Virginia's existing lower-carbon power fleet is rewarded by the Clean Power Plan:Some have mistakenly claimed that the Clean Power Plan is somehow "unfair" to Virginia. PJM's analysis confirms the exact opposite: Virginia has already balanced its high-carbon coal with lower-carbon gas and nuclear plants, so each addition of zero-carbon renewables and energy efficiency hits a smaller pool of carbon and is thus more effective at displacing more of the pollutant. Compare that to our neighboring state of West Virginia, which PJM concluded would have the highest carbon price of all the PJM states, due to a reliance on coal that is triple Virginia's. As a result, in addition to making smart investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy, the next-cheapest compliance option for West Virginia could be to purchase allowances from Virginia or other neighbors - generating additional revenue for the Commonwealth while the Mountain State achieves compliance more cheaply! Because Virginia's cleaner fleet is rewarded in this way by the Clean Power Plan (as currently proposed), Governor McAuliffe should be gunning for aggressive clean energy gains in his state plan for the CPP: right out of the gate in 2020, Virginia could sell the carbon reductions across state lines.
And yes, I'd listen to an energy and environmental expert like Walton Shephard, "born and raised in the hills of West Virginia," than to Terry McAuliffe, who clearly knows very little about this topic. On that latter point, note that McAuliffe can't answer any of the questions posed to him about specifics - fuel mix, power prices, distributed power, you name it. He also gets a myriad of things wrong, from the cost of transmitting power from nuclear plants vs. renewable energy facilities to the economics and environmental impact of fracked natural gas to the economics of renewable energy to...you name it, pretty much. At one point, the interviewer exclaims in exasperation, "numbers are important in discussions like this" - to no avail. Instead, McAuliffe hems and haws, tries to change the subject, says there are "commissions" that determine this stuff, argues that "you've got to talk to Dominion" (ha!!!), that he's not going to be "held to a number here today...that's not my job." Uhhhhh...alrighty then!So, here's what's truly "unfair" about this situation: that the fossil fuel and nuclear power industries have powerful proponents in their bought-and-paid-for state legislature, while the governor who we, the people elected says he's powerless to do much of anything, mostly just regurgitates Dominion et al's anti-clean-energy talking points and whines about how "unfair" things are. For someone who claims he's had a "passion" for renewable energy for years, something simply isn't adding up here.
The purpose of Blue Virginia is to cover Virginia politics from a progressive and Democratic perspective. This is a group blog, founded by me (Lowell Feld), but now including several other progressive writers. I can't speak for the other "front pagers," but I consider myself a progressive in the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, JFK, RFK and actually a bunch of progressive Republicans (e.g., Jacob Javits, Lowell Weicker). As such, I believe in expanding opportunities to all, utilizing government as a tool to promote the general welfare and the common good, protecting the environment for ourselves and for future generations, and expanding the rights promised in our Constitution and Bill of Rights to all Americans.
I invite everyone to comment here, but please be aware that profanity, personal attacks, bigotry, and "trolling" are not allowed. Thanks, and enjoy!
P.S. You can contact me at lowell@raisingkaine.com
