Dems & Dom, RGGI Grows, Medicaid & Work

By Steve Haner

What Was Lost Is Found Again.  Couldn’t they wait at least another few weeks?  Anybody foolish enough to believe that Dominion Energy Virginia and the Virginia Democratic Party establishment have really parted ways (as Jim Bacon seemed to think a while back), take note of this from today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch:   Governor Ralph Northam’s new communications director, Grant Neely, is totally plugged into the Dominion Energy/Richmond’s Navy Hill/Mark Warner and Bob Blue nexus.  You can fool some of the people some of the time, but certain Democrats just about any time you want.

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

The P in PJM Now Joining RGGI.  Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, a Democrat, has signed an executive order that his state should be the next to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.  According to this from The Philadelphia Inquirer, the executive order route comes after being rebuffed by the legislature.  It is a strong first step but not a done deal, with litigation one possible route for opponents.  Virginia’s on-hold membership will likely be determined by the General Assembly elected next month.

PJM Territory

RGGI imposes a cap, trade and tax regime to force Virginia electricity generating plants to reduce their use of fossil fuels and emit less CO2.  An alternate way to meet RGGI goals is to buy fossil-fuel power from a non-RGGI state.  That is easy for Dominion Energy Virginia and Appalachian Power Company to do through their membership in the regional energy market PJM Interconnection LLC, which reaches west across Ohio to Illinois.  It will be less easy with Pennsylvania now in RGGI (and possibly competing for those non-RGGI electrons from elsewhere in PJM).  It is not clear what impact the larger trading pool for CO2 allowances will have on the carbon tax at the heart of the RGGI process, $5.20 per ton at the September auction.

Will the Number of “Threatened” Medicaid Recipients Keep Growing?  Following the recent legislative dust up over Virginia’s nascent work or training requirement for certain Medicaid recipients, the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis issued a new estimate.   As many as 74,000 Virginians could lose their health coverage, it told a reporter for WVTF.  It might be a bit more accurate to say those folks are unemployed but able to work, and would be required to do something about that to maintain their benefits.  Getting a job being just one of the options.  A year earlier, October 2018, the estimate from the same entity was that 21,000 would be forced to act or lose the benefit.  There is plenty of time to revise it higher by November 5.  The eligibility expansion numbers continue to grow, up to 321,000 now, but at a slower pace.