State News
Keep Virginia Beautiful is accepting grant applications for annual Green Grants programĀ
Keep Virginia Beautiful, Inc. is accepting grant applications from groups all across the Commonwealth who want to make a difference in their community. Applications for Green Grants are being accepted through April 30th. Thirty grant awards will be announced, one each day in the month of June.
You can submit a proposal for a program or project in any of four categories: Litter Prevention, Cigarette Litter Prevention, Community Beautification, and Recycling. Past awards have gone to place cigarette butt receptacles outside municipal buildings and restaurants, or to host a fix-it-fair to repair bicycles and household items instead of adding them to the landfill.
āPeople know whatās needed to make improvements in their community,ā said Cristi Lawton, Executive Director. āThis program gives them the resources to put plans for their environmental projects and programs into action.ā
Since 2011, Keep Virginia Beautiful has provided $254,500 for 355 programs and projects throughout the state, through the generosity of Altria, along with this yearās sponsors WestRock and Village Bank.
The mission at Keep Virginia Beautiful is to engage and unite Virginians to improve our natural and scenic environment.
State News
Youth Violence Prevention Program Funding Hangs in the Balance as Legislature Reworks State Budget
Two Virginia school divisions are slated to launch a pilot program intended to help reduce youth involvement in gangs and violent behaviors with guns but itās unclear if the initiative will be fully funded, as lawmakers go back to the drawing board to work up a new state spending plan.
On April 2, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed legislation to create the Community Builders Pilot Program that will start with Roanoke and Petersburg City Public Schools students entering the eighth grade.Ā Pupils in both districts face high rates of gun violence and cases of students bringing firearms to school.
Bill carriers Sen. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, and Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, said unlike other community violence intervention efforts centered around getting weapons off the streets, their legislation takes a different approach because it centers students.
āWeāre hoping by involving young people that perhaps it helps in other ways,ā said Aird, adding that such a program could also have a āresidual impactā on children facing disciplinary trouble in school.
āBut ultimately, [this legislation] is specifically trying to make sure that when they are no longer in school, they have another outlet thatās pouring into them and theyāre not getting involved in things that can be harmful to themselves and others when they are outside of the school walls,ā she said.
If the program is successful, Rasoul ā who serves as the chair of the House Education Committee ā said he hopes it will expand to other schools and grade levels.
āThis is a great way to keep students focused, especially through the summer, and to build some healthy habits with a very specific curriculum that then follows them throughout their eighth grade year,ā said Rasoul.
According to the pilot program legislation, the initiative will provide community engagement, workforce development, postsecondary education exploration, social-emotional education and development opportunities to students during the academic year after regular school hours and during the summer months.
Schools will collect data and report the programās progress to the governorās administration and General Assembly every November for the next two years.
Public interest in youth gun violence prevention has increased, most notably after a then-six-year-old student brought a firearm from home to his Newport News elementary school last year and shot his teacher. The teacher, Abigail Zwerner, was seriously injured but survived.
The Community Builders program might have scored a legislative win, but funding for the program will remain unclear until the governor and leaders from the General Assembly determine the final budget before the June 30 deadline.
Virginia legislature will consider reworked state budget in May 13 special session
The General Assembly backed the pilot program with $800,000 in dedicated funds over the next two years. However, the governor amended the budget, cutting the request to $400,000. Itās an example of the governorās and the General Assemblyās differing opinions on how the commonwealth should be funded for the next two years.
Del. Mike Cherry, R-Colonial Heights, who supported the Community Builders legislation, said during the Jan. 30 House Education subcommittee hearing that he believes it to be a āgreat model programā and would work well with Ceasefire Virginia in supporting communities facing high levels of crime.
In 2022, Ceasefire was launched as a multi-jurisdictional approach to address violent criminal activity among serious and repeat offenders in partnership with Virginiaās attorney generalās office, elected officials and law enforcement.
The purpose of the initiative is to reduce violent crime through partnerships and investments into gang prevention and community policing. Ceasefire has been implemented in 13 cities statewide, including Petersburg and Roanoke.
