Tag: Virginia

Groups ask Virginia environmental officials to reopen Chickahominy Power permit

Virginia Mercury: Groups ask Virginia environmental officials to reopen Chickahominy Power permit.

Three groups are asking Virginia to reopen an air permit issued to Chickahominy Power in 2019 for a proposed natural gas plant in Charles City County, contending that the state’s analysis of the facility’s environmental justice impacts “contains many of the same defects” of a state air permit struck down by a federal court in January 2020.

“The similarities are just so shocking,” said Taylor Lilley, an attorney with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which penned the letter along with the Southern Environmental Law Center and Concerned Citizens of Charles City County. “It seems the process was just repeated. And that process was found to be faulty.”

State Water Control Board turns down ‘speculative’ water permit request

Virginia Mercury: State Water Control Board turns down ‘speculative’ water permit request.

The Virginia State Water Control Board last week denied a proposal by the owners of Cranston’s Mill Pond in James City County to withdraw millions of gallons of water per day to sell to potential buyers, drawing a hard line against what state officials have cast as speculative use of a public good.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality “determined that issuing a permit this speculative would set an unwarranted precedent that would encourage the privatization of a public water resource,” Scott Kudlas, director of DEQ’s Office of Water Supply, told the board.

Pond owner Restoration Systems, however, has argued that although it has not secured an end user of the water, ongoing groundwater scarcity in the eastern portion of the state justifies the awarding of a water withdrawal permit.

Virginia says it can’t issue stream crossing permit for Mountain Valley Pipeline before winter

Virginia Mercury: Virginia says it can’t issue stream crossing permit for Mountain Valley Pipeline before winter.

Despite developers’ hopes of completing the Mountain Valley Pipeline by the end of 2021, Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality has told federal officials that it won’t be able to issue a new water quality permit for the project’s stream crossings before December.

“Based on the complexity of this project and past public controversy, we cannot reasonably issue the (Virginia Water Protection) permit before December 2021 and we believe it is quite likely that we could not issue this permit until early 2022,” wrote DEQ Water Permitting Division Director Melanie Davenport in a March 25 letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Study: Virginia inks contract for state coastal flooding plan, expected to be done before Northam leaves office

Virginia Mercury: Virginia inks contract for state coastal flooding plan, expected to be done before Northam leaves office. The engineering firm that oversaw Virginia Beach’s $3.8 million sea level rise and flooding study will take a leading role in developing Virginia’s Coastal Resilience Master Plan, a comprehensive roadmap for how the state intends to respond to rising sea levels driven by climate change in the coming years.

Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration announced Thursday that it has awarded a contract to Dewberry to work with the Department of Conservation and Recreation and other officials on the master plan, which is expected to be completed by November, just months before Northam leaves office.

Virginia nets more than $43 million in first carbon allowance auction

Virginia Mercury: Virginia nets more than $43 million in first carbon allowance auction.

Virginia netted more than $43 million from the first carbon allowance auction the state has participated in since joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, an 11-state carbon market that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants by putting a price on them.

In total, Virginia’s proceeds from the March 5 auction amounted to $43,589,868.40. If the three other auctions scheduled to occur this year — at three-month intervals — pull in comparable proceeds, Virginia’s revenues could be more than $174 million — far above the state’s estimate of $106 to $109 million.

The General Assembly made progress on climate in 2021, but our work here is hardly done

Virginia Mercury: The General Assembly made progress on climate in 2021, but our work here is hardly done. By Ivy Main.

Before the start of the 2021 legislative session, I highlighted three areas where Virginia needed to make significant progress to support its climate agenda: transportation electrification, improving the energy efficiency of buildings and giving consumers greater access to renewable energy.

The General Assembly delivered on one-and-a-half out of three. If we add bonus points for smaller successes, maybe we can call it a total of two. The transportation category truly outperformed expectations, but building efficiency underperformed and renewable energy access didn’t perform at all.

In the transportation sector, the General Assembly passed the Clean Car Standards requiring manufacturers to deliver more electric vehicles to Virginia dealers (HB1965); approved a statewide study of transit equity (HJ542); approved (but so far has not funded) an electric vehicle rebate program (HB1979); directed the SCC to report on ways to electrify transportation (HB2282); and established a school bus electrification fund (also empty for now)(HB2118).

Green Energy Can Be Cheaper, More Resilient

WVTF: Green Energy Can Be Cheaper, More Resilient. Under the state’s Clean Economy Act, Virginia is committed to adding more solar and wind power to the grid.  Lawmakers cited concerns about climate change in casting their votes, but a new study from UVA shows another reason to go green.  It’s cheaper and more reliable.

[No study link is provided.]

Legislation aims to reduce barriers for energy storage projects

Virginia Mercury: Legislation aims to reduce barriers for energy storage projects.

In 2020, lawmakers seeking to speed the development of renewables and wean Virginia off fossil fuels made a host of changes to state law that aimed to smooth local approvals of large-scale solar farms. This year, they’re wielding the same tools to encourage the growth of energy storage.

“This is really a logical next step,” said Del. Rodney Willett, D-Henrico, a patron of one of the measures. “Battery storage is a key element in the broader clean energy picture.”

A rapidly evolving technology, storage — a label that encompasses not only batteries but also more traditional approaches like reservoir-based pumped storage — is seen as the linchpin of a renewable energy grid. Utilities have long struggled with the intermittency of solar and wind—  their ability to generate power based on when and how much the sun is shining or the wind blowing. Storage, because of its ability to retain energy and then dispatch it on command, has become one of the most popular solutions to fill that gap and is increasingly being coupled with solar as renewables companies develop new projects.

Virginia groups sue U.S. Forest Service over new environmental review standards

Virginia Mercury: Virginia groups sue U.S. Forest Service over new environmental review standards. https://www.virginiamercury.com/2021/01/11/virginia-groups-sue-u-s-forest-service-over-new-environmental-review-standards/

Four Virginia organizations have joined a coalition of Southern Appalachian environmental groups that are suing the U.S. Forest Service over changes to federal environmental rules that determine how much scrutiny regulators must give activities like logging and utility projects in national forests. 

The rule, which was finalized by President Donald Trump’s administration Nov. 19, aims “to bypass the fundamental requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act” and “will cause significant harm to publicly owned national forests across the country and to members of the public who use those lands,” the lawsuit contends.