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On environment, lawmakers to grapple with everything from small fish to global shifts
As if they didn’t have enough on their plates with energy legislation, lawmakers this session are set to consider a vast array of environmental bills, ranging from small fish (menhaden) to problems perplexing leaders worldwide (climate change). What unified policies, if any, will emerge from this pastiche of concerns and proposals is largely unclear, as […]
Federal court overturns Union Hill compressor station permit
Calling Virginia’s review of a controversial compressor station in the historic Buckingham County freedmen’s community of Union Hill “arbitrary and capricious,” a federal court on Tuesday stripped the facility of its permit and ordered the State Air Pollution Control Board to reconsider the case. The decision is the latest blow to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline […]
With new Democratic leadership, General Assembly faces flood of energy proposals
The week after elections swept Democrats to power in the General Assembly, environment and clean energy activists struggled to get their sea legs in the new ocean of possibilities that suddenly opened up before them. “I think everyone’s a little surprised by the power dynamics and the shift in the political calculus,” said Tim Cywinski, […]
Natural gas development is speeding up in Virginia. Legislators will have to square that with state climate goals.
This September, Gov. Ralph Northam took the stage at the inaugural Virginia Clean Energy Summit to announce he was committing the state to a carbon-free grid by 2050. “I always say that I want Virginia to be a welcoming place, with our lights on and our doors open,” he said. “Well, I also want those […]
More natural gas infrastructure proposed for second Charles City plant
More natural gas infrastructure may be on the way in Virginia as plans move forward for a major new plant in Charles City County. No, not the Chickahominy Power Station. A different privately financed natural gas plant known as C4GT is driving a recent application by Virginia Natural Gas to construct 24 new miles of […]
Federal government orders Virginia menhaden fishery shut down
There is no joy in Reedville — mighty Omega has struck out. On Thursday U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross ordered Virginia’s menhaden fishery, the largest on the East Coast, shut down after Reedville-based Omega Protein exceeded a fishing cap set by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. “A moratorium on fishing for Atlantic menhaden […]
Waste company slashes size of controversial Cumberland landfill
The company behind a controversial mega-landfill in Cumberland County has eliminated one of two cells from its plans, reducing the area where waste can be dumped by more than half. The change “significantly reduces” the project’s impact on both wetlands and the surrounding communities, said Jay Smith, a spokesperson for the Green Ridge Recycling and […]
Amid chicken farming boom on Eastern Shore, state worries about water supply
Which comes first, chicken farms or the public water supply? On Friday the state signaled it ranks a sustainable aquifer above concerns about poultry industry costs when the State Water Control Board unanimously voted to require 45 major Eastern Shore chicken farms to look at the shallow Columbia aquifer instead of only deep-water reserves as […]
Polls show Virginians support fuel emission cap-and-invest, but less than northern counterparts
Most Virginians support a cap-and-invest strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, but support for the concept is lower and opposition higher in Virginia than in more northern states, polling released Wednesday found. The poll, which was conducted by nonpartisan nonprofit think tank MassINC, found that 60 percent of Virginians surveyed supported the Transportation […]
‘Historic’ Northam budget prioritizes Bay cleanup, clean energy and agency funding
The Chesapeake Bay, clean energy and the Department of Environmental Quality are the big winners among environment and energy priorities in Gov. Ralph Northam’s proposed 2020-22 budget. The proposal, unveiled by Northam in Virginia Beach Wednesday, would commit a ‘historic’ $733 million in new funding to a variety of environment and energy aims. “Virginia is […]
DEQ says groundwater proposal for contested Chickahominy power plant will protect aquifer
As Virginia tries to protect its eastern aquifers, the state Department of Environmental Quality is limiting the amount of groundwater that a controversial new natural gas plant can withdraw. Plans to build the Chickahominy Power Station, a privately financed generation facility that is expected to produce more power than Dominion’s largest fossil-fueled power plant, have […]
Virginia’s ‘cleanest-burning coal plant’ racks up third consent order for air pollution violations
A Southwestern Virginia power plant praised by Dominion Energy as “one of the cleanest-burning coal plants in the country” has agreed to consent orders for violating state environmental laws more times than any other Dominion facility in Virginia since 2002, despite only being in operation seven years. This October, the utility signed a consent order […]