Author Archives: Steve Haner

JLARC: Semiconductor Grants Have Not Succeeded

Posted on June 21, 2019 | 16 comments

Incentives “spending” reviewed in recent JLARC report. Click for larger view.

The recent report from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission on economic incentives related to manufacturing (here) goes far beyond a discussion of data centers, and if the General Assembly accepts it as gospel some of the existing incentives might be in jeopardy.

Two programs aimed at environmental goals should be eliminated, the staff (and by its vote the full legislative panel) concluded:  The Green Jobs Creation Tax Credit and the Green Diesel Fuel Producers Tax Credit.  Neither is being used to any extent.  Continue reading →

16 Comments

Posted in Economic development, Taxes

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Fix the General Assembly, Then Tackle Energy Bill

Posted on June 17, 2019 | 7 comments

It has been over a month since a coalition of unnatural allies announced a proposal to revise Virginia’s electricity regulation system – again – but the idea dropped from view fairly quickly. One of the main and most visible proponents, former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, has now taken on a very different role in the Trump Administration.  Continue reading →

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Posted in Energy, General Assembly, Regulation

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No Great Leap, But a Continuing Tide

Posted on June 13, 2019 | 3 comments

The following was written for the Thomas Jefferson Institute’s Jefferson Policy Journal and distributed earlier today.  Some themes repeat an earlier post. 

Fighting Joe Morrissey

It’s hard to dissect a battle while the smoke is still clearing, but the June 11 Virginia primaries demonstrated again the state’s continued and steady move away from its conservative past. It was not a Great Leap Forward for the progressive elements of the Democratic party, but where they didn’t win, they applied some serious heat.  Continue reading →

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Posted in General Assembly, Politics

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Primary Reading: Themes on the Partisan Blogs

Posted on June 10, 2019 | 8 comments

Hanger

How different will Virginia’s politics and political future be at close of business tomorrow? This time the big shift may come in tomorrow’s primaries rather than with the November general election that actually chooses 140 General Assembly members.  Continue reading →

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Posted in Politics

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Dispatches. 75 Years Ago Tonight, Now, It Was On.

Posted on June 5, 2019 | 20 comments

American Cemetery, Coleville-sur-Mer.  Personal photos from a 2017 visit. Click for larger view.

Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (AP) — Allied troops landed on the Normandy coast of France in tremendous strength by cloudy daylight today and stormed several miles inland with tanks and infantry in the grand assault which Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory.”

German broadcasts said the Allies penetrated several kilometers between Caen and Isigny, which are 35 miles apart and respectively nine and two miles from the sea.    Continue reading →

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More (But Not All) Cost Projections Filed About Ratepayer Bill Transformation Act

Posted on June 4, 2019 | 24 comments

Source: SCC Staff summary. Click for larger view.

With some of its closest legislative allies facing primary challenges next week, much of what Dominion Energy Virginia filed Friday in response to questions about the consumer cost of its future plans is redacted.  The story in Tuesday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch (here) could only cover that portion of the data not kept secret.

Three of the four documents filed by Dominion are about its motion requesting protected status for the information, and the fourth (here) includes numerous blacked out portions, which we will not see unless the SCC rejects those motions.  Continue reading →

24 Comments

Posted in Energy, General Assembly, Regulation

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Rider E Case Shows Many Flaws With This Process

Posted on June 3, 2019 | 21 comments

Key operating data on some Dominion Virginia coal plants, important to the Rider E case but hidden from us. Source: Office of Attorney General testimony.  Click for larger view.

Dominion Energy Virginia’s pending application for a new charge on electric bills for coal ash remediation is both a fairly routine request and an illustration of what is deeply wrong with Virginia’s electricity regulation.

When the major investor-owned utilities negotiated a return to regulation in 2007, the ability to create and collect these stand-alone add-on charges (“rate adjustment clauses”) was one of their demands.  It was the other major Virginia utility, Appalachian Power Company, that was most concerned about the ability to collect the cost of environmental compliance and it has had a rider on its bills for that purpose for some time.  Continue reading →

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Posted in Energy, Environment, Regulation

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SCC Again Denies Escape from Dominion Monopoly

Posted on May 30, 2019 | 39 comments

SCC: We’re All In This Together

The State Corporation Commission has denied another request from a major Virginia retailer for permission to escape from Dominion Energy Virginia’s monopoly electricity service.   The score for such petitions is now one approval, two denials, and the message is clear to all the other petitioners:  Go fight it out at the General Assembly.

