ENERGY + ENVIRONMENT

COMMENTARY

How will air board weigh site ‘suitability’ on major compressor station vote?

BY: - January 7, 2019

Is an African-American community in rural Virginia the right place to put a massive compressor station for a natural gas pipeline? This is the question the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board will consider at its meeting Tuesday. The compressor for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is one of only three along the 600-mile planned pipeline route […]

Air board will reconsider Buckingham permit Jan. 8

BY: - December 31, 2018

After a second short public comment period, the state Air Pollution Control Board will again consider a permit to build a natural gas compressor station in Buckingham County that is part of Dominion Energy’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The Board will meet Jan. 8 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Richmond-Midlothian at 10 a.m. The meeting will […]

A LOOK BACK: Coal ash, pipelines and renewable energy were dominant environmental issues in 2018

BY: - December 26, 2018

Editor’s note: The Virginia Mercury launched in July to provide a sustained focus on statewide issues that have fallen through the cracks as traditional news outlets shrink. Here’s the first in a holiday-week series looking back on how we’ve spent our time since then.   Natural gas pipelines The year began with Virginia’s most controversial infrastructure […]

Trump’s trade-war bailout is sending $4.4 million worth of pork to Virginia food banks

BY: - December 24, 2018

Tractor trailers loaded with $10 million worth of apples, beans, cheese, potatoes, milk and pork — lots and lots of pork — will begin heading to Virginia food banks next month. The unprecedented bounty, which represents a more than 40 percent increase in donations for some regional food banks, comes courtesy of President Donald Trump’s […]

Public comment period on Buckingham compressor permit will go through holidays

BY: - December 24, 2018

The Department of Environmental Quality will hold a written public comment period for a controversial compressor station permit until Jan. 4. The public can share their thoughts on documents that were submitted to the State Air Pollution Control Board after it first delayed a decision on the permit in November. The permit would allow a […]

COMMENTARY

All I want for Christmas is a 500 megawatt offshore wind farm

BY: - December 24, 2018

Yes, you will say I have expensive taste. But it’s not for me, it’s for the children! Picture their shining faces on Christmas morning when they find Santa has delivered 62 Siemens Gamesa 8-megawatt, pitch-regulated, variable speed offshore wind turbines, sporting a rotor diameter of 167 meters each, to a patch of ocean 27 miles […]

Virginia signs on to lawsuit challenging seismic testing decision

BY: - December 20, 2018

Virginia has signed on to a lawsuit with eight other states and several environmental groups to fight President Donald Trump’s decision to open the East Coast up to seismic airgun testing, according to The Baltimore Sun. The testing is a precursor to offshore oil drilling. Before drilling can begin, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management […]

Air Board delays decision on Buckingham permit and plans new public comment period

BY: - December 19, 2018

The State Air Pollution Control Board approved a number of changes to Dominion Energy’s proposed permit for a compressor station in Buckingham County, but again delayed making a decision on the contentious project. Instead, the board will hold another public hearing on documents related to the demographic makeup of Union Hill, a historically black community that […]

Photos from pipeline protests at the State Air Pollution Control Board

BY: - December 19, 2018

The State Air Pollution Control Board delayed action Wednesday on a critical compressor station permit for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in order to allow for additional public comment. The meeting drew a large crowd of protesters and generated tense confrontation, with board members twice recessing the meeting amid chanting and shouts from the crowd. Toward […]

COMMENTARY
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring. (Ned Oliver/Virginia Mercury)

Herring tells Blue Virginia he won’t take Dominion money

BY: - December 18, 2018

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, who threw his hat into the ring last month for the 2021 gubernatorial race, has evidently been reading some tea leaves about the Democratic electorate’s dimming view of state-regulated monopolies like Dominion Energy and the influence they wield. In a wide-ranging interview with Blue Virginia published today, Herring says he […]

Cows graze in Tazewell County. One dairy farm a week has closed in Virginia this year. (Josh/Flickr/Creative Commons 2.0)

Virginia’s losing one dairy farm a week. Can cheese save the industry?

BY: - December 18, 2018

Cline Brubaker bought his dad’s dairy farm in 1967, but he has no plans to entice his own children into the family business. He shut down his farm in October after more than 50 years of milking cows and plans to begin selling off his land. “I haven’t made money since 2009,” he says via […]

Dominion Energy's downtown Richmond building. (Ned Oliver/Virginia Mercury)

Advocacy group estimates Dominion customers pay a ‘tax’ of more than $250 to company shareholders

BY: - December 17, 2018

Clean Virginia, an advocacy organization, says it has a dollar figure for the cost of “monopoly utility corruption in Virginia politics” for Dominion Energy customers: $254.20 per year. The report also analyzed prices from Appalachian Power and found customers are charged an average of $89 extra each year. “Virginians are being taken for a ride […]