Podcasts about regional greenhouse gas initiative rggi

In this high-voltage episode of American Potential, host David From sits down with Rachel Gleason, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Coal Alliance, to discuss the future of coal, the reliability of America's power grid, and the consequences of top-down energy policy. Gleason gives a behind-the-scenes look at how federal and state regulations have systematically dismantled coal-fired generation in Pennsylvania—once a powerhouse of domestic energy—and how some of the most reliable plants are now being forced offline by policies driven more by politics than reality. She explains how President Trump's recent executive orders are reversing course by removing oppressive regulations and restoring the planning certainty needed to invest in energy production again. From the Clean Power Plan to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, Rachel details the flawed data and hidden costs behind these rules and how they've crippled long-term investment in reliable, base-load energy. She also covers the ongoing legal battle over Pennsylvania's attempt to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)—a de facto carbon tax that could raise costs while other states like Maryland simply import energy they refuse to produce. Gleason and From also examine the growing energy demand from AI and data centers, and why intermittent renewables and small nuclear reactors aren't ready to meet that need. Gleason makes a strong case for a diversified, “all-of-the-above” energy approach—one where coal continues to play a vital role in national security, economic growth, and grid reliability. If you care about affordable energy, American jobs, and ending the political war on coal, this episode is essential listening.

A pivotal case now before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court could determine whether the state continues participating in a key carbon-reduction program known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The outcome may have lasting implications for Pennsylvania’s energy policy, economy, and environmental health.Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The average Dominion Energy Virginia residential customer will soon see a charge of about .50 dropped from their bills. The fee was being collected to recover costs through the state's participation in the regional carbon market. On Monday, the State Corporation Commission, which regulates Virginia's utilities, approved a request from Dominion to stop tacking the fee on customer's bills to recoup the costs the utility racked up through participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which Virginia is no longer a part of. “At this time, the Company states it is no longer accruing RGGI-related compliance costs and is...Article LinkSupport the Show.

ANDRE BELIVEAU OF THE COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION JOINS DAWN LIVE! Senior Manager of Energy Policy at the Commonwealth Foundation. - ANDRE JOINS TO BREAKDOWN THE EPA RULE THAT WILL HURT PA RESIDENTS, AND ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF FEDERAL OVERREACH...  EPA's Latest Carbon Emissions Rule Is a Raw Deal for PennsylvaniansNew federal regulation would devastate Pennsylvania's energy industry, increase electric bills, and undermine energy reliability. Harrisburg, Pa., April 26, 2024 — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unilaterally issued a final rule establishing draconian carbon dioxide emission standards, targeting coal and new natural gas power plants. The rule, submitted this week to the Federal Register, would require 90 percent carbon capture for power-generating facilities—a change that will drastically raise Pennsylvanians' electricity costs and destroy the state's natural gas industry. Commonwealth Foundation Senior Manager of Energy Policy André Béliveau issued the following statement in response: “The EPA's final rule is another excessive radical scheme to emerge from the current administration with sweeping federal overreach." Yet another consequence of policies imposed by unelected bureaucrats, the rule aims to effectively shut down the fossil fuel industry. “Pennsylvanians deserve access to affordable and reliable energy, but the EPA's decision threatens their ability to keep the lights on and properly heat their homes. Alongside Governor Shapiro's harmful Pennsylvania Climate Emissions Reduction Act (PACER) and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), this EPA rule will wreak havoc on the state's economy. “The Keystone State is the nation's second-largest natural gas producer and the largest energy exporter. As such, Pennsylvania is uniquely vulnerable to bad energy policies intended to undermine our abundant natural gas resources. Whether those policies come from Harrisburg or Washington, DC, the impact is the same: our families and businesses pay the price. “Natural gas accounts for nearly 60 percent of Pennsylvania's electricity generation—and despite what progressives would have you believe, natural gas has reduced our state's overall emissions." Data from the Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) shows that, from 2022 to 2023, Pennsylvania successfully reduced CO2 emissions by 10.8 percent year-over-year—the largest decrease since the 1990s. All the while producing even more reliable power. How? Transitioning from coal to natural gas for power. The EPA's rule threatens to upend this positive trend and artificially shift the market toward more unreliable sources. “Policymakers should remove regulatory barriers preventing our energy industry from continuing to provide reliable, increasingly clean power. It shouldn't hamstring our state with onerous, job-killing regulations. Additionally, our congressional delegation should advance the REINS Act, a policy supported by 79 percent of Pennsylvania voters that would boost accountability and transparency in the Federal regulatory process. “Pennsylvania must be free to develop the optimal mix of energy sources at the lowest possible cost while ensuring reliability and investing in innovation. That is the path to prosperity.” André Béliveau is the Senior Manager of Energy Policy at the Commonwealth Foundation. André has extensive public policy experience. His work includes energy policy, elections law, redistricting, separation of powers, Second Amendment policy, regulatory reform, economic policy, and various elements of social policy. He is a member of the American Enterprise Institute Leadership Network and an alumnus of the State Policy Network Generation Liberty Fellowship and the E.A. Morris Fellowship for Emerging Leaders. He holds an MA in Government with an honors thesis from Johns Hopkins University and a BA cum laude in History from Marist College. His academic expertise spans various topics, including American political development, American conservatism, political thought and history, governance, social and cultural studies, and intellectual history. Prior to joining the Commonwealth Foundation, André worked for the National Taxpayers Union Foundation as its policy and outreach manager, as a policy advisor in the North Carolina General Assembly, and for the John Locke Foundation as the strategic projects and government affairs manager—where he concurrently serves as a visiting fellow. Outside his professional life, André enjoys competition shooting, traveling, hiking, camping, antiquing, playing the bagpipes, and cheering on the Carolina Hurricanes. A native of upstate New York, he resides in Washington, DC. Tune in weekdays 10 AM - 12 PM EST on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT; or on the Audacy app!

André Béliveau, Commonwealth Foundation's senior manager of energy policy JOINS DAWN LIVE! ANDRE BREAKSDOWN THE LATEST COMMONWEALTH SURVEY WITH PA RESIDENTS.. A significant majority of Pennsylvania voters (80 percent) say their household energy bills have increased over the past two years, including 34 percent who say their bills have increased “a lot,” according to a new Commonwealth Foundation poll released yesterday. The statewide survey investigated voters' attitudes toward various state and federal energy issues, finding that most Pennsylvanians (67 percent) say ensuring affordable energy is a higher priority than combatting climate change (33 percent). Key findings from the poll include: ·       Rising Energy Costs Are Top Voter Concern: Eight in 10 voters say their household energy bills have increased over the past two years, and more than two-thirds (70 percent) say they're concerned about affording their family's energy needs. Rising energy costs (63 percent) top the list as the most prominent environmental issue in Pennsylvania. ·       Energy Affordability a Critical Policy Priority: Energy affordability remains a top priority ahead of the November elections, with 81 percent saying it is an important factor in deciding which candidates to support and 34 percent saying it is very important. Sixty percent are concerned “about the reliability of the Pennsylvania electricity grid and the possibility of blackouts.” ·       Pennsylvanians Want Candidates Focused on Lower Costs: A 59 percent majority want candidates committed to lowering energy costs and using natural resources, compared to 41 percent who prioritize environmental protection. ·       RGGI Opposition Grows after Cost Details: Only 22 percent initially supported the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax. After learning that RGGI would raise electricity bills by 30 percent, a majority (63 percent) of those who initially supported or were undecided about RGGI said they would be less likely to support the initiative. ·       No Appetite for Climate Change Costs: Two-thirds (67 percent) of Pennsylvanians are unwilling to pay to combat climate change. “Pennsylvania voters have made it clear they prioritize energy affordability and reliability over climate alarmism,” said André Béliveau, Commonwealth Foundation's senior manager of energy policy. “Likewise, Pennsylvanians overwhelmingly support economic freedom and oppose excessive government regulations and red tape.” Andre Beliveau has extensive public policy experience.  Prior to joining the Commonwealth Foundation, André worked for the National Taxpayers Union Foundation as its policy and outreach manager, as a policy advisor in the North Carolina General Assembly, and for the John Locke Foundation as the strategic projects and government affairs manager.  He holds an MA in Government with an honors thesis from Johns Hopkins University and a BA cum laude in History from Marist College.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is one of Pennsylvania's best chances at reducing our climate pollution. For years there's been legislation and litigation to get PA to join this critical cap-and-invest program.On Tuesday, December 12, our policy and legal experts provided updates on where PA stands with RGGI now and answered questions from participants.PennFuture's RGGI Defenders program overview begins at 13:00Q&A begins at 15:58For more information about PennFuture, visit pennfuture.org

On this Weekly Update with Rep. Martin Causer (R-McKean, Potter & Cameron), we discuss the latest on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the opening of Deer Season, Hunters Sharing the Harvest, and Thanksgiving Greetings.

On this Weekly Update with Rep. Martin Causer (R-McKean, Potter & Cameron), we discuss the latest on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the opening of Deer Season, Hunters Sharing the Harvest, and Thanksgiving Greetings.

On this Weekly Update with Rep. Martin Causer (R-McKean, Potter & Cameron), we discuss the latest on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), and House Democrat efforts to limit the generation of hydrogen as a fuel.

On this Weekly Update with Rep. Martin Causer (R-McKean, Potter & Cameron), we discuss the latest on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), and House Democrat efforts to limit the generation of hydrogen as a fuel.

 "Carbon markets are a critical tool for decarbonization, and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) provides a great case study. By 2030, the market is poised to eliminate 66% of CO2 emissions from utilities in Northeastern states, while already generating roughly $4.2 billion for participating states to invest in decarbonization. On this episode of the ESG Currents podcast Andrew McKeon, Executive Director of RGGI, joins Bloomberg Intelligence's Director of ESG Research Eric Kane to discuss how the market is structured, why it's successful, and how it might expand in the future. This was recorded on Oct. 17. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Not only will Pennsylvania's participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) reduce carbon emissions -- it will also bring down energy costs, saving consumers $1.5 billion, and leverage hundreds of millions more in federal funding for clean energy. In the second part of our series exploring the latest economic research on RGGI, we consider the surprising cost of NOT participating in the 12-state carbon market.

Governor Josh Shapiro says he wants to decarbonize power generation, but only if it can be done in a way that protects consumers and keeps Pennsylvanians employed in good jobs. Can the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) deliver on those priorities? A profusion of recently published economic research says 'yes.' In the first of a two-part series, the authors of a new study from Penn's Kleinman Center for Energy Policy explain how recent developments -- including Russia's invasion of Ukraine, passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, and new EPA enforcement actions -- have dramatically improved conditions for Pennsylvania's economic success under RGGI.

