A Transparent Effort to Increase General Assembly Authority to Eliminate Hydrocarbon Fuels
Any doubt that some members of the Virginia General Assembly’s reconstituted electricity regulation commission intend on taking full control of our energy economy was dispelled at its second meeting Wednesday. With that control, the goal is to then impose a full anti-hydrocarbon energy agenda. Three proposed legislative initiatives were floated. None were voted on, and opposition quickly surfaced from […]
WMATA Needs Anthony Williams
In today’s Washington Times, Congressman Frank Wolf (VA-10, Retired) and Thomas Jefferson Institute President Derrick Max discuss Metro’s importance to the region, its near billion dollar deficits, its growing burden on local and state budgets, and the need for an empowered CFO to get Metro on solid financial footing. They also reject any discussion of a […]
The Case for WMATA ‘Bankruptcy’
Yesterday, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) warned that without substantially greater subsidies from DC, Maryland, and Virginia, they would be facing a $750 million annual shortfall that would require draconian cuts in services, including closing 10 stations, cutting 67 bus lines, and laying off 2,000 employees. They would also freeze salaries, raise fares […]
Destroying the Commonwealth in Order to Save it
Members of the General Assembly who voted for a bill in 2021 mandating that new vehicles sold in Virginia must be all-electric by 2035 forgot to do the math to show exactly how that would work in real life. As the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy noted in February when we unsuccessfully made the case for repeal of this […]
Repeal of VCEA, RGGI, EV Mandates Pass House, Face Hostile Senate
Virginia’s House of Delegates Republicans have passed a series of bills retreating from Virginia’s rush toward a fossil-fuel free future, but they were party-line votes and Democrats in the Virginia Senate, who hold a majority on that side, may promptly kill them all. Two bills aimed at repealing or amending the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy […]
As Cost Kills TCI in Connecticut, Virginia Dems Dig In To Defend Virginia Green New Deal Laws
The Governor of Connecticut has abandoned his efforts to enroll that state in the Transportation and Climate Initiative, an interstate compact which would impose a cap, tax and ration scheme on gasoline and diesel fuel. Virginia remains a part of the planning group that developed the compact, which has now been under consideration for more […]
Northam Administration Still Avoiding Discussion of TCI
Why do Virginia’s leaders run away from the Transportation and Climate Initiative? Could it be because the first state legislature to consider it, in reliably Democratic Connecticut, just adjourned without even taking a vote on the proposed carbon tax compact, despite strong support from Democratic Governor Ned Lamont?
Fuel Tax and Caps Detailed in TCI Model Rule, Now Open for Public Comment
Read the governing document for the Transportation and Climate Initiative and it becomes clear there is more going on than just an effort to reduce motor fuel use with a combination of taxes and shrinking caps. That may really be a secondary goal.
Maryland Managed Lanes Have Developer, But Still Face Opponents
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 Transurban and Macquarie, with Dewberry […]
Subsidies for Electric Cars, Buses and Charging Will Accompany TCI’s Taxes and Rationing
The ultimate goal of the Transportation and Climate Initiative with its tax and rationing scheme is to eliminate fossil fuels for transportation and get us into electric vehicles. That is something advocates have admitted and critics have pointed out. While Virginia TCI participation is on hold in this statewide election year, the 2021 General Assembly is following other pathways to […]