Despite GOP Gains in Va., State’s Clean Energy Law Will Be Hard to Derail

"Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin said during the campaign that he wouldn’t have signed the law, but support remains in the Senate and at two key regulatory agencies."

"Twenty months ago, Virginia became the first state in the South to pass a comprehensive clean energy law designed to transform and boost its economy and take on climate change.

Then, on Nov. 2, the state’s voters elected a new governor, Republican Glenn Youngkin, who during the campaign said he never would have signed the Virginia Clean Economy Act, saying it was too costly and “puts our entire energy grid at risk.”

Voters also flipped control of the 100-member House of Delegates from Democrats to Republicans; there were no elections in the state Senate, which remains run by a narrow Democratic majority.

The election brings a measure of uncertainty to Virginia’s energy policy over the next four years. But even with those Republican gains, energy experts said that Youngkin will have a hard time significantly weakening, or slowing down, the law, given its ongoing support in the Senate and the staggered board terms at two key regulatory agencies."

James Bruggers reports for Inside Climate News November 11, 2021.

Source: Inside Climate News, 11/12/2021