Maya Domeshek and Angela Pachon discuss a new study from the Kleinman Center showing the benefits for the environment and Pennsylvania's revenue of joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Listen to Planet Philadelphia on your radio dial at 92.9 FM in NW Philadelphia or gtownradio.com, 4-5:00 PM ET the 1st & 3rd Friday/month. www.planetphiladelphia.com | @planetphila --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kay-wood9/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kay-wood9/support

March Eleven. 3/11? 3-1-1? In some places you can dial that number to get information, a valuable commodity in a complex world. On this 70th day of 2022 and in this installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, you can find out a lot of odds and ends about what’s happening. How many of each? Stick around and find out. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. For all the odds and ends, please sign up for free and consider becoming a paid subscriber!On today’s program:Charlottesville City Council will get an update on efforts to create a long awaited climate action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions The city will use funding from a carbon cap and trade program to prepare for future flooding Charlottesville Area Transit wants your input on the next generation of bus sheltersCharlottesville is close to hiring a new communications director, and is seeking college students to apply for internshipsA brief update on the pandemic First shout-out if for CBIC’s C-E2 eventIn today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out, the Charlottesville Business Innovation Council wants you to know that after two years, they’re holding their Charlottesville Entrepreneurs and Espresso event in-person on the morning of Tuesday, March 15 at the CODE Building? What is Charlottesville Entrepreneurs and Espresso, or C-E2? It’s a casual, caffeine-fueled gathering of learning at all stages of venture creation. Get inspired, meet fellow entrepreneurs, share lessons learned, and become a part of Charlottesville’s vibrant and growing entrepreneurial ecosystem. Visit cvilleinnovation.org to learn more about this free event or sign up on Eventbrite. Pandemic turns 2 Tomorrow marks the two-year anniversary of the declaration of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic in Virginia. The seven-day percent average for new COVID tests is at 4.7 percent, around a level not seen since late last July when the Delta variant caused a surge that has not quite receded until now. Still, the Virginia Department of Health marks another 1,272 new cases today. The agency has also made changes to its COVID dashboard and no longer is listing case counts by locality. That data, as well as deaths reported by date, will continue to be available on Virginia’s open data portal.The Blue Ridge Health District does report local case data and there are 48 new cases today and the percent positivity is at 4.5 percent. The Centers for Disease Control now list Albemarle, Charlottesville and the other Blue Ridge Health District localities as medium. (review the map)“We were anticipating that we would be dropping to a medium level when we were looking at the numbers earlier this week so those were born out yesterday when the CDC updated their calculations,” said Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System.Dr. Sifri said he would recommend that those with underlying conditions or who are immunocompromised to remain masked indoors and to make sure their mask offers enough protection. Dr. Sifri said there is a lot of immunity in the community through both vaccination and infections, but he said there is still opportunity for another variant to happen in the future. When will be determined on a number of variables. “And I think clearly for a lot of people after two years of living through this pandemic, they are at a point where they’ve been vaccinated, they’ve taken precautions, but have now sort of have come to a point where its an understanding there will be some level of circulation likely going forward for the foreseeable future and we could anticipate this may become another seasonal virus,” Dr. Sifri said. As we hit the two-year mark, there have been 19,212 COVID deaths in Virginia, and 431 in the Blue Ridge Health District. It’s been two years since I launched a podcast to cover the response. Go back and listen if you’d like to revisit any of that recent past. (Charlottesville Quarantine Report)Charlottesville sets April 18 work session for work session on climate action Nearly all functions of government in most Virginia localities can be derived from their Comprehensive Plan, which lays out broad steps to turn a community’s vision into action. The new Comprehensive Plan adopted by Council in November calls upon the city to create a specific plan to demonstrate how Charlottesville will meet specific reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The nonprofit Community Climate Collaborative wants City Council to spend more money to get a plan in place as soon as possible. Executive Director Susan Kruse posted a blog entry on March 3 saying Charlottesville has fallen behind on efforts. She read from this post at Council’s meeting this past Monday. “This July will mark three years since Charlottesville set its sights on climate leadership,” Kruse wrote in the post. “Three years, and we have no Climate Action Plan, our GHG emissions inventory is four years out-of-date, and the window to reduce emissions to prevent catastrophic impacts is rapidly closing.” On Monday, Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders acknowledged that the city has not been able to move swiftly to create a plan. “I just want to be upfront with everyone and acknowledge we know there’s work to be done there,” Sanders said. Sanders said there will be a Council work session on April 18 and staff in the city’s sustainability division will present what they have been working on since Council adopted reduction targets on July 1, 2019. That stated the city would work towards a “community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 target from its 2011 inventory year” as well as to be carbon neutral by 2050. (read the minutes)At the time, then-city manager Tarron Richardson was less than two months on the job and two other people have held that position since. Sanders has only worked for the city since last July. “There have been significant impacts from the COVID pandemic and organizational staffing changes that have prevented them from moving as originally planned,” Sanders said. “Our goal would be to try to get back on track so this would be a moment to reboot that effort.”Sanders said groups such as the Community Climate Collaborative will be involved in the work. After Sanders gave Council an update, Kruse read from her prepared letter during the city’s Community Matters portion. She acknowledged the April 18 work session, but pushed for a deadline to complete a Climate Action Plan. .“If current resources are not enough to complete the plan, it’s time for Council to bring in some outside help,” Kruse said. Last November, City Council adopted an update of the Comprehensive Plan, a document for which state code requires periodic revision. Review of this plan took nearly five years and its completion required the city to pay a consultant over a million dollars.One of the guiding principles in the plan is under the heading Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability. (look for it on page 22)“The City government will reduce its carbon footprint and other environmental impacts,” reads that guiding principle. “The Charlottesville community will be empowered and encouraged to reduce their environmental footprint and benefit from energy-efficiency efforts.”The various chapters of the Comprehensive Plan are embedded with many directives, strategies, and goals. For instance, Strategy 3.4 of the land use chapter (page 38) is to “encourage sustainable, energy efficient building designs and low impact development as complementary goals to historic preservation, including through support for adaptation, reuse, and repurposing of the built environment.” Goal 4 of the housing chapter has four strategies with steps toward addressing energy efficiency in new and existing housing (page 50)The transportation chapter (page 55) seeks to expand alternatives to driving and encourages the “adoption and support of new and emerging transportation technologies will further expand travel options throughout the city and will contribute toward the City’s climate goals and improving public health by reducing vehicle-related emissions.” There is an entire chapter with the title Environment, Climate, and Food Equity (page 65) that repeats the July 1, 2019 greenhouse gas emissions goal of which the first goal is dedicated to reaching the reduction targets, with eight strategies. The first listed is to create a Climate Action Plan.The environmental chapter also includes directives to prevent further degradation of the tree canopy, continue work in the city’s Water Resources Protection Program, and to encourage use of sustainable materials. The Community Facilities and Services chapter (page 79) covers community infrastructure and strategy 2.4 calls for the city “to employ innovative technology and green building practices for all eligible capital construction and renovation projects” and strategy 4.10 to “participate in and complete Climate Hazard Risk Assessment activities, to follow finalization of the Climate Action Plan.” Goal 1 of the Community Engagement and Collaboration is to “empower community members by providing and actively sharing the information they need to participate in a meaningful way.” Albemarle County adopted a Climate Action Plan in October 2020 that has much more specific details about how to get there. That work session will be held on April 18. Make sure you’re reading the Week Ahead newsletter each Sunday to know what’s coming up and follow along with stories on climate action at the Information Charlottesville archive. Today’s second shout-out goes to a Livable Cville eventIn today’s first subscriber supported shout-out, Livable Cville wants you to know about an online presentation coming up on Wednesday, March 16. "Can Zoning Create a More Affordable Charlottesville?" That’s the question to be explored by Dr. Jenny Schuetz of the Brookings Institute. She’s the author of Fixer-Upper: How to Repair America’s Broken Housing Systems. The event is free but you’ll have to register at EventBrite. Charlottesville seeking firm to model Moores Creek watershedA changing climate has meant the likelihood of more flooding across the Commonwealth, and Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) has meant more funding to help with preparation. Charlottesville is currently seeking an engineering firm to update models from 2008 for how stormwater flows in the Moores Creek watershed.Back then, the city partnered with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to produce that model, as well as ones for the portions of the city in the Rivanna and Meadow Creek watersheds. Now Charlottesville will use $153,000 from the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Grant program to further study the Moores Creek watershed, which makes up a third of the city’s land along the southern border with Albemarle. “The stormwater management model will be a critical tool for planning and project implementation efforts administered under the umbrella of the City’s Water Resources Protection Program,” said Andrea Henry, the program’s administrator. “This is the first in what will hopefully be a series of models to support the development of stormwater management and flood resiliency plans for the City.”The more detailed information will help determine best locations for stormwater pipe upgrades, and to develop flood inundation maps for the various tributaries of Moores Creek including Lodge Creek, Rock Creek, Pollock’s Branch, and Quarry Creek. Goal 10 of the Community Facilities chapter of the Comprehensive Plan relates to stormwater conveyance infrastructure, with strategy 10.3 related to modernization efforts. Virginia joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in the summer of 2020, which means companies that generate electricity through fossil-fuel companies must pay to exceed caps on the amounts of carbon dioxide. In Virginia, more than half of the proceeds go to pay for flood preparedness programs. Governor Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order soon after being inaugurated to withdraw Virginia from RGGI, but legislative approval is needed and so far efforts to withdraw have been blocked by the Senate, where Democrats have a 21 to 19 majority. So far, Virginia has received $227.6 million in proceeds from four auctions, including $85.6 million in December.Charlottesville Area Transit seeking input on future bus sheltersThe area’s primary fixed-route transit service is seeking your input into how their future bus shelters will look. “Charlottesville Area Transit (CAT) seeks to develop a bus shelter design that will serve as a unique and universal identifier of transit in the Greater Charlottesville Area,” reads an announcement for a public survey seeking input on three designs.All three come out of a charette held last August, and CAT’s architectural consultant wants more comments in order to come up with one single concept. Another round of presentations will be held when that’s ready for public review. City seeking applications for internships, close to hiring CAPE director Do you know someone younger who could use an opportunity to gain some real-world experience? The City of Charlottesville is accepting applications from college students to work as paid interns all across the municipal government. “This is developmental work designed to provide university students and recent graduates with meaningful entry-level professional work,” reads the press release for the opportunity. “The assignments require application of university-level knowledge typically gained in profession-specific curriculum typically found in local government.” The release goes on to state that interns will be closely supervised and will work on a specific project during their temporary employment. Departments seeking interns include the City Manager’s office, the Office of Communications, Neighborhood Development Services, and the Police Civilian Oversight Board. Applicants need to have completes sixty hours of coursework and to have a grade point average of 2.0. Anyone interested can apply here. Speaking of jobs, the city still has several top vacancies that are still being filled. Deputy City Manager Ashley Marshall have City Council an update on Monday, March 7. “The city is making some progress on some key hires,” Marshall said. “Interviews are underway for our director of communications and public engagement. And yes that title does sound a little different because we are going to emphasize public engagement within our communications’ professional team.”That matches the same job title as the equivalent job in Albemarle County. Marshall said the city is also reviewing resumes for the Director of Human Services and the Director of Informational Technology. The position of Human Resources Director is still being advertised. “We expect to move forward to interview phases on all three of those last director positions shortly,” Marshall said.  Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. 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If a year was something that buffered, we’d now be approaching 2.8 percent. It will take some time to see how this particular calendar will resolve, but the past week certainly provides some evidence of turbulence. Still, there’s a long way to go and Charlottesville Community Engagement seeks to provide one channel of information to steady your way. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. In this installment:Deputy City Manager Sanders briefs City Council on efforts to make 5th Street Extended safer and Council holds first reading on two affordable housing projects on Park Street Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin fills out his cabinet with picks for Labor, Health and Human Resources, and Transportation More legislation is filed in the Virginia General Assembly that shows the signs of a Republican majority in one of the houses A third round of RGGI-funded grant money for flood mitigation has opened Today’s first subscriber-supported public service announcement For sixty years Camp Albemarle, which has been a “wholesome rural, rustic and restful site for youth activities, church groups, civic events and occasional private programs.”Located on 14 acres on the banks of the Moorman’s River near Free Union, Camp Albemarle continues as a legacy of being a Civilian Conservation Corps project that sought to promote the importance of rural activities. Camp Albemarle seeks support for a plan to winterize the Hamner Lodge, a structure built in 1941 by the CCC and used by every 4th and 5th grade student in Charlottesville and Albemarle for the study ecology for over 20 years. If this campaign is successful, Camp Albemarle could operate year-round. Consider your support by visiting http://campalbemarleva.org/donate. The pandemic continuesVirginia continues to be in a plateau of a high number of COVID cases and hospitalizations. Today the Virginia Department of Health reports a seven-day percent positivity of 35.6 percent with another 15,643 cases. The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reports a new record of COVID hospitalizations today with 3,681. Of those, 567 are in intensive care units and 314 are on ventilators. To address the issue, outgoing Governor Ralph Northam has issued a 30-day order to increase the number of hospital beds. “This increase in people hospitalized due to COVID-19—the overwhelmingmajority of whom are unvaccinated—is placing stress on Virginia’s general hospitals and nursing facilities and creating a sudden yet temporary need to increase bed capacity in these facilities,” reads the order’s introduction.Among other things, Executive Order 84 authorizes some state officials to move more quickly with procurement efforts, and allows the State Health Commissioner to temporarily increase the number of hospital bed authorized to operate in the Commonwealth. The Blue Ridge Health District reports another 202 new cases today and the percent positivity has increased to 28.3 percent. District officials will hold a town hall meeting tonight beginning at 7 p.m. The item was rescheduled from last week due to the winter storm. (meeting info)Albemarle and Charlottesville to sponsor vegetation drop-off at Ivy MUCIf you’ve got a lot of damaged tree limbs and other vegetation and have a way to get it to the Ivy Materials Utilization Center, there will be no fees to drop it off through January 17. Albemarle and Charlottesville  have both agreed to pay the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority to waive the fees. The Ivy center is located at 4576 Dick Woods Road and the material can be dropped off during regular hours.“Vegetative debris collected will be ground into mulch and available for purchase at Ivy MUC,” reads a release on the RSWA website. “Residents must show proof of residency and state that the debris is storm-related.”  Last week, Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders told Council the city cannot yet offer curbside pick-up due to staffing shortages that have been worsened due to the pandemic. On Facebook today, the Department of Public Works stated they are “in the process of preparing for a special City-wide debris pickup service, to assist with clean-up efforts from the recent weather event. Timing and scheduling information are still being finalized, and those details will follow soon.”Youngkin fills Transportation, Labor, Health and Human Services postsIn five days, Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin will be sworn in, and he’s now filled a good portion of his cabinet.This morning, Youngkin announced that his Secretary of Health and Human Resources will be John Littel, who has recently been the president of Magellan Health. Magellan was just purchased by another company last week for $2.2 billion. Littel has previously served as the Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Resources in Virginia and as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy. Youngkin said Littel would “be an asset as we fix our broken mental and behavioral health system, ensure Virginians have access to affordable, free-market healthcare options, and reform our healthcare safety net to save taxpayer dollars and improve healthcare outcomes.” No word yet on a replacement for Norm Oliver as Virginia’s Commissioner of Health. Kay Cole James has been selected as the Secretary of the Commonwealth. James has most recently served as the President of the Heritage Foundation and has a long history of working in Republican administration in both Richmond and Washington, D.C. According to the release, James served as Virginia’s Secretary of Health under Governor George Allen and “developed Virginia’s landmark welfare reform.” James has served as co-chair of Youngkin’s transition team. A long-term member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board will serve as Youngkin’s Transportation Secretary. W. Sheppard Miller served on the board from 2011 to 2014 and joined it again in 2018 when appointed by Governor Ralph Northam. Speaking of the CTB, it next meets tomorrow and Wednesday. Youngkin has selected George “Bryan” Slater as Secretary of Labor. Slater has previously served in Republican administrations in Richmond and D.C. including Secretary of Administration under Governor Jim Gilmore. He served as Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management at the U.S. Department of Labor in the Trump administration.  Margaret “Lyn” McDermid will serve as the next Secretary of Administration, which includes the Departments of General Service, Human Resource Management, and Elections, as well as the Virginia Information Technologies Agency and the Compensation Board, McDermid worked as Chief Information Officer for the Federal Reserve Information Technology from 2013 to 2020. Congressman Donald McEachin has sent a letter to Virginia Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw urging the General Assembly to block the nomination of Andrew Wheeler as Secretary of Natural Resources. McEachin cited several times state legislators have blocked judicial appointments and board nominations. In 2006, the Republican-led Senate rejected Governor Kaine’s choice for Secretary of the Commonwealth. (read the letter)Two days left until the General Assembly The opening of the 2022 Virginia General Assembly is in two days and there aren’t too many days I’ll be able to write out interesting bills, but I will be switching over to reporting on what happens with some of them. Hundreds of bills will be filed, and many will be dismissed in committee. The pace has seriously picked up, so this is a much shorter list. Republicans continue to file bills to undo changes the Democratic majority made to various bills, particularly in the area of criminal justice. For instance, Delegate John Mcguire (R-56) filed a bill to lower the threshold for felony larceny back to $500, down from the increase to $1,000 made within the year. (HB107)McGuire also has a bill that would prevent localities from creating a Police Civilian Review Board. (HB110)Delegate Marie March (R-7) has a bill requiring school buses to have decals that say “In God We Trust” and “One Nation Under God.” (HB113)March has another bill that would prevent governments from doing any activity that a private business could provide. (HB119)Delegate Nick Frietas (R-30) has a bill that would remove powers of the State Air Pollution Control Board and the State Corporation Commission to regulate carbon emissions in order to meet previously stated greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals. (HB118)Delegate Scott Wyatt (R-97) would limit absentee voting to 10 days before an election, would require an absentee ballot to have the last four numbers of a voter’s social security number, and would add other restrictions. (HB121)Delegate Chris Runion (R-25) has a similar bill to Wyatt’s that would require witnesses to absentee ballot certification to also provide a signature, name, address, date of birth, and the last four digits of their social security number. (HB149)Wyatt has a bill similar to others that would repeal provisions that prevent law enforcement from pulling motorists over for certain infractions, ending another Democratic initiative. (HB122)Delegate Glenn Davis (R-84) has a bill that would allow ranked choice voting in party primaries, including the Presidential election. (HB129)Delegate Mike Cherry (R-66) has a bill to repeal the prohibition of having firearms on school property. (HB133)Third round opens for RGGI funded flood programGovernor-elect Glenn Youngkin has pledged to withdraw Virginia from an interstate cap-and-trade program known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) through an executive order. Whether or not he’s successful, Virginia so far has received $227.6 million from the program, and just under half of it is intended to help localities pay for projects to mitigate the threat of additional flooding. The third round for applications has opened for the Community Flood Preparedness Fund.“During the next 90 days, communities across Virginia will be able to apply for $40 million in grants to address the effects of recurrent flooding, sea level rise and extreme weather,” reads a press release for the application. This will be the first round since completion of the Virginia Coastal Resilience Master Plan in December. Charlottesville has had two projects funded so far, and Scottsville has had one. Visit the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s website to learn more. Second subscriber-supported shout-outCode for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects such as an expungement project with the Legal Aid Justice Center, a map of Charlottesville streetlights, and the Charlottesville Housing Hub. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects.Fifth Street Extended safety discussion The first meeting of the Charlottesville City Council is in the books. At the top of the meeting, Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders explained what the city is going to address safety concerns on Fifth Street Extended. According to crash data from the Virginia Department of Transportation, there were three fatalities in 2020 on the divided highway. Police have confirmed there was another on the night of New Years Day. “We very much remain concerned about the serious safety concern along that corridor,” Sanders said. “Our traffic engineer has been working to effect improvements with a few updates. We are pursuing a speed limit reduction. We have been working on that and you will have that matter before you at your next meeting.” Sanders said flashing “signal ahead” signs are on back order and have been delayed due to supply chain issues. He said some intersection warning signs had been installed. “We feel as though they weren’t big enough so we are in the process of expediting their swap-out,” Sanders said. Sanders said the long-term strategy will be to break down the roadway’s current character. “An example of that would be the installation of a roundabout midway on the corridor but that too is going to be very difficult for us to figure out but we’re committed to doing that and we want you to know we’re not moving away from this as a high-priority,” Sanders said. Charlottesville has been awarded several projects through the Virginia Department of Transportation’s SmartScale program in the immediate area. They are:$6.1 million for improvements on 5th Street SW to “reduce congestion, improve safety, and accommodate bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit at the intersection of Ridge Street, Cherry Avenue, Elliot Aveune (sic).” (details)$8.78 million for improvements to Ridge Street to “design and construct multi-modal improvements along the Ridge Street Corridor. Sidewalk and Curb Ramp upgrades; signal improvements at Monticello; Curb extensions on Ridge St. at Dice St. and Oak St..including bicycle lanes.” (details)There’s also West Main Street Phase 1 and Phase 2, two related projects that Council has indicated they will no longer support with local taxpayer dollars. Council holds first reading on Piedmont Housing projects on Park StreetIn their first land use items of the year, and the first rezonings since the Comprehensive Plan was updated in November, Council appeared to approve two projects on Park Street submitted by the Piedmont Housing Alliance. Let’s hear City Planner Dannan O’Connell describe the one at Park Street Christian Church.“The proposed PUD development plan calls for 50 multifamily units and about 54 parking spaces to be constructed at the rear of the existing church site,” O’Connell said. And here is with the project at the Monticello Area Community Action Agency, two blocks to the south. Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville is also participating in that project. “The proposed PUD development plan calls for preservation of the two existing single-family homes, 28 new townhome or duplex units, 65 multifamily units in two buildings, and a maximum of 7,500 square feet of commercial child care space.” Because the public hearings for the items were held in mid-December, anyone who wanted to speak to the matter had to do so at the beginning of the meeting. Brian Day represented the congregation at Park Street Christian Church. “The project for affordable senior housing has had tremendous support from IMPACT Charlottesville and the enthusiastic and unanimous support approval from the Planning Commission as well,” Day said. “To be a vibrant city we need affordable housing and we are ready to help you make this possible. Kimber Hawkey, a Belmont resident, asked Council to delay a vote on the MACAA project. “I’m just asking that the Council take a step back and wait to do any kind of approval on this until there’s more study on traffic impact as well as the affordability,” Hawkey said. “It looks like a promising project but given the traffic and public safety indication, it seems inappropriate in size for the location.”Traffic improvements at the Park Street Christian Church project include improvements granting an easement to the city to allow for brush to be cleared to increase sight distance at the intersection of Park Street and Cutler Lane, as well as a crosswalk across Park Street at Cutler Lane. The affordability level at Park Street Christian Church will depend on a number of factors, including how successful Piedmont Housing Alliance will be in getting low income housing tax credits in the next cycle.“We don’t have specificity in there around the exact depth of affordability in part because you can only finalize that when you have finalized all of the costs and all of the subsidies so you know how deeply affordable you can go,” said Sunshine Mathon, the executive director of Piedmont Housing Alliance.Mathon said the target will be that five units will be households less than 30 percent of the area median income, and the majority will ideally be less than 50 percent of the AMI. All units will accept federal housing vouchers. The city has not yet contributed any funding to this project. According to a preliminary audit of the city’s affordable housing funds by the firm HR&A, Piedmont Housing Alliance has received around $10 million from Charlottesville, including about $6 million for the Friendship Court redevelopment. (read the update from HR&A)Mathon said this project will also require city funding to close a financing gap. Piedmont Housing Alliance has submitted a request for $1.5 million in city funding. “I would rather rely on state or federal sources to cover that gap but inevitably city sources have to be part of that capital stack in the current day and age,” Mathon said. For the Park Street Christian Church, Piedmont Housing Alliance will not submit an application for low-income housing tax credits until the 2023 cycle. The Park Street Christian Church item will go before Council at their next meeting on a consent agenda. There was more discussion about the MACAA project. Transportation improvements include a realignment of MACAA Drive to be directly across from Davis Avenue to make a safer intersection, as well as a crosswalk. The intersection would remain unsignalized. An existing driveway from one of the single-family houses will be eliminated. Councilor Brian Pinkston said there was a lot to like about the project but he was skeptical the traffic improvements would mitigate congestion. “But there’s still this fact that at that intersection particularly where 250 and Park are right now is a difficult place to get through,” Pinkston said. Councilor Michael Payne had concerns about loss of tree cover. An engineer with the Timmons Group said the development would exceed the city’s requirement for replacement. Vice Mayor Juandiego Wade said he felt good about the project, but asked several questions about its impact on traffic. “If we don’t address some of those, I think they’re being addressed, then it won’t be a pleasant living environment for the new residents as well as the current residents of the neighborhood,” Wade said. Mayor Snook said he did not think the additional traffic would result in conditions as hazardous as on Fifth Street Extended.  “It’s just simply not going to happen,” Snook said. “You don’t have a four-lane highway. You don’t have it divided. You don’t have it 45 miles an hour. You may well see some incremental increase in rear-enders, minor low-impact kinds of collisions. I don’t mean to downplay them and to say that’s irrelevant but I think it’s kind of distorting to throw that argument in there.”The MACAA issue will not come back on the consent agenda but will instead come back for a discussion and to allow the applicant to further address concerns raised at the meeting. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

