Extreme precipitation events are becoming more common due to climate change. Environmental advocates and some officials warn that means more flooding, costing Virginia billions of dollars and threatening residents’ safety. Unless protection efforts receive proper funding soon, they warn, the problem will only get worse.
Senators from the Chesapeake Bay region are asking the Biden administration to enforce strict water pollution standards in Pennsylvania and New York to help meet previously-agreed goals for restoring the bay.
The lawmakers, all Democrats, told new Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan in a letter last month that efforts to reduce certain Chesapeake Bay pollution sources by 2025 âare at a critical juncture.â
âOur concern has been the state of Pennsylvania has been falling significantly short of the goals that they need to reach in order for us to meet the overall pollution goals for the bay in 2025,â Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), one of the co-authors of the letter, said in an interview with Capital News Service.
Photo/Dominion Energy
Dominion Energy invested $46 million to construct a 200,000-panel solar array on 125 acres its owns along Lucky Hill Road near Remington. The installation started generating electricity in October 2017. These things will not be built . . . in Reston. They wonât be built where our Democratic colleagues live. Theyâll be built out here in rural areas and with untold consequences Del. Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah County)
By Sarah Vogelsong
Spotsylvania County: 6,350. Fauquier County: 3,500. King William County: 1,262.
Each number recited by Del. Charles Poindexter (R-Franklin) to a House panel during the second week of the 2021 General Assembly session represented the number of acres that local governments in Virginia have approved for solar projects to date.
VA Lawmakers Consider Extending Rule For Alcohol To-Go
With indoor dining limited due to the pandemic, Virginia relaxed some of its strict laws on alcohol sales. Lawmakers are looking to extend options like cocktails to-go for another year as the restaurant industry limps along. (Photo: David Streever/VPM News)
During the pandemic, Virginia has allowed bars and restaurants to sell alcohol to-go or through delivery.
Some state lawmakers are now looking to extend that rule through the rest of the year, hoping it can help some small businesses stay afloat as the pandemic reaches new peaks. A bill from Delegate Schuyler VanValkenburg (D-Henrico) would halt planned changes to alcohol licensing fees and allow businesses to sell beer and wine off-site through the end of 2021. If the bill is rejected by the General Assembly, some restaurants would have to get a separate permit to continue selling alcohol to-go.