Month: January 2022

Daily News-Record, January 28, 2022
Open Forum: Alleyn Harned

In this General Assembly session, Del. Tony Wilt has introduced new legislation that seeks to increase consumers’ transportation costs and to maintain our dependence on foreign oil, both of which are unacceptable in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia that produces no oil and can benefit so greatly from access to these technologies.

On Friday, Jan. 21, Del. Wilt sent his constituents an email mentioning his 2022 legislation where he emphasized “clean and affordable energy” emphasizing an all-of-the-above energy approach, then posted House Bill 1267, which is a serious effort to increase costs for clean energy to long-halt Virginia’s clean car emissions standards.

The delegate’s attempt to delay Virginia’s modest goals for access to electric vehicles at dealerships will send consumers to neighboring states for the rest of the decade for access to many of these electric cars. This benefits Maryland and North Carolina’s economies, limits our residents’ choices, and puts Virginia at a competitive disadvantage. In the U.S., auto manufacturers send electric vehicles first to states like Virginia which have adopted regulatory standards for the technology, something that is underway with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and auto dealers, after being signed into law in 2021. Del. Wilt’s bill unnecessarily delays an area of agreement with government, consumers, dealers and citizens by adding years to an already slow enactment calendar for access to electric vehicles. Why delay Virginia’s progress and hold us back from future growth?

This delay will likely also serve to steeply increase costs to Virginia consumers for vehicles and keep consumers on higher-costing gasoline, which currently hovers from $ 3.25 to $ 3.50. All this posted at a time where we hear major announcements from automakers of new technology offerings ahead. We don’t want the commonwealth and its citizens to be left behind. Electric vehicles are important for jobs, consumers, and environmental opportunity since Virginia produces nearly no oil, but we produce vehicle components and lots of low cost low emission electricity. With today’s retail electricity costs, an EV is only about $1 a gallon equivalent. By delaying access this bill locks in fuel prices 200% higher, and furthers reliance on imported oil.

Transportation is Virginia’s largest home energy cost, often four times the cost of heating, cooling and electricity, and is borne greater by rural or lower-income populations. Electrification of transportation is a way to give consumers a direct raise by getting lower cost transportation energy to communities that need it the most. The benefits for electric cars are also expected to be greater in rural areas, which often require longer distance travel and have access to low cost clean electric energy. Fueleconomy. gov is a great source folks can see how much money would be saved from and electric vehicle over a traditional vehicle. There are many American- made plug- in hybrid EVs and full EVs that also have less maintenance and lower overall costs than gasoline vehicles.

This bill’s intent to delay is also harmful for human health as transportation is a key source of pollution. The Lung Association’s Road to Clean Air report found that avoided health cost benefits in 2050 will be more than $1.3 billion in Virginia if we transition to EVs. Electric transportation contributes to 115 less premature deaths by 2050, 1,783 asthma attacks avoided in 2050, and economic enhancement with 8,189 work- loss days avoided by 2050 ( equivalent of recreating 31 full- time jobs worth of labor just for allowing the technology to advance).

Members of the Virginia General Assembly should reject this legislation and any effort to decrease Virginia’s modest clean car standards. We have an opportunity for powerful economic development with electric cars in all areas of the commonwealth, to reduce energy dependence on imported oil, and to improve our position in the world.

Alleyn Harned, director of Virginia Clean Cities, is a Harrisonburg resident. Virginia Clean Cities is a statewide nonprofit organization working to reduce Virginia’s dependence on oil through transportation solutions.

Daily News-Record, January 26, 2022
Open Forum: Jo Anne St. Clair

In December, Gov.- elect Youngkin promised to withdraw Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cooperative effort of 11 Eastern states to limit greenhouse gas emissions. On Jan. 11, the outgoing attorney general advised that a governor doesn’t have authority to accomplish this outcome via executive order. On Jan. 15, Gov. Youngkin issued Executive Order 9 to act on his promise. Why should we care?

