Here are a few Virginia (and national) news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, December 13.

*NBC/WSJ poll: Public wants compromise to avoid fiscal cliff (Also note: “The GOP’s favorable/unfavorable rating in the poll now stands at 30 percent/45 percent (minus-15 points), which is down from 36 percent/43 percent (minus-7) right before the election.”)

*Homosexuality at Patrick Henry College? Never! New blog says otherwise, college not pleased (“…the president and founder of the school, Michael Farris, sent a threatening note to the bloggers, saying he would sue if they didn’t stop the unauthorized use of the college’s name.”)

*At federal agencies, decline in morale, ebbing commitment (Wait, you mean if your pay was frozen and you got used a political punching bag every day, your morale wouldn’t be super high? Heh.)

*Kaine committee assignments include Armed Services

*Va. poll: McDonnell gets lofty marks, Cuccinelli-McAuliffe race a toss-up (Some of these numbers look reasonable, but the McDonnell numbers are WILDLY higher than any I’ve ever seen before from a poll. Of course, this IS a Republican “internal,” and we know how those did for the Romney and Allen campaigns – horribly!)

*The U.Va. board’s lasting legacy (“With its announcement this week, SACS has said that avoidance isn’t an adequate response to such grievous governance failures. It shouldn’t be. Not for the accreditation board, and not for an institution like U.Va.”)

*Rep. Moran’s son pleads guilty to assaulting girlfriend (First, telling a “volunteer” how to commit voter fraud; now, bashing his girlfriend’s head into a metal garbage can. Yet Rep. Moran says he’s a “good kid,” when he’s clearly neither a “kid” – he’s like 24 years old – or “good” in any way. Blech.)

*Six of country’s 10 richest counties in D.C. area

*Va. Democrat pushing plastic bag tax (This would be a no brainer if it weren’t for a bunch of Republican legislators with no brains.)

*McDonnell wants to boost pay to prosecutors, fund vacant judgeships

*Editorial: The public is put on notice (“Del. Head will try to limit the public’s ability to easily track upcoming government decisions.”)

*Va. offshore wind development gets U.S. DOE assist (Good news!)

*From Norfolk to D.C. and back again – on an Amtrak train

*Dulles Airport seen as potential engine for revenue

*Toddler’s tragic death in Herndon, in overheated car, continues as political issue in Russia four years later (Equating a private tragedy with government repression, torture, and murder is utterly despicable. Vladimir Putin has gone completely off the rails into despotism territory.)

*Robert Griffin III: A breathtaking artist who makes fans hold their breath

And so, 7 years after it began with a “draft” movement and a grassroots campaign, Senator Jim Webb exits the Senate. Here’s his valedictory speech. Good luck to Jim Webb in his future endeavors; I’m certainly looking forward to some good books from his pen, computer, or whatever he prefers writing with. 🙂

This is good to see, although I really could do without the "all of the above" nonsense (note: it’s not just coming from Mark Warner, by any means). The fact is, the science tells us we have to basically stop emitting greenhouse gases like, uh, yesterday. And guess what, we're not going to do that if we keep burning oil, coal and natural gas indefinitely, and as if we’re not completely trashing our planet right now!

STATEMENT OF U.S. SEN. MARK WARNER

~On Department of Energy’s Va. grant to develop offshore wind energy ~ 

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) issued the following statement on the U.S. Department of Energy’s announcement today of an award to Dominion Virginia Power to further develop offshore wind technology.  The Energy Department will award Dominion up to $4 million to complete engineering, design, and permitting for an innovative offshore wind project off the coast of Virginia Beach:

             “This is a positive step forward for the Commonwealth,” Sen. Warner said. “Developing our offshore energy resources will help create domestic manufacturing jobs and strengthen Virginia’s economy. It also advances efforts to better harness renewable energy sources while reducing U.S. reliance on imported oil. I have been an advocate for an ‘all-of-the-above’ approach for some time now, and I think there’s a lot of potential in developing our offshore energy opportunities off the Virginia coast.”

For more information on the Dominion Virginia Power project, click here.

