You want more renewable energy? You’re going to need more high-voltage transmission lines to move intermittent wind and solar power around the country to balance fluctuating supply and demand. And you’d better get started. Transmission planning and construction involves long lead times, typically between seven and ten years. “The window...
Last month, the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT), its State Highway Administration (SHA), and the Maryland Transportation Authority (MTA) selected Accelerate Maryland Partners LLC as the public-private partnership (P3) developer/operator for Phase 1 of the $11 billion I-495 and I-270 managed lanes project. The team is led by equity providers...
One key goal for many of Virginia’s new progressive Democrats has been repeal of Virginia’s venerable Right To Work Law, and in 2020 they crossed one milestone by passing repeal in a key committee. But the Democratic leadership, perhaps wary of losing the bill in the Senate or angering too...
If you are serious about making electricity without carbon emissions and also serious about making enough electricity to run a real economy 24-7-365, the discussion keeps coming back to nuclear energy. It is the obvious choice if you believe we must eliminate natural gas soon. Less obvious is that a...
Without clear guardrails, city officials are warning wide-open bargaining with government unions would hurt city government’s ability to respond to emergencies while costing taxpayers up to $1 million a year in additional administrative costs. Alexandria’s city attorneys are sounding alarm bells about the consequences of not putting limits on government...
One of the Biden Administration’s first executive orders has revived the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule.” This rule was proposed by the Obama Administration, but time ran out before it could be fully implemented. The Trump Administration rescinded the rule. The rule requires communities...
Murphy-Brown, a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods, lost a major case on November 19, 2020. With Thanksgiving activities and election allegations, little attention was paid to this loss other than a few environmental groups and farm publications (full case summary here). Federal judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, appointed by President Reagan,...
The COVID-19 recession barely dented Virginia’s state budget. The massive spending growth adopted in the pre-COVID budget a year ago is largely back on track. Yet some legislators think the time is ripe to hunt for more revenue by re-writing the state’s tax code. The two-year $48.2 billion General Fund...
The lesson of the Texas grid collapse is not just about electricity. Imagine the week Texans would have had if once the power went out and stayed out, they had no gasoline, diesel, propane, or natural gas to fall back on. How much worse would their plight have been without...
