Virginia is behind other states in promoting energy efficiency. Virginians thus waste more energy, pay higher utility bills, and suffer more air, water, land and climate pollution than residents of other states.

I urge Virginia's leaders to consider the harmful effects of producing and transporting fracked gas, such as:
--Climate Disruption:  
Methane, the primary component of fracked gas, is a hazardous pollutant and potent greenhouse gas. Virginia should do all they can to limit methane emissions, which would imply a restriction on fracked gas.
--Lack of safety in Hydraulic Fracturing:
In addition to unacceptable levels of dangerous methane gas leakage, the proposed pipelines are unable to meet land and water quality standards.  A moratorium should be placed on pipeline development until these concerns are addressed to complete satisfaction.
--Legal and personal landowner concerns:
Virginia’s laws should give no special rights to private companies to enter or seize private lands without the owner's consent.
--Protecting beautiful Virginia, rivers, streams, forest-covered mountains for all of our enjoyment.

What should be Virginians Future - A Clean Energy Economy
Given the fact of Virginia losing valuable ground on progressing with energy efficiency, I would urge our leaders to focus on putting into place a flexible power grid.  This would have additional options for supply sources and suppliers, additional security, and a diverse mix of centralized and distributed generation.  These policies will speed the transition to a clean energy economy.  Flexibility in the grid also will create more grid security in the face of extreme weather. 

Virginia can look to these technological advances that hold promise:
- Advanced battery technology in large utility installations down to residential and commercial customers
- Offshore wind has the potential to be the single largest source of clean energy in Virginia, allowing the Commonwealth to quickly meet carbon reduction goals, aggressively confront the climate crisis, and at the same time create thousands of new jobs and business opportunities.
The large Virginia commercial wind energy area leased to Dominion Energy is capable of producing over 2,000 megawatts of wind energy - enough to power over 500,000 homes.  Leadership from the Governor can spur Dominion to speed up its development of this resource, which has been significantly lagging in the past.