The Issues

Energy Freedom

Smoke Does Not Stop at the Border — Neither Does the Climate

Key Takeaways: Key Quote: One historic Canadian wildfire season released many times the amount of carbon Virginia’s electricity sector emits in a year. It likely also exceeded several decades of...

Derrick A. Max
July 18, 2026

PJM’s Heat Wave Warning: The Grid Runs on Reality, Not Wishful Rhetoric

Key Takeaways: 7/7/2026 — The July heat wave that pushed PJM toward record electricity demand should force Virginia policymakers to confront an uncomfortable truth: the electric grid does not run on mandates,...

Derrick A. Max
July 7, 2026

Spanberger, Assembly Ignore Dominion Sale, Focus on Scapegoating Data Centers

Key Takeaways: 7/1/2026 — The most important energy outcome of recent legislative wrestling over Virginia’s energy-focused state budget is what it didn’t include. Governor Abigail Spanberger (D) and the legislators did...

Stephen D. Haner
July 1, 2026

The Budget Message to Data Centers is Clear: “Here’s Your Hat, There’s the Door”

6/23/2026 – The energy regulatory provisions buried in the final conference report on Virginia’s 2026-2028 budget, approved by the General Assembly Monday, are as complex and detailed as energy bills...

Stephen D. Haner
June 23, 2026

Finally Admitting RGGI Raises Power Prices, Democrats Are Now Proposing Customer Rebates

5/29/2026 — Virginia’s return to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) will produce such an explosion of new tax revenue and will cause such major increases in consumer electricity costs,...

Stephen D. Haner
June 12, 2026

Virginia Supreme Court Review of Gas Plant Approval Tests Clean Economy Act, Environmental Justice Law

5/29/2026 — The ongoing fight over the future of natural gas power generation in Virginia has now moved to the Virginia Supreme Court, with environmental activists asking that court to...

Stephen D. Haner
May 29, 2026

Can NextEra-Dominion Merger Solve the Virginia Energy Challenges that the 2026 General Assembly Just Made Worse?

5/19/2026 — Assuming Dominion Energy Virginia is indeed absorbed into an expanded NextEra Energy, the more things change the more they may stay the same. The average consumer might see...

Stephen D. Haner
May 19, 2026

Assembly and Spanberger Made Zero Progress on Virginia’s Worsening Energy Challenges

5/18/2026 — In advance of the 2025 election, the Jefferson Forum outlined in this June commentary the energy challenges facing Virginia. New Governor Abigail Spanberger (D) and the General Assembly...

Stephen D. Haner
May 18, 2026

Do Data Centers Actually Reduce or Slow the Growth of Energy Costs?

For several years, opponents of data center growth in Virginia have advanced a simple political narrative: data centers consume enormous amounts of electricity, therefore they “must” be driving up electric bills for...

Jefferson Forum
May 8, 2026

Jefferson Forum concentrates on policies that affect everyday life in Virginia

Economic Freedom

Lower taxes and fewer regulations

Education Freedom

More choices for Virginia families

Energy Freedom

Reliable, affordable energy

Worker Freedom

Protecting Virginia’s right-to-work tradition

These are the building blocks of a more competitive and prosperous Virginia.