āWhen you ask high school students āWhen did things start to go wrong?ā many times they will point to the middle school level,ā Verletta White, superintendent of Roanoke City Public Schools, said during a Jan. 30 House Education subcommittee hearing.
āWe want to target our rising eighth graders and show them not only the detrimental effects of violence on a community, but their responsibility and how they can be community builders instead.ā
by Nathaniel Cline, Virginia Mercury
Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.
State News
Virginia Legislature Will Consider Reworked State Budget in May 13 Special Session
Gov. Glenn Youngkin and lawmakers have agreed to work together on the biennium budget, after clashing for weeks over two distinctly different spending plans.
A special session will be held on May 13, Youngkin and lawmakers in both chambers announced Wednesday, to consider the revamped budget and prevent a shutdown ahead of July 1, when the current budget expires.
On Wednesday, the House of Delegates voted to reject all 233 of the governorās amendments to the budget, and agreed to seek a new budget to present to the legislature May 13, with voting on it expected May 15. They also took up the governorās other bill amendments and 153 vetoes.
The House accepted all Youngkinās vetoes, including bills that would have raised the minimum wage, created a Prescription Drug Affordability Board to cap drug prices, protected people who come to Virginia for reproductive health care from extradition and prohibited assault firearms in public places.
Future of skill games in Virginia still unclear as Senate rejects Youngkinās proposal
The bill amendments up for debate included: changes to legislation that would legalize skill machines, which was rejected by the Senate; a measure that would lower the amounts Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power Company can recover from customers for their pre-construction costs of a small modular reactor, which was adopted in their respective chambers; and another that would require school boards to notify gun-owning parents annually of their responsibility to safely store firearms to keep them away from their children, which was also rejected by the delegates.
Itās not clear what will happen to the language the legislature included in its budget that wouldāve ordered the state to rejoin the carbon market known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, that incentivizes electricity producers to emit less carbon by making them purchase allowances to do so.
Youngkin ā who passed a regulation that withdrew Virginia from RGGI despite RGGI supporters saying a legislative change was needed ā has opposed participation in RGGI, while calling the fee for the allowances that utilities can recover from ratepayersĀ a āhidden tax.ā The regulation withdrawal is being challenged in court.
The budget delay also creates uncertainty for local governments trying to estimate how much funding schools will receive and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, or Metro, which is seeking additional funding from the state to bridge its $750 million shortfall.
Before Wednesdayās veto session, the governor tried compromising on the budget with lawmakers by removing all tax increases they had approved ā including the digital service sales tax he initially proposed ā but also dropping the tax cuts he requested in December.
In the Capitolās rotunda with Democratic and Republican leaders from both chambers Wednesday afternoon, Youngkin said all parties are close to a budget agreement after meeting over the last few days.
āWe believe this is a good path forward for the commonwealth,āYoungkin told reporters. āIt reflects the work that has been done from the General Assembly and from the governorās office.ā
He added that no decisions have been made yet on the specifics of the budget, including tax increases, but he looks forward to meeting with leaders.
āThis was a collective decision, and you will see from the vote this morning that it is unanimous amongst all of us to press forward in this fashion,ā Youngkin said.
House Appropriations Committee Chair Luke Torian, D-Prince William, added, āWe agreed that there is nothing thatās off the table. Everything will be up for discussion and deliberations. No decisions have been made at this point.ā
Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee Chair Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, told a reporter that they were āabsolutely correctā that envisioning the governor, Democrats and Republicans standing together in the rotunda two months ago was unlikely to happen when there were different budget priorities on both sides, including Youngkinās arena proposal to bring two professional sports teams to Northern Virginia and the Democratic-controlled legislatureās plan to raise the minimum wage and allow retail cannabis sales in the state.
āBut I think whatās changed is that there has been a lot of collaboration,ā Lucas said. āI think nothing helps the process more than everybody getting together, sitting around the table and talking about what we can all do to help Virginia. I think we all had different ways we thought we were going to get there, but I think now we are going to work together towards something that will keep the temperature down a little bit.ā
Sen. Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, who, along with Lucas, met with the governor earlier this week, said he is optimistic about the process moving forward.
