Bacon's Rebellion

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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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Latest

Bacon’s Rebellion Proud to Be Part of Shadowy Clique of Puppet Masters

Posted on

July 24, 2025

by

James A. Bacon

Vast right-wing conspiracy. Image credit: Bing Image Creator

by James A. Bacon

I didn’t know it but, apparently, I’m part of the vast right-wing conspiracy. I’m so clued in to the machinations of the conservative claque seeking to rid higher-ed of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion that I predicted that George Mason University President Gregory Washington might be forced to step down over DEI policy.

As the old saying goes, the perception of having power is in itself a form of power. In a column published Tuesday, contributors to the Chronicle of Higher Education lumped me with the Department of Justice, the Youngkin administration, the Manhattan Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the National Review, and the Washington Free Beacon as part of the shadowy army arrayed against DEI at GMU and the University of Virginia.

That’s good company. It’s nice to be part of the power elite. I only wish my co-conspirators knew it!

I doubt that most of the individuals cited in the Chronicle column have the slightest idea who I am. But as long as campus lefties think I’m part of the conservative media elite, that’s consolation of a sort.

Let me launch the critique of this latest nonsense with the paragraph in the Chronicle that’s all about me (!!) as a way to approach the column’s larger thesis.
(more…)
$104 Billion for Batteries in 5 years, $40K Per Customer

Posted on

July 24, 2025

by

Steve Haner

By David Wojick,

The Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) mandates that Dominion Energy Virginia, the state’s major electric utility, rapidly shift its power generation to wind and solar. Dominion’s latest Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) provides dramatic evidence that this shift does not work, making blackouts inevitable. Making it work would be fantastically expensive with the average customer paying over $40,000 for batteries by 2030.

First let’s look at how it does not work. There is a nifty little graphic showing this on page 62 of the IRP which is here.

The graphic summarizes Dominion’s VCEA compliance plan. It is a vertical bar showing the installed mix of generating capacity in 2030. The vertical scale is megawatts (MW) and the height of the bar is the projected maximum summer power demand for that year, which is about 33,000 MW.

The bar is divided into different colored segments for each generator type such as solar, wind, gas, nuclear, etc. The height of each segment is the amount of installed capacity at that time in MW.

Dominion actually flags solar pointing out that it makes up 23% of the available capacity. They also point out that solar, wind and batteries together make up 34% of capacity. Note that the battery segment is very small and batteries are not generators. The bar also includes a little bit of imported power making installed capacity less than peak demand.

The problem is obvious. Peak summer demand typically occurs after 4 p.m. when there is no solar generation. Moreover, it is often caused by a stagnant high-pressure system called a Bermuda high with very low winds so there is no wind power either. Plus, these highs are regional in scale so the neighbors may have no extra electricity to sell.

(more…)
Spanberger’s Nothing Burger

Posted on

July 23, 2025

by

James A. Bacon

by James A. Bacon

Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic candidate for governor, has released her “Growing Virginia Plan” for economic development. I’ll save you the trouble of reading it and boil it down for you: Do more of what Virginia is already doing.

The only new thought reflected in this compendium of business-as-usual practices is to denounce the “chaos in Washington” unleashed by the Trump administration’s tariffs and DOGE initiative. Translation: Whatever ails Virginia is Trump’s fault.

Otherwise, the “plan” does little more than restate the aims of existing state programs in workforce development, international trade and marketing. There is no analysis of Virginia’s economic challenges (other than taking note of Trump-generated chaos), no data, no goals, no vision, and nothing remotely original or fresh. As governor, it appears, Spanberger would consign economic development to the existing bureaucratic apparatus without changing a thing.

Unfortunately, the Republican challenger Winsome Earle-Sears, who has yet to issue her own plan, boggled the response. Her campaign issued a statement referred to Spanberger as “Spendberger” and likened her program to an “arsonist’s plan on fire safety.” While rhetorically colorful, the response ignored the “Growing Virginia Plan” in favor of attacking her track record as a congresswoman who supported inflationary Biden initiatives. Translation: Whatever ails Virginia is Spanberger’s and Biden’s fault.
(more…)
Fairfax County Released 200 Illegal Alien Criminals Since February

Posted on

July 23, 2025

by

James A. Bacon
Child sex predators, rapists, repeat offenders, and fugitives from justice are among those released to the streets despite ICE detainers.

by Victoria Manning

A FOIA request by Restoration News reveals that the sanctuary jurisdiction Fairfax County has released 205 illegal alien criminals onto the streets since February 2025. Only 7 arrested criminals were turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Among those released to the streets — rather than taken into ICE custody — were violent criminals including an accused child rapist, child sexual predators, fugitives from justice, and over a dozen charged with malicious wounding or strangulation.