In Episode 239 of District of Conservation, Gabriella discusses her recent op-ed in The Virginian-Pilot (cross-posted to Daily Press) on Virginia's imminent withdrawal from the 11-member Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). It was pitched on behalf of Independent Women's Forum, where she serves as a Visiting Fellow. SHOW NOTES State Senator Obenshain Website IWF Blog Post | Virginian-Pilot | Daily Press Carbon Tax and Revenue Recycling: Revenue, Economic, and Distributional Implications - Tax Foundation A Review of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative - The CATO Institute Virginia: EIA --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/district-of-conservation/support

In Episode 235 of District of Conservation, Gabriella discusses two news stories for listeners. One regarding incoming Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin announcing his intent to withdraw the Commonwealth from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the other about Biden's EPA revoking the Trump-era Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR). Tune in! SHOW NOTES Virginia Mercury: Youngkin pledges to pull Virginia from carbon market by executive order Utility Dive: Virginia regulatory staff project $800 annual customer bill increase for Dominion to meet clean energy law Virginia State Corporation Commission eFiling CASE Document Cover Sheet - December 2021 CATO Institute: A Review of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative CBO: Effects of a Carbon Tax on the Economy and the Environment Tax Foundation: Carbon Tax and Revenue Recycling: Revenue, Economic, and Distributional Implications 68% of Americans Wouldn't Pay $10 a Month in Higher Electric Bills to Combat Climate Change IWF: EPA Revokes Reasonable Navigable Waters Protection Rule WSJ: A Navy Veteran Went to Prison for Digging Ponds in the Mountains --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/district-of-conservation/support