āThatās how you come to a resolution,ā McDougle said. āEverybodyās got to come to the table and talk and be heard and once you do that you can find solutions.ā
by Nathaniel Cline, Virginia Mercury
Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.
State News
Future of Skill Games in Virginia Still Unclear as Senate Rejects Youngkinās Proposal
The fate of slots-like skill games in Virginia convenience stores and truck stops remained in limbo Wednesday as the state Senate voted to reject Gov. Glenn Youngkinās sweeping changes to a proposal to legalize and tax the gambling machines.
The Senate voted 34-6 to reject the governorās tougher amendments to the bill, sending the legislation back to Youngkin in its original form.
Virginia lawmakers return to Richmond as budget battle fuels shutdown talk
The bipartisan move raises the risk Youngkin could vetoĀ the legislation, an outcome that would leave skill games prohibited throughout Virginia by a ban enacted under former Gov. Ralph Northam. But lawmakers also announced Wednesday that theyāre planning a special session later this spring to reach a deal on the state budget, creating an opening to reconsider the skill game issue over the next few weeks.
āI recognize that this bill faces an uncertain future if it goes back to the governorās desk,ā said Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, the billās lead sponsor in the Senate. āButā¦ I stand with small businesses in every corner of our commonwealth urging the governor to do right by small businesses and sign this bill.ā
Virginiaās skill game ban ā which was passed in 2020 but didnāt take effect until 2021 after lawmakers gave the industry a one-year grace period due to COVID-19 ā was suspended for nearly two years as the skill game industry fought it in court. The Supreme Court of Virginia reinstated it late last year, rendering the machines illegal and prompting the industry to launch a new lobbying push to change the law.
Things appeared to be going well for skill game supporters until the bill got to Youngkin, who had signaled in February that he had āserious concernsā with the proposal. Last week, the governor unveiled amendments that would impose a higher tax rate on the machines, more regulatory safeguards and strict geographic limits that would effectively ban the machines in most of the stateās metro areas.
The governor wanted a 35% tax rate on the machines, while the General Assembly approved a 25% tax rate. Skill game supporters claim Youngkinās amendments would create a tax rate of up to 45%, but the administration has said thatās a misread of the bill and the suggested rate is indeed 35%.
In a statement Wednesday evening, Youngkinās office reiterated its qualms about the legislation while indicating the governor is open to revisiting the geographic limits skill game backers took issue with.
āThe governorās concerns with the bill remain and his amendments addressed those concerns,ā said Youngkin spokesman Christian Martinez. āHe is open to continuing discussion to alleviate issues with both perimeter provisions.ā
Proponents of legalizing skill games have portrayed it as a matter of fairness, arguing that since Virginia has legalized numerous other types of gambling thereās no reason the machines that generate revenue for small business owners should be treated more harshly. Opponents of the bill say the state shouldnāt allow a gambling free-for-all or reward businesses that exploited a legal loophole to profit from gambling machines that have been unregulated and untaxed for most of their existence in Virginia.
The Senate appeared to consider a second vote on the skill game bill to preemptively override a potential veto. But the body didnāt follow through on that effort, which would have required two-thirds votes in both legislative chambers. The House of Delegates, which had approved the skill game bill by a narrow 51-45 margin, didnāt take up the skill game bill Wednesday. Because the bill originated in the Senate, the Senateās decision to reject Youngkinās amendments sent the bill straight back to the governor.
The policy specifics of what the governor recommended drew little discussion in the Senate, which completed its action on the skill game bill Wednesday in about five minutes.
Rouse, the only senator who spoke on the bill, said the āmost egregiousā elements in Youngkinās proposal were the geographic limitations that would outlaw the machines in the stateās most populous regions. Youngkinās version of the bill would have prohibited skill games within 35 miles of licensed casinos and Rosieās facilities affiliated with the Colonial Downs horse racing track. The governor also suggested banning skill games within 2,500 feet of schools, day cares and places of worship.
In a seemingly less controversial amendment, Youngkin proposed giving cities and counties the ability to ban skill games locally. The bill sent to him had no provisions for local control, legalizing the machines statewide with no ability for communities to opt out.