The petition denied today was from Costco, seeking to aggregate 27 of its stores into a single electricity account that met the 5-megawatt demand trigger which allows large customers to seek a competitive supplier.  The final order is here.

Continue reading →

39 Comments

Posted in Energy, General Assembly, Regulation

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Long-Term Care: A Great Bet If Made Long Ago

Posted on May 30, 2019 | 5 comments

It is just like your econ professor told you – insurance is nothing but a bet.  It is a bet you often don’t want to win, but in one field you had a great chance of winning simply by hanging around and continuing to breathe.  That field is (or at least was) long-term care coverage.

Two top executives from major insurers told the State Corporation Commission last week just how badly their companies calculated the risk on long-term care decades ago.  They were seeking to explain the major premium increases their companies are seeking here in Virginia and all around the country in a proceeding previewed (here) in March on Bacon’s Rebellion.  Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in Consumer protection, Health Care, Insurance

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Are PBMs Killing Pharmacies, Hiking Medicaid?

Posted on May 29, 2019 | 7 comments

Stoney Creek Pharmacy, Nellysford, VA

A form letter mailed this month announced the death of another local independent pharmacy, this one in the bustling community of Nellysford.  Residents of Nelson County’s Rockfish Valley, including those in the large Wintergreen community, will join plenty of other rural areas in the U.S. without a pharmacy close by.  Continue reading →

7 Comments

Posted in General Assembly, Health Care, Insurance

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True Conservatism In Eight Simple Questions

Posted on May 28, 2019 | 19 comments

Answer eight simple questions correctly and you, too, could be a true Virginia conservative, joining the ideological movement which continues to challenge chances for Republican success in the Commonwealth.  Several high-profile candidates in next month’s contested GOP primaries have done so, earning good marks from a group calling itself Virginia Constitutional Conservatives.

Two out of eight involve enmity toward President Obama’s Affordable Care Act and its expansion of Medicaid eligibility.  One Obamacare question revisits the question which started the American Civil War and Virginia’s Massive Resistance – the concept of State Nullification.  The group is also offended by the idea you need a license to conceal your handgun of choice.  Continue reading →

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Posted in Politics

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Meet GOP Carbon Tax Advocate Bob Inglis

Posted on May 23, 2019 | 31 comments

The Hon. Robert Inglis

There is a hotbed of carbon tax advocacy at George Mason University, led by a former GOP congressman sent packing by South Carolina voters because he’s ready to tax them into loving solar and wind.  Continue reading →

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Posted in Energy, Regulation, Taxes

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Update: Aggregation Petition Moves to Full SCC

Posted on May 22, 2019 | 12 comments

If our electric bill rises a nickel, and our grocery bill drops a nickel, do we care?

The debate over retail aggregation and choice for electricity underway at the State Corporation Commission is moving to another decision point, with a hearing examiner’s ruling May 21 on one of the many petitions.  Continue reading →

12 Comments

Posted in Energy, Regulation

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Correction: DLS Was There At Energy Conference

Posted on May 21, 2019 | 5 comments

There was a Division of Legislative Services staff person present at the recent National Regulatory Conference in Williamsburg. My piece yesterday was in error.  Attorney Christine Noonan’s name was on the list and I missed it.  She’s been at DLS for a while, but only this session started as staff support for the committees doing energy legislation.  Continue reading →

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Posted in Energy, Regulation

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VA Energy Regulatory Conference All About Carbon

Posted on May 20, 2019 | 18 comments

The Hon. Bernard McNamee, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

WILLIAMSBURG — “The environmentalists don’t want to admit when they’ve won, but they’ve already won.”

That line was delivered by Joseph A. Rosenthal, principal attorney at Connecticut’s Office of Consumer Counsel, during a discussion Thursday on the status electricity grid modernization efforts in his state and several others.  It was a part of a day-and-a-half National Regulatory Conference and William and Mary’s law school which had several nominal topics but was really about carbon regulation.  Continue reading →

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Posted in Energy, Environment, Regulation

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