Category: Environment
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Dems Don’t Want To Talk About Their River Of Poop
by Kerry Dougherty In the past month Virginia’s two senators and governor have been busy on social medial. Mark Warner interrupted his relentless whining about President Trump long enough to demand that Kristi Noem and Pete Hegseth be sacked and to blame Robert Kennedy for an outbreak of measles among adults. Tim Kaine constantly blamed…
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SCC Rejects Effort to Reverse Its Gas Plant Approval
by Steve Haner The Virginia State Corporation Commission has rejected a petition for reconsideration pushed by opponents of Dominion Energy’s planned Chesterfield natural gas generators. The environmental activist groups could now appeal the SCC’s approval of the plant to the Virginia Supreme Court. The SCC is a court, after all, so its decisions can be…
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A Delinquent Water Bill Dashboard?
by Jon Baliles The City of Richmond put out a release last week touting the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) “Back on Track” program that offers any customer with an outstanding balance to sign up for a payment plan before March 31st. Both residential and commercial customers with delinquent balances can set up an interest-free…
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If The World Is Getting Hotter…
Why On Day 14 After Paralyzing Ice Storm Does SWVA Still Look Like Frozen Tundra With Wind Chills Of 0 Degrees? by Scott Dreyer Full disclosure: One, I am not a climatologist. Two, I understand the difference between weather (short-term conditions) vs. climate (long-term trends). But just as an observer, it’s been really cold here around Roanoke for a long time.…
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60,000 Wildlife Crashes Per Year
From the Capital Region Land Conservancy: “Virginia is one of the first states in the eastern United States to create a Wildlife Corridor Action Plan that has a clear emphasis on protecting vital wildlife habitat corridors and reducing vehicular conflicts. With approximately 60,000 crashes each year, Virginia is one of the top ten states for such…
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Gas Approval Infuriates a Huge Donor to Democrats, Elates Another
by Steve Haner, The State Corporation Commission (SCC) was able to approve Dominion Energy Virginia’s application for a needed natural gas generation facility because the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) includes a safety valve. If energy reliability is threatened, the prohibitions on natural gas at the heart of that law can be waived. One of…
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High Cost Kills One, Maybe Two Clean Economy Act Projects
by Steve Haner Citing the high cost, the Virginia State Corporation Commission on Friday denied a request to add a battery project to the Appalachian Power Company grid. In the same decision, an out-of-state wind project for Appalachian was approved, but only if it qualifies for major federal tax credits to keep down the cost. Without those tax credits,…
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IRP Part 2: Dominion Bill Projections Just Keep Exploding
By Steve Haner, Two years ago, Dominion Energy Virginia predicted that by 2035 a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity would pay $174 per month. That represented a 50% increase over the first 15 years of compliance with the Virginia Clean Economy Act. The current bill, just five years into the age of VCEA, is…
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Democrats Dominate Energy Discussions With GOP MIA
By Steve Haner, “The energy bills are…” shouts the emcee on the stage. “Too damn high” comes the immediate response from a crowded meeting room in the east end of Richmond October 16. That call and response mantra constantly punctuated a long and creative presentation on Virginia’s energy dilemma from the point of view of the activist group Clean Virginia. The point of view varies greatly from the Thomas Jefferson Institute’s views on why…
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The Birds Are On the Move
It’s mid-October, which means it’s the season for…. the leaves to turn, I’ll bet you were thinking. Yes, but just as fun, it’s peak bird migration time as our feathered friends wing it to southward to the Sunbelt and beyond. According to the people at the BirdCast research consortium, which uses weather radar and computer…