The governor had also suggested tougher regulations requiring the industry to verify the identity of players before they put money into the machines, a system that could help prevent minors and people seeking help for gambling addiction from playing skill games. The bill the legislature passed also bars people under 21 from playing and has provisions for gambling addiction, but was less clear on how those rules would be enforced since skill games arenāt as closely supervised as slot machines on a casino floor.
Del. Paul Krizek, D-Fairfax, a skill game critic who has pushed for tougher regulations on the industry, said the legislature could have avoided a veto by rejecting the 35-mile rule while leaving the rest of Youngkinās suggestions.
āIām a big believer that half a loaf is better than no loaf,ā Krizek said. āIām sure thereās things that the governor could meet them halfway on.ā
A large group of convenience store owners gathered at the Capitol Wednesday morning to applaud lawmakers seen as skill game allies and criticize Youngkin for amendments they felt were overly harsh and not in tune with reality.
Convenience stores shut down Virginia Lottery sales in protest for skill games
Munir Rassiwala, who owns several convenience stores around Virginia, said he voted for Youngkin but was disappointed the governor seemed to think protecting the investments casinos have made is more important than helping smaller entrepreneurs like him.
āThere should be a compromise,ā he said. āThere are lives at stake.ā
Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin, a skill game supporter, encouraged the crowd to keep up the fight.
āHopefully cooler heads prevail both in the governorās office and here in the legislature,ā said Stanley, a lawyer who has done work for Pace-O-Matic, a major skill game company lobbying for the legalization bill. āI think ultimately a solution for the budget and for skill games is in the works.ā
Virginians Against Neighborhood Slot Machines, an anti-skill game advocacy group funded by casinos, urged Youngkin to veto the bill.
āThat is the only course of action to ensure public safety, protect vulnerable communities and to prevent every neighborhood in Virginia from becoming a mini-Las Vegas,ā the group said in a statement. āIt should tell Virginians everything they need to know that āskill gamesā proponents threw a tantrum at the mere prospect of modest regulatory protections.ā
by Graham Moomaw, Virginia Mercury
Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.
State News
Youngkin Proposes Uing NoVa Investment Fund to Support Metro
In a state budget amendment, Gov. Glenn Youngkin pledged to support Metro with an additional $133.7 million amid a projected shortfall for the transit agency. The pledge came with a caveat: It would strip funding from a transit investment fund used by Northern Virginia jurisdictions.
Leaders from the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, the regional body of jurisdictions responsible for funding Metro, urged lawmakers to reject the amendment.
āThe General Assembly worked hard and came to [a] compromise, and we believe itās the right thing to do to reject the amendment and then re-engage with the administration to find common ground and this is not something that we believe the governor is ideologically opposed to,ā said Matt de Ferranti, commission chair.
Last week, the governor announced his pledge after the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which operates Metro, projected a $750 million shortfall next fiscal year, starting during the summer. In Youngkinās initial budget proposed in December, he did not include any additional funds for the transit agency.
Since then Virginiaās jurisdictional partners Maryland and the District of Columbia have committed millions to Metro. D.C. has committed up to $200 million, and Maryland is pledging $150 million.
In 2018, the three jurisdictions established a dedicated funding source for Metro to help address any maintenance issues. The Virginia General Assembly created the WMATA Capital Fund to uphold its portion of the agreement.
In December, the governor told reporters that Metro must create a plan to address the change in ridership and service demand before any additional funding is appropriated.
The governorās proposal
Youngkinās proposal is less than the $149.5 million proposed by lawmakers, who did not intend to use funds from NVTC.
According to the budget amendment, Virginia would provide $35.7 million from the general fund to NVTC in fiscal year 2026 to support operating assistance for Metro, in addition to the $98 million supplemental allocations held by NVTC.
The commission said in an April 12 letter to lawmakers that the $98 million was given under previous Democratic Gov. Ralph Northamās administration for the localities to use to address the immediate Metro payments as the country emerged from the pandemic.
Under the governorās amendment, the letter said, the commission would be required to pay its normal Metro operating bill, which is approximately $340 million,Ā and an additional increase of $119 million in fiscal year 2025.
