Gov. Kaine has already sacrificed huge amounts of credibility to go to bat for Dominion Virginia Power, cheerleading unrestrained dependence on coal even in the face of proposed massive rate increases.
But today, the Bristol Herald Courier says Kaine has reached a new low:
For some months, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has carefully stayed out of the controversy surrounding Dominion Power Co.'s proposed coal-fired plant in Wise County.Check out more analysis of Kaine's letter from the former chair of the Virginia Outdoors Foundation.No more. The governor is knee-deep in the muck - firing off an opaquely worded letter to the state Air Pollution Control Board that nudges the panel to give the plant its stamp of approval.
Kaine shrewdly avoids issuing a direct executive command, but the implications of his letter are clear. The five-member citizen panel had better not stand in Dominion's way. [...]
Kaine drafted the letter to the board June 10. A day later, his communications director, Gordon Hickey, denied that such a letter existed. On Friday, Hickey said he didn't learn of the letter until after he spoke with this newspaper. [...]
It seems likely that Kaine wanted to influence the Air Pollution Control Board in private while preserving his public persona as an environmental crusader. He cannot have it both ways without being judged guilty of blatant hypocrisy.
But who's countering them? Our Democratic governor is talking out of both sides of his mouth, telling Virginians we can fight global warming AND burn more coal. And our Democratic Senate majority leader, Dick Saslaw, doesn't care about the environment at all.
So besides green groups, blogs like RK, and the Herald Courier, who is telling Virginians they need to care? Not the allegedly liberal Washington Post. And not most Virginia Democrats.
Sure, there are elected Virginia Democrats who care about protecting our children's future from global warming. But are they willing to stand up to Kaine and Saslaw?
Below are snippets from vatechhokies50 two comments above which have been deleted.
I hope someone gets this editorial up today on your site...
Because, seriously, Gilmore is an idiot...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
FOR THOSE many thousands of Virginia residents who are new to the state or are newly of voting age, it must have seemed a strange spectacle that former Republican governor James S. Gilmore III -- who also served a stint as his party's national chairman -- scarcely managed to eke out a victory the other day against a relatively obscure Northern Virginia state delegate to become the GOP's nominee for the U.S. Senate. It may seem odder still to watch prominent fellow Republicans either endorse Mr. Gilmore's Democratic opponent in the Senate race, former governor Mark R. Warner, or go mute when asked whom they support.
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The Line and GOP Brand Problems
The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza, from The Fix, is the best, most accurate political blogger on the Internet... John Ensign is the obstructionist in Chief... this is why we need 60 seats... Virginia is still #1 on the line because Gilmore is an idiot.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com...
The Line: When a Small Loss Is Your 'Best Case Scenario'National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Ensign (Nev.) is nothing if not a realist. At a luncheon with reporters on Thursday in Washington, Ensign said the best-case scenario for his party in the fall election would be a three-seat loss.
...
What is wrong with using, say, geothermal power? natural gas? wind? wave/tidal power? I understand that there is adequate geothermal power underground in Virginia, especially in the mountain area of southwestern Virginia. Yes, it costs a bundle to drill for geothermal and construct a plant using geothermal power but, after the initial capital outlay, it is endless free power thereafter (and customers using the resultant electricity would only have to compensate Dominion for the bank loan to construct the plant plus a reasonable profit for Dominion, and never have to worry about rising prices for coal as a fuel). Same thing with tidal. California (with the help of the US Navy, no less) is setting up geothermal plants; Iceland derives most of its power from geothermal; Wales is or has already installed turbines in the sea for power. What is the problem with doing this sort of thing here?
I accept the need to add more power to our electrical grid, and do not believe that simple conservation is a long-run solution to the ever-growing need for more power. I also do not believe coal liquefaction and "clean coal" sequestration of CO2 in the ground are far enough along to rely on coal, especially when geothermal, even natural gas, are available. I am disappointed in Governor Kaine's seeming defection from environmental leadership, and cannot believe there are not other things going on in the background.