Democrats’ sanctuary policies protect violent illegal aliens at the expense of the safety of Americans—including children.

Here is a portion of the charges against the illegal aliens released to the streets in Fairfax since February:
- Vehicular manslaughter with a DUI
- 10 charges related to child sex crimes, including:
  1. Rape of a victim under 13
  2. Aggravated sexual battery of a child under 13
  3. Forcible intercourse with victim under 13 and aggravated sexual battery with 2 victims under 13
  4. Procuring a minor for prostitution, sodomy, porn
(more…)
Backup Generation Within PJM Earns Another Stunning Price

Posted on

July 22, 2025

by

Steve Haner

July 2025 PJM capacity auction for contracts beginning July 2026

by Steve Haner

The regional electricity marketplace that serves Virginia, PJM Interconnection, was shocked (pardon the pun) by last year’s high price auction to secure future excess generation capacity, needed for days of tight supply. In response, several changes were made to the process to lower the price faced by the member utilities and their customers.

It didn’t make much difference. For the PJM region, the bid price for future firm generation capacity has settled at $329.17. Last year, the price was set at $269.92 for most of the PJM territory. The new price is an improvement for the Dominion Energy Zone, which reached $444.26 in the 2024 auction, and for the Baltimore Gas and Electric Zone, which hit $466.35. For that price, the generator promises to make available one megawatt of generation for the entire day.

The prices from the summer 2024 auction are now being paid by the PJM load serving entities, including Virginians. The auction looks forward by a year, and the new $329.17 price will apply for contracts starting in July 2026. Just two years ago, that price was less than $30 per megawatt day. Compared to last year, the pressure on Dominion’s part of Virginia dropped but utilities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and other parts of PJM are looking at even higher costs, including those in Western Virginia outside Dominion Zone.

July 24 PJM capacity auction results, setting prices beginning July 2025.

One of the reforms imposed after the 2024 auction was to set an artificial cap on the price. The auction that started last week went right up to that pre-agreed maximum price of $329.17. Without the cap, it likely would have been higher. Does that indicate the rules interfered with finding the correct price?

The underlying supply and demand mismatch that is driving this should concern all energy customers in the PJM region. This is yet another sign that PJM is losing too much of its dispatchable coal and gas generation, although another of the reforms applied was to keep open several plants that were otherwise going to close. Even with that extra supply, prices stayed high. Like the price cap, there is an economics message in that, too.

(more…)
Tech Van Winkle Awakes

Posted on

July 22, 2025

by

James A. Bacon

Image credit: Bing Image Creator

Northern Virginia’s business community rises from its slumber to address challenges of the AI revolution.

by James A. Bacon

Like the legendary Rip Van Winkle who fell asleep for 20 years and woke up to a whole new world, Northern Virginia’s business community has emerged from its lengthy snooze to realize that it needs to reinvent its regional economy. The result is a new “NOVA Roadmap” that seeks to free the region from its dependence upon federal employment and contracting.

The Fairfax Chamber of Commerce plan seeks to hitch Northern Virginia’s economy to emerging, fast-growth technology sectors by building data centers and other digital infrastructure and creating a new curriculum for developing critical skills needed in the emerging economy.

“’Wait and see’ is not an option,” said Fairfax Chamber CEO Julie Coons when introducing the plan Monday. “Urgent and coordinated action is essential. Recent federal workforce losses could cost Virginia billions in GDP and tax revenue if we fail to act.” (See the Richmond Times-Dispatch account here.)