The funds would have helped with matching the General Assemblyās allocation to address the projected two-year, $263 million increase in Virginiaās Metro bill: $119 million in fiscal year 2025 and $144 million in 2026.
The letter states that the governorās intended action would place an overly ādisproportionate burdenā on local budgets in the counties of Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun, and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church, who would āneed to look to taxpayers a second time, beyond the existing local investments already being made in Metro.ā
If the NVTC Trust Fund was exhausted, de Ferranti said, it would delay funding road and bike lane projects in the region.
As part of the governorās plan, additional funds to the transit agency could increase depending on whether Metro meets the administrationās proposed criteria, including hiring a consulting firm to help the transit agency save money and to review how it is managing funds.
The firm would be required to submit its findings to WMATA by Nov. 30, as well as to the governor, and the chairs of the House and Senate Appropriations committees.
Metro will also be required to provide a management plan to the state for approval by Jan. 15, 2025.
The commission wrote it is concerned about the āprocedurally complex and overarching reporting and approval conditionsā for the agency Metro on top of other regional efforts.
āAdding more steps beyond the oversight requirements contained in [the] existing code would undo efforts to have clear lines of authority and add financial uncertainty to the flow of funding, disproportionately affecting NVTC and its jurisdictions,ā the letter reads.
Helping Metro
Last week, Metro joined the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments in announcing the launch of a new joint initiative to create a āunified visionā for transit service in the region as Virginia lawmakers weigh the governorās proposal and conditions.
The initiative comes after the jurisdictions learned more about Metroās financial challenges to maintain services. Council members also expressed interest in identifying funding and accountability solutions, both in the near and long terms.
āOur public transit network is our regionās most significant, shared asset,ā said Clark Mercer, executive director for COG, who added he was pleased leaders are āseizing this valuable opportunity to collaborate and ensure the regionās public transit is positioned for long-term success.ā
Council suggests Virginia reset subsidy payments to Metro amid budget shortfall
Randy Clarke, Metroās general manager and chief executive officer, said on Fridayās The Politics Hour radio show that he expects the Board of Directors to vote on its budget next week, which avoids those ādraconianā service cuts.
According to Metro, some of the agencyās proposed changes include eliminating bus service on 67 of 135 lines, reducing bus service on 41 of 135 lines, a 20% general increase in fares and parking rates, reducing rail service and closing 10 stations.
Nearly two dozen groups, including the Coalition for Smarter Growth, Virginia Bicycling Federation and the Southern Environmental Law Center, signed a statement urging lawmakers to reject the governorās amendment and restore the funding approved by the General Assembly.
āFailure to provide additional state funding will have dire consequences for the workforce and economy of Northern Virginia and the D.C. region,ā the April 12 statement reads. āIt would mean massive service cuts and fare hikes at Metro, higher transportation costs for workers, and more congestion on the roads, and discourage next generation companies and workers from locating in the D.C. region.ā
While Clarke shied away from commenting on the governorās decision to pledge less than what the General Assembly voted on, he did say that the current funding model is ācomplexā and ānon-traditionalā in the transit industry, which prevents the agency from being able to fully predict its ongoing service needs in Virginia, Maryland and D.C.
āThe fact that we kinda go through this every other year is unhealthy for Metro. [Metro] canāt do good service planning, workforce planning, capital fleet planning,ā Clarke said.āItās also is not good for our jurisdictional partners.ā
According to NVTC, Metro has continued to be a ākey economic driverā for the commonwealth, generating $1 billion in state tax revenue annually.
by Nathaniel Cline, Virginia Mercury
Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.
State News
āPanicked Rush to Gasā Could Hike Energy Costs, Report Warns Regulators
The nationās largest public power company, the Tennessee Valley Authority, which serves 10 million people in Tennessee and parts of six neighboring states, has put forward plans forĀ eight new natural gas plantsĀ since 2020.
In South Carolina, Dominion Energy and Santee Cooper are pushing the state legislature toĀ pave the wayĀ for a 2,000-megawatt natural gas power plant. Farther north, Dominion also plans new gas generationĀ in Virginia. In its most recent plan filed with state regulators, Georgia Power is looking to addĀ new gas turbines. Likewise,Ā Duke Energy in North CarolinaĀ is proposing new gas plants and delaying coal power retirements.
