Category: Environment
-
Smoke Does Not Stop at the Border.
Neither does the climate. by Derrick Max The thick haze now covering much of the East Coast arrived without requesting a permit from Virginia regulators. It did not stop at the Canadian border. It did not recognize state lines. It did not distinguish between jurisdictions that have adopted aggressive renewable-energy mandates and those that have…
-
Digital Future – Build It the Right Way
by Chris Saxman Too often, conversations about data centers are presented as an either-or: tech companies versus local communities, or economic growth versus environmental protection. That is the wrong debate. The real challenge is whether communities, businesses, utilities, investors and public leaders can work together to support the infrastructure a growing digital economy requires while…
-
Golf, Data Centers and the Water Crisis
From Rod D. Martin on X: US golf courses use 531 billion gallons of water per year. That’s down from 759 billion gallons per year in 2005 and is 0.5% of total annual water withdrawals in this country. And somehow, the country manages to not look like the Sahara Desert. Meanwhile, data centers – the…
-
No, Virginia, Heat Waves are Not More Common
A bit of hard data as the Virginia and national media go into hysterics over a very typical Virginia heat wave and repeat endlessly the claim that this is becoming more frequent. Uh, no, no it’s not. From the CO2 Coalition’s recent updated compilation on “climate stability” in Virginia, worth reading and sharing. While you…
-
$2 Million this Biennium for Menhaden Research
Former House Delegate Tim Anderson on Menhaden fishing: “Every state on the east coast has banned reduction fishing of menhaden in coastal waters except Virginia. A Canadian company is raping the bay to deplete menhaden for omega oils for dog food. “And no governor – Republican or Democrats wants to stop it. Makes me sick.…
-
Europe Sizzles While Americans Stay Cool
by Kerry Dougherty If 1967 was the summer of love, 1985 was the summer of sweat. For me, anyway. I spent a lot of time on the beach 31 years ago. Over the roar of the surf I could hear Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” blaring from boomboxes, vying with Huey Lewis’ “The Power of Love.”…
-
Debunking Data Center Myths
by Jeff Reynolds You’ve heard the stories. Data centers are loud, water-guzzling monsters chewing up rural landscapes. They promise jobs but deliver none. They’ll suck the grid dry, jack up everyone’s electric bill, overload the power grid, and leave abandoned warehouses when the AI bubble bursts. Opponents paint them as the latest corporate scam, with…
-
Virginia’s Return to RGGI: Another Ratepayer Rip-Off in the Making
Governor Spanberger just made every Virginian’s household more expensive. by Jeff Reynolds Virginia has jumped back into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), and residential ratepayers will feel the pain—again. The last time the state was in the program, under the last Democratic governor, it cost Virginians more than $600 million over three years. Every…
-
Assembly To Data Centers: “Here’s Your Hat, There’s the Door”
by Steve Haner The energy regulatory provisions buried in the final conference report on Virginia’s 2026-2028 budget, approved by the General Assembly Monday, are as complex and detailed as any of the energy bills reviewed earlier during the regular session. They are also just as damaging. The data center industry was a particular target. The…
-
Amazon Data Centers Now Use Less Water
Plus, in Virginia they spawn tax cuts for homeowners. by Hans Bader Amazon’s data centers are using water more efficiently than in the past. A company report shows that “Amazon’s data centers used just 0.12 liters of water per kilowatt-hour of compute in 2025, about one-seventh of the industry average and less than half of Amazon’s rate…
-
Data Centers Will Pay Same Tax on Solar Power as on Coal
by Steve Haner The new energy tax being imposed on Virginia’s data center industry effective July 1, assuming the new state budget conference report passes next week, is totally ecumenical. The same tax is imposed on electrons from a solar panel or wind turbine as is imposed on electrons from coal. A data center that…
-
A Lesson from Amsterdam
A transportation infrastructure built around the primacy of bicycles works OK for the Dutch, but Virginians would never accept it. by James A. Bacon Amsterdammers love their bicycles. They ride their two-wheelers in the sun, in the drizzle and in the rain. They bedeck them in flowers and deck them out with baskets. Like the…
-
Spanberger Pushing for July Return to RGGI and Its Carbon Tax
by Steve Haner The Abigail Spanberger Administration has told an energy industry publication that it plans to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative by July, in time to participate in the September and December 2026 carbon dioxide allowance auctions. Because of the accelerated timetable, the Department of Environmental Quality will not publish a draft regulation…
-
Independent Gas Generator Faces State Permitting Gauntlet
by Steve Haner The 1540-megawatt natural gas generation unit approved last week by the Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors has already been identified by the regional PJM Interconnection electricity grid operator as a key reliability asset. The Expedition Generation Station is proposed by independent power producer Tenaska, which already has the 940-megawatt Virginia Generation Station…
-
March RGGI Carbon Tax Jumped 26% in One Year
by Steve Haner The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) held its first carbon allowance auction of 2026 Wednesday and the price came in at just under $25 per ton of emissions, 26% higher than a year ago. There should be no doubt now about predictions that imposing this carbon tax on Virginia electricity plants will…