In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out: The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign  an initiative that wants you to grow native plants in yards, farms, public spaces and gardens in the northern Piedmont. Winter is here, but spring isn’t too far away. This is a great time to begin planning for the spring. Native plants provide habitat, food sources for wildlife, ecosystem resiliency in the face of climate change, and clean water.  Start at the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page and tell them Lonnie Murray sent you!On today’s show:Governor-elect Youngkin pledges to remove Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Two mapmakers hired by the Virginia Supreme Court have laid out their boundaries in advance of public hearings Albemarle County Supervisors agree to dedicate more resources to monitoring blighted properties and enforcing rulesThe Charlottesville Tree Commission gets a first look at data showing a continue decline in tree cover in the cityThe Carter G. Woodson Institute celebrates forty years of research into the African diasporaCovid updateA quick look at COVID-19 numbers, which continue to an upward trend. Today the percent positivity increased to 7.9 percent and the Virginia Department of Health reports another 3074 new cases. That number includes another 100 cases in the Blue Ridge Health District. There are another three new fatalities reported in the Blue Ridge Health District today. RedistrictingAlbemarle County may be represented by two people in the U.S. House of Representatives if a map drawn under the direction of the Virginia Supreme Court is adopted. This fall, the first Virginia Redistricting Commission failed to reach consensus on new legislative maps for the U.S. House and the two houses of the General Assembly. That left the task to two special masters appointed by the Virginia Supreme Court. “These maps reflect a true joint effort on our part,” reads a memo written by Sean P. Trende and Bernard F. Grofman. “We agreed on almost all issues initially, and the few issues on which we initially disagreed were resolved by amicable discussion.” Interactive House of Representatives mapInteractive House of Delegates mapInteractive Senate mapIn their memo, the pair of Special Masters noted they ignored incumbents when drawing the map. In doing so, 7th District Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger would no longer be in the same district. They also noted that the district numbers might change. Under the Congressional map, northern Albemarle County would be in a district that stretches north to Loudoun County and the Maryland border. Charlottesville and southern Charlottesville would be in a district that stretches to the North Carolina and contains much of the Southside. Crozet would be split between the two districts.Under the House of Delegates map, Charlottesville and much of Albemarle’s urban ring would be in the 54th District and most of Albemarle would be in the 55th. This district would include the western portion of Louisa County and an eastern sliver of Nelson County. Greene would be in a district with half of Orange County, half of Culpeper County, and all of Madison County. Fluvanna would be in a district with Buckingham, Cumberland, and Appomattox counties, as well as the western half of Goochland. Under the Senate map, Albemarle and Charlottesville would be within the 11th District along with Amherst and Nelson counties, as well as the western portion of Louisa County. The rest of Louisa would be in the 10th, as well as all of Fluvanna County. Greene County would be in the 28th with all of Madison, Orange, and Culpeper counties. The two public hearings will be held virtually on December 15 and December 17. People who wish to comment should email to redistricting@vacourts.gov to notify the Court a day in advance of that desire. “The Court recognizes that the establishment of voting districts for the Virginia General Assembly and Virginia’s congressional representatives will have significant and lasting impact on every Virginian,” reads the notice for the public hearing. Written comments will be taken through December 20 at 1 p.m. RGGI withdrawal?According to multiple accounts, Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin told the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce that he will remove Virginia from an interstate compact that seeks to reduce carbon emissions through a cap-and-trade system. Youngkin called it a carbon tax and said he will issue an executive order to withdraw Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in order to reduce energy costs for consumers. Since joining in July 2020, Virginia has received $227.6 million in proceeds from auctions with the funds designated for climate change mitigation efforts. Read Sarah Vogelsong’s story in the Virginia Mercury to learn more. (Youngkin pledges to pull Virginia from carbon market by executive order). According to a press release from the Hampton Roads Chamber, Youngkin said he will seek to eliminate the grocery tax, suspend the gas tax for a year, and lower taxes for veterans. Also yesterday, a recount in the 91st House District confirmed that Republican A.C. Cordoza defeated Democratic incumbent Martha Mugler in the November 2 election, though the margin of victory shrank from 94 votes to 64 votes. That gives the Republicans a 52-48 majority in the House of Delegates next year. Preservation awardsA community group that seeks to raise awareness of historic structures and preserve them has issued their annual awards and grants. Preservation Piedmont offered three small grants to the following groups. All copy below comes from them: ● The Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society, for their project to restore and keep active the Hatton Ferry, a small historic ferry across the James River. ● Burley Varsity Club, for the publication of Unforgettable Jackson P. Burley High School, a book about the history of Jackson P Burley High School, built by Charlottesville and Albemarle to provide a modern high school for its African American communities and known for its superlative athletic teams and academic accomplishments. ● Friends of Gladstone Depot (with assistance from the Nelson County Historical Society), for their efforts to move the Gladstone depot to a new site and repurpose the facility as a community center. There were seven community awards. Here are six of them. ● A Special Recognition Award to the University of Virginia, for thoughtful community engagement in the development of the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers.  ● An Adaptive Reuse Award to Armand and Bernice Thieblot, owners of the Quarry Gardens at Schuyler, for their dedication to adaptive reuse of the Quarry Gardens, and for making it available to the public. ● An adaptive Reuse Award to The Claudius Crozet Blue Ridge Tunnel Foundation and Allen Hale, for their efforts to preserve and make publicly available one of the great engineering feats of the world, the Blue Ridge Railroad Tunnel. ● A Preservation Award to owners Tim Mullins and Tara Crosson, and builder Craig Jacobs, for thoughtful rehabilitation of an important Albemarle County structure, Findowrie (2015 C-Ville Weekly article). ● A Design Award to Charlottesville Quirk, LLC, for the Quirk Hotel's sensitive infill development on Charlottesville's West Main Street. ●The Martha Gleason Award goes to a member of the community who has exhibited sustained dedication to advocating for our community. This year the award went to Jean Hiatt for her role as a founding member of Preservation Piedmont, service on the Board of Architectural Review,  and for contributions to oral histories and to the book Bridge Builders, and her active involvement with neighborhood associations and preservation advocacy. ”Finally, something called Charlottesville Community Engagement was honored for some reason. I can report the award is a framed certificate and a tote bag. Institute celebratedBefore the break, the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and Africa at the University of Virginia celebrates its 40th anniversary today. The Institute is named after a 20th century historian who established the first Black History Week. Learn more about the Institute and the work accomplished over the past four decades in a piece by Anne Bromley in UVA Today. In today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out, Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects. I’m told that a native plants database may be in the works? Tree canopy declining A contractor working on the calculation of the Charlottesville’s tree canopy has turned in the first set of data. Chris Gensic is with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department and he spoke to the Tree Commission on Tuesday. (watch the meeting)“We have lost some canopy,” Gensic said. “I think their average right now is in the 40 percent plus a little bit of change, not quite to 41 percent. I think the first one we did, we were in the 47 realm maybe in ‘08.” That number dropped further to 45 percent in 2015. (Urban Canopy Reports)Gensic said he is going through the data neighborhood by neighborhood to see how it compares to previous tree canopy reports.“Is it that the aerial photo is of a different quality?” Gensic asked. “We’re trying to keep these five-year increments pretty consistent in terms of how data is gathered and how its analyzed so we can say consistently that the loss or gain in trees is actual trees but not an anomaly in the data.”Gensic said a final report will be ready by sometime in January but could be available by the end of the month. He asked Tree Commissioners to take a look at the preliminary data to see what their interpretations are. The data collection was delayed by the pandemic. Fighting blightA year ago, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors asked the Department of Community Development to look into ways the county might be able to compel property owners to maintain their property to keep it out of blighted status. Jodie Filardo, the county’s director of community development, addresses supervisors on December 1, 2021. “We’re here today to seek Board input on whether to take measures to establish a new program under the Virginia Maintenance Code to continue with focused tools and measures using spot blight abatement,” Filardo said. Priority number six of the county’s strategic plan is to “revitalize aging urban neighborhoods.”Filardo returned to the Board on December 2 with options about how to proceed. But first, a definition. “Blighted property is defined as a structure or improvement that is dilapidated or deteriorated because it violates minimum health and safety standards,” Filardo said. Filardo said in the past year, the county has received six complaints about individual properties, and five of these have approved maintenance plans in place. One of these properties will be demolished. “If any of the properties with approved maintenance plans do not meet satisfactory progress toward compliance before you, they will be brought before you with the spot blight ordinance,” Filardo said. Amelia McCulley is the outgoing deputy director of community development. She briefed the board about options to expand the enforcement in the county under the Virginia Maintenance Code to items beyond health and safety, such as peeling paint, crumbling siding, and broken gutters. Staff is recommending a phased approach. “An option for the Board is to not go entirely responsive but to prioritize our aging urban neighborhoods by being proactive in one to two neighborhoods each year,” McCulley said. “Second point would be that we recommend a focused enforcement that prioritizes public health and safety and that we adopt a portion of the maintenance code and that would be Section 3 which focuses on the exterior of the structures.”McCulley said hiring new staff to fully enforce the VMC would not be cheap. The first year would cost half a million with an ongoing cost of $390,000 a year. Adoption of the full code would cost more.“Adoption of the full maintenance code with proactive enforcement countywide is estimated to have a first year cost of $888,001 and an ongoing cost of $679,382,” McCulley said. Supervisor Donna Price said she was not satisfied that the status quo was not sufficient. She had brought up three properties at the December 2020 work session and has suggested others since then.“And it’s clear that what we currently have been doing has not been able to fully address the blighted unsafe property situation,” Price said. “I think of the three I first brought up, pretty much the only thing that was achieved of significance would be that an abandoned minivan was removed from the property and some openings were boarded up. But other than that, the properties are still out there and just as blighted as they would otherwise appear.”Price said she did not favor adopting the full maintenance code in part due to the potential for unintended consequences and costs. Having heard that the Office of Equity and Inclusion has potential concerns, Price said some distinctions need to be made.“To me, one of the things that has to be taken into account and this ties into the Office of Equity and Inclusion’s participation in this process, is the distinction between those who cannot take care of their property primarily due to financial resources versus those who simply will not or refuse to do so,” Price said. “One of the things I am not interested in is providing a financial benefit to those who refuse to take care of their property.” Price leaned towards some form of adoption of the Virginia Maintenance Code. Supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley suggested revisiting the topic in another year. She said thought the spot blight abatement might suffice for now. Supervisor Diantha McKeel also supported using the existing program and agreed with staff’s recommendation to hire a dedicated staffer for this purpose. That decision will come during the development of the FY23 budget and whether to spend $110,000 for this project. “I think the Virginia Maintenance Code sounds not like its not going to get us to where we really need to be, and it’s prohibitively expensive, it would appear,” McKeel said. McKeel said she wants a focus on rental properties in the urban areas that are owned by people out of the community. Supervisor Ned Gallaway said he would support eventually adopting the Virginia Maintenance Code. “We have to be doing something proactive no matter what phase we do to help people that are burdened to be able to get their houses back into a healthy and safe environment for themselves,” Gallaway said. “Maybe that’s the tack I take here. A proactive approach would identify that more quickly in my opinion.” Aside from the budget discussion on hiring the new staffer, the topic will return to the Board of Supervisors in a year.Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out, WTJU 91.1 FM invites you to tune in next week for the annual Classical Marathon. It’s a round-the-clock celebration of classical music, specially programmed for your listening pleasure. Throughout the week there will be special guests, including Oratorio Society director Michael Slon; UVA professor I-Jen Fang; Charlottesville Symphony conductor Ben Rous; early music scholar David McCormick; and more. Visit wtju.net to learn more and to make a contribution. On today’s program: Virginia receives over $85 million in the latest carbon credit auction A community group gets a look at the next phase of Habitat for Humanity’s development at Southwood Council gets a budget update and decides to donate the Lee Statue for future artistic purposesCharlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Lee statue voteCharlottesville City Council had a full meeting last night that will take a few newsletters to get through. We begin at the end with a vote to remove one of three statues removed in July. Here’s City Councilor Heather Hill reading the motion. “Be it resolved by the Council of the City of Charlottesville that the statue of Robert E. Lee is hereby donated and ownership transferred to the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, a charitable institution organization in accordance with the provisions of Virginia Code 15.2-953,” Hill said. “This disposition is final.” Vice Mayor Sena Magill was not present at the virtual meeting, citing a family emergency. To read more on the statue and the Center’s desire to melt it down to create new public works of art, check out Ginny Bixby’s article in today’s Daily Progress. The further disposition of the Stonewall Jackson and Lewis, Clark, and Sacagewea statues will wait for another day. Possibly on December 20. The vote took place after midnight. Council had begun their day at a work session that began at 4 p.m. at which they discussed reform of the Housing Advisory Committee and the way projects are selected for to be funded through the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund. I’ll get to that in a future installment of the show. FY21 year-end balanceAlso in the work session, Council learned how the city fared as the books for fiscal year 2021 closed. Readers and listeners may recall there had been a concern the city would have a shortfall. Chris Cullinan is the city’s director of finance. “I’m pleased to report that we finished fiscal year 2021 in the general fund at surplus revenues of $5.5 million,” Cullinan said. Cullinan reminded Council that the pandemic hit just as the budget for fiscal year 2021 was being finalized. At the time, there was uncertainty about the long-term financial impact but the shutdowns immediately affected the city’s meals and lodging tax collection. Property and sales tax collection performed a bit better than expected. The city also didn’t spend as much as expected.