The companies point to spiking electric demand, driven by data centers, new manufacturing facilities, increasing transportation electrification and other sources.
Georgia Powerās CEO said new businesses are creating a thirst for new power atĀ āboth a record scale and velocity.āĀ DukeĀ andĀ TVAĀ both cited ātremendousā economic and population growth in their service areas.
But aĀ new reportĀ by an energy and climate policy think tank warns that some utilities, particularly in the South, are making a āpanicked rush to gasā and calls on state officials to explore cheaper options and carefully vet plans that could saddle electric customers with billions in costs.
āWhat we really want is for policymakers to ask good questions,ā said Eric Gimon, a senior fellow at Energy Innovation, and one of the authors of the brief for utility regulators, in an interview with States Newsroom.
āLess risky alternativesā
After about 15 years of stagnation, U.S. electric demand is growing.Ā A December reportĀ by an electric sector consulting firm noted that the utilities and regional transmission organizations that run the North American electric grid had almost doubled growth projections. At the same time, transmission line constructionĀ has nearly ground to a haltĀ and thereās limited ability to move power between regions as the generation mix increasingly shifts to renewables and batteries in many parts of the country.
Thatās been coupled with a growing dependence on natural gas power plants, which haveĀ taken the roleĀ coal used to play in the nationās power mix but which have alsoĀ failed in large numbersĀ during recent severe weather.
Gimon said gas plants are often treated as a magic bullet solution to resource adequacy ā an electric industry term for having enough power to meet peak demand. If the vision of the utilities pushing for lots of new gas power comes to pass, one of two things will happen, Gimon contends.
āEither they donāt get used very much,ā he said, and thus become aĀ stranded assetĀ customers are stuck paying for anyway. āOr they get used a lot and theyāre busting through their climate goals andĀ EPA regulations.ā In aĀ post Thursday,Ā two Natural Resources Defense Council staffers warned that the huge planned Southeastern gas buildout will jeopardize emission reduction targets and hike electric costs, āleaving customers on the hook for potentially expensive, dirty and ultimately stranded assets that may or may not be usable for their typical, carbon-intensive lifespans.ā
Gimon and one of his co-authors, Mike OāBoyle, Energy Innovationās senior director for electricity, also pointed out that gas plants canāt always be counted on when theyāre needed most. In the region run by PJM, the nationās largest grid operator, gas plants accounted forĀ 70%Ā of the power plant outages it suffered duringĀ Winter Storm ElliottĀ in December 2022.
āWeāre not talking about a capacity resource that is dependable for 100% of its nameplate capacity during a winter peak either,ā OāBoyle said. āI think regulatorsā jobs are to help ensure that utility investments are prudent and part of that means have they considered more affordable alternatives and less risky alternatives.ā
Sarah Durdaller, a spokesperson for the Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned utilities like Dominion Energy, Southern Company and Duke Energy, said its member companies āare committed to delivering reliable, affordable and resilient clean energy to their customers.ā
Durdaller said carbon emissions from the power sector are at their lowest point in almost 50 years, despite electricity generation doubling in that time frame. Natural gas power, she said, āis an essential partner for deploying renewables and maintaining grid reliability.ā
As far as the thousands of megawatts of gas plants companies are proposing, she said that utility plans āalways evolve as new technologies emerge, as costs decline, as demand forecasts change and as new policies are fully implemented.ā
āBetter solutionsā
One aspect for policymakers to consider is the reliability of the demand projections themselves.
āUtilities consistently over forecast,ā said Gudrun Thompson, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, which has been tracking southeastern utilitiesā gas plant proposals. āI would not be surprised if that is happening now.ā
Transparency is also a concern, she added, noting that a single data center project could be in negotiations with multiple utilities and get counted by all of them in their load projections.
In 2007, the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicted 1.5% annual growth in electric demand, which would have been a 21% increase over 15 years. It never materialized, mostly because of energy efficiency programs, federal and local building codes and appliance standards and voluntary industry efforts, the Energy Innovation report says.
