A couple of days ago, I expressed skepticism regarding the usefulness of a state Senate task force formed to examine long-term energy policy for Virginia. I based my comments upon an article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, which emphasized issues such as price gouging after hurricanes and heating bills for poor people. Those sounded like the ultimate in short-term issues, I observed. I should have reserved my skepticism for the article, not the task force.
It turns out that Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, who will lead the study, truly is thinking long-term. In the op-ed pages of today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch, he advocated relieving Virginia’s dependence upon easily disrupted Gulf Coast natural gas supplies by supporting construction of a Liquefied Natural Gas terminal in the Commonwealth. I’m impressed. Watkins is thinking outside the box. I think he makes a strong case.
Virginia’s electricity supply, Watkins observes, is increasingly dependent upon clean-burning natural gas. The addition of gas-fired electric generators across the United States has outstripped the production of gas domestically, and environmental policies restrict the ability to produce more. What’s more, 25 percent of our natural gas comes from the Gulf Coast, which, as we have seen, is vulnerable to disruptions by hurricanes. The solution, he says, is to import more gas. “[Liquefied Natural Gas] is the best mid-term solution to ease the supply crunch because it is a safe and proven technology, and new terminals for receiving LNG from Alaska, South America, the Caribbean and other regions can be permitted and built in just a few years.”
Columbia, the gas pipeline company, already operates an LNG terminal in Chesapeake. Dominion operates another in Maryland. Says Watkins: “The addition of a major LGN import terminal in Virginia … would provide the Commonwealth with long-term energy stability and economic development resulting from a clean and reliable energy source. We would also gain natural gas supply diversity to provide price competition and serve as a cushion against future disruptions in the Gulf of Mexico.”
Watkins has a good idea, though I would argue that it’s only a start. If Virginia wants to insulate its energy supplies from the vagaries of hurricanes, terrorists and despots, we also should examine market-driven, environmentally sound solutions such as:
- Expanding Dominion’s nuclear power capacity
- Pushing electric-powered automobiles (substituting domestically generated electricity for imported petroleum)
- Reforming the scattered, disconnected and low-density patterns of development that increase automobile dependence, Vehicle Miles Driven and gasoline consumption
- Easing regulatory barriers that inhibit the spread of micropower (small-scale solar energy production and fuel cells to store electric energy)
