VB Dems

As “VB Dems”, I’ve started tracking bills of interest on Richmond Sunlight.

Two bills of particular interest to the environmental community are as follows (snips from the Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition’s one-page fact sheets):

Virginia Jobs and Efficiency Act (SB 71) – Sen. Don McEachin
Senator McEachin’s “Virginia Jobs and Efficiency Act” (Senate Bill 71) calls on Virginia utilities to take the lead by requiring them to reduce energy consumption 12% by 2022 by investing in readily-available energy-efficiency improvements.

The McEachin bill would create up to 10,000 new jobs in the Commonwealth. Efficiency investments will boost Virginia’s economy and create a demand for energy efficient construction and weatherization, energy auditors and engineers, and other jobs.

Efficiency would enable Virginia to meet its energy needs without constructing new, expensive power plants like the 1500-megawatt coal-fired plant proposed for the Hampton Roads area, estimated to cost as much as $6 billion – the most costly coal plant in the U.S.

The plant would be the biggest coal-fired plant in Virginia and would release over 14 million tons of global warming pollution every year.

Stream Saver Bill (SB 564) – Sen. Patsy Ticer
The “Stream Saver Bill” will end the practice of filling Virginia headwater streams with coal mining waste by prohibiting the dumping of coal mining waste into Virginia streams. Prohibiting the filling of streams with mining waste will curtail the practice of mountaintop removal and preserve the integrity of our waterways.

I’m getting ready to head to the Women’s Legislative Roundtable meeting in Norfolk this morning. More bills of interest will be forthcoming.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 16th, 2010 at 6:21 am and is filed under 2010 GA, Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.