āEfficiency was a primary cause of flat demand after 2008 and could be a major factor in
mitigating the pressure that new demand growth puts on the electrical grid,ā the report notes.
Coming electric load increases arenāt illusory but the reportās authors argue that ābetter near-term and long-term solutions exist and should be deployed first.ā
For example, Gimon said, battery storage is growing by leaps and bounds inĀ TexasĀ andĀ California, and itās already playing aĀ growing roleĀ in helping to meet peak demand. However, in their planning some Southeastern utilities are treating battery storage ālike itās some new technology from Mars,ā Gimon said.
The Energy Innovation reportās other recommendations include:
Taking advantage of existing locations with power infrastructure onsite to build renewable power and battery storage, skipping theĀ long wait timesĀ to connect to the grid plaguing many new power projects across the country. The Rocky Mountain Institute, a green energy nonprofit, calls it āclean repoweringāĀ and says thereās 250 gigawatts (the rough equivalent of 250 large power plants) of new renewable potential at former fossil sitesĀ scattered across the countryĀ that could be harnessed to create billions in savings and cleaner power generation.Look to meet large customer demands with onsite power, such as solar panels, and take better advantage of demand response programs, which enroll large customers who voluntarily agree to reduce power consumption in exchange for savings. Many of those customers includeĀ large corporations that have their own carbon reduction targets. Shaving that large customer demand could avoid some or all new peak gas capacity, the report says. āThe utilitiesā responses to load growth are coming into conflict with the explicit goals of their own customers who are driving that load growth,ā OāBoyle said.Improve how the existing electric system is used by implementingĀ grid-enhancing technologiesĀ like dynamic line ratings, power flow controllers and other systems. Theyāre common in other countries but have been slow to take root in many parts of the U.S. where utilities make the most money by building the most expensive solution they can get approved, not necessarily the one thatās most cost-effective for customers. āThe fact is any data center is hooking into a system,ā Gimon said. āThat system is remarkably underutilized.āImprove regional connections, particularly in the Southeast, which isĀ fast becomingĀ one of the few remaining parts of the country without any real regional wholesale electric market. In 2022, Southeastern utilities created the Southeast Energy Exchange Market, but itās been criticized as a market in name only, since the volume of actual trades has failed to amount to much. āResearch from Energy Innovation and Vibrant Clean Energy found that sharing capacity between non-RTO states in the Southeast would yield more than $10 billion in cost savings annually, revealing a region replete with spare capacity if utilities can figure out how to share it,ā the report says.
It will fall to state utility regulators and policymakers to gauge how desperately their residents actually need all the new gas power being proposed and whether there are cheaper ways to meet climbing demand.
Adding more rooftop solar, energy efficiency programs and residential batteries, known as distributed resources, which can be aggregated into whatās known as aĀ virtual power plant, might mean lower electric sales, the report noted.
āIn some states, the electric utility is also the gas utility and can benefit from rate-basing new gas infrastructure. These circumstances create incentives that can skew utility decisions toward well-worn solutions like gas plants and typically disincentivize regional coordination,ā the report says. āUltimately, policymakers need to demand more from their utilities and be skeptical of the āusual suspectā solutions.ā
Thompson, the SELC attorney, called the amount of new gas southern utilities are proposing āstaggering.ā The organization estimates that if all the new gas plants proposed get built, it will eclipse the amount of coal generation southern utilities plan to retire over the next 15 years by roughly 8 gigawatts. Regulators, she said, need to ālook very hard at the load growth projections and take a hard look at choices that the utilities are making,ā including pending EPA carbon regulations that could require expensive carbon capture technology or co-firing with hydrogen and whether the plants will require new pipeline infrastructure. āIf all of these plants get approved and built weāre just not going to achieve the carbon reductions that we need to be on a path to averting the worst effects of climate change.ā
by Robert Zullo, Virginia Mercury
Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.
State News
Youngkin Proposes a Second Vote to Remove Robert E. Lee License Plate
While Gov. Glenn Youngkin did not veto a measure to repeal two license plates connected to the controversial history of the Confederacy, he is staving off Democratsā effort to do so by requiring lawmakers to vote again on the measure next year.