“Several of our larger departments had vacancy savings over the course of the year as well as reduced levels of service or closed facilities during COVID and that resulted in expenditures being less than expected,” Cullinan said. Cullinan said the $5.5 million does not include any federal funding through the CARES Act or the American Rescue Plan. Those funds are accounted for separately. “But what it did allow us to do was instead of utilizing our general fund projects or eligible activities, we were able to use the CARES money instead so that CARES money stepped in the place of the city’s own revenues,” Cullinan said. Staff will return to Council on December 20 with a suggested year-end appropriation. Cullinan said they will make two recommendations that will affect the next year’s budget preparation. One involves a $6.7 million economic downturn fund that was set aside for a reserve fund at the beginning of the pandemic. “We didn’t have to tap into that money through the course of the fiscal year, and so that $6.7 million is outside of the $5.5 million,” Cullinan said. Cullinan said the $6.7 million had been taken by withholding cash funds to the capital improvement program. Now staff is recommending returning that money back to the capital budget. “Obviously as we all know there are several large capital needs both in the upcoming year but also in the five-year plan,” Cullinan said. Outgoing Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker said she wanted would prefer the money be used in some other way, especially if there is the possibility of funding coming from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as well as future federal legislation. “And I don’t know if CIP is where we should be considering allocating that with the fact that there may be funding coming in the future,” Walker said. Outgoing City Council Heather Hill said Council has agreed to proceed with a $75 million investment in upgrading Buford Middle School and would support Cullinan’s recommendation. “I think that any contributions we can put into the CIP right now are going to be needed if we’re going to do any of our other priorities,” Hill said. “And again, this is where those funds were intended to be when this fiscal year began.”For the second recommendation, said staff proposes that the $5.5 million be used for employee compensation adjustments including a one-time bonus related to the pandemic, as well as a six-percent mid-year salary increase to try to retain employees in a tight job market. Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders said the bonuses will cost $3 million and the salary increase will cost $2.5 million. “The plan is to make it effective in January so this would be immediate relief to folks seeing an increase in pay beginning January of 22 and we are already looking forward to how we sustain this going forward and feel comfortable that the projections for revenues are such that we can sustain this as a permanent increase,” Sanders said. Before the meeting, Walker had directed staff to see if they could find a way to vote to approve this before January 6, 2022 when a potential second reading would be held. Walker will not be on Council at that time. Sanders said did not know yet but staff would be looking on whether they could do so under Virginia law. “It’s based on the size of the appropriation that dictates how many days we’re required so we’ll be able to take a look at that in the morning as I did get that later today and we need to dig into that to figure out if we can move faster,” Sanders said. Under state code, localities that make a budget amendment in excess of one percent of the total budget must hold a public hearing, which must be advertised seven days in advance. Take a look at § 15.2-2507 yourself and let me know your interpretation.  The FY21 budget was $192.2 million. RGGI auctionThe latest auction of carbon emission credits held by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) will result in Virginia receiving another $85.6 million to help fund programs to mitigate the impact of climate change. Virginia joined the program in the summer of 2020 and became the first state in the southeast to join the compact. Through 54 auctions, RGGI has brought in $4.7 billion from power companies.“RGGI is the first market-based, cap-and-invest regional initiative in the United States,” reads the website. “Within the RGGI states, fossil-fuel-fired electric power generators with a capacity of 25 megawatts or greater (‘regulated sources’) are required to hold allowances equal to their CO2 emissions over a three-year control period.”Virginia has now brought in $227.6 million from the program across four auctions. Around half of the funding goes to pay for flood control and mitigation. In October, Governor Ralph Northam announced Charlottesville would receive $153,000 in RGGI-funded grants to create a model of the city’s portion of the Moores Creek watershed to assist with flood prevention. (October 6, 2021 story) You’re listening to Charlottesville Community Engagement and it is time now for another subscriber-supported shout-out. Filmmaker Lorenzo Dickerson has traced the 100 year history of the libraries in the Charlottesville area, including a time when Black patrons were restricted from full privileges. The film Free and Open to the Public explores the history of library service from the Jim Crow-era until now. If you missed the premiere in November, there’s an online screening followed by a Q&A with Dickerson this Thursday at 7 p.m. Register at the Jefferson Madison Regional Library site to participate in this free event that’s being run with coordination from the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. Visit jmrl.org now to sign up! Southwood updateHabitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville has filed an application to extend an existing rezoning application to cover all of the Southwood Mobile Home Park. The 5th and Avon Community Advisory Committee got a look at the details in a community meeting on November 18. (watch the meeting)Rebecca Ragsdale is now the county planner overseeing the implementation of the initial rezoning and the preparation for the next one, taking over from Megan Nedostup who now works as a planner for the firm Williams Mullen. “It does include 93.32 acres and is the remainder and is the existing mobile home community along with a couple of smaller parcels,” Ragsdale said. “There’s three parcels in total. And the code of development proposes a minimum of 531 units or up to a maximum of 1,000 units.” There’s also a request to allow up to 60,000 square feet of non-residential uses in this second phase. Speaking nearly three weeks ago, Ragsdale said the review was just getting underway. Lori Schweller is an attorney with Williams Mullen and she provided additional details. Technically, this application is to amend the existing zoning approval granted by the Board of Supervisors in August 2019. “The current trailer park is located in the largest parcel right in the center and the first development is happening outside that area to minimize disruption from development and construction in phase 1 as much as possible,” Schweller said. Habitat purchased the 341-trailer Southwood Mobile Home Park in 2007 with the intent toward preserving affordable living spaces. The rezoning approved in phase 1 is to the county’s Neighborhood Model District, intended to create walkable communities. “As a neighborhood model development, the plan for phase 1 incorporated included a block plan logically organizing the areas of the development in accordance with the uses, forms, and density set out in the code of development. Density will range from green space at the lowest level of density upward through neighborhood, urban residential, neighborhood mixed-use, urban density mixed-use, to neighborhood center special area in that area designated for a center by the Comprehensive Plan.” Phase two extends the code of development across the whole property. Dan Rosensweig, Habitat’s CEO, said the plan has crafted with input from residents of Southwood. “Not trying to get buy-in but to elevate them to be the engineers and architects of their future,” Rosensweig said. “As such, they created a form-based code that regulated the basic formal characteristics of particular blocks in synch with the land itself, with the contours of the land and with a general pattern of development for the neighborhood.” Rosenseig said Habitat hopes to exceed the county’s affordable housing requirements as it seeks to not displace existing residents.“They all live in dramatically substandard housing on infrastructure that has failed,” Rosensweig said. “And so, to non-displace we have to at least replace the amount of housing that’s there but that’s not enough. We want to overperform that because there’s such an acute shortage in the region.” Rosenweig said 50 units were proffered to be affordable in phase one, but that phase will now include 207 affordable units. That’s in part because the Piedmont Housing Alliance is using low-income housing tax credits to subsidize rents in an apartment complex for households witj between 30 and 80 percent of the area median income. There are 128 market rate units in the first phase. “So 62 percent of the units in phase one are affordable,” Rosenweig said. Rosensweig said residents have led the charge to make sure the neighborhood is mixed-income. “They really wanted to make sure that every block had a mixture of Habitat homes and market rate homes so you can’t tell the difference between the two,” Rosensweig said. The number of units that will be built in the second phase is not yet know. Melissa Symmes is the residential planning and design manager with Habitat.“Based on the concept plan, we can build a minimum of 531 units as Rebecca mentioned, but we hope to build closer to a thousand units,” Symmes said. “If we were able to build a thousand units in phase two, this would result in a gross density of 10.71 dwelling units per acre and then a net density of 13.5 dwelling units per acre.”Symmes said the total for the entire Southwood redevelopment would be a range of between a minimum of 681 units and a maximum of 1,450 units.  “One thing to note is that we are not building the maximum permitted units allowed in phase one,” Symmes said. “We’re building about 100 units less than what the phase one code of development would actually permit.” The first phase allowed up to 50,000 square feet of non-residential space, but Symmes said only up to 10,000 square feet will be built. “So with that in mind there will likely be about 70,000 square feet of non-residential space in Southwood phases one and two total,” Symmes said. Symmes said Habitat will guarantee that 231 of the housing units in the second phase will be affordable and that will be enough to replace the existing trailers. Rosensweig said it may take up to a decade to fully develop the park. Guaranteeing affordability?After the discussion, CAC Chair James Cathro asked several questions including this one.Cathro: “What happens after a family is sold an affordable rate home and they pay it off, can they immediately sell it at market value? Is it their asset to use as they like or are there conditions or restrictions?”Rosensweig:“Great question. The latter. There are 30 to 40 years of deed restrictions on all Habitat homes. In the affordable housing space, there are programs where all of the equity is invested in, it’s really about the unit. On the other side of the spectrum, it’s all about the family. Habitat kind of splits the difference.”That means Habitat has the right of first refusal on purchasing units for a period of 40 years. “They put it on the market, they get a bona fide offer, we have a week to match that offer,” Rosensweig said. “Additionally there are significant incentives in the deed restrictions that incentivize families for staying for an extended period of time.” Rosensweig said Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville has sold about 300 homes and all but a handful have remained either under original ownership, were passed on to other family members, or were repurchased by Habitat. In the first village under construction, Rosenseigh said Habitat is building 49 units and 40 families are in line to purchase them. The rest are being reserved for Southwood families who want to rent rather than purchase. “Village 2 immediately adjacent to that will have another 25 Habitat homes and then Block 10 will have another 16 so there will be another 41 Habitat homes,” Rosensweig said.Impact on traffic and schools5th and Avon CAC members had questions about what Habitat might contribute to address potential traffic congestion. Steve Schmidt is a traffic engineer with the Timmons Group who is working with Habitat on the project. “You’re absolutely right, there’s a significant amount of traffic out there today, and there’s more coming,” Schmidt said. “There was a reason study done by VDOT to look at the whole corridor to kind of identify improvements that are coming. One of the improvements that we know is coming online is the roundabout at Old Lynchburg and the county complex there. That’s a funded improvement that will be in place in the coming years.” Schmidt was referring to a funded $7.26 million Smart Scale project in which Albemarle put up $2 million from the capital improvement program to help make this submission more attractive under the funding criteria. The Commonwealth Transportation Board approved the project in June. Construction is not anticipated to begin until at least October 2025, according to the application. Schmidt said VDOT and the county are both reviewing the traffic study. Another issue is the amount of additional children that will need spaces in the county school system. Schweller addressed those concerns and said the county is working to identify capital solutions in addition to the $6.25 million expansion of Mountain View elementary that was added to the current capital budget earlier this year. “What the schools are doing now is doing a new master plan analysis and we’ll have more recommendations coming up,” Schweller said. “Those capacity solutions could include a new school, redistricting, grade level reconfigurations. So we’ll wait and see what study reveals.”Schweller also said it is difficult to come up with an estimate of how many students would be generated by a mixed-use development with many types of housing.“It’s very difficult to estimate the number of students,” Schweller said. “If you have a thousand units, for example, in phase 2 that could yield from 40 and 470 students given the wide range of multipliers.” Schweller said there had been initial talk about providing land at Southwood for a new school, but that didn’t pan out. “Dan had discussions with the schools early on to offer a location for an elementary school and the schools at that time decided that was not what they wanted,” Schweller said. “At this point design and planning have moved on so there simply isn’t room in phase two for a school site and still accommodate all the homes that need to be built there.” Another attendee asked if Habitat would sell some of the land for the school, especially if the development does generate more need for elementary school seats. Rosensweig explained further why he would not proffer giving land over for a school. “You have to think about the purpose of a mixed-income community,” Rosensweig said. “There are really two purposes of a mixed-income community. One is to deconcentrate both wealth and poverty and create a neighborhood where people of all walks of life can live together. That’s very different from the last 150 years in our country which has become more segregated and intentionally so. So that’s one purpose. So if we take lots off line for market rate sales then we don’t concentrate wealth or poverty quite as much.”Rosensweig said the sale of market rate units subsidized the affordable units, and a balance has been worked out. He also said the architecture used for schools currently might not be compatible with the urban form of Southwood.“It would take a little bit of a frame shift in the way schools are planned to create the form of a school that would fit the context and character of this neighborhood,” Rosensweig said. “Something like a traditional Albemarle County ten-acre that has ballfields next to it that’s sprawling and on one level, I can’t in any shape or way or form seeing that fit this neighborhood but if the county were looking at something creative like a three-level school with minimal parking.”As an example, Rosenweig pointed to Rosa Parks Elementary School in Portland Oregon, which was built in the mid-2000’s as part of a public housing redevelopment project. The building is shared with the Boys and Girls Club and also functions as a community center.“So something like that if people were interested in thinking outside the box and you could pull some partners together, I think it would be a huge addition,” Rosensweig said. One community member who served on the Planning Commission from 2016 to 2019 noted that there appeared to be a lot of loose ends in the process about what would actually be built in the second phase.