Cross posted from Scaling Green

These days, if you open a newspaper, turn on a radio or TV set, it’s highly likely that you’ll come across an energy-related discussion, analysis, op-ed, etc.  In fact, given the centrality of energy and energy-related environmental, economic, and national security issues in today’s world, it’s almost impossible to miss discussion of this subject.  That’s a good thing, as long as the discussion is above board, with full disclosure by everyone regarding where their economic interests lie.  Unfortunately, as a groundbreaking new study by the Checks and Balances reveals, such disclosure is actually rare.

In the research detailed below, The Checks & Balances Project looks at 10 fossil fuel-funded think tanks that are prominent in their criticism of clean energy policy support. We found that these groups were mentioned over 1,010 times on energy issues in 60 mainstream print outlets, including major daily newspapers, the Associated Press and Politico from 2007-2011. These organizations’ ties to fossil fuel interests are mentioned only 6% of the time in the five-year period studied despite receiving at least $16 million from fossil fuel lobbying interests – both directly from companies and from fossil fuel-connected foundations.

These think tanks include well-known ones like the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute; to lesser-known organizations like the Institute for Energy Research, the Hudson Institute, the Marshall Institute, and the Mercatus Center. What they all have in common, according to the Checks and Balances Project, is that they’ve repeatedly “attacked clean energy, solutions to climate change and other environmental issues while advocating for fossil fuels.”

The problem is that, despite these groups’ strong financial backing by the fossil fuel industry, it is rare that they are identified in their major media appearances as speaking on oil, coal, and natural gas’ behalf. Instead, these groups and their spokespeople are much more frequently identified by neutral terms like “Washington, DC-based,” “free market,” “libertarian,” and “think tank.” In the end, the result is that “these 10 advocacy organizations were able to provide pro-fossil fuel points of view to tens of millions of Americans with practically no mention of their financial relationship to the fossil fuel lobby.”

Also interesting from the Checks and Balances Project report is the scope and degree of fossil fuel funding to these “think tanks” – a whopping $16.5 million to just the 10 organizations examined in this study, looking only at the years 2006-2010.  Where the money came from is also highly revealing: millions of dollars from ExxonMobil, the Charles G. Koch foundation, the Koch-controlled Claude R. Lambe Foundation, White Star Oil Company-funded Earhart Foundation. What did these groups do with the fossil fuel industry’s largesse? According to the Checks and Balances Project analysis, 43% of articles contained attacks on environmental regulations, 18% attacked clean energy technologies, and 17% promoted fossil fuels.

In stark contrast, the Checks and Balances Project compared the fossil fuel-funded “think tanks'” citations in the major media to the number of times the highly-respected, federally-funded National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) “was mentioned by these same publications on energy.”  The finding: “fossil fuel-funded advocacy groups generated more than four times the media mentions on energy issues than NREL over the same five-year period…NREL was mentioned 236 times in the same publications that mentioned the 10 fossil-fuel-funded organizations more than 1,000 times over the same time period.”

The bottom line is that the media is doing a disservice to the public by failing to reveal the sources and motivations behind the “experts” and “think tanks” cited in their pages. To remedy this serious problem, we strongly agree with the Checks and Balances Project’s recommendation that “whether it’s for a quote, background information, a citation or a byline, ‘think tank’ sources should be asked a simple, step-and-repeat question: ‘Do you get money, directly or indirectly, for interests that stand to benefit from what you are saying?'” The answer to that question should then be prominently mentioned in the article or op-ed, so that ” consumers of news more completely understand the points of view they are reading.”  Then, and only then, can we engage in a fully-informed debate on the crucially important issue of our country’s energy future.

( – promoted by lowkell)

In our last column, we looked at Virginia’s renewable energy standard, trying to grab hold of its 15% goal as it shrank three sizes in the greenwash. At the end of that discussion, you may have consoled yourself with the thought that 10% or 5% or 3% is, at least, better than nothing. Besides which, the law is only voluntary, so how much harm can it do?

“Voluntary” has such a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?  You probably think it has something to do with customers deciding whether to participate. You might think it’s for those virtuous people who sign up to buy “green” power, and the rest of us will just go on burning coal.

That is not what voluntary means at all. “Voluntary” means your utility gets to choose whether to participate, and then you have to go along with it. The law says that if your utility opts in, it will spend some of your money on renewable energy, and then because it did all that work, you have to add a big tip to your utility bill.

