In March, the State Corporation Commission opened public comment on how the continued growth and popularity of electric vehicles (EVs) may impact  the affordability and reliability of electricity service throughout the Commonwealth. Several VCN partners submitted comments that addressed concerns over cost of deployment and rate design, energy storage, and public charging infrastructure. While only a piece of the solution, transitioning to electric vehicles is a critical piece of the solution to reduce carbon pollution from transportation - the largest [...]

DCIM100MEDIADJI_0074.JPG This post is republished with permission from SELC. WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision that limited the U.S. Forest Service’s authority to issue a permit to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). The original ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals stated the Forest Service lacked authority to grant approval for Dominion and Duke Energy’s pipeline to cross the Appalachian Trail on federal land. The Fourth Circuit also vacated the Forest Service permit on other [...]

Gov. Northam has announced the appointment of Jehmal Hudson to the State Corporation Commission (SCC). Hudson, from Arlington, Va., would be one of three SCC commissioners elected by the General Assembly.  Over the next few years, the SCC will play a key role in ensuring implementation of the Clean Economy Act - which puts the Commonwealth on a path to a 100% clean energy by 2045. Having well-qualified commissioners like Hudson guiding our state through a thoughtful, balanced transition to [...]

Led by Clean Virginia, 11 environmental and marginalized community advocacy organizations today joined statewide calls for the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) to extend its moratorium on utility disconnections during the COVID-19 pandemic. A joint comment submitted by the organizations questions the SCC’s assumption that a moratorium extension will harm ratepayers given the lack of available and relevant data from regulated public utilities including how many Virginia customers have unpaid utility bills, the reserves of each utility, and the amount utilities have [...]

Over the past week, more than 25 Virginia Conservation Network partners have released statements in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and countless others whose names we may or may not know. The Virginia Conservation Network joins these organizations in standing in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.  Structural racism exists not only within our country but has also historically existed within the broader conservation community. We must take this moment [...]

The University of Richmond School of Law Summer Public Service Fellowship Program provides summer funding to students working in qualifying government, nonprofit, and private sector employment settings. The Fellowship Program makes it financially possible for students to gain valuable, but unpaid, law-related summer employment experience, ensures students are prepared to maximize their summer experience for long-term professional gain, and provides opportunities for students to reflect on their summer experience and apply the insights they gain over the summer to their [...]