by Glen Besa
Which side are on on, boys? Which side are you on?
Trump’s announced plan to repeal Obama’s key climate policy initiative, the “endangerment finding”, comes at the same time that Virginia Democratic legislative leaders are making noises about weakening the Virginia Clean Economy Act. The synchronicity of these two actions, both of which would undermine basic climate protections brings to my mind the famous union organizing song, Which side are you on?
The endangerment finding is the key US EPA climate policy which underpins virtually all federal regulations aimed at reducing greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
On Tuesday, July 29th, US EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the Trump Administration was pursuing a formal rule making process to reconsider and rescind this “finding” that greenhouse gases “threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations”.
From devastating floods to wildfire conflagrations to extreme heat events with hundreds of lives lost and billions in property damage, our climate is already changing faster than the worst case scenarios modeled by climate scientists. Still, Republicans continue to deny the science of climate change while some Virginia Democrats may be inclined to accept Dominion Energy’s claims that we can only meet future electricity demand required by data centers by burning more fossil fuel.
We already know where Trump, his mini-me Governor Glenn Youngkin and Dominion Energy President and CEO Bob Blue, come down on climate change.
Dominion is pursuing a long-range plan which would have it maintain all its existing gas and coal plants while constructing six new massive methane gas fired power plants, the first of which would be built in Chesterfield County.
The Virginia Clean Economy Act, adopted in 2020, requires Dominion to phase out its use of fossil fuel by 2045 in favor of solar, wind, storage and efficiency. But last week the State Corporation Commission, which is charged with regulating electric utilities, inexplicably ruled that Dominion plan for six gigawatts of new gas power to be “legally sufficient”.
Later this year, this same State Corporation Commission must decide whether to issue a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity which would authorize Dominion to build the Chesterfield gas plant (referred to by Dominion as the Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center).
The good news is that two independent analyses of this gas plant found that Dominion can meet its projected need for more electricity by relying on solar, wind, storage and efficiency, and in one case, expanded nuclear. Both these analyses, one by Synapse Energy Economics, Inc. on behalf of the Sierra Club and another by IdeaSmiths LLC on behalf of the Southern Environmental Law Center representing Appalachian Voices have been filed with the State Corporation Commission. Both reports also find that the cost of the renewable energy pathway is the same or less than the fossil fuel route. With these reports in hand and the clear directive of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, the SCC has sufficient evidence and the legal basis upon which to deny Dominion’s gas plant. A SCC hearing on the Dominion’s Chesterfield plant is set for September 23rd with a decision expected by early December.
Unfortunately, the Chesterfield gas plant is just corporate monopoly Dominion’s nose under the General Assembly’s legislative tent. As referenced above, state legislative leaders, specifically Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell and House Speaker Don Scott are entertaining Dominion’s position that Virginia’s largest electric utility can only keep our electric bills in check, our lights on and service all the new data centers with more gas fired power plants. The political implication is that the Virginia Clean Economy Act may be weakened in the 2026 General Assembly Session to allow Dominion Energy to build more dirty, expensive methane gas power plants rather than continue on a course to achieve “zero carbon” by 2045 as provided for in the VCEA.
Climate science informs us that the world needs to cut its total carbon emissions from all sources by 45% by 2030, reaching net zero around 2050 to avoid the most severe consequences of climate change. Accepting the climate science leaves no room for Dominion Energy to increase its climate pollution with 6 gigawatts of new gas power plants as its plan now calls for.
In the midst of a growing global climate emergency with GHG emissions increasing rather than falling, if the Virginia Democrats retain the House of Delegates and take the Governor’s Mansion, it will fall to Speaker Scott, Senator Surovell and Governor Spanberger to decide whether to respect the climate science and defend the VCEA, cutting GHG emissions from the electric utility sector or to side with Trump, Youngkin and Dominion Energy’s Bob Blue who would ignore the science and jeopardize our children’s future.
Dominion Energy, Virginia’s largest polluter and biggest corporate campaign contributor is already gearing up to gut the Virginia Clean Economy Act in the coming 2026 General Assembly Session.
As to Virginia’s commitment to climate action and clean, affordable renewable energy, its fate rests with Virginia General Assembly members and our next Governor to whom we ask the question: Which side are you on?
Glen Besa
Note: The opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author, and are not intended to reflect the opinion or the positions of any organizations with which he may be associated.
