Virginia lawmakers act on energy bills

As the Virginia General Assembly enters the final days of its 2015 session, we can look back on five action-packed weeks. Among the many issues our lawmakers labored over, a few — including changes to state energy policy — were explosive enough to consistently make headlines. Here’s a recap of the drama, along with a few important policies that received less fanfare.

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“Clean coal” is on the fritz

Futuregen_DOE_Concept_artFrom The Appalachian Voice Online: As one of the most high-profile and hyped-up projects of its kind, the FutureGen “clean coal” plant in Illinois was supposed make history. So the announcement that the U.S. Department of Energy is backing out of its $1.1 billion funding promise to the project sent a shockwave through the coal sector and investors, energy analysts and environmentalists all took note.

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Appalachian Voices Book Club

Appalachia’s triumphs and tragedies, its beauty and mystery, and its people’s tenacity, love and good humor have long been enshrined in fiction. This year, the stories of the region’s struggles with coal are reaching a national audience thanks to two powerful new novels.

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Virginia Climate Fever

How Global Warming Will Transform Our Cities, Shorelines, and Forests By Stephen Nash As visiting senior research scholar at the University of Richmond, Stephen Nash explores the stunning local aspects of climate disruption. This digestible work employs enough facts and visuals to demonstrate the amount of damage that global warming promises for the Old Dominion.…

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White House moves to regulate methane emissions

After years of scientific research pointing to methane’s outsized contribution to climate change, the Obama administration will use its executive power to regulate emissions of the potent greenhouse gas from oil and gas productions and pipelines.

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Survey says: Virginians want clean energy

rtd2 A bi-partisan poll released today shows solid support among Virginia voters for the state to develop a plan to cut carbon pollution and shift to cleaner sources of energy. Meanwhile, in Richmond, the General Assembly is heading in the opposite direction, casting votes in favor of dirty fossil fuels.

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