Bacon's Rebellion

  • Time Is Running Out for Change at UVA

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Time is running short for Governor Glenn Youngkin to make his mark on the University of Virginia. His appointees to the Board of Visitors now comprise a 13-to-4 majority, yet after almost a half year, they have failed to make a visible dent in the priorities set by President Jim Ryan. Youngkin has little more than a year left in office. If the likely Democratic candidate for governor, Abigail Spanberger, succeeds him, she could easily reverse the little progress he’s made.

    The sand is fast draining from the hourglass. The painfully slow pace of change came into focus during the Board of Visitors’ quarterly meeting last week. Youngkin appointees signaled that they intended to take a closer look at UVA finances. Mind you, they didn’t contest a single administrative proposal. Three building projects totaling more than a half a billion dollars in cost are still moving through the bureaucratic pipeline. Rather, Youngkin board members flexed their majority muscles by expressing their intent to take a closer look in the future.

    As for doing something tangible such as cutting spending and tuition, reining in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) bureaucracy, halting the double standards applied to different student groups, or bringing about intellectual diversity at an institution overwhelmingly dominated by left-of-center faculty and administrators, those conversations haven’t even begun.

    When board member Bert Ellis declared that he would vote “no” on any proposed new spending increase until the administration presented a budget with significant spending and tuition cuts, not a single board member spoke in agreement. The few docile challenges that have taken place amount to tinkering on the margins.

    Why is this so?

    (more…)

  • Racking Up the Fees

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    James A. Bacon

    Matan Goldstein, the Jewish student who was subjected to repeated antisemitic treatment at the University of Virginia, has settled his lawsuit against the University. Terms of the settlement were not revealed.

    While the public cannot know how much UVA paid, if anything, to make the problem go away, we can get a sense of how much it spent on legal fees.

    According to billing documents obtained by my Jefferson Council colleague Walter Smith, Richmond law firm McGuire Woods billed $521,000 dollars in July, August, and September, charging as much as $1,054 per hour for partner Jonathan T. Blank’s time.

    (more…)

  • Jeanine’s Memes

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    James A. Bacon

    From The Bull Elephant

  • Virginia Education Press Needs Intensive Support

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    James A. Bacon

    by Todd Truitt

    If you were expecting any humility after the Virginia education press ran with the false claim for months that 70%+ of Virginia schools would be in the bottom two of four summative categories (Off Track, Needs Intensive Support) of the new accountability system–-when it was actually in the 30s—think again. The Washington Post is on the case this week with a 1,600+ word article, devoting substantial column space to instead implying that a government conspiracy occurred.

    The Post also, astonishingly, spends most of the other column space implying that the fact that the new system brings much greater transparency to Virginia’s educational inequality is a negative. However, that transparency is a feature of accountability systems, not a bug. With the new transparent accountability system, we’re going to stop talking about educational inequality in quiet rooms and start talking about it publicly so we can better devote resources to the schools that need assistance.

    Washington Post Sees Government Conspiracy in Press Mistake

    As I detailed five weeks ago now, the Virginia education press ran with a made-up 70% metric that was first speculated at an August Virginia Board of Education (VBOE) meeting in an off-the-cuff estimate from a slide that clearly stated it was based on “partially modeled data.” State Superintendent Coons even warned at the meeting that the 70% metric was fabricated, “I think we’re making assumptions before we have data, so I caution us to make assumptions without that information.”

    But the Virginia education press publicized it broadly anyway, particularly Anna Bryson of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Once the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) received almost all outstanding information seven weeks later, the VDOE provided an FAQ, which showed that, in fact, 37% of Virginia schools were in the bottom two tiers.

    (more…)

  • Bacon Meme of the Week

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    James A. Bacon

  • Day of Infamy

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    Dick Hall-Sizemore

  • Mandatory Vehicle Inspections Expensive, Burdensome, Unproven

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    Steve Haner

    By Joshua Devamithran

    Virginia’s mandatory vehicle safety inspection program is less than a decade away from its centennial anniversary. Established in 1932, Virginia’s inspection program is the oldest continuous program in the country. In 1975, thirty-one states and the District of Columbia had mandatory safety inspection programs. Today, Virginia is one of just fifteen states that have retained such a mandatory inspection program.

    The stated purpose of Virginia’s mandatory vehicle safety inspection program is to promote highway safety. Inspection programs seek to accomplish this goal by reducing the number of vehicles with existing or potential conditions that may contribute to vehicle crashes and fatalities. The logic concludes that mandatory inspection programs are necessary to achieve this goal.

    However, to date, studies have not shown a statistically significant relationship between mandatory inspection programs and an increase in motor safety. In 2015, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) analyzed studies published between 1992 and 2013 that were relevant for determining the safety benefits and costs of state vehicle inspection programs across the nation. Their survey of these studies examined the effect of inspection programs on crash rates related to vehicle component failure and found no clear influence. In some places like Nebraska, after the mandatory inspection program was eliminated in 1982, the number of crashes caused by vehicle component defects actually declined.

