We need to kick those creeps out of office.  This is likely the same idiots who killed the Clean Air Act that would have protected us from second hand smoke in public buildings.  Who wouldn't want to breathe clean air?  This just defies all common sense.  Dominion has deep pockets and the legislators who rejected this bill have taken up residence in those pockets.  SHAME ON THEM!

BTW:  Who are the people who voted against the Clean Energy Future?  Let us know so we can act accordingly next time they are up for re-election.

That is what we have to do.  We cannot rely on individuals in the GA to be a panacea for this problem.  We, Virginians, must start by reducing our own consumption.  That means properly sealing our homes, upgrading insulation, upgrading to the most efficient furnaces and A/C units, replacing energy inefficient appliances (i.e. font loading washer, gas dryers, and other EnergyStar products), installing programmable thermostats, and then replacing your light bulbs with CFLs.  Also, we can all start saving by pulling the plug on all the appliances that use standby power.  You can do so easily if you have them plugged into a power strip or surge protector.

That's the low hanging fruit.  And the majority can do it with proper budgeting.  And if we show commitment, that will change the world.  Instead of buying crap from the mall or Wal-Mart or some other consumer black hole, people can spend it on saving the world.  Once we do this, Richmond and Washington will notice.  If we urbanites in Virginia reduce our consumption dramatically, it punishes Dominion in the most meaningful way and it is the only weapon we have.  If we want to stand in solidarity with our rural brothers and sisters who don't want this plant, then we have to reduce our consumption.

Of course, we should do all of these things, but it's just swimming against the tide unless you make the big institutional and infrastructional changes that we have to elect and push leaders to do.

I'm sorry, tx2vadem, but individual actions are not going to save us from climate change by themselves.  There's just not enough time left.

If we rely on politicians to save us from this, then we are already dead.  We need to do something.  The collection of individuals must do something.  If we continue to live as we do, politicians will just follow us into oblivion.  I am talking about collective action, not just individual action.  I am just suggesting action taken outside of a government that is controlled by Dominion.  This is no different than the origins of the progressive movement where farmers in the South created Co-ops to get around price gauging by monopolistic suppliers.

I agree we need to create a regulatory system that rewards utilities for conserving energy and not for selling more power.  I agree we need to mandate changes in generation.  But the reality is that we are not going to get that this year or next year.  We are not going to stop this power plant in Wise County.  That is the reality.  And we have to live with that and do what we can.  There is not this sea of people in Virginia's urban areas that is standing up this challenge.  Education takes one person at a time.  I am talking to my coworkers about insulation issues and they are finding that they have the same issues.  And when we talk about cost, they didn't realize that it wasn't super expensive to fix the problem.  

I don't dispute that one person reducing their energy consumption by just 20% is not going to make a dent.  But everyone in America making that reduction will make a difference.  Every individual contribution is important.  And we cannot forget that.  If we tell people they can't make a difference, then they won't.  If we make the problem bigger than them, then they won't attempt to solve it.  If we are sitting around waiting for Richmond to solve this, then be prepared to waste another two years.  

Where's the leadership from Senate Commerce & Labor Democrats on this issue? A clean energy future is coming whether Dominion likes it or not. Coal is sinking. The only question is, will our elected officials doom us to go down with the ship?

The state of VA should require its utilities to have the highest feasible % of their generation from renewables, either in-state or from out-of-state.  Being that our Governor, a democrat, and the democratic majority in the GA finally after several years, got the Virginia Energy Plan accomplished last year, that % currently appears to be 12% for renewables and 10% for EEC by 2022.  Chap's bill was 7 months too late and nothing has changed for the democratically controlled committee to vote differently.  

Too many people think that like other states, especially like those out west, Virginia can somehow grab a handful of these neat-o renewable generation projects on the drawing board, and produce electricity for all of us here in Virginia.  If there was excess renewable generation capacity needing purchase, I'm sure the RPS % would go higher but that's not the case in the mid-Atlantic.  We cannot think that the GA can just simply force utilities to hook up wind farms, tidal turbines & solar arrays to the grid and to provide grant money to every joe dick and harry in the state who wants solar roofing shingles.  Given today's technology, Virginia and the mid-Atlantic states for the matter, are not blessed with substantial and efficient sources of renewable generation, period.

What Virginia and the mid-Atlantic is blessed with, however, is some coal, some uranium, and a tie for last place in the nation for implemented energy efficiency and conservation programs.  Being that this is more in-line with reality, Virginia should capitalize on what we have here in this state to reduce C02 with.  Shutdown and/or convert and expand old coal plants with new coal technology.  Nuclear is safe and thorium produces one-third the waste as uranium.  EEC can increase capacity by ~20%. Let the other states more blessed with renewables resources, be our test lab; and when that is accomplished and our state finds an efficient alternative it can use, possibly a large off-shore wind farm, then the state will be better off and not stuck with laws forcing utilities to use the costly equivalent of 1970's betamax cassette technology.  

Even Obama knows coal will be the backbone of America's energy future for the next 80 years.  Sure we must try to find every means possible to create coal generation with the smallest footprint; but if having our state do its part by reducing C02, and given the realities, we should expect to look towards working with what we have, and how we can meet reduction goals with the help from industry.  When more efficent renewable opportunities present themselves, the market will be ready to move with or without Dominion or our GA.

And Miles, before you give me another rating of a "0" or "1", how about providing some substance to back it up?  

die in the House.  The obstructionist REPUBLICAN controlled house.  I expected more, much more, from the Democratic controlled Senate.

Please do name names.  It's time to put pressure on the losers who let this great bill die.  

SB 446 Clean energy future; electric energy sold to be generated from renewable generation energy sources.

02/11/08  Senate: Failed to report (defeated) in Commerce and Labor (3-Y 12-N)

YEAS--Miller, Y.B., Edwards, Herring--3.

NAYS--Saslaw, Colgan, Wampler, Norment, Stosch, Stolle, Watkins, Wagner, Newman, Puckett, Puller, McEachin--12.

ABSTENTIONS--0.

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