Recently the Virginia State Government approved another coal fired power plant in Southwest VA. The power generated will go entirely to Northern VA to meet the demands of the region. Many protested against the new plant for several reasons. Some were obvious for environmental reasons. Others for continuing down the path of traditional sources of "cheap" energy. The plant is to be built on an area that has already been strip mined. So the area is already devastated and the damage has been done. Dominion Power was asked about alternative energy options such as wind & solar. Their response was to the affect of we could build a wind generator farm, but it's too expensive. This entire event makes me ask a few questions about politics in VA and the energy companies. These companies are reaping larger and larger profits off of these commodities that are priced by speculative markets which don't reflect the actual costs to extract the coal, oil, etc.. Not to mention the governing polices/laws on price setting on the local and national level. So I ask myself why Dominion Power is determined to build a coal powered generating plant rather than implement the alternative? Money isn't the issue I believe. I guess the bottom financial line is more important that being an environmental steward. Rebuilding the mined land by planting trees, etc. and implementing a renewable and seeming limitless energy resource seems not feasible i guess. I mean after all one could still make money by selling energy & maintaining that equipment right? It would seem cheaper to me to follow that path than continue to spend $$ on mining and limited resources and damaging additional resources around you. But then again maybe it's cheaper to have everyone in your expanding family continue to crap in your own backyard rather that spend money to build a better waste management device? I love smelling the waft of dung in the morning don't you? Then i ponder the political side of this. Do our elected officials really care? No matter which political party they associate themselves with do they really care? Is there anyone of them that can rise above politics and become a leader and policy setter? even a group of them? It seems clear to me that politics is driving the majority of is being decided in our energy policy. Each political party has their own politics which is pushed onto policy. In doing so it seems as if that pushes out leadership qualities in each politician or the group as a whole. That's devastating. I wonder why in the 1960's we had a president who challenged our nation to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade,and we did, but we have governments today which takes more time to decide how to pave a highway or who can screw who in their own house? I seriously shake my head and worry.
Now Mark Warner I believe will have a very solid chance of being the next VA Senator in the US Senate. Like him or not he was an effective Governor for Virginia and I guess the approval ratings to show for it. Gilmore just seems too much of a tool, then and now, and too much of party puppet. His short energy ad, as usual with most political ads, are general and not to the point. I pray that if he gets into office he will rise above the party politics of the day and show leadership. The kind of leadership that inspires others to lead and set real energy policy. Not the same old stuff that you hear everyone today spew out of their mouth like "drill more" or "tax them to death". I mean real policy. If you as a government are going to continue to provide monetary incentives to energy companies why not shift that incentive to renewable energy? pretty much every bobble head in a government office states or is going to state that coal, oil, etc make us sick and screws our security in one fashion or another. So why keep giving them money to walk the same path? I makes no sense. If security is offered by renewable energy such as wind or solar, then set real policy and stop playing politics.