Creigh Deeds: Session update

Creigh Deeds

The Virginia General Assembly works as close as is possible to the way representative government was intended. Sessions are short, fast-paced and members, by necessity, have to earn their principal income outside of government. Members of the General Assembly come from all walks of life and must balance family and work with legislative service. It…

Creigh Deeds: Session newsletter

Creigh Deeds

The midpoint in the 2011 session is fast approaching. Under the procedural rules adopted at the beginning of every session, the House of Delegates and the Senate must take final action on bills introduced in that body by crossover. The process would not work without self imposed time limits and rules, so by February 8…

Court ruling blocks efforts to halt EPA greenhouse-gas limits

Chris Graham

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today denied requests from numerous industry groups and their allies that sought to halt regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency to control greenhouse-gas emissions from vehicles and power plants and other large sources. The EPA rules include an “endangerment” finding, which confirmed that carbon dioxide and other pollutants contributing…

EMU dedicates new solar facility

Jim Bishop

Eastern Mennonite University dedicated and celebrated the largest solar photovoltaic project built so far in the state of Virginia in a public ceremony held Monday afternoonon EMU’s campus. During the celebration in EMU’s Campus Center, about 150 members of the campus community, public officials and local neighbors saw the university’s president Loren Swartzendruber unveil the…

Google investment will boost Virginia wind industry, JMU expert says

AFP

Virginia’s wind energy industry received a “shot in the arm” this week when Google announced it will invest $200 million in a project to harvest electricity from wind farms off the Mid-Atlantic coast. Dr. Jonathan Miles, director of the Virginia Center for Wind Energy at James Madison University, said Google’s 37.5 percent stake in the…

Kathleen Rogers and Antonio Gonzalez: Seeking one principled person from each side of the aisle

AFP

On Sept. 17, 1787, a group of visionaries and leaders signed our Constitution. They were intent on creating a functioning government based on universal truths and extraordinary principles in an environment complicated by disparate regional economies and wildly divergent parochial interests. Back then, differing proposals for the shape of our government divided our country into…

Webb announces nuclear initiative

Chris Graham

Edited by Chris Graham [email protected]   U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., joined Virginia-based Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Energy Inc. and Bechtel Power Corporation on Wednesday to announce a formal alliance to design, license and deploy the world’s first commercially viable Generation III++ small modular nuclear power plant. Design work for the small modular reactors will…

Tom Perriello: Job growth

AFP

Column by Tom Perriello www.perriello.house.gov   Last week, we received some encouraging news as the Department of Labor announced that the economy added 290,000 jobs in the month of April – 231,000 of them in the private sector. This is the largest number of new jobs in four years and the fourth consecutive month of…

J.R. Tolbert: Keeping the faith on Earth Day

AFP

Column by J.R. Tolbert Submit guest columns: [email protected]   Forty years ago, nearly 20 million Americans participated in what was the beginning of the modern environmental movement. Inspired by Sen. Gaylord Nelson after witnessing an oil spill off California’s coast, Earth Day was started to spotlight issues related to environmental degradation and the need to…