News

Virginia Mercury reported on a state senate committee hearing and action updating Virginia's Energy Policy, quoting AEE representative Greg Habeeb. Read excerpts below and the entire Virginia Assembly piece here. 

After a slow start, the General Assembly is beginning to take up energy bills. The Senate Commerce and Labor Committee on Monday signed off on a set of updates to the Commonwealth Energy Policy, as well as proposals to classify nuclear energy as clean energy and develop a strategic plan for how nuclear energy contributes to the state’s renewable energy goals. All of the measures now head to the Senate floor. 

Virginia Mercury covered the recent surge of proposed advanced energy bills filed in the Virginia General Assembly, quoting Virginia AEE's Harry Godfrey. Read excerpts below and the entire Virginia Mercury piece here. 

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, communications coordinator for the Sierra Club’s Virginia chapter, at the time.

Now, on the brink of the session, energy lobbyists’ hazy sense of optimism is assuming more defined lines.

Virginia Mercury reported on Virginia's energy mix and natural gas development given Gov. Ralph Northam's recent call for a carbon-free grid, including quotes by Virginia AEE's Harry Godfrey. Read excerpts below and the entire Virginia Mercury piece here. 

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 lights to be powered by clean energy.” But as the governor received a standing ovation, elsewhere in the commonwealth work was underway to massively expand infrastructure supporting a very different — and decidedly not carbon-free — type of energy: natural gas. 

Virginia Mercury covered concerns about Dominion's new green energy package, including those raised by AEE's Caitlin Marquis and AEE member Walmart. Read excerpts below and the entire Virginia Mercury piece here. 

Dominion Energy’s newest plan for a renewable energy package that environmentally conscious customers can buy is causing some big businesses, including Walmart, to push back against what they call “an unattractive offering.” Why? Companies and an industry group that represents some of Virginia’s and the nation’s largest employers have two complaints. First, the portfolio of renewable energy resources assembled by Dominion includes numerous carbon-emitting facilities, some decades old, including one in Southwest Virginia that derives 93 percent of its energy from coal and is listed by Dominion on its website as a coal asset.