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Gov. Bob McDonnell's political action committee (PAC) was recently given a $100,000 contribution in a single week from one family, that of James C. Justice II.
Justice, his wife and two children, each gave Gov. McDonnell's PAC, "Opportunity Virginia PAC," $25,000 according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
Justice is a coal executive in West Virginia and the owner of the Greenbrier resort. He is a billionaire who's money has been made from coal, timber, and corn.
But Justice is the latest in a string of other big-money donations since the beginning of May that have equaled up to $160,000 on top of the $100,000 contributed by the Justices.
Needless to say, these kind of large PAC contributions from coal executives leave McDonnell's position on "clean energy" more dubious than ever.
In the world of politics, you are where you get your money from and if McDonnell continues to drag his feet on the issue of clean and renewable forms of energy, one need look no further than the sources of the contributions to McDonnell's future political ambitions.
While McDonnell fills his political coffers for future political campaigns, Virginians are little closer to realizing a coal-free future than they were before McDonnell came into office as governor.
For men like McDonnell however, the consequences of inaction don't matter because they do not feel the direct and immediate effects. But the issues of global warming and air pollution don't recognize class boundaries, even if McDonnell does.
What happens in Virginia when the state legislature passes legislation to protect the environment with unanimous bipartisan support?
Well, in the case of Senator Chap Petersen's SB 843 the governor deletes the language that would require the polluter to clean up its act.
Senator Petersen's bill would have tank farms, like the TransMontaigne farm on Pickett Road in Fairfax City, meet modern storage standards. The TransMontaigne facility is infamous for its record of oil spills and overflows. Last month, they were fined $114,000 for their inability to stop spilling oil in Fairfax City.
This common-sense bill would have given these facilities ten years to meet standards, and Bob McDonnell could not stand it. Fairfax's own Governor Spill, Baby, Spill is willing to let polluters off the hook at every turn, and now he's asking Fairfax City residents to pay the costs.
This is one more example of how reckless Bob McDonnell is when it comes to the environment. His administration doesn't understand, or even worse seem to care, that citizens suffer when polluters are given a free pass.
Governor Bob McDonnell likes to talk about an "all of the above" approach to energy. The problem is, the only energy he seems to want to focus on is the old, dirty kind. Fans of offshore drilling had a big week last week when President Obama announced the opening of additional offshore areas (including Virginia) for potential oil drilling. Gov. McDonnell has made pushing for offshore drilling in Virginia a cornerstone of his first year.
Unfortunately, He doesn't seem to have the same commitment to offshore wind, which holds far more potential for long-term energy production, economic development and energy independence for Virginia and the United States. The Governor has pulled Virginia out of the bipartisan Governor's Wind Energy Coalition. The Governor is upset that the Coalition has backed a mandatory Renewable Electricity Standard. The Washington Post has more.
What the Governor doesn't understand is that the actions of Virginia with regards to offshore drilling and wind send the message that Virginia is committed to drilling but not to wind. If you are a wind energy company, are you going to invest in a state that hasn't shown the slightest commitment to helping you establish a market for your new and promising product? Answer: NO
I should have flagged this earlier, but Scott Harper of The Virginian-Pilot wrote a great piece on Sunday highlighting the differences between Creigh Deeds and Bob McDonnell on environmental issues. This has great potential to be the next big contrast between the candidates.
During his time as a state delegate from Virginia Beach, McDonnell was perhaps best known for his anti-environmental positions, including efforts to limit, and terminate, a state wetlands-protection program approved over his no vote in 2000.
Deed's has a really good record on environmental issues and, especially when he focuses on a positive vision for Virginia's energy future (efficiency/renewables, creating jobs, etc.) he can really create some separation here.
Harper goes on to highlight Deeds' excellent and McDonnell's poor VALCV Scorecard records (see after the jump).
Gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell has erred in touting offshore drilling for oil and gas as a way to replenish state coffers. Federal law limits the sharing of oil and gas revenue to the Gulf states of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama. According to all reports, Congress is not likely to expand this program. In fact, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has rejected a proposal to expand the program.
So, even if one supports oil and gas drilling, it would be erroneous to do so on the grounds that the commonwealth would benefit from any of the revenue.
Despite McDonnell's public statements to the contrary, offshore oil and gas drilling in Virginia is not 'already set.' The U.S. Minerals Management Service has only just begun to review a potential lease sale in Virginia; thus no decision has been made.
The Southern Environmental Law Center opposes a potential lease sale in Virginia because the minuscule amount of oil and gas it would yield is simply not worth the enormous consequences that the drilling would have on commercial and sport fishing, coastal tourism and ocean life, including endangered whales and turtles. (Not to mention that the area in question overlaps with sensitive Department of Defense and NASA operations in the Atlantic.)
