2013 General Assembly no friend of environment

Brad Pearce
Guest Contributor

Even though 2013 is the short session for the Virginia General Assembly, it has been a damaging one for environmentally friendly policies.

Despite the efforts of environmentalists and a small group of legislators, the General Assembly is delivering solid blows to the environment in Virginia. They’ve effectively repealed the state’s only clean energy law — the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) passed in 2007 — by eliminating the incentives for this voluntary clean energy program.

They’re also trying to repeal the gas tax. They tried to put an annual $100 tax on hybrids; it’s a small concession that this measure has since failed. The General Assembly seems to want more oil, more gas and more pollution.

The RPS is the state’s only incentive for companies to invest in renewable energy. It had the original intent of bringing clean energy online in Virginia but it has since been used by companies, primarily Dominion, to profit from buying renewable credits from other states instead of being used to invest in local renewable energy sources.

To date, we don’t have any utility-scale wind or solar power in Virginia. Dominion’s long-term goals for renewable energy are modest — they put a bid in for an offshore wind block, but development may take up to 25 years.

We’re losing jobs to our neighboring states like North Carolina and Maryland, which both have a mandatory RPS laws and mandatory investments in solar energy.

What makes so little sense is why most legislators would ignore the bills this session that would have fixed the RPS; indeed, it only makes sense in light of the larger attacks we’ve seen on the environment this session.

But as the biggest non-party donor to the General Assembly, it’s clear that Dominion has a firm hold over the democratic process. According to the Virginia Public Access Project’s website, Dominion’s total campaign contributions is around $640,000, with almost $410,000 of that total donated to Republicans.

Environmentalists, including dozens of VCU students and faculty, sat in on and made themselves known at committee meetings, testified in front of legislators, picketed, rallied and even danced in a flash mob to make their message clear: We want real climate solutions and we want them now.

Students spoke decisively on the need for renewable energy jobs and the opportunity we have to pass on a cleaner environment to the next generation. Although we made an imprint with our creative actions and bright green T-shirts, it was clear that the backroom deals between legislators and lobbyists have closed us out.

Nonetheless, the bills supported by environmentalists lasted longer than usual.

Senate Bill 1269, for example, would have restricted a utility company’s ability to reap profits from out-of-state renewable energy companies. The bill passed out of committee, but Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and his Republican allies cast a tie-breaking vote to send the bill back to the Commerce and Labor committee last week, killing the bill for this session.

It’s now clearer than ever that climate change is hitting home, especially here in Virginia, where temperatures and sea levels are rising. We need quick action to avoid a climate crisis and we need to demand that our legislators listen.

Being heard at the 2014 legislative session and during the next election is critical.

Getting involved with Green Unity on campus is a great step to take; another is reaching out to your legislators to let them know this issue is important to you before the current session ends.

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