Virginia Archives - Page 12 of 59

VIRGINIA: Regulators grant critical approval for Dominion wind farm off Virginia Beach coast

December 16, 2022 — Virginia regulators granted a critical approval Thursday for Dominion Energy’s plans to construct and operate a 176-turbine wind farm in the Atlantic Ocean.

The State Corporation Commission effectively signed off on an agreement Dominion reached this fall with the Virginia attorney general and other parties, in which the company agreed to implement several consumer protections in connection with the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.

“We thank the Commission for its approval and appreciate the collaboration of the parties involved to reach an agreement that advances offshore wind and the clean energy transition in Virginia,” the Richmond-based company said in a statement. “Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind has many benefits for our customers. It is fuel free, emissions free, diversifies our energy mix and is a transformative economic development opportunity for Hampton Roads and Virginia.”

Read the full article at WAVY

VIRGINIA: Menhaden harvest in the Chesapeake Bay won’t get new restrictions — for now

December 7, 2022 — The Virginia Marine Resources Commission on Tuesday chose not to place new limits on the menhaden harvest. The decision came after an hours-long hearing that included roughly three dozen impassioned public commenters.

In fact, board members didn’t vote on the regulations at all. Instead, they approved a non-binding motion to try and reach an agreement with the menhaden industry.

The decision is the latest in a decades-long, politically fraught fight over the fishery that’s unique to the commonwealth.

Virginia is the only place on the East Coast that still allows harvesting menhaden within state waters. Omega Protein catches the fish and processes them into oil or fishmeal at a facility in Reedville.

Sportfishers and environmental groups have been pushing for a total ban on the menhaden harvest in the Chesapeake Bay, citing impacts to the food chain.

A petition supporting such a ban, circulated by the Virginia Saltwater Sportfishing Association this year, garnered 9,200 signatures.

The proposed regulations this week would not have gone nearly as far.

VMRC staff recommended prohibiting menhaden fishing within one nautical mile of shorelines in state and Virginia Beach waters, and for a half-mile on each side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

Read the full article at WHRO

VIRGINIA: State proposes limits on menhaden fishing in the Bay after spills

November 29, 2022 –The Virginia Marine Resources Commission is considering new limits on the controversial menhaden fishery after two spills of dead fish fouled Eastern Shore beaches in July and sparked calls for an outright ban.

The Reedville-based fleet operated by Omega Protein spilled 4,895 menhaden on Silver Beach over the July 4 weekend and an estimated 10,000 menhaden and 26 red drum on July 25, which forced the closing of Kiptopeke State Park beach for a time when some of them washed ashore.

The first spill came when a “purse seine” net tore, as Omega crew members were gathering a school of fish. Purse seining involves surrounding a school of fish with a net maneuvered by two boats, which then bring the closed “purse” alongside a larger vessel which vacuums the fish into its hold.

Read the full article at Richmond Times-Dispatch

VIRGINIA: Dominion, AG reach proposed agreement in offshore wind case

October 31, 2022 — Dominion Energy has agreed to implement several consumer protections in connection with its massive offshore wind project under a proposed agreement with the office of the Virginia attorney general and other parties released Friday.

The proposed agreement, which includes performance reporting requirements and provisions laying out a degree of construction cost sharing, is still subject to final approval by the State Corporation Commission.

Attorney General Jason Miyares, a Republican whose office represents the interests of consumers in utility regulation proceedings, said the agreement would provide “first-of-its-kind” protections for ratepayers while ensuring the 176-turbine project with an estimated $9.8 billion capital cost moves forward in a fiscally responsible way.

“I am pleased that we have achieved consumer protections never seen before in modern Virginia history,” Miyares said in a statement. “For the first time Dominion has significant skin in the game to ensure that the project is delivered on budget. Should the project run materially over budget, it will come out of Dominion’s pocket, not consumers,” he said.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

VIRGINIA: Offshore wind project “at a crossroads” Dominion argues

October 3, 2022 — Dominion Energy is arguing that it may “be forced” to pull the plug on its proposed offshore wind project if a performance guarantee remains imposed on it by the State Corporation Commission.

On Aug. 5, the SCC approved a rate adjustment clause, or rider, attached to consumers’ power bills so Dominion can recover costs associated with its proposed offshore wind project. The SCC order also included a performance guarantee to protect consumers from potential extra costs if the wind turbines don’t perform as well as expected.

The $9.8 billion wind farm— planned for 27 miles off Virginia Beach— is the largest energy project ever undertaken in the state and would be the largest wind project in the country.

But Dominion challenged the performance guarantee and the SCC agreed to reconsider it — kicking off a window in which both the utility company and other parties have responded.

“It is the regulator’s job to balance monopoly profit motives by adopting common and reasonable standards that will protect Virginians,” Laura Gonzalez, a policy manager with Clean Virginia said in a statement.