“I’m trying to figure out what level of certainty that the community, not just the legacy residents but the overall community, what level of certainty can be provided that the descriptions in the code of development by block are going to be built out in a way that those permitted uses and locations and appearance and everything, that there is some certainty about what’s going to be built,” Riley said. Symmes listed in the Code of Development said the blocks will clearly lay out what can be built where, but said she would follow up with Riley to get on the same page. There’s nothing new to report since November 18, but this item will eventually go to the Planning Commission for a public hearing. I’ll be there when it happens. Eventually! Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Death. Taxes. Should we add rising global temperatures to the list of the inevitable, or is there something that can be done? Is that thing adaptation? A massive behavioural shift? These are the questions that come to mind as we begin this September 10, 2021 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. In today’s Patreon-fueled shout-out: Help support black-owned business in the Charlottesville area. Check out the Charlottesville Black Business Directory at cvilleblackbiz.com and choose between a variety of goods and services, ranging from beauty supplies, professional services, and e-commerce. Visit cvilleblackbiz.com as soon as you can to get started!On today’s show: The Albemarle Board of Supervisors is briefed on the county’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to address climate changeLessons in adaptation from officials across the mid-Atlantic from the recent Resilient Virginia conferenceIt has been about a month since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes issued an update on progress toward efforts to keep the average global temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees. Achieving that ambitious goal will take coordinated action at all levels of government, including the county-level in Virginia. Earlier this month, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors learned the county is not currently on track to meet a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent of 2008 levels by the year 2030. A second goal is to become at net-zero by the year 2050. To get there, the county has a Climate Action Plan that Supervisors adopted in October 2020. (read the plan)“This report increases certainty in what we’ve already known,” said Gabe Dayley, Albemarle’s climate program coordinator. “Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities like burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and other sources of greenhouse gas emissions are causing climate change.”Dayley said the IPCC report also links increased instance of extreme weather with climate change. He said there is a sense of urgency in the report and the Climate Action Plan is intended to document the various ways emissions can be reduced. “The climate action plan has 135 actions,” Dayley said. “They run across five chapters on transportation, buildings, renewable energy, waste management, and landscape/agricultural/natural resources.”The plan will help guide investment in various programs. So far, Albemarle has provided funding to the Albemarle Home Improvement Program and LEAP to install energy-efficient improvements in homes of people with lower incomes. “That program has gone really well in the first six months of this year,” Dayley said. “We’ve had 15 homes that were retrofitted with better insulation, with improved appliances to help reduce homeowners energy bills and then of course the weatherization to help folks who are losing a lot of heat.”Dayley said the county is working on an assessment to determine who and where in Albemarle is most vulnerable. That work has been funded by the Piedmont Environmental Council and a report is due in mid-November. But about those emissions targets? To get a sense of where Albemarle currently is, a greenhouse gas inventory was conducted based on data from 2018. “We calculated that in 2018 the community wide emissions for the county where 1,419,367 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent,” Dayley said. “We calculate that we saw a ten percent decrease in community-wide emissions between our last inventory in 2008 which is the baseline for the county’s targets.”Dayley said that happened despite an increase in population, which generally leads to an increase in emission. He said explanations include greater fuel efficiency, the increase of carbon-neutral or lower-carbon energy sources, and more efficient heating and cooling systems. However, to hit the 2030 target, Dayley said the community needs to cut reductions by another 40 percent. The next inventory will come out in two years based on data from 2020. The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, and Albemarle County are working together to implement various action plans. Supervisor Diantha McKeel wanted to know how that work would influence various policies, such as how to move transit fleets away from fossil fuels.“We have five transportation systems in this community of somewhere around 150,000 people using diesel buses right now,” McKeel said. “And I understand that there’s a change in Albemarle County Public Schools towards electric school buses and that’s all great. But what is our outreach to [Charlottesville Area Transit] and the University of Virginia all working together? Where is that connection happening?”McKeel referred to a statement made earlier this summer that CAT is continuing to study the right way forward and is pursuing a study of compressed natural gas. Dayley said that transportation is the largest sector of emissions and there is a high priority to address the issues. He hoped that further program development of the climate action plan will help to facilitate those conversations. “One of my next steps is to reach out to them and hear in a little bit more detail about how that’s going and how the climate program team can help advance that effort,” Dayley said. Lance Stewart, the county’s director of facilities and environmental services, said a closed door group consisting of UVA, Albemarle, and Charlottesville staff have “touched upon climate” at their meetings. The Land Use and Environmental Planning Committee (LUEPC) last met on July 23 and discussed the University of Virginia’s plans to comply with an executive order from Governor Ralph Northam to reduce single-use plastics. (disclaimer: Both PEC is one of my sponsors and LEAP contributes through a $25 a month Patreon contribution. I am not involved with either organization beyond these transactions and the occasional copy)*In today’s second Substack-supported public service announcement: The Charlottesville Jazz Society at cvillejazz.org is dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and perpetuation of all that  jazz, and there’s no time like now to find a time to get out and watch people love to play. The Charlottesville Jazz Society keeps a running list of what’s coming up at cvillejazz.org. * Let’s go back in time a bit to last month’s conference on adaptation from Resilient Virginia. The nonprofit organization seeks to build awareness of available resources to plan and build for a world where the weather has warped. All over the country, scientists and planners are turning resilience from an abstract concept into policies Amanda Martin is the Chief Resilience Officer for the state of North Carolina, which is based within their Department of Public Safety. “We were created in 2018 after Hurricane Florence when this additional massive infusion of federal recovery funding and I say additional because we had just Hurricane Matthew in 2016,” Martin said. “It became clear that the state needed some new administrative capacity to handle disaster recovery funds.”One result of the department’s formation has been the creation with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality of a North Carolina Resilience Plan. Part of its purpose is to coordinate activity across multiple state agencies, and to define working regions. (read the document) “The scale of community and the scale of region is really important to address resilience challenges,” Martin said. “That’s both because of the legal and regulatory authority that local government has but also because of the regional nature of our climate impacts. A lot of them are bigger than a municipality but smaller than a state.”Martin said in North Carolina, cities are taking on the resilience work in regions and one concern is that rural areas may be left behind. The plan seeks to address that balance. In Virginia, much of the focus has been on coastal resilience where Rear Admiral Ann Phillips is the special assistant to Governor Ralph Northam for coastal adaptation. Phillips said Virginia is not as far along as North Carolina in terms of preparing.“We are just starting down this path,” Phillips said. “We have taken some substantial steps through the course of a number of gubernatorial administrations but have been kind of challenged to get over the hump to actually get started and get moving because there was no direct funding focused in this area within the Commonwealth’s budget or fiscal plan.”Phillips said Virginia has been fortunate to not have received a direct hit from a major hurricane in recent years, but preparations are underway to know how to respond.  In Virginia, the Secretary of Natural Resources is the chief resilience officer and that’s been Matthew Strickler since action by the General Assembly in 2020. (HB1313)“My position was created by the 2018 General Assembly,” Phillips said. “I do not effectively have a direct staff or a budget. That is still the case. However, with Virginia joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and creating in 2020 a Commonwealth-wide flood resilience fund, we now have capacity to do statewide studies of significance.”A master plan for coastal adaptation is underway and is expected to be ready for review in November.  (learn more)So far, Virginia has received over $89 million from proceeds from auctions of carbon credits for companies likely to exceed their emissions limits. (RGGI auction results)“I should note that of the RGGI funds, 50 percent go to a Department of Housing and Urban Community development energy efficiency fund, 45 percent go into this community flood preparedness fund,” Phillips said.The rest goes for the administrative costs. The Department of Conservation and Recreation administers that flood preparedness fund. Phillips said around 6 million of Virginia’s population of 8.5 million live within eight coastal planning district commissions. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative covers most of the mid-Atlantic. Shaun O’Rourke serves two roles in the the managing director of the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank and the chief resilience officer for the state. He’s held that position since September 2017 and helped create the Ocean State’s first resilience plan called Resilient Rhody. “We were looking at all of the natural hazards and impacts the state was facing with regard to climate change and to be able to propose solutions across a number of themes — critical infrastructure, natural systems, emergency preparedness and so on — that could better Rhode Island,” O’Rourke said.Resilient Rhody suggested 61 actions for state government to take including what the municipal role would be. “One of the things that I say all of the time is that better prepared municipalities are going to equal a better prepared Rhode Island,” O’Rourke said. “And that’s exactly why we established a municipal resilience program as an outcome of our Resilient Rhody strategy.”O’Rourke said the infrastructure bank is lined up to fund projects to support adaptation efforts, prioritized by a number of factors. The bank has funded over $2.5 million of action grants in its first two years for stormwater management projects and infrastructure upgrades. “They are often times very targeted specific projects that they know they need to get done now and stormwater management very much falls into that category,” O’Rourke said. “We’re seeing roads and bridges and parking lots flooded all the time. We’re addressing those issues, that low-hanging fruit that demonstrates progress and momentum, and then working with these  municipalities on the larger more complicated projects that may not have permitting and design as a technical assistance follow-up.”Since O’Rourke and the others spoke, Hurricane Ida caused dozens of deaths across New England, and some parts of Rhode Island received up to ten inches of rain. We’ve heard from North Carolina and Rhode Island. The major difference in Virginia is that cities and counties are independent of each other.  Here’s Rear Admiral Ann Phillps with an explanation. “We have 38 independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia and then 95 counties, and the independent city moniker is quite unique,” Phillips said. “There are 41 in the country, and 38 in Virginia, ten in Hampton Roads. So what that means is that cities are responsible for their own destiny.” Phillips said regional cooperation will be crucial in Virginia’s efforts to adapt. “The state’s role is to try to align efforts so that we can move forward collectively to try to make progress,” Phillips said. How much coordination is occurring at this local level? This is a question that Charlottesville Community Engagement seeks to answer. Your homework, should you choose to accept it, is to visit the Climate Action Together website to see what Albemarle, Charlottesville, and the University of Virginia have done and might do. And then, let me know what questions you have? What steps have you taken? Or, is climate change something you don’t think will affect your life? I’m curious to know. Leave a comment below or drop me a line. You can just reply to the newsletter. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Sam interviews Kraneshares' Luke Oliver on their Global Carbon ETF and the current state of the carbon allowance market. Sam and Derek then discuss the investment potential and market for this fund... and both make a big move - listen to find out what happened! Luke Oliver is a Managing Director and Head of Strategy at KraneShares. He has extensive experience as a leader within the ETF and investment industry, having built businesses, diverse teams, and bringing innovative product solutions to market. Prior to his asset management experience, Luke was part of the award-winning Foreign Exchange division of Deutsche Bank in both London and New York. Luke holds FINRA series 3, 7, 24, and 63 licenses. About the Kraneshares Global Carbon ETF:  The KraneShares Global Carbon ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to provide a total return that, before fees and expenses, exceeds that of the IHS Markit Global Carbon Index (the ‘‘Index'') over a complete market cycle. KRBN is benchmarked to IHS Markit's Global Carbon Index, which offers broad coverage of cap-and-trade carbon allowances by tracking the most traded carbon credit futures contracts. The index introduces a new measure for hedging risk and going long the price of carbon while supporting responsible investing. Currently, the index covers the major European and North American cap-and-trade programs: European Union Allowances (EUA), California Carbon Allowances (CCA) and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Listen to ILAB 190 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app. Where we are: Johnny FD – Ukraine / IG @johnnyfdj Sam Marks – Barcelona/ IG @imsammarks Derek Spartz - Venice Beach / IG @DerekRadio Sponsor: FundriseFundrise makes investing in private real estate as easy as investing in stocks, bonds or mutual funds. Get started in just a few minutes at Fundrise.com/LikeaBoss Support Invest Like a Boss: Join our Patreon Discussed: KraneShares Global Carbon ETF | KRBN The Impact and ESG Case for Global Carbon Allowance Exposure in Portfolios Carbon Pricing: Investing in a changing climate   Like these investments? Try them with these special ILAB links: ArtofFX – Start with just a $10,000 account (reduced from $25,000) Fundrise – Start with only $1,000 into their REIT funds (non-accredited investors OK) Betterment – Get up to 1 year managed free Wealthfront – Get your first $15,000 managed free PeerStreet – Get a 1% yield bump on your first loan *Johnny and Sam use all of the above services personally. Time Stamps: 07:53 – How does Carbon Credits work? 11:17 – What is “Cap and Trade”? 14:38 – Which companies have to apply with this standard? 16:15 – What is the difference between carbon offsets and carbon allowances? 21:17 – Since there is an increase in cost for carbon emissions over time, will innovations and carbon offsets make the increase in cost more manageable? 24:16 – Can you explain the opportunity to profit through investment via the Paris Agreement? 27:28 – Are the Kraneshares Global Carbon ETF, stocks or some other form of assets? 28:29  – Patreon Question: what are the risks involved in the funds and why have the price of carbon credits only recently risen after being around for so long? 36:49 – What kind of investors are suited for the Global Carbon ETF? 40:04 – Can you tell us more about Kraneshares other products and services? 44:09 – Sam and Derek review If you enjoyed this episode, do us a favor and share it! Also if you haven't already, please take a minute to leave us a 5-star review on iTunes and claim your bonus here!  Copyright 2021. All rights reserved. Read our disclaimer here

