How about:
-- An annual additional
electricity cost of
$500 per household
-- a 40% increase
over levels without
the VCEA over the
next ten years;
-- An additional $30 billion
in capital cost for electrical
infrastructure, excluding
engineering expenses.
-- Hundreds of thousands
of acres of Virginia countryside
and wildlife habitat covered by
solar farms, electric transmission
lines, and ugly wind towers.
-- A degradation of
electrical grid reliability.
VCEA was created by
a Democratic controlled
Legislature and signed by
Democrat Governor Northam.
It purports to provide electricity
under a mandate of “net zero”
carbon dioxide “emissions”
by 2050 ( The release of
manmade CO2 during the
production of electricity
should be cut to zero. )
The State Corporation
Commission has been
stripped of its authority
to regulate electricity
generation in Virginia,
because their goal was
both the lowest possible
cost of electricity coupled
with the highest reliability.
The construction of
massive offshore wind
facilities that will require
significantly elevated
levels of
cement, steel, and
rare earth metals
because they will lie
in the path of
Atlantic hurricanes.
The wind farms
will be subject
to the annual
“Bermuda High”,
for weeks at a time during
the summer, meaning that
no wind will be activating
the turbine blades,
and no electricity
will be generated
for the air conditioners
of Virginians who will be
broiling in the summer heat.
Every similar wind farm
in the United States
requires backup generation
capability powered by diesel
or natural gas, an expense
not even included in the
Dominion plan.
Because Dominion is
a regulated monopoly,
every expense it incurs
as a result of the VCEA
will be paid by VA taxpayers,
so Dominion shareholders
earn a legally required return
on capital.
The new solar fields
required by the VCEA
will cover 490 square miles
of Virginia farm and forest land
– nearly half the size
of the State of Rhode Island –
to generate the solar power
required by the VCEA.
Dominion will need
to construct
four massive interstate
transmission lines at
a costof $8.4 billion
to carry electricity
from these solar fields
to consumers.
Will county zoning
commissions and voters
try to block placement
of these transmission
lines and solar fields
in their backyards ?
The VCEA will have
a negative impact
on the environment.
Fifteen years from now,
not a single Virginian
will be able to feel, touch,
or smell any difference
or improvement in the
environment resulting
from the VCEA.