Before the start of the 2021 legislative session, I highlighted three areas where Virginia needed to make significant progress to support its climate agenda: transportation electrification, improving the energy efficiency of buildings and giving consumers greater access to renewable energy. The General Assembly delivered on one-and-a-half out of three. If...
By Will ClevelandAmerica’s eyes and hearts turned to Texas last month when a devastating energy crisis brought about by unexpected winter weather left at least 24 people dead and millions stranded without power and water for days. Now, armchair pundits are on the hunt for a scapegoat, even though...
For Dominion Energy's electric bus bill, the third time was not the charm. Late Saturday night, the Virginia House of Delegates voted once again to reject a controversial proposal that would have smoothed regulatory approvals for Dominion, the state’s largest electric utility, to get into the electric school bus business.The...
As the economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic continue, the Virginia General Assembly has approved an extension of relief to customers of Dominion Energy, Virginia's largest utility, who are behind on their electric bills. Under a provision of the compromise budget released by the House of Delegates and Senate earlier...
While Virginia’s General Assembly has committed to adopt stricter transportation emissions standards by 2025 that will encourage more widespread use of electric vehicles, lawmakers’ final budget includes no funding for a rebate program intended to bring down the vehicles’ cost for consumers. “We were hoping to get money in there...
With ambitious efforts underway to reduce carbon output from the power and transportation sectors, Virginia is preparing to figure out exactly how extensive the state’s greenhouse gas emissions are. This week, a bill from Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Richmond, that would allow the state Department of Environmental Quality to conduct a...
It is never fun to see our fellow Americans suffer, whether it’s from pandemic diseases or weather disasters. Our hearts go out to the residents of Texas who suffered without electricity and heat for days, some of them also without safe drinking water, and a few of them even...
A Virginia law that will ban all restaurants and food vendors from using polystyrene food containers by July 2025 is on its way to the governor.Under the legislation, which has been carried by Del. Betsy Carr, D-Richmond, two years running, large restaurants and food vendors --- defined as those...
Legislation to classify chemical recycling as manufacturing rather than solid waste management is on its way to the governor despite early resistance from the House of Delegates. The hotly contested bill, which supporters say will encourage the repurposing of plastic waste while creating jobs and opponents say will allow the...
In their second year in control of the legislature, Virginia Democrats pushed through another major measure to combat climate change when the Senate on Friday voted to adopt California regulations that set stringent vehicle emissions standards and electric car sales targets.“We know that our automobile emissions greatly contribute to...
