The predictions of job losses and…
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All Dominion’s Solar Plants Are Failing Their Energy Promises
by Steve Haner Every solar facility in Dominion Energy Virginia’s expanding fleet of silicone panels is failing to perform up to its initial energy promises, according to a State Corporation Commission staff analysis. In many cases the shortfalls are dramatic. The data popped up in testimony that is part of the utility’s application for a…
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Youngkin: Virginia In “An Extraordinary Position of Financial Strength”
By Steve Haner The Commonwealth of Virginia ended its last full fiscal year under Governor Glenn Youngkin with a large stash of ready cash, $1.7 billion, despite more than $7 billion in tax cuts and tax rebates over the past three years. That includes the $200 rebate income taxpayers will get before the November election.…