Category Archives: Clean Energy

Dominion Signals Plan Shift

See media coverage of Dominion’s announced reduction of natural gas generation facilities in the Daily Progress and in the Virginia Mercury.

The following is a press release from Chesapeake Climate Action Network, April 3, 2020

Statement: Dominion’s IRP a “Snowball” In Forthcoming “Avalanche” of Companies Abandoning Gas Plans

RICHMOND, VA — On Thursday, April 2, Dominion Energy signaled a shift away from its previous intentions to build out fracked-gas infrastructure in Virginia, and pointed to the passage of the Virginia Clean Economy Act (SB 851) as the impetus. The monopoly utility asked the State Corporation Commission for permission to change what it is required to model in its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). Dominion wrote in its request that “significant build-out of natural gas generation facilities is not currently viable, with the passage by the General Assembly of the Virginia Clean Economy Act of 2020 (the ‘VCEA’).” The statement continues: “The VCEA establishes the objective of 100 percent clean energy by 2045, and permits the construction of carbon-emitting generating facilities only if there is a threat to reliability or security of electric service. For these reasons, the Company believes that the aforementioned requirements related to the development of those specific resources are no longer necessary.”

Dominion’s previous IRP included 8-10 new combustion turbines and combined cycle facilities under various planning scenarios.

Harrison Wallace, Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, stated in response:

“After passage of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, Dominion almost immediately abandoned all its plans for new gas plants. We believe this an open declaration that what we’ve been saying all along is true: There is no future for gas.

“Dominion’s actions clearly represent the first snowball in what should soon become an avalanche of companies abandoning gas in all its forms including pipelines and generation plants. Now, Dominion should go the rest of the way and close shop on the doomed and unnecessary Atlantic Coast Pipeline boondoggle. And the other energy companies in Virginia behind the Mountain Valley Pipeline, Chickahominy gas plant, and more, should follow suit and end their new gas plans as soon as possible. Then they can join us in rebuilding Virginia with a clean energy economy instead.”

CONTACT:
Harrison Wallace, Virginia Director, 804-305-1472, harrison@chesapeakeclimate.org
Denise Robbins, Communications Director, 240-630-1889, denise@chesapeakeclimate.org

The Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the first grassroots organization dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in the Chesapeake Bay region. For 17 years, CCAN has been at the center of the fight for clean energy and wise climate policy in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

Trump Comments on Wind Energy in December 21 Speech

From the White House transcript of President Trump’s speech to the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in West Palm Beach on Saturday, December 21, 2019:

“We’ll have an economy based on wind. I never understood wind. You know, I know windmills very much. I’ve studied it better than anybody I know. It’s very expensive. They’re made in China and Germany mostly — very few made here, almost none. But they’re manufactured tremendous — if you’re into this — tremendous fumes. Gases are spewing into the atmosphere. You know we have a world, right? So the world is tiny compared to the universe. So tremendous, tremendous amount of fumes and everything. You talk about the carbon footprint — fumes are spewing into the air. Right? Spewing. Whether it’s in China, Germany, it’s going into the air. It’s our air, their air, everything — right?”

For an interpretation/translation of the speech, see the December 23 Washington Post article, What Trump was talking about in his baffling rant about wind energy.

Virginia Legislators Unveil “Virginia Clean Economy Act”

On December 19, 2019, the proposed Virginia Clean Economy Act was unveiled. The bill patrons are State Senator Jennifer McClellan (patron in the Senate), Delegate Rip Sullivan (patron in the House) Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy (chief co-patron in the House), and Delegate Alfonso Lopez (chief co-patron in the House).

A two page document explains the Virginia Clean Economy Act – Frequently Asked Questions.

Press coverage and analysis of he Act is in a Blue Virginia article.

Friends of Nelson Public Meeting: FERC into FREC Road Show


Sunday October 20, 2019 – The Nelson Center, gather at 5:30, meeting begins at 6:00. Ted Glick, from Beyond Extreme Energy (BXE), will be our featured speaker, and will show a short film followed by discussion. We’ll also have announcements and updates. This is a kid-friendly event, and there will be an art station run by BXE’s Maple Osterbrink.

