The Jefferson Journal: The War on Fossil Fuels

About Commentary Education Taxes Support The Jefferson Journal The War on Fossil Fuels                                                              By Stephen D. Haner   2/26/2021 – The lesson of the Texas grid collapse is not just about electricity. Imagine the week Texans would have had if once the power went out and stayed out, they had no gasoline, diesel, propane, or natural gas to fall back on. How much worse would their plight have been without natural gas heating homes and businesses, propane space heaters and grills, and gasoline or diesel-powered cars and trucks to get where they needed to go?   You might think it alarmist to imagine that, but it is not. An all-electric economy, with the electricity itself reliant on unreliable wind and solar generation, is exactly the future envisioned for Virginia and being put into place by Governor Ralph Northam and the majority in the General Assembly.    The 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act already requires the retirement of coal and natural gas electricity generation in the state in less than 30 years. That’s what zero carbon means, although fortunately Virginia’s main electricity provider maintains a fleet of aging nuclear plants not mandated to close. Yet.     Electricity is just the start. There is not one aspect of our economic lives where the debate is not being driven by the assumption – unproved and hotly contested – that our very existence is threatened by carbon dioxide emissions. The constant drumbeat of such claims have evolved into conventional wisdom. The lesson of Texas is we must slow down and think before we find ourselves over this cliff.    The proposed carbon tax and rationing scheme known as the Transportation and Climate Initiative is just a first step, with advocates admitting the ultimate goal is to eliminate gasoline and diesel as transportation fuels and make us totally dependent on electric vehicles.    This General Assembly was not asked to impose TCI with its taxes on Virginians. Yet. Once the 2021 election is past, the state is likely to join the interstate transportation fuel compact it has been negotiating for a decade. This year’s General Assembly, however, did authorize joining with California and other states in a regulatory structure intended to ultimately end the sale of new internal combustion engines. Virginia is ceding control over that process to California and other states.   A serious effort was made this year to impose a tax on your electric bill to finance, among other things, converting the homes of lower income Virginians from natural gas or oil heat to electric heat pumps. Nothing would make the power companies happier, but that just makes us even more dependent on a single energy source. Another bill tax would have financed a fleet of electric school buses, destined to grow.   The Atlantic Coast Pipeline to bring a huge new natural gas supply into the state was crushed by environmental opposition, as was a modest expansion of an existing Virginia Natural Gas line into Hampton Roads. The Mountain Valley Pipeline is fighting for its life in the western part of the state. One of the first actions of President Joe Biden was to kill a major Canada-to-Gulf Coast oil pipeline.   People see the threads, but not the whole cloth. The war on coal is now a war on every fossil fuel. Coal miners will be joined in fighting for their livelihoods by the entire oil and gas industry, from auto mechanics to the service station industry.    It took probably fifteen minutes into the Texas crisis for the climate change warriors to begin to claim that the cold snap was caused by global warming. But the cold weather there was not out of line with past experience, and one day could do the same to parts of our electric grid. All of the extreme weather claims tied to global warming collapse when compared to historical records. But extremes will happen and will threaten the grid.   When those dark days come, we will not want an all-electricity economy, especially if dependent on intermittent sources. We will need – as Texas just proved – gasoline, diesel, propane and natural gas for at least some of our homes, stores, and workplaces.   A version of this commentary originally appeared in the February 26, 2021 edition of The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star. Stephen D. Haner is Senior Fellow for State and Local Tax Policy at the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. He may be reached at steve@thomasjeffersoninst.org. Support the work of The Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy Click Here ‌ ‌

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The next few hours are critical - contact your Delegate & State Senator to support PPP deductibility

Dear Member,Right now, there are two competing Virginia bills (HB1935/SB1146) to determine which of the two federal tax changes related to Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans should be provided to

Dear Member, Right now, there are two competing Virginia bills (HB1935/SB1146) to determine which of the two federal tax changes related to Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans should be provided to Virginia employers. Both bills include the PPP income exclusion provision, but they also must include Rebuild Virginia grants and local grants paid for with COVID relief funds.  All of these income sources also must have deductibility for related expenses. The question is how to address deductibility?   Senate Bill 1146 includes a deduction up to $100,000 while House Bill 1935 only allows up to $25,000. Both only address PPP deductibility and not Rebuild Virginia grants or local grants paid for with COVID relief funds.   Just this week, Governor Northam announced Virginia will collect $730 million more than expected in sales and income taxes over the next two years. There is no excuse not to approve the $100,000 deduction or provide for full deductibility and include Rebuild Virginia grants and local grants paid for with COVID relief funds.   The next few hours on this issue are critical! Contact your Delegate and State Senator NOW. Tell them how many jobs your company saved with its PPP loan. Tell them to restore PPP, Rebuild Virginia and local grants deductibility! Don't forget to share this campagin with five colleagues and/or friends, urging them to do the same! Click the link below to log in and send your message: https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/1j13tJhEKwGQTGF7-JWObg

