During his time in office, Governor Terry McAuliffe led action on climate change through a number of executive actions. These actions took steps to move Virginia forward and provide a road map for near-term to bring cleaner energy and economic growth to Virginia. Some of Governor McAuliffe’s actions are summarized below.
Continue reading “Governor Terry McAuliffe’s Actions on Climate Change”
The Virginia Energy Plan is currently being updated as required under Virginia Code § 67-201. The plan is updated every four years and covers a ten year period. The Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME) is leading the effort and has hosted a number of public input sessions and accepted written comments through Virginia Regulatory Town Hall online forum. Online, public commenting closed at 11:59 PM on Friday August 24.
A first look at what the public has to say reveals a strong push to move Virginia forward into a new, clean energy economy. A total of 697 comments are posted on Virginia Regulatory Town Hall online forum. We identify 662 unique posters (individuals, organizations, or businesses). We also identify 145 organizations that are represented by comments made on the forum.
Continue reading “Virginia Energy Plan Public Comments: A First Look”
The Virginia Energy Plan is currently being updated as required under Virginia Code § 67-201. The plan is updated every four years and covers a ten year period. The Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy is leading the effort and has hosted a number of public input sessions. They also are accepting written comments through Virginia Regulatory Town Hall online forum. Below is an expanded version of comments made by Zero Carbon’s Scott Emery at the August 16 public input session at George Mason University.
Over the decades, Virginia built its electric power industry following the common path of building big, centralized production facilities and expanding the electric power grid to make affordable electricity accessible to all. Abundant, energy-dense fossil fuels power most of our generation, and have significantly shaped how our electric power industry operates. In many ways, this has been good for Virginia, but it is time for a change.
With the 2015 Paris Agreement, the world committed to taking serious action on climate change. The agreement is a monumental achievement that brings together almost every country on the planet to pursue limiting end-of-century temperature rise to two degrees Celsius or less. It brings together countries that have added tremendous amounts of carbon to the atmosphere with those that have added little; it brings together countries that are well developed and countries that are just reaping the rewards of development. It brings all these countries together in a framework that commits them to work toward the agreement’s common goal regardless of each country’s perspective as a victim, a contributor, or a neutral player.
Zero Carbon Virginia 