Join activists from Beyond Extreme Energy (BXE) on their FERC Into FREC roadshow! BXE is traveling from the shalefields of Pennsylvania down through the path of the MVP and ACP pipelines in West Virginia and Virginia. BXE members will screen their short film “FERC Doesn’t Work” and hold a community discussion on the fight to turn the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) into the Federal Renewable Energy Commission (FREC). FERC is the federal agency responsible for the regulation of all fossil fuel infrastructure and pipelines that cross state lines. As such FERC is a lynchpin in the nationwide movement against fossil fuels and for climate justice!

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist, organizer and writer since 1968. He has prioritized the climate crisis issue since 2004 and was one of the founders of Beyond Extreme Energy in 2014. Following retirement after nine years as the National Campaign Coordinator for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, he has worked since as a volunteer with BXE and several local and state organizations in New Jersey fighting climate disruption and the expansion of new fossil fuel infrastructure. Since 2000 he has written a nationally-distributed Future Hope column of political, social and cultural commentary.

Maple Osterbrink has volunteered for peace, justice and earth conservation since the 1960’s. She “took the earth-conservation pledge as a young girl scout and has held to it.” She retired from several “almost-careers” to North Carolina and is helping out many organizations including BXE, APPPL, Workers’ Assembly and the Raging Grannies. She worked to preserve wetlands in New Hampshire in the mid-90’s as a town conservation commissioner. She is “sick of the corruption, theft and poisoning of democracy, peace, water, food and sustainability.” As an artist she will have mini-projects to do with children, or adults, during events.

“Heads Must Be Exploding in the Board Rooms”

In an update posted on September 18, 2019, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) discusses low natural gas prices now and going forward. They say, “With the news from IHS Markit that natural gas prices in the United States will drop below $2 MMBtu in 2020 and remain low through at least 2024, if not longer, heads must be exploding in the board rooms of oil and gas producers throughout the U.S. and Canada. The profit picture is now imploding. The ramifications run deep, far and wide. The mantra that more pipelines will rationalize the market has been upended. This view from the oil and gas industry never made sense. As IHS Markit makes clear, new pipeline capacity contributes to an oversupply of natural gas forcing down prices and profits.”

The IEEFA update is based on a new forecast from IKS Markit, a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions for the major industries and markets that drive economies worldwide. The update notes that:

  • New pipeline capacity contributes to an oversupply of natural gas forcing down prices and profits.
  • Smaller exploration and production companies, already suffering, are likely to continue to fail.
  • The oil and gas equipment and supply sector will worsen.
  • The global market remains oversupplied, with limited profit potential on the export side. Increased exports from the U.S. will deepen the oversupply.

In a September 18 article, OilPrice says, “While gas has become the primary source of electricity production, technological advancements are about to make fossil fuels more expensive and therefore uneconomic compared to renewables. The tipping point could come much sooner than certain utilities and investors are expecting, which could hit current investment plans for gas-fired power plants.”

Read the IHS Markit press release here, read the IEEFA update here, and read the OilPrice article here.

Despite the continuing predictions of the decreasing demand for fossil fuels and the explosive increase in both demand and capacity for renewables, Dominion continues its efforts to build the unnecessary Atlantic Coast Pipeline. On September 25, 2019, Maplight and the Huffington Post discussed “The $109 Million Lobbying Effort To Run A Pipeline Through National Treasures.”

Maplight says, “A trio of utility giants building a natural gas pipeline that would cut across the Appalachian Trail has spent more than $109 million lobbying federal lawmakers and officials since the $7.8 billion project was unveiled five years ago, according to a MapLight analysis. The controversial 600-mile-long project, which is being compared to the Dakota Access Pipeline because of its stiff opposition from Native and local communities, would bisect the fabled trail, as well as the Blue Ridge Parkway and a pair of national forests. Appeals courts have thrown out seven separate permits for the project, with sentiment running so high that one judge wrote an opinion using a quote from The Lorax to blast the U.S. Forest Service for its failure ‘to speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.’ Despite the setbacks, the utilities have continued to press their case, hoping the rulings can be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court or Congress.”

On other words, Dominion is pushing hard to build a pipeline that industry analysts say is well on its way to being both unneeded and outmoded.