Category Archives: energy

Sierra Club Does Electric Slide Protest On Sunday

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In case you are wondering why there are people dancing at Kanawha Plaza on a Sunday afternoon,

From the Virginia Sierra Club website:

WHEN: Sun., April 14 at 1 – 3 PM

WHERE: Kanawha Plaza, 7th & Canal Streets

Join us in sending a message to Dominion and the State Corporation Commission saying “No more dirty gas plants; it’s time to electric slide toward clean energy in VA!”

Dominion has proposed building another dirty fossil fuel plant, a fracked-fueled gas power plant in Brunswick County, while Virginia continues to slide behind in clean energy and climate protection.

In April the VA State Corporation Commission, our state’s energy regulators, will decide if Dominion can build this unnecessary gas plant, or instead require them to invest in safer, more reliable clean energy sources like wind, solar and energy efficiency first.

Dominion and Renewable Energy In The General Assembly Update

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Following up on some earlier news and editorials about our neighbor, Dominion Power….

McDonnell signs Va utility regulation bill.

Activist Ivy Main has written an overview of the 2013 General Assembly session on the Power for the People VA blog:

The Virginia General Assembly will soon wrap up its work on the 2013 legislative session. Renewable energy advocates began the session with high hopes for a series of bills that promised to reform our renewable energy law, expand net-metering, and open up new opportunities for financing solar systems and small wind turbines.
So how did we do? Well, this is Virginia. Progress is slow, the utilities are powerful, and half the legislature doesn’t believe in climate change. On the other hand, they do believe in business. Under the circumstances, we did okay.

Click here for more.

Nuclear Senator

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Oregon Hill’s state senator, John Watkins, withdrew his bill for uranium mining, but he is still pushing nuclear power.

Please call or email his office to let him know you oppose SB1138.
“We don’t need a nuclear think tank, we need to move away from dangerous nuclear energy and towards safe renewables!”

John Watkins (804) 698-7510

Emails ~
district10 at senate.virginia.gov

Home Economics

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Excerpts from article/viewpoint Home Economics from American City:

A campaign to retrofit the country’s aging housing stock and commercial buildings could make a major dent in reducing emissions nationwide. But despite all the talk of energy independence during the 2012 presidential campaign, retrofitting buildings received only passing mentions from President Obama. Republican challenger Mitt Romney’s energy platform did not mention it at all.

Yet Democrats, Republicans, environmentalists and financial institutions alike agree that the country must become more energy efficient — not just for the environment, but for the bottom line.
….

“Let’s address communities as communities,” Cochrane said. “We have this perfect alignment of the owners’ immediate needs, the utility’s long-term investment interests and actually delivering these deep savings.”

CDFIs could play an important role here, too. The energy efficiency market is full of uncertainty. From unreliable contracting costs to fluctuating energy prices and shifting weather patterns, there are many unpredictable variables. More standardized data coming from an organized network of local or regional CDFIs could attract more private investment, industry players said.

This is one of the best articles I have seen on this subject. Think about sharing it with your neighbors.

Week Long Protest Against Dominion Starts Monday

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From CCAN’s public sign-up page:

Even though Dominion Power hasn’t invested in a single wind or solar power facility in Virginia, the company is receiving $76 million in extra profit for its supposed renewable energy investments.

Monday, October 1, through Friday, October 5, join us for a sustained week of action outside of Dominion’s Richmond office to protest this huge rip-off and call for wind and solar power in Virginia. We’ll also send in a representative each day, asking for a personal response from Dominion’s CEO, Tom Farrell.

And every day we’ll highlight a specific way that Dominion’s actions are harming Virginians, from increased extreme weather from climate change, to mountaintop removal coal mining and fracking for natural gas, to health impacts of the company’s pollution. Then we’ll cap off the week with a rally on Saturday, October 6.

Win $10,000 in Richmond’s First Home Energy Makeover Contest

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Regular readers know that I have brought up energy conservation measures again and again. Now you can enter a contest to win $ towards such measures-

Everyone has a To-Do List for their house. Where does energy efficiency fall on your list? Unfortunately for many of us it’s not at the top. The Richmond Region Energy Alliance wants to help you bump energy efficiency up the list with a chance to win a $10,000 Home Energy Makeover.

With record breaking heat here in Richmond, energy efficiency can save you money. Enter the contest here.

If you:

Pay too much on your energy bills
Struggle to stay comfortable in your home
Avoid certain rooms in the summer or the winter
…then take the 4 minute online energy assessment by August 26 and enter to win Richmond’s first Home Energy Makeover.

