Given some earlier editorials, it makes sense to follow up with an announcement from the Chesapeake Climate Action Network:
On Saturday, March 24th, hundreds of Virginians will take a stand against fossil fuel corruption. Will you join us at the MARCH to End Dominion’s Power MADNESS?
For years, Dominion Virginia Power executives have been raking in millions while using their dirty energy money to buy political power. They’ve been making backroom deals to rig the rules for fossil fuels and for themselves. They generate ZERO electricity for us from wind or solar power but they’ve bamboozled our state-mandated electricity rates to include a whopping $76 million renewable energy reward.
We are outraged and Dominion needs to know it. If this is what business as usual looks like, then business as usual isn’t acceptable and has to stop before the planet cooks. It’s time for Virginians to stand up to Dominion’s exploitation and fight for a massive shift to wind and solar power.
Momentum is building for this action. Last week, leading climate activist Bill McKibben released a video urging Virginians to sign up for the MARCH. Will you join us?
When: Saturday, March 24th, noon
Where: Richmond, VA- Kanahwa Plaza across from Dominion’s corporate headquarters, which takes up an entire city block
What: A rally and march to take a stand against Dominion’s dirty energy money and for a massive shift to wind and solar powerJust last week, Dominion displayed its fossil fuel madness in a number of ways: Dominion lobbyists blocked a bill to expand solar power access for schools and churches, Dominion CEO Tom Farrell unveiled a proposal for another humongous carbon-polluting power plant and we learned that company executives sent a letter to the federal government opposing a transmission backbone for offshore wind power.
Please sign up to join us on the 24th. Together, we can fight back against Dominion’s corporate greed and take a stand to stop climate change!
Corporate greed? Here is evidence of Dominion giving back to the community:
http://www.virginiaoutdoors.com/article/more/2692
I hope the organizers of this protest on March 24 have the necessary permits and clean up after themselves.
It must be easy to spare $150,000 for a donation to state parks when the company is getting a $76 million bonus for NOT doing something it says it is doing.
Speaking of DOminion contributions…
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dominion
The protestors’ message will be better served by marching in front of Ener1, the battery maker who received a $118 million dollar grant from the US Energy Department and then filed for bankruptcy in January 2012.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-08/ener1-battery-maker-seeks-chapter-11-bankruptcy-protection.html
Then the protestors can march to Washington DC and tell Obama to stop thowing taxpayer money down the tubes to support unproven power generation methods.
They are “locked” into charging what it costs for them to generate power on the hottest days of the year when the A/C is running 100% and the grid is fully stressed. The rest of the year that money gets to accumulate in the form of $5 billion gross profits. You can’t even begin to compare that to 118 million that Ener1 “lost”. Dominion has 2.3 million customers, it only takes $51 from each of those to pay for that to be equivalent. Dominion overcharges any electric user (in the form of rate locks) for $51 multiple times in any given year. The CEOs son is in the house of representatives. That has always bothered me greatly. I’m sure that fact and their army of lobbyists has helped to lock in some pretty favorable legislation.
Chris, where did you get this $5 billion gross profit figure from? Dominion’s 10-K filing (aka their annual report) shows only $1.4 billion in profits based on $14 billion for the year ended December 31, 2011. This translates into a gross margin of about 10%, which really is about on par with other power companies.
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/103682/000119312512085811/d283555d10k.htm#toc283555_26
He might be looking at the 4.48B Gross Profit figure.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=D+Key+Statistics
Regardless of the money, what is absolutely unacceptable in my opinion is that Dominion keeps dragging on renewable energy, although it is taking a $76 million bonus for the state’s RPS program.
Denny,
I was looking at these numbers here: http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/financials.asp?ticker=D:US but you are absolutely right their 10-K certainly says otherwise.
Pingback: Baroque Saturday ‹ Oregon Hill