Make that "green money is the new black"
I have just read the article “Green is the new black” by Erika Howsare in the February 16 issue. I thought it covered the story of Dominion’s coal investments well. I live 15 miles from Dominion’s Virginia City power plant and find it difficult to drive by this building site, imagining the damage to the mountains, the Clinch River, citizens and the earth that is possible when it is in operation. One aspect not covered in this article is the financial incentive to build these plants that is part of Virginia’s regulatory process. The Virginia State Corporation Commission has approved the plant building and awarded a 12.12 percent return on their investment. Even if the plant never goes into production, the consumers of Dominion’s electricity are paying for it and Dominion is guaranteed this financial return on their investment.
Many other states have structured their utility regulation to give incentives to conservation investments and alternative energy and less to coal-fired plants.
In order to stop these kinds of coal-fired plants being built and paid for by Dominion electricity consumers, our state legislature needs to review and change the incentive system regulated by the State Corporation Commission. I copy below from an article announcing the approval of building the Virginina City Power Plant.
“Along with giving Dominion approval to build the station in Wise County, the SCC set an initial authorized return on common equity of 12.12 percent. This includes a base return on equity of 11.12 percent and an incentive of 1 percent for new coal-fired generation. The incentive will apply through the first 12 years of the station’s operation. Dominion has the option of applying at a later date for an additional 1 percent incentive by showing the station is carbon-capture compatible.” Monday, 31, March 2008, PR Newswire-FirstCall
Anne Leibig, Dungannon, Virginia
If you fill it, they will come
I just returned to the U.S. after a five-year stay in the UK (and to Charlottesville after 25 years). In the UK, they have very active programs all across the country with tons of ideas for using empty shops to build communities and promote the re-filling of those shops [“The glass is 9 percent empty,” March 2]. Anyone who is interested in all these wonderful ideas and projects can visit the Internet site covering them: (www.artistsandmakers.com/staticpages/index.php/emptyshops) or participate in the yahoo discussion group (http://groups.yahoo.com/ group/emptyshops) or follow the protagonist of all the activity on Twitter. He is @artistsmakers and I happen to know that he would be very interested in some kind of internationally coordinated empty shops project. He e-mailed me and suggested it when he found out I would be returning to the US.
Donna Carty, Charlottesville
Light touch?
Boo hoo!!! Why are Jay and Steph Rostow picking on me [“The sun always rises,” Mailbag, March 9]? I can’t help being 84 years old and only earning an engineering degree and law degree after serving in WWII and becoming a Navy pilot.
Perhaps I can cure my incredible ignorance if the Rostows set forth all the electrical fixtures that their own little power plant supplies energy to, like central heating, air conditioning, washer and dryer, central vacuum cleaning, well pump, and oh yes, the light bulbs above their heads to show just how brilliant they and their green advocates are.
Frederick W. Kahler, Earlysville
Too legit to quit?
“Who’s the most ‘legit’ blues musician alive?” [“The best little show that never was,” Feedback, March 9] That is a rather vague question likely to produce very subjective answers. What does “legit” mean?
I have MY incomplete list (NOTE: Corey Harris is NOT on it!), in no particular order:
VOCALS: Shemekia Copeland, Susan Tedeschi, Etta James
GUITARS: Keb’ Mo’, Robert Cray, Terry Garland, Eric Clapton, Billy Marshall Brockman, Bo Diddley, Ry Cooder
HARPS: Delbert McClinton, Howard Levy, Li’l Ronnie Keith Owens, Joe Filisko, Phil Wiggins, Terry “Harmonica” Bean
Note: Blues greats Koko Taylor & John Cephas both just died.
So there. I cannot choose from among the ones I can remember. MY list cannot be boiled down to just one of these people. They are all great musicians. So are many others not on this list, such as primarily keyboard players. I have been privileged to study under some of the harps masters.
H. Watkins Ellerson, Hadensville, Virginia
CLARIFICATION
A March 2 article about Frank Hardy, Inc.’s breach of contract lawsuit in connection with Vineyard Estates was unclear in naming Patricia Kluge and William Moses as defendants. The suit is against Vineyard Estates, LLC, which is owned by Kluge and North Carolina-based First Colony Resorts.