Rather, federal and state leaders should be focusing time and money on developing noncarbon based energy sources including the tremendous offshore wind potential that Virginia has.
On June 9th, Virginians will go to the polls to vote in the Democratic Primary for their nominees for Governor, Lt. Governor and Attorney General. Republicans will select their nominees at their convention the end of May.
Sierra Club invited all four of the candidates for Governor, the three Democrats: Creigh Deeds, Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran, and the Republican: Bob McDonnell to submit answers to an environmental survey that we have posted to our website, virginia.sierraclub.org.
The next Governor could be charting our course to a clean energy future or defending the coal industry until sea level rise is swallowing Virginia Beach. The next governor could actually make a real difference in cleaning up the Chesapeake rather than merely using the Bay as a back drop for a photo up. The next Governor could insure that the embarrassing boondoggle otherwise known as the King William Reservoir is finally laid to rest by standing up to developers in Newport News and the Peninsula.
So it will be up to us who that next Governor will be. As we close in on the Republican and Democratic nomination decisions, take the time to go out and see the candidates and ask the tough questions. We hope the survey responses provided by the candidates will help guide you in making this important decision.
Via Lowell's Blue Virginia, the Roanoke Times editorial board blasts presumptive GOP gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell's "1950s" energy plan:
McDonnell needs to realize that if Virginia wants to become the energy capital of America, the commonwealth must look to the future of renewable energy. The state simply doesn't have huge reserves of fossil fuels.
Take coal, for example. The National Mining Association estimates that Virginia has about 770 million tons of recoverable coal. Compare that to the 17.6 billion tons in West Virginia, or the 75 billion tons in Wyoming.
Oil is perhaps worse. In an online chart of proven reserves published by the U.S. Department of Energy, Virginia doesn't even merit an entry. Even if the most optimistic estimates of offshore reserves prove accurate, Virginia would be a minor player.
Check out the coal and oil reserve maps at ShowUSA. Even states like Iowa and Alabama have better shot at being the "coal capital" than Virginia. And forget about oil -- Virginia vanishes from the top 25 altogether.
Now look at the renewable energy map. The first thing you notice is that renewable resources are much more equitably spread among the states than fossil fuel deposits. The next thing is that while Virginia ranks 18th on the list, it's not a distant 18th -- and as a tech leader, Virginia is in much better position to take full advantage of the resources we have than other states ahead of us on the list. And if we do take advantage of Virginia's clean energy resources, we can create jobs, lower consumers' energy bills and preserve our planet.
Last week, gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell wrote the other candidates for Governor asking them to join him in signing a letter to Interior Secretary Salazar. It was a letter that asked the new Interior Secretary to reject Governor Kaine's recent request that Virginia Lease Sale 220 be removed from the 2007-2012 program and included instead with the 2010-2015 program for offshore oil and gas lease sales. In essence, McDonnell's letter asserts that it is somehow a bad idea to proceed with gathering adequate information and ensure that we have the scientific data needed to make a reasoned decision about the aggressive Bush offshore drilling plans now still aimed at our coastline here in Virginia.
The coast of Virginia is now at a point in the offshore drilling program where a recent "Call for Information" (deadline was Jan. 13, 2009) has asked for "particular environmental, biological, archaeological, socioeconomic, and geological conditions or potential conflicts, or other information that might bear upon the potential leasing, exploration, and development of the program area and vicinity." The requested information was solicited for the Virginia waters located strictly within the initial 2.9 million acres comprising the federal Lease Sale 220 area, but Interior did not ask what Virginians think about a second followup offshore drilling plan only three miles from shore, now scheduled for 2014.
It is this additional expanded drilling plan for which the Interior Secretary has just announced an entirely reasonable 180-day extension of the public comment period as it encompasses waters much closer to shore. "To establish an orderly process that allows us to make wise decisions based on sound information, we need to set aside 'the plan' and create our own timeline," Salazar announced. "Our available data is very old and incomplete," he told reporters. "We shouldn't make decisions on America's treasures based on old information."
Governor Kaine simply calls for the temporary postponement of Virginia Lease Sale 220. "This Lease Sale is the only one currently proposed anywhere along the Atlantic seaboard," he writes. "I believe that no lease sale should be conducted in the Atlantic until the process that you have outlined for the 5 Year Program [2010-2015] is complete."