One lucky Richmond area homeowner will win a Home Energy Makeover valued at up to $10,000. Home energy improvements range from small to large solutions and often include air and duct sealing, HVAC upgrades, insulation, sealing and/or replacing windows and doors, and lighting. With these upgrades, homeowners can enjoy lower energy bills, increased comfort and higher home values.

Take control of your home energy costs. Enter the contest today.

Neighborhood Deals With Lingering Power Issues/Braces For ‘Fireworks On The James’

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Oregon Hill, like much of the Richmond area, is still cleaning up after recent storms. The downed trees on S. Cherry Street in front of the William Byrd Community House in the picture below were removed this morning.

Thankfully, it seems like the neighborhood did not suffer as much damage as other places. Still, Pescados restaurant suffered a power outage along with some residential blocks. There are still a few houses on the 400 block of S. Laurel that do not have power.

At the same time, residents are getting ready for expected crowds for tomorrow night’s ‘Fireworks on the James’. A couple of notes on that-

Fireworks to begin at approximately 9:15 PM
Enjoy music simulcast on WRIR-FM, 97.3 during the evening.
In case of rain, the event will take place on Thursday, July 5th.

MARCH to End Dominion’s Power MADNESS This Coming Saturday

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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 power

Just 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!

Dominion Power and HB 657

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Having written about Dominion Power and renewable energy on this site before, there is simply no reason to let up.

Here’s the latest, including a solution for the General Assembly in the form of HB 657:

Virginia’s “voluntary” renewable portfolio standard is voluntary for utilities, but it’s mandatory for ratepayers. Utilities charge citizens for the energy they buy to meet the goals, and then they get to charge citizens again for their bonus under the law. The idea behind the law was to incentivize utilities to buy renewable energy, but utilities have treated it as an entitlement program for their shareholders and are doing the minimum possible to earn their profit.

Everyone thought the 2007 law setting up the renewable energy incentives would result in Virginia-made wind and solar energy. That hasn’t happened, and yet utilities are collecting their full bonus amounts just as if they had made a real effort.

Dominion Power ran advertisements in 2010 claiming they were building wind farms “to power Virginia’s energy future.” Those ads misled everyone into assuming they were doing just that. But they have built no wind farms in Virginia.

Dominion talks a good game about renewable energy, but the reality came out in its rate case this fall, when it had to reveal the energy sources it was using to meet Virginia’s renewable energy goals. Almost all of it consists of old conventional hydroelectric plants from dams. None of it comes from projects built after 2000, and none of it is wind or solar.

Legislators should support HB 657 (Rust), the RPS reform bill, in its current form, including the provisions for Virginia-made wind and solar energy. If the final bill does not incentivize wind and solar in Virginia, the RPS law should be repealed rather than charging ratepayers millions of dollars extra.

The Virginia-made requirement makes sure that the ratepayers who are paying for the renewable energy are getting the benefits of it. Building wind and solar energy in Virginia is important to create new jobs here for Virginia’s young people, to increase energy supply without adding air pollution, and to give Virginia a stake in these fast-growing industries.

Coal In Their Stocking- Dominion’s Permit Has Expired

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Speaking of Special Use Permits, local citizen watchdog C.Wayne Taylor has been just as concerned about the latest flurry of riverfront planning as Oregon Hill neighbors.

He has started asking some very pertinent questions and has come to the conclusion that, despite what local officials may or may not say, Dominion Resources’ riverfront SUP has legally expired:

In 2001, City Council approved a special use permit for the Dominion Resources headquarters on Tredegar Street. The permit increased the maximum allowed building heights within a sloping “envelope” that extended from 60 feet above ground level to 160 feet above ground level.
Under the terms of the permit, it would automatically expire if certain conditions were not met. The city maintains that the conditions were met and that the permit is “still valid.”
The facts indicate that the permit expired. The property owner failed to meet the deadline for using the special use permit. The development that occurred on the property complied with the zoning regulations and did not require the special use permit.

Look for Dominion to try to quietly go behind the scenes and change things to their advantage. After all, this is what they do. And continue to do.

And don’t look for the local corporate media to cover it, after all, this is what they they won’t do. Why is it up to this little neighborhood community news site to mention the local connection to the MF Global story, where a former United States Congressperson and Governor “doesn’t know” where over a billion dollars went?

Citizens, remain vigilant!