I suppose, in theory, a utility like Dominion Power might decide it didn’t want to spend your money, and it could just skip the fat tip. In reality, refusing a tip isn’t part of a corporation’s DNA any more than it is of a waiter’s. Tom Farrell’s momma didn’t bring him up to be a fool who leaves money on the table. So our voluntary RPS is kind of like one of those annoying restaurants where they automatically add the tip to the bill for parties of six or more.

In this case, the tip adds up to more than $38 million per year. Mind you, this is on top of the profit they had already added to your bill. This is a very lucrative line of business.

Well, you might think, at least I got fed. You like renewable energy, after all. It replaces smog-causing fossil fuels. It lowers our carbon footprint. It creates jobs and enhances our national security. A utility shouldn’t have to be bribed into buying it for you, but at least now it’s part of the meal.

But look more closely. If that renewable energy were food, you’d send it back. You assumed you were getting fresh, Virginia-grown electrons, made with the sun and the wind-and what is this stuff they are serving? Energy from dams, trash and wood, most of it fifty years old or more, of such poor quality that no other state will let it be served to their customers. They only call it “green” because it’s practically moldy. (And such small portions!)

You call your utility over and demand an explanation. “Where’s the wind energy? Where’s the solar? Why isn’t this fresh and local?” And your utility looks down its nose at you and answers, “Those things cost more. We have an obligation to be careful of your money. So for you, we go dumpster diving.”

At that point, you might be glad the renewable energy portion of your meal barely amounts to a garnish. The trouble is, you can’t take your business elsewhere. Your utility has a monopoly, and it guards your patronage jealously. So you’re stuck with the meal they serve you. The closest you’re going to get to real renewable energy is the picture of a wind turbine on the cover of the menu.

It’s only now that you notice an asterisk by the wind turbine and fine print that reads: “Coming soon!” And below that, in print so tiny you have to reach for your glasses: “Or not.”

Here are a few Virginia (and national) news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, December 12. For all you math geeks out there, that’s 12/12/12, the last time until the the 22nd century we’ll have a date with three of the same numbers. Exciting, huh? 🙂

*Obama, Boehner trade offers but little progress apparent

*White House: NKorea Launch ‘Highly Provocative’

*On debt ceiling, GOP is defining extortion down (Wildly irresponsible, but what else is new from the utterly despicable Mitch McConnell?)

*No fair wage for you (“‘Right to work’ laws, like the one signed Tuesday in Michigan, only hurt American workers.”)

*Gov. McDonnell faces a challenge on gas taxes (“Mr. Norquist is entitled to his magical thinking. But when he uses it to try to intimidate Virginia lawmakers, Mr. McDonnell must push back.”)

*Virginia teachers: Cuts would hurt poor, disabled

*U.Va. put on warning by accrediting agency (Why is Helen Dragas still on the UVA Board of Visitors?)

*Warning puts Dragas reappointment in greater spotlight

*Chance of avoiding fiscal cliff 80 percent says Warner (I don’t fully understand how Warner knows this, given that he himself admits he’s not “in that room.”)

*Wolf, Warner: Fiscal Solution Is In The Middle (Actually, no, the “middle” is probably not the solution here, given unreasonable Republican demands to slash non-military spending and to NOT raise revenues by very much.)

*Catholic Bishop Walter F. Sullivan dies at age 84 in Richmond (Reading his obituary, Bishop Sullivan sounds like a strong progressive on a wide variety of issues ranging from war and peace to Vatican II to women’s rights. He also “initiated an annual Mass for gays and lesbians in 1997 and established a sexual minorities advisory committee.” Impressive!)

*Schapiro: Norquist-ian bargain on taxes turns Faustian (“Because this dust-up involves taxes and transportation – issues, in the election just passed and the election ahead, on which Republicans are vulnerable – McDonnell must double efforts to be seen as all things to all voters. His future in politics could depend on it. Or does it?”)

*McDonnell takes aim at accelerated sales tax gimmick

*Bills would give General Assembly power to spike state regs

*Va. bill aims to protect secret union ballot

*Va. lawmakers turn cold shoulder to Fairfax transportation pleas

*More candidates pursuing Va. Beach legislative seat

*Former Virginia Beach sailor denied bond in spying case

*Save Va.’s roads despite Norquist (Again, Virginia’s only response to Grover Norquist should be a raised middle finger.)

*Not ‘panic time’ yet as drought hits

*Redskins prepared with Cousins pick