Virginia Lawmakers Approve Bill Doubling Clean Energy
RICHMOND, VA - The Virginia General Assembly today approved a groundbreaking energy bill that will vault the state forward in clean energy generation and energy efficiency investments—improving clean air, saving consumers money and modernizing the electricity grid for the 21st century.
Capping weeks of negotiations, lawmakers from across the political spectrum, the state’s largest utility, Dominion Energy, and clean energy advocates worked to send the “Grid Transformation and Security Act” to Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s desk for expected signature. If signed, the new law will usher in more than $1 billion in energy efficiency investments and increase the level of renewable energy generation in Virginia.
“This is a bright day in Virginia for energy efficiency and clean energy,” said Walton Shepherd, a senior attorney who works on Virginia energy issues for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “This major investment in energy efficiency, solar power and smart grid technology upgrades will help the state, finally, reduce its rising electric bills, create clean energy jobs that lift the economy and curb climate-changing carbon pollution from power plants.
“This bill, which will launch energy efficiency as a priority investment and double the amount of clean energy generation, is a watershed moment in the Commonwealth. It should end the era of continuing increases in electricity bills to pay for over-priced, and now unneeded, fossil fuel infrastructure and power. Virginia is charting a new path—toward a clean energy future that benefits all Virginians, especially those who struggle to make ends meet.”
For more on the impact of the bill, see this blog by NRDC energy experts Shepherd and Dawone Robinson: https://www.nrdc.org/experts/walton-shepherd/fresh-start-clean-energy-virginia
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The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.