The Issues

Energy Freedom

Youngkin Calls Clean Energy Laws a ‘Quagmire’ As Challenges, Consumer Costs Become Evident

It was not the most reported part of Governor Glenn Youngkin’s State of the Commonwealth Address on January 13, but for the first time in four years the Republican took...

Stephen D. Haner
January 21, 2025

Action Alert: Virginia Needs To Protect the Natural Gas Choice in Law

Virginia’s General Assembly is being asked again to protect the use of natural gas and prohibit local government efforts to restrict or ban it in homes and businesses. A Senate bill...

Jefferson Forum
January 16, 2025

How a New State Panel Might Take Control of Local Zoning Permits for Solar Farms

The 2025 General Assembly is expected to consider another proposal to create a state-level approval process for certain large renewable energy projects, overriding local zoning authority. Based on recent public debates...

Stephen D. Haner
January 10, 2025

New Poll Finds Republicans and Independents United in Support of Using Natural Gas for Electricity

Virginia registered voters are strongly in favor of allowing utilities to build new natural gas generation plants, a key issue facing Virginia because current state law mandates the complete elimination...

Stephen D. Haner
January 6, 2025

Outside Study Confirms Natural Gas Needed to Run Data Centers

Yet another analysis of the energy dilemma facing Virginia, this one commissioned by a Democrat-controlled legislative panel, has concluded that the use of natural gas to make electricity is going...

Stephen D. Haner
December 16, 2024

Trump’s Energy Promises Face Hurdles in Anti-Hydrocarbon Virginia

Once inaugurated, President-elect Donald Trump is expected to immediately mount a major effort to roll back the anti-hydrocarbon fuel agenda of the Biden-Harris years. The positive impact on Virginians will...

Stephen D. Haner
November 12, 2024

Senator Surovell: The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative would have no impact on hurricanes or hurricane preparedness — to say otherwise is pure politics.

Was Senator Scott Surovell’s recent article in the Richmond Times Dispatch, “Helene sends a message: Virginia must rejoin RGGI,” an honest misunderstanding about hurricanes and about how the Regional Greenhouse Gas...

Derrick A. Max
October 18, 2024

Dominion Energy Virginia Wants More Natural Gas, More Money to Keep Energy Reliable

With the release of its latest 15-year plan to expand energy generation in the Commonwealth, Dominion Energy Virginia has increased the projected cost of residential electricity in 2035 to almost $216 per...

Stephen D. Haner
October 17, 2024

No, RTD, Hurricane Helene Not Proof of ‘Climate Change’

The Richmond Times-Dispatch no longer has a climate alarmist on staff, so today it fell to one of its liberal political columnists (it still has two of those, they will be the...

Stephen D. Haner
October 3, 2024

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.