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  • UVA Board Asserts Oversight of Strategic Investment Fund

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    The Youngkin-appointed majority in the University of Virginia Board of Visitors flexed its muscles for the first time Friday, asserting its authority to oversee the Strategic Investment Fund (SIF) accounting for 2% to 3% of the UVA academic division’s total spending.

    Board members also signaled that they wanted advance notice of the administration’s proposed 2025-26 academic-year budget rather than being presented with a fait accompli in the June meeting.

    Board deliberations were civil and non-confrontational. Indeed, the board approved a 5.5% increase in student housing and meal plans next year as well as tuition increases up to 4%, depending upon the program, for graduate and professional students.

    Board member Doug Wetmore, who introduced the motion authorizing the board to assume more oversight of the SIF, stressed that the overwhelming majority of the administration’s proposals probably would meet board approval. “It’s been a very successful program,” he said.

    However, he described it as “essential” for the board to review the proposals, which have added up to a half billion dollars since its creation in 2016. “A core responsibility of the board is to review spending of this magnitude,” he said.

    A majority of board members agreed.

    (more…)

  • RGGI Carbon Tax Decreases in Latest Regional Auction

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    Steve Haner

    The final 2024 auction for Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative carbon allowances, held December 4, broke the recent pattern and produced a noticeably lower clearing price. The price of $20.05 per ton of emitted carbon dioxide is still higher than was ever charged to Virginia electricity producers during Virginia’s three years in the program.

    The December 2024 auction price was 38% above the amount generators had to pay a year ago but is down from the 2024 peak of $25.75 per ton in September. A Floyd County Circuit Court judge has ruled that the Youngkin Administration erred in removing Virginia from the RGGI regime a year ago, and only an Act of the Assembly could accomplish that, but an appeal is likely. Virginia may or may not be back in the auction business for 2025, but if it is, expect revenue to the state of at least $400 million per annum. 

    The money paid out by the energy generators ends up being charged to energy customers, one way or another. The largest buyer of RGGI carbon allowances in Virginia has been Dominion Energy Virginia, which simply passed the cost along dollar for dollar to customers. RGGI is simply a carbon tax. Just like the carbon tax in Europe, but there the tax hits all forms of hydrocarbon energy, not just electricity. The European Union carbon tax is also three times as high as the RGGI tax, after converting euros to dollars. If Democrats have their way, Virginia will catch up. 

    The background information on Wednesday’s RGGI auction does not list Dominion or Appalachian Power Company among the bidders for new allowances. Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, part owner of a major coal plant in southern Virginia, was listed as a registered bidder but what it may have bought is not reported.  

    December was also supposed to see the next capacity auction for the load serving utilities in the PJM Interconnection Region, which has some (but only some) overlap with the RGGI states. That auction has been postponed to next summer. The last PJM auction, like the immediate previous RGGI auction, produced record prices for reliable hydrocarbon-based generation, prompting Dominion to seek a method of charging customers more for that, too. 

    — SDH

  • Ellis Goes Rogue

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Bert Ellis was mad as hell and wasn’t going to take it anymore. He didn’t reenact Peter Finch playing Howard Beale in his famous rant in the movie “Network.” In fact, he was very calm and deliberate. But he made it clear to the University of Virginia Board of Visitors Thursday that he had run out of patience.

    He would refuse to vote in favor of any new spending project until the University got serious about cutting costs, Ellis said.

    He proceeded to vote against approving the schematic design for a $50 million parking garage for the University’s Ivy Corridor expansion…. and against approving the addition of a $150-million to $160-million expansion of student housing to the University’s capital spending plan… and against adopting a schematic design for a $315 million center for the arts.

    All three proposals were approved overwhelmingly by voice vote. Ellis was the only board member to vote nay, although from my vantage point in the cheap seats it appeared that a couple other board members declined to give their approval, effectively abstaining. Individual votes were not recorded.

    “I’m voting no on this project and all other projects presented at this committee meeting,” Ellis said. “Furthermore, I’m going to vote no on any expenditures to be brought to this board until I have seen a ’25-’26 budget for this university that includes significant cuts in administrative expense.”

    (more…)

  • Radical Idea: Virginia H.S. Grads Should Know More About Their Country Than Foreigners Do

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    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    What do you say we start this morning with a little quiz? Pour yourself a cup of coffee and get out your number 2s!

    What is the name of the national anthem:

    1. The Star Spangled Banner
    2. The Pledge of Allegiance
    3. God Bless America
    4. America the Beautiful

    “1” you say? Well done!

    How many U.S Senators are there?

    1. 435
    2. 50
    3. 27
    4. 100      If you guessed “4” you are really smart! (No you’re not, but you may be smarter than a high school kid, so there’s that.)

    Let’s try one more: In what month do we vote for president?

    1. May
    2. April
    3. November
    4. December

    Yep, “3” it is! Looks like someone was paying attention last month!

    These incredibly easy questions are actual samples of those provided to non-citizens preparing to take the naturalization test. One delegate in the General Assembly – Republican Del. Lee Ware of Powhatan – is once again introducing a bill that would require all high school seniors to score at lest a 70 on the naturalization test in order to graduate.

    That bill did not pass in the last session. Continue reading.

  • What Happened to All the Water?