In today’s Substack-fueled shout-out, Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit the Code for Charlottesville website to learn more, including details on projects that are underway.In today’s show: Virginians for High Speed Rail hold a “town hall” on the future of passenger service in  the CommonwealthCharlottesville Area Transit holds the first of two input sessions on upcoming route changesStudents at Jack Jouett Middle School may soon take a JourneyA committee reviewing the name of Jack Jouett Middle School has recommended that the facility be renamed Journey Middle School. The group was chaired by teacher Hannah Peters. “Inclusiveness was the value repeated most often by our students, community members, and staff,” Peters said in a news release on the school site. “Journey is a concept that applies to all. Middle school is a place that prepares students for the academic rigors of high school and beyond.”Other choices included “Hope, Peace, and Justice,” “Monacan”, and keeping the existing name. The latter was the preference of a community survey. Superintendent Matt Haas will make his recommendation to the School Board at their meeting on August 12. The Board would take a vote as soon as August 26, but the name change would not take effect until July 1, 2022. According to the release, Jouett is reported to have held over two dozen people in enslaved servitude. Prior to this effort, the county has renamed three other schools and retained the name of Virginia Murray Elementary School. Cale Elementary has been Mountain View since July 1, 2020 and Sutherland Middle School is now Lakeside as of the most recent July 1. The Murray High School is now the Community Lab School. Virginia’s Planning District Commissions will be granted $40 million to use to create new housing across the Commonwealth. Funding will pass through the regional organization, such as the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. Opportunities include renovating blighted properties, creation of regional housing trust funds, and building housing in business districts. The funding comes through the Virginia Housing Development Authority, which is now known as simply Virginia Housing. Specifically, the funding is part of their REACH program. We can expect more details perhaps at the August 5 meeting of the TJPDC. Virginia will be able to participate in a regional program designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from a business group last week. The Circuit Court of Richmond ruled that Virginia Department of Environmental Quality did not violate state rules when it revised regulations to enter a cap and trade system known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The Virginia Manufacturers Association had argued the move created an “illegal carbon tax on ratepayers”“The Court recognized that DEQ scrupulously followed the General Assembly’s directives and did not violate Virginia’s Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act when it amended its carbon trading program regulations to allow for the direct auction of carbon dioxide allowances,” said DEQ Air and Renewable Energy Director Mike Dowd in a release today. For more on the ruling and the RGGI system, read this article in the Virginia Mercury. A project to relocate a gas line from one side of Emmet Street to the other met with damage this weekend, resulting in a detour of southbound traffic heading toward the University of Virginia. Rain damaged a utility trench and in order to make repairs, all southbound traffic on Emmet Street will be detoured through Massie Road and Copeley Road. The gas line is being relocated as part of UVA’s Emmet / Ivy Corridor project. UVA Architect Alice Raucher will discuss that larger project at the Albemarle County Planning Commission on July 20 beginning at 6 p.m. (learn more about the detour ) (Albemarle PC meeting info)In the past year and a half, the state of Virginia has invested heavily in the future of rail, spending billions to buy hundreds of miles of right of way for that purpose from CSX. The investment has been made as a way of relieving congestion on Interstate 95 and other roads without widening. Shannon Valentine is the Virginia Secretary of Transportation and she created an Office of Innovation at the Virginia Department of Transportation to study major corridors. “The congestion along I-95 particularly from Fredericksburg to D.C. is some of the worst in the country,” Valentine said. “We were going through a number of options and the natural solution was let’s look at building more roads and we learned through the study that just building one lane, 52 miles from Fredericksburg to 495 in each direction would cost $12.5 billion.”Details on what the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority has been up to from their June 28, 2021 meeting (Executive Director’s report)Valentine said the study also forecast the expansion would be obsolete within ten years of completion. She said the investment in rail will be a third of the cost and focus on moving freight and passengers through the corridor. Part of the improvements will be to build a new bridge across the Potomac dedicated to passenger and commuter service. Valentine made her comments at a July 15 “Town Hall” held by the group Virginians for High Speed Rail.  The other speaker was Stephen Gardner, the president of Amtrak. That federal agency is investing in new trains for additional service in the northeast corridor. “First and foremost, we view our mandate as trying to create as many alternative trips to driving and as we can across America to create that alternative to connect communities with reliable, efficient, and time-competitive service,” Gardner said. Amtrak was created as a federal agency in 1971 to consolidate 20 passenger rail services across the United States into one. In Virginia, the seventies coincided with a period of disinvestment in passenger rail. Today’s efforts didn’t come out of nowhere. “This program, this effort to expand has been a many, many decades long effort,” Gardner said. “It’s just been a long and continuous effort to try to develop an expanded service that could really support the tremendous growth and opportunity in the Commonwealth and it’s taken a while to turn vision into fruition.” Gardner credited Virginia for having a plan when the time came for expansion. There has been daily service from Lynchburg to D.C. since October 2009 and a second daily train will be along in the near future. “We are adding a second train in the FY22 from Roanoke and Lynchburg north, and we’ll be expanding and extending that train, both trains actually, over to the New River Valley into Christianburg, Blacksburg, Virginia Tech,” Gardner said. Watch the entire Town Hall on the Virginians for High Speed Rail’s YouTube channel. The group was formed in the 1990’s to build support for restored and renewed passenger service in Virginia. If you're curious and want to dig deeper, there's another podcast you might want to try. Especially you ask why, and not just what. And if you belive that politics should be about making communities better.If so, check out Bold Dominion, a biweekly podcast from WTJU 91.1 FM. Bold Dominion is a state politics explainer for a changing Virginia. Their latest episode asks: Where does Virginia’s trash come from and who does it get dumped on? Check it out at BoldDominion.org.Charlottesville Area Transit has held the first of two public input sessions about changes to bus routes intended to boost ridership. The agency has experienced a sharp ridership decline over the past several years, and relatively new director Garland Williams has overseen some potential changes. “It is our intention to make sure that we get feedback and make adjustments to the CAT system that [are] fruitful to everyone and make sure the system is as productive as it possibly can be,” Williams said. During the pandemic, CAT hired Kimley-Horn and the Connetics Transportation Group to study the system to recommend changes. “We’ve had declining ridership for the last seven years,” Williams said. “We needed to figure out how to mitigate that, turn it around, put a stop on it, and put our best foot forward to make sure that the adjustments that we’re going to put in place will allow us to be productive.”The adjustments are the first in a series of proposed changes, as Albemarle County and the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission are working on a study to expand transit regionally. The first opportunities for public input in that study are next week. A slide from the public presentation. Download the whole thing here. It is a fact that ridership is declining. Jim Baker of the Connetics Transportation Group knows another fact.“Generally about 62,500 people in the Charlottesville area are within a quarter mile of a stop, a transit service,” Baker said.Specific directives were to add service to South First Street in Charlottesville and the Center at Belvedere in Albemarle County. Capital funding from the city of Charlottesville for the Center was contingent on the new site being accessible to transit. “But also just to get 30 minute or better service to more people in the Charlottesville area and also to make sure that no route operating worse than a 60 minute service frequency,” Baker said.  Service will be extended to Mill Creek. Route 7 will travel all the way to Wal-Mart. And there will be more options for people to move around without having to go to the Downtown Transit Station. “We’re proposing a new crosstown service from the south Charlottesville up to the U.S. 29 corridor, so from Willoughby going through the UVA hospital complex and then up to the shops at Stonefield,” Baker said.  Five people made a public comment at the first session, which was held at noon on Friday. You can watch the whole thing on the city’s streaming meeting website. One person said he was glad service will be extended to the Center, but also had a concern that the bus only stops there once on the route. “Apparently there’s no return so if I get the 11 bus and ride to the Center and get off and spend my afternoon there, how do I get home?” asked Todd Cone.Williams said the intersection of Rio Road and Belvedere Boulevard is currently unsignalized, which means making a left-hand turn very difficult. “You do get home,” Williams said. “It’s just that there’s no, you have to ride around unfortunately because it is unsafe for us to go across an unsignalized intersection. A CAT vehicle is not a car so it’s a 35 foot bus trying to make it across six lanes of traffic. It’s not a safe way for us to go southbound towards downtown. You are able. You just have to get on the Center and ride around.”Carmelita Wood, president of the Fifeville Neighborhood Association, said many of the bus stops in the area offer no protection from the elements. “Some of the Routes, 4 and 6 on Cherry, and I think it’s Bailey Road and Fifth Street, there’s no coverage from the weather and the heat,” Wood said. “They recently put in seating in some areas, but in most of the areas there’s no coverage from the rain and the snow and the heat.”Juwhan Lee, assistant director at CAT, said a full review of city bus stops is underway. “What we’re trying to do is go out there and see where are stops are and what conditions they are in and what amenities they have,” Lee said. “We want to look at everything, look at the condition of the infrastructure of the location, and see what we can do improve it. Does the stop need to be here? If so, how can we make it better?” Lee said such a study has not been conducted for over ten years. Anthony Woodard is the manager of the McIntire Plaza off of McIntire Road just south of the interchange of the John Warner Parkway and the U.S. 250 Bypass. He noted no bus service serves the area, which will soon house more people. “There’s a lot of employment opportunities there,” Woodard said. “A lot of nonprofits in the area. Habitat Store, Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. And soon to be over 200 residents living back there as well as other neighborhoods nearby. The closest next stop is over half a mile away.”Williams said the area is on his radar for future coverage as those housing units come online, and as CAT looks ahead to the next set of upgrades. “It’s not off of the table but in the existing model, if we have additional funding it would be looked at it and when the additional residents get there, then we probably would look at as a recommendation to add additional service there,” Williams said. For details of the specific changes, visit the Charlottesville Area Transit website to review the presentation. And participate at the next event at 6 p.m. (meeting info) This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a cooperative effort among 11 northeastern and mid-Atlantic states to cap and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector. In this episode, RGGI Vice Chair and Maryland Secretary of the Environment, Ben Grumbles, breaks down RGGI's origins and what it takes for states to join the initiative, the auction process to allocate emissions allowances, and the development of a robust secondary market where allowances are continuously traded   To learn more about RGGI and other carbon markets in the U.S. and Europe, check out a recording of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's June 3rd meeting of the Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee here.