Northern Virginia was the dynamo that drove economic growth in Virginia for nearly a half century. But the growth machine, dependent upon surging federal spending, has been sputtering for years now. Population and job growth in the Northern Virginia MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) have slowed to the point where they have been overtaken by metropolitan Richmond metro, which no one would call a boom town.
(more…)
Court Greenlights Talk Therapy for Kids Confused About Sex and Gender

Posted on

July 22, 2025

by

James A. Bacon

A Henrico judge partially reversed the state’s ban on ‘conversion therapy’ for minors in a win for free speech and religious liberty.

by Samantha Flom

Virginia became the first southern state to outlaw so-called “conversion therapy” focused on helping children embrace their God-given gender and sexual orientation in 2020.

At a time when kids’ mental health is sinking to new lows, the law has limited their options for help by barring licensed counselors from performing “any practice or treatment” aimed at changing a minor’s sexual orientation or “gender identity.”

Now, the state is walking back that harmful policy.

A Henrico County Circuit Court judge ordered on June 24 that licensed counselors may legally provide talk-based therapy to minors to help them overcome unwanted feelings of gender dysphoria or same-sex attraction.
(more…)
Only Some Job Losses Trigger Media and Political Outrage

Posted on

July 22, 2025

by

Steve Haner

Paul Driessen

By Paul Driessen

When Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently laid off 1,350 employees as part of a broader restructuring effort, the media response was swift and emotional. Stories of tearful farewells, union outrage, and dramatic claims of “fascism” filled the airwaves. One would think these federal employees had lifetime appointments and that accountability or right-sizing government were foreign concepts.

But this moment deserves a broader lens. Government job losses, while painful, are not unique. Nor are they the most damaging.

The State Department’s workforce had grown from 57,340 in 2007 to over 80,000 by 2024. The recent layoffs represent just a fraction, less than 2%, of the total. They were part of a legitimate effort by the Trump-Rubio administration to streamline bureaucracy, eliminate redundant offices, and align the Department with core national priorities, cutting positions tied to DEI, climate alarmism, and fringe ideological programs.

Yet while federal layoffs dominate headlines, there is deafening silence when government policies destroy jobs in the private sector.

Where was the national outrage when President Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline on Day One, killing as many as 11,000 blue-collar jobs overnight? Where were the candlelight vigils for the 80,000 coal workers displaced during the Obama years, victims of regulatory assaults and a politicized “war on coal”? Instead of assistance, they were told to “learn to code.”
(more…)
Are ICE’s Courthouse Crackdowns Justified?

Posted on

July 21, 2025

by

James A. Bacon

David Ambrosio Herrera walked out of the Albemarle County Circuit Court Friday. Photo credit: The Daily Progress

by James A. Bacon

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have discovered that an easy way to crack down on illegal-alien criminals is to pick them up in local courthouses where they are processed for alleged crimes and misdemeanors. It strikes me that ICE is entirely within its rights, but the strategy does have unintended consequences. Scared that they’ll be nabbed and deported, some undocumented immigrants have skipped their hearings.

Such appears to be the case in Chesterfield County where ICE detained fifteen people over a four-day period in June, mostly for traffic violations. This week, ICE returned to the Chesterfield courthouse looking for three more people. One appeared and was detained but the other two were no-shows. Commonwealth’s Attorney Erin Barr says some aliens “see our courthouse as a place to fear.” (Interestingly, WTVC-News refers to them as “victims.”)

People can have a reasonable debate over whether it is a good or bad idea for ICE to detain illegal aliens at Virginia courthouses. But I’m not much impressed by critics who have taken to demonstrating against the practice in places like Charlottesville and Albemarle County.

Word went out Friday that ICE was planning to deport 36-year-old David Ambrosio Herrera, who was charged with exposing himself to a girl at an Albemarle County bus stop. A “larger-than-normal crowd” had gathered inside the circuit court gallery. Daily Progress reporter Hawes Spencer noted that there were “some tense moments” as lawyers braced themselves for an ICE raid.

In this case, according to the Daily Progress, the victim — the real one — was an 11-year-old girl. Prosecuting attorney Armin Zijerdi said Ambrosio Herrera lives near the girl and frequents the same bus stop.
(more…)
Can a Black Woman Get Elected as Governor in Virginia?

Posted on

July 21, 2025

by

James A. Bacon

Winsome Sears

Probably not. And Winsome Sears, who has failed to capitalize on her position as lieutenant governor, is no exception.

Paul Goldman

Virginia’s political reporters and pundits need to be honest. Here in 2025, being a Black woman is a very serious political disadvantage for GOP gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears. No useful public interest is served by doing some Epstein-style discombobulating. The truth is what it is.