RGGI employs a proven, market-based cap-andinvest mechanism requiring power producers like Dominion Energy to purchase allowances for their carbon emissions, thereby accelerating the deployment of carbon-free energy production through renewable sources like wind and solar. Proceeds from these allowances are delivered proportionally to participating states. Virginia law requires that funds are spent on low-income energy efficiency programs (50%) and community flood preparedness (45%). In Virginia’s first year of participation, the commonwealth will have access to $227.6 million.

Climate Action Alliance of the Valley, a grassroots coalition in the Shenandoah Valley, opposes Gov. Youngkin’s attempt at RGGI withdrawal. He describes RGGI as a “carbon tax,” implying withdrawal will prevent utility rate increases from costing consumers. Utilities like Dominion Energy will seek to recover costs by increasing rates; the governor, however, is missing the bigger picture. Dominion Energy already passes on to ratepayers the costs of fossil fuel projects, like expensive coal plants that are no longer economically viable. We ratepayers pay for these stranded assets. We are better off paying for renewable energy projects like wind and solar as long-term investments. We agree with Mr. Youngkin’s concern about rising energy bills. The electricity burden (the percentage a household spends on electricity) is higher in Virginia than the national average and is unaffordable for 75% of households. Nonetheless, Virginia has an urgent need to fund flood preparedness and to lower energy costs. RGGI can help accomplish both.

RGGI is the only dedicated source of funding in Virginia for flood preparedness, crucial not just for coastal regions but for communities in the Shenandoah Valley. Towns like Bridgewater, Elkton and Rawley Springs have many homes with moderate to extreme risk of flooding. Republican Del. Will Morefield of Buchanan County understands this and introduced HB5, to keep the Community Flood Preparedness Fund intact regardless of Virginia’s participation in RGGI. (If Virginia withdraws, we’d have to find other funding sources.)

RGGI funds are already being used to help low-income families lower their energy use, keeping the lights and heat on for less money. It’s estimated that weatherization — sealing air leaks with insulation, weatherstripping around windows and doors, repairing duct systems, replacing outdated and unsafe heating and cooling systems — could save the average Virginia family as much as $976 every year. In total, 164,000 Virginia households pay about 31% of their income on energy costs. An additional 179,000 pay 17% of their income. Weatherization and energy efficiency are cost-effective ways to reduce disproportionate energy costs.

RGGI funds are also being used to address our shortage of affordable rental units. In the initial round of funding, the state awarded 11 affordable housing grants representing 705 energy-efficient units using RGGI funds. The money will help clear the backlog of eligible households that cannot weatherize until certain home repairs are made — like leaky roofs or faulty wiring — by funding those repairs. In a few months of operation in 2021, hundreds of home repairs and weatherization services for low-income families were completed.

We don’t have to speculate on whether RGGI is right for Virginia; we can look at how participation has already helped other states. Cutting carbon emissions also leads to reductions in other pollutants harmful to human health — mercury, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide. A 2017 analysis of RGGI’s first six years found that emission reductions led to health benefits valued at $5.7 billion in participating states by lowering rates of childhood asthma, preterm births and low birth weights. These are some of the very real externalized costs of fossil fuels rarely discussed. RGGI has also created 45,000 jobs, adding $4 billion in economic value. RGGI state economies have grown faster than non-RGGI economies by 31%. RGGI has also lowered electricity prices by 5.7% in the first nine years, in contrast to increases in non-RGGI states. Major employers in Virginia understand this; leaders from Nestlé to Unilever to Salesforce joined together to applaud lawmakers for the effort, saying RGGI would help the commonwealth “take advantage of the opportunities that accompany the transition to a low-carbon economy.”

RGGI has enormous potential to address crucial needs in Virginia, as it has done in other participating states. We strongly encourage our legislators to safeguard continued participation and tell Gov. Youngkin about the benefits RGGI brings to Virginia communities like ours.

Jo Anne St. Clair, MSW, retired, lives in Harrisonburg.