Including Virginia in the same process used to study all other Atlantic offshore drilling, and to incorporate adequate information about other offshore areas of Virginia, makes sense. Certainly, if MMS doesn't have enough information and studies to safely conduct any other lease sales in our region, they certainly do not know enough to conduct the FIRST lease sale, Virginia's Lease Sale 220, which goes on the auction block as early as 2011.
Click here (PDF file) to read Chapter 1 of Terry McAuliffe's "Business Plan for Virginia." The plan kicks off with "Virginia's Energy Future." The major elements are:
1. "Make Virginia a destination for clean energy and clean tech businesses and jobs." Includes a mandatory Renewable Portfolio Standard ("Requiring power companies to generate 25% of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2025") and net metering ("Encouraging cleaner, locally produced electricity by allowing consumers who produce renewable energy to earn actual retail credit to offset their consumption."). Both are excellent ideas (although I'm with Al Gore, let's shoot for 100% renewables within a decade!).
2. "Invest in clean, renewable sources of energy supply." Includes development of Virginia's wind, solar, and biomass resources. I'm a huge fan of wind and solar, not so much of biomass (unless we're talking about biomass possibilities like algae that deliver many times the amount of energy OUT of the system as it takes INTO the system).
3. "Invest in energy efficiency - the least expensive form of energy supply." Includes expanded "deployment of smart meters throughout the Commonwealth" and a change in incentives so that utilities "put efficiency first." The latter essentially describes "decoupling," which I strongly support. I also support building a "smart grid" and replacing analog meters with "smart" digital ones throughout Virginia.
4. "Do a better job of using coal and natural gas power more safely and effectively." I like the emphasis on retraining coal miners so that they are "never unprepared for the changing industry environment." I could do without the "carbon sequestration" (CCS) and "make Virginia coal the cleanest in America," but with Creigh Deeds and Brian Moran (and Jim Webb, Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, etc.) also pushing "cleaner coal" (in Brian Moran's case, even calling Virginia the "Saudi Arabia of coal!") and CCS, I've largely resigned myself to the fact that I'm not going to agree with either the Republican or Democratic gubernatorial nominee on this issue. Sigh.
5. "Protect our families from fluctuating energy costs and economic disruptions." I definitely like giving families "the tools to reduce their energy use and carbon footprints." I also like "low-income energy assistance and weatherization programs."
6. "Invest in people, committing significant resources to training and educating Virginians to comprise the workforce for today and tomorrow's clean tech economy." This is crucial in order to prepare Virginia's workforce for the "green jobs" of the future.
P.S. One thing I would have loved to see in this plan would be a specific requirement that all new buildings in Virginia meet energy efficiency standards. Also, I would have loved to see discussion of "smart growth;" perhaps that will come later, in future sections of the "Business Plan" (I presume there will be a chapter on transportation?).
On the subject of Virginia offshore drilling, gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell is wrong, wrong, wrong.
He's wrong by already banking on imaginary non-existent resources off Virginia's shore as Lowell points out here. He's wrong about the imaginary non-existent jobs coming to Virginia as an alleged result of drilling, as my op ed hopefully coming to the Virginian-Pilot points out.
But his biggest boo-boo is pointed out by today's Virginian-Pilot in a searing editorial entitled "Political Pandering is No Energy Solution". "Would-be governor drills a dry hole", they write.
"McDonnell's position on offshore drilling neither respects the position of Virginians nor the law of the land."
"Unfortunately for his hopes of gaining advantage, the people in Hampton Roads know offshore drilling is too important an issue to be lost in the usual gamesmanship."
"We expected such stubbornness from the Bush administration, which was populated by people who somehow managed to pay lip service to the dangers of climate change while also doing nothing about it. And from legislators - including those from Virginia - who were bought and paid for by the petroleum industry.
None of that explains the political theater orchestrated by Bob McDonnell, the former attorney general and current Republican candidate for governor, that unfolded over the past week."
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I should have flagged this earlier, but Scott Harper of The Virginian-Pilot wrote a 
Here's an LTE appearing in today's 
Politics matter.
Via Lowell's 
Last week, gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell wrote the other candidates for Governor asking them to join him in signing a letter to Interior Secretary Salazar. It was a letter that asked the new Interior Secretary to reject Governor Kaine's recent request that Virginia Lease Sale 220 be removed from the 2007-2012 program and included instead with the 2010-2015 program for offshore oil and gas lease sales. In essence, McDonnell's letter asserts that it is somehow a bad idea to proceed with gathering adequate information and ensure that we have the scientific data needed to make a reasoned decision about the aggressive Bush offshore drilling plans now still aimed at our coastline here in Virginia.
On the subject of Virginia offshore drilling, gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell is wrong, wrong, wrong.