Chairman of the Maryland Public Service Commission, Former Senior Counsel to the Energy Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce, former senior positions at Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), National Fuel Gas Company, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Member of Committee on Electricity and Committee on International Relations for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), serves on the Board of Directors for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), Center for Public Utilities Advisory Council and the Critical Consumer Issues Forum (CCIF) Advisory Committee.In this episode of the Energy Exchange, Mosby talks to Jason about time travel through visiting hydroelectric facilities and Jason's front row seat as Chairman Pat Wood's legal advisor in the wake of the Western Energy Crisis of 2000-2001. Jason discusses the Maryland PSC's efforts to regulate utilities during a time of great change, including the challenges posed by capacity markets, getting offshore wind to market, and rolling out electric vehicles charging infrastructure. Mosby and Jason discuss equitable access to energy and some solutions Maryland is considering. Jason sheds light on the origins of Maryland's own Chesapeake Bay Retriever, his current interest in architecture, the importance of mentors, and strength from diversity. 

This week the team highlights a recent article detailing Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf's efforts to override the state legislature and implement the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)and what the new rules would likely mean for residents of the Keystone state. Links • ARTICLE Pennsylvania Governor Orders RGGI Implementation despite the Legislature: https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/climate-change/pennsylvania-governor-orders-rggi-implementation-despite-the-legislature/

Choosing the next U.S. president is not the only decision voters will make in the upcoming 2020 elections. Major science policies are also on the ballot. In some states, people will be casting votes on propositions that influence scientific research and the environment. While in other local elections, candidates with scientific backgrounds are in the running for public office. Jeffrey Mervis of Science Magazine talks about California stem cell research policies and Nevada renewable energy propositions, and how a science platform could help or harm candidates. Plus, this election season has been filled with disinformation—unverified stories of voter fraud, rumors of uncounted and tossed out mail-in ballots, claims of third parties hacking voter results, and other false information. And with possible delayed election results due to the overwhelming number of absentee ballots, driven in part by COVID, there could be even more of this disinformation spread before the final polls are announced. Disinformation expert Deen Freelon discusses how these unverified and fake news stories take hold. Freelon also provides techniques on how to decipher fact from fiction in your overfilled news feeds. Relatedly, the November election will likely have big consequences for climate policy in the United States. It comes at a critical time. Scientists say major action is needed by 2030 to avoid the worst effects of global warming. President Donald Trump does not have a climate policy. His administration has rolled back Obama-era climate initiatives. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is promising to put the country on a path toward a 100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions from the U.S. no later than 2050. Polls show about 70% of Pennsylvanians want their state lawmakers to do more to address climate change. But polls rarely carry examples of what actions people want. A recent StateImpact survey shows Pennsylvanians want a lot — from state and federal lawmakers. The one-question survey attracted responses from more than 200 people, who asked for everything from specific policy proposals such as Pennsylvania’s entrance into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and the Green New Deal, to desperate pleas such as “listen to science!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” (Read the full piece at ScienceFriday.com.) And it’s almost Halloween, which means it’s time to get a little spooky. A perfect time for the newest installment of our Charismatic Creature Corner! This month, we’re diving into the wild world of vampire bats. These little mammals are native to Central and South America, and have bodies about the size of a mouse.  And yes, let’s address the elephant in the room: Vampire bats have a diet that consists entirely of blood. They gravitate toward livestock, but have been known to feed on people too. Their status as blood-suckers makes them one of the only mammals classified as parasites. Despite their gruesome diets, vampire bats are extremely social creatures, and are known to display acts of friendships with other bats. In fact, a study last year found that vampire bat friendships forged in captivity actually last when the bats are released into the wild. Friendships are important for vampire bats: They result in food sharing, which is integral to keeping everyone fed and happy. Science Friday’s Charismatic Creature Correspondent, producer Kathleen Davis, is back to convince Ira that this creature is worthy of entry into the Charismatic Creature Corner Hall of Fame. Joining them is Dan Riskin, an evolutionary biologist and adjunct professor of biology at the University of Toronto, Mississauga.          

Any way you slice it, coal-fired power generation is on its way out. That leaves two likely scenarios for Pennsylvania's electricity sector in the next decade: a modest reduction in greenhouse gas emissions with little economic impact, or a dramatic reduction coupled with massive investment in energy innovation and efficiency. Department of Environmental Protection energy advisor Hayley Book breaks down the costs and benefits of membership in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) as detailed in DEP's latest statistical modeling.

Business Forward is joined by Franz Litz, Principal at Litz Energy Strategies, LLC, for a webinar on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the market-based CO2 reduction program run by Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Litz explains how RGGI works, how states and local businesses benefit, how falling wind and solar prices are helping, and which states are likely to join.

An executive order signed by Governor Tom Wolf last week initiates the rulemaking process whereby Pennsylvania will join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a multi-state effort to cut carbon emissions using market-based mechanisms. Policy expert Franz Litz, one of RGGI's original architects, explains how it works and what the transition will mean for Pennsylvania.

As China prepares to introduce a national emissions trading program this year, what can global leaders learn from other carbon markets? 'Off the Charts' host Jeff McMahon discusses the United States' first mandatory carbon market, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), with Sue Tierney, who served as assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Energy during the Clinton administration and is currently a senior advisor at the Analysis Group. RGGI, now almost a decade old, is made up of a collection of Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states that may soon include New Jersey and Virginia. What impacts has RGGI had on emissions and on the local economies of participating states? How does its design compare to other emissions trading programs, such as the California-Quebec-Ontario market and European Union market? And, what lessons can be drawn from its successes and challenges as China and other states and countries launch or contemplate their own market?

This week, we revisit New England’s most devastating weather event, the hurricane of 1938  — and find out what we’ve learned about protecting against storms. We’ll also learn about the new deal struck by Northeastern states to combat climate change, and about a big battery that could be the future for energy storage. Plus, we hear the music of the White Mountains and make some noises only a moose could love. A farmhouse in Willimantic, Conn. among acres of blowdown after the hurricane of 1938. Photo courtesy of the US Forest Service Energize NextEra site manager Ben Pierce and project manger Jeff Plew at the company’s new “grid-scale” battery array on Cousins Island in Maine’s Casco Bay. Photo by Fred Bever for Maine Public We've reported on the need to find storage for the extra energy that is sometimes produced by wind or solar plants  to conserve it for other times when the sun isn’t out and the wind’s not blowing. Giant “grid scale” batteries are one way to store that energy, and they’re getting cheaper and more sophisticated. Maine Public Radio’s Fred Bever has more. For more stories about the growing role of renewable energy in our region, check out the New England News Collaborative series, “The Big Switch.” The RGGI program follows a cap-and-trade model. Companies bid for trade-able credits that allow them to release a limited amount of carbon into the atmosphere. Photo by nathanmac87 via Flickr Earlier this month, The nine states of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) announced a plan to cut power plant emissions by an additional 30 percent between 2020 and 2030.  The move is being hailed by environmental groups as one of the biggest efforts taken by states since President Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement. However, the negotiations did include a push and pull between some New England States that wanted deeper emissions cuts, and Mid-Atlantic states that run on a different energy mix. Our guest Katie Dykes is chair of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority in Connecticut, and chair of the Board of Directors of the Regional Geenhouse Gas Initiative. Hurricanes at Home Workers with the CCC wet down hurricane slash in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. With so much lumber on the ground, fires were a major concern. Photo by the United States Forest Service Hurricane Harvey marks America's biggest rain event and one of the most destructive natural disasters in history. Here in New England — while Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy caused major damage — the worst storm to hit our region came without warning on September 21, 1938. This hurricane hit Long Island first, and continued up the Connecticut Valley, plowing through Western Massachusetts and Vermont in a matter of hours. The storm took 600 lives, and destroyed a thousand square miles of forestland. That environmental damage is the focus of the book Thirty Eight: the Hurricane That Transformed New England — out in paperback on September 21. We’re joined by author Stephen Long. Aerial view if the New Bedford Hurricane Barrier, New Bedford, Mass. Photo courtesy of the US Army Corps of Engineers After getting slammed by hurricanes several years in a row, New Bedford, Massachusetts built a massive barrier across its valuable harbor in the 1960s. But as the climate changes, city leaders know the wall can only hold back the sea for so long. As part of  the series “Climate Change in Massachusetts,” WBUR’s Lisa Mullins reports. The Hills are Alive… Steve Wilkes recording on the summit of Mt. Tecumseh in the White Mountain National Forest. Photo by Sean Hurley for NHPR Steve Wilkes is a drumming professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He's also a former member of Blue Man Group and has toured the world with The Empire Brass Quintet. But for his latest gig, Wilkes won't be making music. Instead, he's recording the sounds of the forest and compiling the first ever audio map of the White Mountains. New Hampshire Public Radio North Country reporter Sean Hurley joined Wilkes on a recent sound-gathering trip. You can listen to all of Wilkes’ recordings and track his progress at heartheforest.org. Competitors imitate moose mating calls at the North Country Moose Festival. Photo by Chris Jensen for NHPR Not all of the sounds of the forest are soothing, as reporter Chris Jensen learned when he visited the North Country Moose Festival, held last weekend in the adjoining towns of Colebrook, New Hampshire and nearby Canaan, Vermont. He sends an audio postcard from the festival’s moose calling competition. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Digital Content Manager/Editor: Heather Brandon Contributors to this episode: Fred Bever, Lisa Mullins, Lynn Jolicoeur, Sean Hurley, Chris Jensen Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and recordings of your sexiest moose calls to next@wnpr.org. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prices in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), an emissions trading system applicable to northeast states in the USA, have been rising lately. ICIS carbon reporters Ben Lee and McGraw discuss here.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a voluntary, market-based, cooperative effort to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, has generated since its inception $1.9 billion in cumulative proceeds, which the nine participating states invest in clean energy, energy efficiency, consumer assistance and other programs. Once a RGGI member, New Jersey withdrew in 2011, although leaders in the state have worked to forestall the exit, citing lost economic and environmental opportunities. Joining NSNJ Chairman and Co-Founder Philip Murphy for a discussion of the model and its benefits to middle-class families are two members of the RGGI Board of Directors: Kelly Speakes-Backman, Commissioner of the Maryland Public Service Commission: and David Cash, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.