Fact 1: No Black woman has ever been elected Governor of any state. Do you honestly believe there haven’t been many qualified Black women over the years to serve in these positions?

Fact 2: In 1989, Doug Wilder became the first Black person elected Governor of any state in the country, not only in Dixie. Since then, several dozen Black candidates have tried to be elected Governor in the southern states. They have all been defeated. Even when starting out as the polling favorite. Just coincidence?

Fact 3: Several highly qualified Black women ran for the Virginia Democratic Party gubernatorial nomination in 2021. They received a combined 31.6% of the vote. Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, a Black man, got 3.6%. Meaning the three Black candidates got 35.4% combined. Based on Dr. Larry Sabato’s research over the years, it would seem about 35% of the primary votes were from Black Virginians.

Meaning: The two black women candidates – both incumbent legislators and considered to be exceptionally qualified — likely got less than 5% combined of the white vote outside of the their legislative districts. Five percent! I thought young Democrats say they’re woke? They couldn’t find even one Black person qualified for the job?
(more…)
AI, Solar and Trees

Posted on

July 21, 2025

by

James A. Bacon

by Chap Petersen

If you read this newsletter, you are aware of the ongoing struggle between the data center industry and conservation groups in Virginia. Most of those proposed projects are in suburban counties like Prince William or Loudoun or in the exurbs.

In rural Virginia, a separate struggle is playing out as utility scale solar seeks to establish a foothold in Virginia. But their industrial developments are causing angst in Virginia’s Farm Belt and there’s no easy answer.

The issue goes back to 2020, when the General Assembly passed the “Clean Economy Act,” which set ambitious goals for renewable technologies in Virginia, mandating that they comprise 100% of Virginia’s energy load by 2045. (Right now, it’s less than 10%).

Of course, nobody at that time understood how the “AI” revolution would transform the grid: creating a massive need for new data centers and related electrical infrastructure. The resulting demand will double Virginia’s expected need for electricity.

Of course, the most common form of renewable energy comes from solar panels. As a State Senator, I authored the “Solar Freedom Act” of 2012 which allowed widespread use in suburban HOA communities.
(more…)
Jeanine’s Memes

Posted on

July 20, 2025

by

James A. Bacon

From The Bull Elephant
Rocky Forge Wind Opponents Still Working to Stop It

Posted on

July 20, 2025

by

Steve Haner

Ridgetop road to turbine sites. Photo: Eric Claunch

By Steve Haner

Virginia’s first (and so far, only) installation of onshore utility-scale wind turbines is in its early construction phase, with opponents hoping the Botetourt County project will draw the attention and opposition of the new Trump Administration. They are also complaining to regulators about soil running off the job site and fouling a nearby trout stream.

Apex Clean Energy’s proposed Rocky Forge Wind languished for years without a buyer for its energy output, but a power purchase agreement with Google finally brought it to life. The county approved construction in January.

Locator map from Rocky Forge Wind website.

Google is also planning a data center elsewhere in the county, just north of Roanoke, but the power from Rocky Forge won’t feed that directly. The wind energy when produced will become another asset in the PJM Interconnection energy marketplace. The financial details are not public, but presumably Google will share in any energy revenue, tax credits and the very marketable renewable energy certificates.

If the project is completed and connected to PJM next year as the developer intends, it will meet the amended deadline for tax credit eligibility created by the new federal omnibus tax legislation. The 13 planned turbines, each 655 feet tall, will produce about 75 megawatts of electricity when operating at peak efficiency. When there is no wind, there will be no power.

(more…)
Bacon Meme of the Week

Posted on

July 19, 2025

by

James A. Bacon
Is Everybody on Vacation?

Posted on

July 18, 2025

by

James A. Bacon

It’s been 21 days and counting since Jim Ryan resigned as president of the University of Virginia, and the Board of Visitors hasn’t announced a search committee to look for a successor. Indeed, it’s still soliciting “input” on who should serve as interim president.

Meanwhile, UVA has vacancies in other top positions: the provost (the chief academic officer) and the top three executives in the health-care division.

For god’s sake, man, somebody do something!

It may be summer break for students and professors, but it shouldn’t be for the men and women appointed to govern the university.
(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.