Many green energy bills are hung out to dry

RICHMOND

A bill moving through the General Assembly wants to pin a new name on clotheslines: wind energy drying devices.

The decidedly green description, included in a proposed law to stop community bans on airing laundry outside, is an example of how pervasive renewable energy has become this session.

Several state lawmakers, motivated by the economy, the environment and national security, are pushing renewable energy as never before. They introduced bills for offshore wind farms and more traditional farms that turn manure into electricity, for green roofs and solar panels, for clean energy jobs and clean energy research.

"There's just more than I ever thought would happen," said Ken Jurman, renewable energy program manager for Virginia's Division of Energy.

The measures that have drawn the least resistance have little, if any, cost attached. Most, such as the clothesline bill, would relax restrictions to make it easier for people to use renewable energy.

However, a raft of bills that would offer tax incentives or breaks to stimulate the development of renewable energy businesses or processes have not succeeded, their path made difficult by a $3.7 billion revenue shortfall in the current budget year.

On Wednesday, Del. Joe Bouchard, D-Virginia Beach, read a list of bills that were intended to encourage investment in clean energy at a Green Jobs town hall meeting at Virginia Wesleyan College.

"Well, guess what happened? All the incentive bills were killed, either in committee or on the floor," Bouchard said.

Bouchard, who served on the Governor's Commission on Climate Change, attributed the failures to "powerful anti-environmental forces."

The large volume of legislation this year has led to at least one marathon legislative meeting. A House energy subcommittee worked past midnight with a docket of 23 bills, more than half of which involved renewable energy issues.

Discussion ranged from renewable energy credits to turkey waste to net metering - the practice of feeding excess renewable energy into the electric grid. One bill broached the definition of biomass, or organic material. Another touched on how far a 100-megawatt wind farm would stretch on a mountain ridge.

Alternative energy is new territory for many lawmakers, said Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax.

He sponsored bills to give a $1,000 tax credit for each new "green job" that pays an annual salary of at least $50,000, and credits for electricity made from wind or solar power. Another would have required state agencies to buy at least 20 percent of their electricity from sustainable resources by 2020.

They failed to get to the Senate floor for a vote.

"People want to be in favor of green bills," Petersen said. "But then when they're presented with an opposing argument, or an argument saying, 'Well, this is going to be anti-business or bust the budget,' there's not enough institutional knowledge at this point to come back and answer those criticisms."

Legislators from both parties say the General Assembly is more willing than ever to listen, however.

Bouchard said earlier this year that he saw a significant shift among Republicans on energy. Nationally and in Virginia, they're taking an "all of the above" approach, embracing alternative resources as well as fossil fuels, he said.

During this year's session, House Speaker William Howell, R-Stafford, issued a news release noting the GOP had an "Alternative Energy and Conservation Package." Included in their plan was a measure to change the state's incentive for biofuels so it favors those from non-feedstock sources, such as algae, and a bill to streamline the permitting process for smaller renewable energy projects.

Some researchers have said Hampton Roads could be the epicenter for one of Virginia's biggest renewable energy opportunities.

The region has first-class winds off Virginia Beach and the biggest electrical substation on the Atlantic Coast between New York and Savannah, Ga., said George Hagerman, director of research for the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium.

Hagerman's research consortium, which is based at Old Dominion University, has said a wind farm could be built off Virginia Beach's coast with 200 to 300 turbines that would be all but invisible from shore if placed 12 miles out. The project could cost $2.4 billion and create more than 1,000 jobs over three years, the consortium said.

Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, who helped create the research consortium, is trying to lay the groundwork for that vision.

One of his bills seeks to coordinate Virginia's offshore wind energy development with Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and New York. A second measure would give the Marine Resources Commission the authority to lease underwater land for offshore wind development. Both passed the Senate unanimously.

 Pilot writer Scott Harper contributed to this report.

Dave Forster, (757) 477-6386, dave.forster@pilotonline.com