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RPV went from the Homestead to a series of auxiliary parking lots in Lynchburg pretty darned quick. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

	Receiving these e-mails is 100% free, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t cost. By becoming a TRS subscriber for just $7/mo, you’re helping to promote conservative opinion in today’s public square. Plus, we think it makes you a pretty cool person. Subscribe now A "Convention" In The Parking Lot? RPV went from the Homestead to a series of auxiliary parking lots in Lynchburg pretty darned quick. Feb 24 So the unassembled convention where we would have as many gatherings as unit committees fell through… …and the primary fell through. …and the canvass fell through. …and the firehouse primary fell through. …and the unassembled convention fell through. So now we are going to Lynchburg to Liberty University during their convocation weekend to hold a convention in the parking lot. In our own cars and RVs like it was race day at NASCAR. One small hitch? Liberty University has no idea what the Republican Party of Virginia is talking about. So far, Liberty has not agreed to any particular plan or contract. If Liberty should reach an agreement for the Virginia GOP to rent off-campus parking areas, Liberty would do likewise on comparable terms if another political party or candidate asked. Excess parking in retail centers controlled by Liberty University have been leased on a temporary basis for years to carnivals, circuses, car dealerships, and the like. The statement gets worse. Here are the true facts. Liberty University: Has not agreed to any particular plan or contract. Has been clear that using any main campus parking lots would not be an option. Never discussed use of any parking garages, which would also not be an option. Did not agree to a one-location plan where one parking lot would handle all the traffic associated with a convention. The discussions were always about multiple lots that were spread out. Never mentioned a number of parking spaces or square footage to be used.  No details or agreements have been worked out. As of today, there has been no site visit. Has not been notified that the date of the convention has been switched to May 8. The retail center parking facilities that Liberty would offer through its real estate holding companies were only offered at market rent like that charged other users who rent these kinds of parking lots and on comparable terms for such temporary use. Wait — multiple parking lots? Only hours after the Virginia Mercury ran a story on the nebulous state of affairs with the parking lot convention was Liberty University contacted to hammer out some of the finer details — none of them precisely helpful to the argument for an assembled convention by parking lot. This parking lot convention — which was described as “the last option on the table” before RPV’s State Central Committee took the matter into its own hands — now looks as if its execution is shaky at best. Several different parking lots is not anyone’s definition of an “assembled” convention in the slightest. Almost as if Dr. Northam were hovering over this process, isn’t it? Of course, with the governor’s new restrictions on COVID being “relaxed” there are two options that Rules Committee for the State Convention could adopt… from the Richmond Times-Dispatch: The state is also expanding the number of people who can attend a public or private gathering outdoors, from 10 to 25. The limit will remain 10 people at indoor gatherings. Entertainment venues currently are capped at 30% capacity or 250 people, whichever is lower. That limit will remain the same for indoor venues, but limits for outdoor venues will go up to 1,000 people or 30%, whichever is lower. FIRST, go back to an unassembled convention and limit the number of attendees per unit to 25 delegates. SECOND, limit the number of delegates to 250 delegates minus the number of individuals required to run the convention. Of course, the first option could be turned into a version 2.0 option of party canvass rather quickly. But that option becomes much more expensive for local units to run. Given that most activists will be invested in actual campaigning rather than counting votes, this may prove problematic statewide. Which leaves a THIRD option on the table of begging the Virginia Department of Elections to allow Republicans to hold an open primary where State Senator Amanda Chase (I-Chesterfield) holds a double digit lead over her rivals. What a mess. I’ll leave you with this one thought, and perhaps it is a sobering one (as I intend it to be). To date, it seems as if the tactics of the minority in any condition is to simply make the entire whole ungovernable. We saw it with BLM/Antifa riots during the Trump era; we have seen it since 2003 during the long history of infighting within the Republican Party of Virginia. That has to stop. There have been forces at play who are doing everything in their power to make the December 2020 vote to hold a convention absolutely impossible, using Roberts Rules and the Party Plan as obstacles rather than facilitators of good order. There are other voices who are threatening others, besmirching their reputations, calling them “liars” and the like over any outcome that does not correspond with their own machinations — it’s cute and it’s adolescent, but it’s terribly stupid politics. Then there are other voices who actually intend and want to see the Republican Party of Virginia break right in two. Yes, there is money to be made in a so-called “Patriot Party” in Virginia. There is money to be made running third-party candidates if <fill in the blank candidate> wins the nomination. Not out of principle, mind you — but solely for the fact that in any contest, win or lose, paid consultants always win. I am not terribly interested in the primary/convention infighting per se. But I am very much interested in the voices that continue to think that winning entails destroying Republicans rather than fighting Democrats. Most folks know that I am a committed conventioneer and have been ever since I was introduced to the Republican Party architecture in 1994 with Oliver North (my first campaign being that of George Allen’s insurgency in 1993). Conventions gave us Bob McDonnell and Bill Bolling in 2013; Ed Gillespie in 2014. Think of a convention like a first date. You wanna make it a classy thing (but not too classy). Sure, you don’t want to make it a therapy session, but neither does the conversation need to be something cold and calculating. Naturally, you would both love for it to end up on something better than a handshake… …but not in a damn parking lot. Given the fact that we have four solid contenders for the GOP gubernatorial nod thus far? Representing four distinct camps of the Republican coalition? We may want to consider that good and lasting marriages typically aren’t made in parking lots. (My immediate apologies to anyone who has been happily married in a parking lot — and I’d love to hear that story). Either way, for a state party that once celebrated itself in the refined conditions of The Homestead at The Advance every year (because Republicans never retreat), to be relegated to an auxiliary parking lot in Lynchburg makes this thing start to feel more like an epic rout. We can do better than this, right? Shaun Kenney is the editor of The Republican Standard, former chairman of the Board of Supervisors for Fluvanna County, and a former executive director of the Republican Party of Virginia. You’re on the free list for The Republican Standard. For the full experience, become a paying subscriber. Subscribe © 2021 Shaun Kenney Unsubscribe 25 East Main Street, Suite 280, Richmond, Virginia 23219