The governor also amended the bill, which received bipartisan support from the General Assembly last month and would repeal the special Sons of Confederate Veterans and Gen. Robert E. Lee license plates, by directing the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles to study when special license plates should expire.
This is the second study the governor has called for related to the Confederacy, after lawmakers passed legislation to eliminate tax exemptions for the national and Virginia division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Confederate Memorial Literary Society and the Stonewall Jackson Memorial.
Bill carrier Del. Candi Mundon King, D-Prince William, views the governorās amendments to her bill as ācowardlyā and āa waste of taxpayer dollars.ā
She said the governor is ānot brave enoughā to stand against Confederacy supporters who want to ācontinue this harmful narrative that General Lee and the Sons of the Confederacy are something to be celebrated.ā
Christian Martinez, a spokesman for the governor, said Virginia has 275 specialty plates including several new additional plates for passenger vehicles that lawmakers added this session.
āThe governorās amendment is aimed at understanding the financial impact of removing specialty plates on state revenue,ā Martinez wrote. āIn addition, he hopes the Department of Motor Vehicles can work towards a consistent policy to present the General Assembly on how to sunset license plates with low circulation and revisit the bill next year in a more holistic way.ā
Over the last four years, Virginia leaders and localities have taken steps to address the commonwealthās history related to white supremacy and institutional racism by implementing policy changes and reviewing how these topics are addressed in the public education system. Several localities have taken action, sometimes controversial, by renaming roads that bore monikers of people connected to slavery and removing signs and symbols such as Confederate statues.
Opponents and some Republicans, including Sen. John McGuire from Goochland and Del. Tim Griffin of Bedford, said during this yearās session that removing the license plates would violate constitutional free speech protections and create further divisiveness.
Virginia General Assembly votes to scrap Robert E. Lee license plate
āIf we pass this bill, a citizen will sue Virginia, and they will use this debate to show the intent of this bill is to kill speech because some in this body did not like the message,ā McGuire said during a Feb. 27 Senate floor hearing.
This month, the Sons of the Confederate Veterans observe April as Confederate History and Heritage Month, highlighting prominent figures such as Lee, who was known for his military service and as an enslaver.
āItās time to expand our view of General Lee in Virginia, his native state that he loved and for, which he sacrificed so much,ā said Henrico resident Charles Hague during an earlier House Transportation subcommittee hearing.
However, Mundon King said during the same hearing, āWhen that license plate says āthe Virginia Gentleman,ā there is nothing gentle about the way he treated the people who were enslaved.ā
Groups, including the NAACP and Southern Poverty Law Center, have been critical of the narrative of the Confederacy which they say the special license plates represent.
Rev. Cozy Bailey, president of the State Conference NAACP, spoke in support of the legislation in February, stating the bill is another area where the commonwealth can āatone for its dark past and move all Virginians forward with inclusion and acknowledgment that any reference to the Confederacy in public spaces and on state-issued materials like license plates are inappropriate and harmful to an entire race of people that suffered under slavery in the Confederate states.ā
According to the Virginia Public Access Project, the commonwealth was home to over 100 public memorials dedicated to the Confederacy as of 2021.
In 2020, Virginia permitted local governments to remove, relocate or contextualize the monuments in their communities.
As passed, the legislation would prohibit the DMV from issuing personalized license plates referencing the Sons of Confederate Veterans and Gen. Robert E. Lee. Plates already in circulation would remain valid until their expiration but wouldnāt be renewed.
According to the DMV, as of Feb. 27, 1,783 Robert E. Lee plates and 543 Sons of Confederate Veterans plates are currently in circulation.
The study that Youngkin called for in his amendment would direct the DMV to analyze the effects on state revenue should the plates be discontinued.
The amendment also directs the agency to develop recommendations for when special license plates should expire if few people use them or if they are outlawed, and suggests that any new special license plates also have an expiration date.
The DMV would submit its study to the chairs of the House and Senate Transportation Committees no later than Nov. 1, under Youngkinās amendment.
by Nathaniel Cline, Virginia Mercury
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