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    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Main building, Mountain Lake Lodge

    Mountain Lake in Giles County has two claims to fame. First, it was the location at which much of the 1987 hit movie Dirty Dancing was filmed. Second, it is one of only two natural lakes in Virginia. (Lake Drummond in the Dismal Swamp in Chesapeake is the other one.) However, the basis of that second claim may be fading away.

    Mountain Lake is situated in a bowl, or valley, between two converging mountain ridges. A stream, Pond Drain, flows through the valley. At one end of the valley is a narrow water gap. Salt Pond Mountain rises to the east immediately adjacent to the lake. The Eastern Continental Divide runs along the crest of Salt Pond Mountain. Surface water on the western side of the mountain flows to the New River and, ultimately, to the Gulf of Mexico, while surface water on the eastern side flows to the Atlantic Ocean via the James River and its tributaries.

    There has been considerable debate among geologists regarding the origin of Mountain Lake. The first scientific work on the lake was conducted by William Rogers. Rogers taught chemistry and natural philosophy at the College of William and Mary and was later chair of natural philosophy at the University of Virginia. While at UVa., he became the first state geologist and led the first geological survey of the state. He later founded the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (Rogers Hall at William and Mary is named for him, as is Mt. Rogers, the tallest mountain in Virginia.) Rogers’s work was published posthumously in 1884. His conclusion for the origin of the lake: “Rocks and earth gradually accumulating at the passage have dammed the waters up.”

    (more…)

  • City’s Too Big, Council’s Too Small

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    James A. Bacon

    by Joe Fitzgerald

    Harrisonburg is a city of 60,000 or so with a City Council for a town of 15,000.

    A quick check of Virginia’s cities finds that besides Harrisonburg, only Charlottesville among the larger cities has five council members. Most have seven, or six and a mayor, with Winchester’s nine and Virginia Beach’s eleven being the outliers.

    The smaller council size, with only three votes needed to make major changes for the city, makes it more possible for a small clique of like-minded council members to make changes out of step with the city at large. The most unfortunate example of this is the Bluestone Town Center, passed by three members with less than three years of experience, combined.

    No one would argue that a seven-member council makes fewer mistakes. But the extra vote needed on a seven-person council makes it a little less likely that inexperienced or ideological members will push through a project without any real deliberations.

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  • Voting to Impose Big Solar on Other Legislator’s Voters

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    Steve Haner

    by Steve Haner

    Virginia’s legislators are expected to look at more bills in January to provide ways to override local objections to major renewable energy projects, especially the large solar fields that can cover hundreds of acres. A regional media outlet with a focus on rural Virginia just pointed out an inconvenient truth.

    The legislators likely to vote to force these projects on the balking rural Virginians won’t be the legislators who represent the balking rural Virginians.

    The insight comes from Dwayne Yancey at Cardinal News. Loyal readers know Yancey was a colleague of mine and Jim Bacon’s in Roanoke 40 years ago, and keeping up with his work at Cardinal News is exhausting. It is always interesting, and always data driven.

    The data here comes from 1) the 2020 almost purely partisan roll call on passage of the Virginia Clean Economy Act and 2) a new database of pending and approved solar project proposals proffered by Weldon Cooper Center at the University of Virginia. He produced a quick map of the localities where at least some of the legislators voted “aye.” Yancey cross references and writes:

    (more…)

  • The New Normal: Massive Infrastructure Cost Overruns

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    James A. Bacon

    Mountain Valley Pipeline site in Lafayette, Va. Image credit: West Virginia Public Broadcasting

    by James A. Bacon

    When the Mountain Valley Pipeline was proposed in 2018, the estimated cost was $3.5 billion. When completed in June, the final cost was reported in a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission filing to be $9.6 billion — nearly three times as much.

    A fraction of that increase can be attributed to inflation over the eight years the 303-mile natural gas pipeline was bitterly contested and bogged down by lawsuits and regulatory appeals. Management failures undoubtedly contributed — a portion of pipe near Roanoke burst under a pressure test, suggesting manufacturing flaws — and WV Broadcasting cites weather and labor issues.

    But three times the cost? The sad reality is that it has become nearly impossible to build any large infrastructure project in the United States. Remember the Atlantic Coast Pipeline? Dominion Energy just gave up and took $1 billion+ in write-offs.

    Now PJM, the regional electric transmission organization of which Virginia is a part, says someone needs to build a 765kw transmission line across Loudoun County to upgrade the electric grid in anticipation of unprecedented demand growth.

    (more…)

Now Available

Book cover of 'Dust Mites: A Second American Revolution' by James A. Bacon, featuring astronauts planting a flag with a blue and white emblem on a lunar landscape, with Earth visible in the background.
For sale on Amazon.com

The year: 2075. The American colonies on the Moon are getting restless under Washington’s tyrannical rule….

This second edition of “Dust Mites” has a snazzy new cover, includes helpful lunar maps, and is 5,000 words tighter than the original. The sequel, “Trogs,” is scheduled for publication this summer.

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Bacon’s Rebellion is Virginia’s leading politically non-aligned portal for news, opinions and analysis about state, regional and local public policy. Read more about us here.

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