Fwd: Legislative Update: February 23, 2021

-----Original Message-----
From: Office of Senator Ryan T. McDougle <senator@ryanmcdougle.com>
Sent: Tue, Feb 23, 2021 10:12 am
Subject: Legislative Update: February 23, 2021

Senator Ryan T. McDougle Legislative Update: February 23, 2021 Friends, The General Assembly is approaching the end of the 2021 Special Session. Unlike the previous special session, Democrats chose an end date for this session to conclude on March 1st. As we enter the last days of Session, final determination still needs to be made on hundreds of bills. Moreover, House and Senate negotiators must reach an agreement on a package of amendments to the 2020-2022 Biennial Budget. Despite my frustrations with the inefficiencies with this year's legislative process, I will be working with my colleagues to do everything we can to ensure the March 1st deadline is met. Last Tuesday, Virginia's statewide COVID-19 vaccination registration system went live. Despite initial issues with the site crashing, the site appears to now be stable. The Virginia Department of Health has stated that individuals who have previously registered with a local health district or an employer are already on the centralized list, so there is no need to register again. To pre-register for the vaccine or check your status, visit vaccinate.virginia.gov or click the button below. Click here to pre-register for the COVID-19 vaccine The transition from registering at local health departments to a centralized registration system has been rocky to say the least. However, our most significant frustration continues to be the inequitable distribution of doses throughout the Commonwealth. As the second table below shows, certain health departments are receiving substantially less doses than their counterparts in other areas. Source: Virginia Department of Health -- Updated: 2-22-2021 The Senate of Virginia continues working in person out of our temporary chambers at the Science Museum of Virginia. Considering we've been using the venue to conduct Senate sessions since the 2020 Reconvened Session last April, our surroundings no longer seem quite so temporary. While the Special Session is wrapping up, I still encourage you to call or email my office to express your thoughts on a particular bill or if I can be of any assistance to you. You can call 804-698-7804 or email senator@ryanmcdougle.com.  It is an honor to work on your behalf in the Senate of Virginia.  Sincerely, Ryan T. McDougle

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