Climate Activist running for delegate is scooping up the green bucks.

by Kevin Mooney

Virginia residents should expect to see their energy bills go up and the lights to go out if John McAuliff, a Fauquier County Democrat running for the Virginia House of Delegates in District 30, wins in November.

That’s according energy policy analysts, who found radical green money throughout McAuliff’s campaign finance filings.

McAuliff, who is running to unseat Republican incumbent Geary Higgins, has gone on record supporting the energy tax plan known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and the taxpayer subsidized green energy mandates attached to the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), also known as the Virginia Green New Deal. The Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, a free market think tank, has warned against rate increases and potential blackouts if Virginia continues to embrace VCEA’s green energy mandates and if the state rejoins RGGI. 

The money trail leading into McAuliff’s campaign indicates climate activists opposed to affordable and reliable energy sources view the candidate as a worthwhile investment. This year McAuliff has received $5,000 from the Jane Fonda Climate PAC and $4,000 from the Cabinet Climate PAC. Fonda, known in some quarters as “Hanoi Jane” for her treasonous behavior during the Vietnam War, is a Hollywood actress. 

The Fonda Climate PAC is a Carey Committee, according to Open Secrets, which means it does not affiliate with any particular candidate. It also has the ability to function as a tradition PAC contributing funds to a candidate’s committee, and as Super PAC, which means it can make independent expenditures. Donors to the Fonda PAC include Tom Steyer, the far-left billionaire hedge fund manager and San Francisco-based climate activist. As it turns out, all kinds of interlocking relationships have benefitted McAuliff’s campaign. The Cabinet Climate PAC is also a Carey Committee and of one its largest donors is none other than “Hanoi Jane.” 

The other key financial backer: The Clean Virginia Fund, which has donated $10,000 so far to McAuliff. The Clean Virginia Fund is a PAC for Clean Virginia, a nonprofit outfit that advocates for radical green energy policies. 

Doubling down on costly climate activism

McAuliff was an early supporter of RGGI and the VCEA during the three years he served as chief of staff to Del. David Reid, a Democrat in the 28^th district. He celebrated the fact he and Reid played an instrumental role in having the state join RGGI and made use of the VCEA for the purpose of transitioning Virginia away from fossil fuels by 2050.

The aspiring delegate’s climate activism is not limited to his home state. McAuliff—no relation to former Clinton advisor and VA gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe—also served as a senior policy advisor for the Biden White House and its Office of Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation. His responsibilities included briefing John Podesta, President Biden’s climate advisor, while also working on electric vehicle adoption and partnering with “external stakeholders.” But it is McAuliff’s support for higher energy taxes and green energy mandates that are most applicable to the campaign in the 30^th district. 

RGGI is a multi-state climate agreement built around “cap and trade” regulations that generate carbon taxes for ratepayers. Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the incumbent Republican governor, withdrew Virginia from RGGI in 2022. Although a circuit court judge ruled last year that Youngkin’s decision was unlawful, the judge also agreed to freeze his ruling pending the outcome of an appeal from the governor. Virginia will remain outside of RGGI pending the outcome of Youngkin’s appeal.

David Stevenson, director of the Center for Energy & Environment at the Caesar Rodney Institute in Delaware, took a deep dive into the impact RGGI had on Virginia in public comments he delivered on behalf of Youngkin’s decision to exit the initiative in March 2023. Here’s what he said:

Virginia electric generation fell 12% in 2022 compared to 2020. Power imports from the regional grid grew from 12% of demand to 30%, and that grid expects power shortages by 2030. In state CO2 emissions fell by 6.6 million metric tons from 2020 to 2022, but increased electricity imports increased emissions 10.3 million tons elsewhere for a net 3.7 million ton increase. Meanwhile the $523 million in RGGI revenue will be added to electric bills while in state generators lost $840 million in electric generation revenue. Over a decade the RGGI could cost Virginia $25 billion. Virginia needs to leave RGGI behind.

There’s another problem with RGGI that Stephen D. Haner, a senior fellow for environment and energy policy at the Thomas Jefferson Institute, has highlighted in his research. The carbon tax plan, he warns, would make Virginia more dependent on imports from other states especially when wind and solar enter low production phases. 

Haner also envisions a scenario where power blackouts could occur as VCEA makes Virginia even more reliant on intermittent renewable energy than it already is. He points to alarming reports from the regional trading entity PJM and the North American Electricity Reliability Corporation that strongly suggest that Virginia’s electrical grid is already under considerable stress. The VCEA was first enacted in 2020 and while Haner credits Youngkin for vetoing proposed legislation that would have implemented more Green New Deal type schemes, he’s concerned about what may be coming.

The next governor will decide the fate of RGGI

Youngkin is set to leave office in January since he is limited to serving one term under Virginia law. Abigail Spanberger, a former Democratic member of Congress now running for governor of Virginia, has expressed support for rejoining RGGI. Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, her Republican opponent, backed Youngkin’s decision to withdraw from RGGI in 2023. But Earle-Sears is lagging in the polls. 

The PAC money trail indicates McAuliff would be a reliable vote for Spanberger to insert additional regulatory burdens into the VCEA and to have Virginia rejoin RGGI. That’s the kind of one-two punch that would make power blackout scenarios more likely in Virginia. 

District 30 includes the western portion of Loudoun County and part of Fauquier County. House members serve two-year terms. Higgins, the Republican incumbent, won handily when he was first elected in 2023, but the PAC money supporting McAuliff suggests the Democrats view the seat as being in play. 

Kevin Mooney is a Senior Investigative Researcher for Restoration News specializing in energy policy, environmentalist groups, and dark money. This column is republished with permission from Restoration News.