Clean Virginia is one of the environmental groups that responded.

But Dominion objected to the guarantee, asserting it could create uncertainty for its investors and hold the company responsible for things outside of its control — citing extreme weather as example.

Read the full article at the Richmond Times-Dispatch

VIRGINIA: Businesses, environmental groups back guarantee for Dominion wind project

September 22, 2022 — Last month, Dominion Energy asked the State Corporation Commission to reconsider a performance guarantee it attached to the utility’s proposed offshore wind project. The SCC agreed to revisit the matter and opened a response period — which garnered 13 responses from various groups.

Environmental nonprofit Clean Virginia is among the groups arguing that consumer protection is reasonable.

“It is the regulator’s job to balance monopoly profit motives by adopting common and reasonable standards that will protect Virginians,” Laura Gonzalez, Clean Virginia’s Energy Policy Manager said in a statement.

The organization’s filed response noted that projected profit from the wind project is more than enough to cover potential costs. The performance guarantee — which Dominion is asking regulators to reconsider — is meant to protect consumers from potentially absorbing additional costs if the turbines fail to perform as expected.

Read the full article at the Richmond Times-Dispatch

VIRGINIA: Oyster restoration stumbles in Virginia’s Lynnhaven River

September 14, 2022 — Back in the spring, Lynnhaven River Now was celebrating its efforts to rebuild the oyster population in one of the Chesapeake Bay’s most developed watersheds.

Undertaking the largest restoration project in its 20-year history, the nonprofit group started by spreading 190 barge-loads of crushed, recycled concrete across the bottom of Pleasure House Creek, one of the Lynnhaven’s tributaries.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Lynnhaven group’s partner on the project, followed up by topping the underwater ridges with a thin layer of shells bearing fingernail-size baby oysters.

“New reefs could support 10 million oysters!” Lynnhaven River Now enthused in an April press release. In all, the two groups planned to create nearly 14 acres of oyster habitat in three separate reefs.

But then waterfront residents began complaining about seeing chunks of asphalt, metal wires and steel rebar mixed in with the concrete being put in the water. A state senator responded by holding public meetings to air residents’ grievances. He pressed authorities to investigate, and in July the Virginia Marine Resources Commission ordered CBF to completely remove everything put in the Lynnhaven so far this year.

The snafu has tarnished the reputation of the two environmental groups, at least in the eyes of some riverfront residents.

“The public confidence in the people who are supposed to be protecting the resources the most, [in other words] Lynnhaven River Now and Chesapeake Bay Foundation, have taken a hit. That’s a polite way of saying it,” said Charles “Chuck” Mehle, a longtime waterfront resident and former community association president who was among the project’s vocal critics.

It’s also roiled other restoration efforts in the Lynnhaven, which is one of five Bay tributaries in Virginia where the state has pledged to complete large-scale revival of oyster habitat by 2025. Waterfront residents are now criticizing plans by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to create more oyster reefs in the river.

Read the full story at the Bay Journal

VIRGINIA: Who will pay for Dominion’s $9.8 billion offshore wind farm?

September 8, 2022 — In a regulatory conflict over who should bear the costs of a proposed offshore wind farm in Virginia, the Youngkin Administration and environmental groups have found themselves on the same side, calling for action to limit Dominion’s profits from the project.

In an August ruling that will be finalized later this month, the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) ordered limited consumer protections on the project, while rejecting the more aggressive controls requested by the Youngkin administration and environmental groups like Clean Virginia.

Read the full article at WRIS

VIRGINIA: Utility: Guarantee for large offshore wind farm ‘untenable’

August 24, 2022 — A ratepayer protection that state regulators included in a recent order approving Dominion Energy Virginia’s application to build and recover the costs of a massive offshore wind farm will force the utility to scrap the project, Dominion said in a filing this week.

The State Corporation Commission granted approval this month for the 176-turbine, multibillion-dollar project off Virginia Beach. Dominion immediately raised concerns about the commission’s inclusion of a performance guarantee for the wind farm and in a petition Monday asked the regulators to reconsider that element of their order.

The Spinning of Virginia’s Wind Farm

August 22, 2022 — Now that their climate spending bill has been signed by President Biden, Democrats might go to bed dreaming of wind farms. What they’re sleeping through is the green logrolling and corporatism already evident in the clean-power transition. A good example is an offshore wind farm that Virginia regulators approved recently under obvious duress.

Dominion Energy plans to build 176 wind turbines 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. That’s enough to power about 660,000 homes. The capital cost is $9.8 billion. The state Corporation Commission assented to a related rate increase, but it noted that the downside risk is on consumers. Typically, the commission says, a utility might buy such power from an outside developer, “which limits the risks to customers.” Yet Dominion “has chosen to construct, own and operate the Project.”\

Read the full article at the Wall Street Journal