Every governor of Virginia announces a long-term energy plan, and Governor Abigail Spanberger announced hers Thursday.
The energy plan presented by Spanberger is broken down into five options for legislators and other stakeholders to consider in the coming months and years.
One version has the Commonwealth going without its role in two environmental initiatives, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and the Virginia Clean Economy Act. The second has little change except we stay in those programs. And here’s Spanberger on the last three.
“In some cases, we put limitations on the amount of solar we deploy to see how the market rebalances if we have more limited solar; we lean more into nuclear," Spanberger said Thursday. "And one example where, if there’s no new gas generation built, how does that affect the rest of the elements of the energy mix.”
Spanberger’s Chief Energy Officer Josephus Allmond said the plan uses a “clean-first, least-cost” approach with the goal of reducing the Commonwealth’s reliance on fossil fuels in the long run.
“There are multiple pathways that can deliver better outcomes for Virginia, to keep us on a path to net zero, while remaining resilient to changing market conditions,” said the former staff attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Republican House Minority Leader and Wise County Delegate Terry Kilgore echoed previous criticisms of Spanberger’s inclusion of environmental programs. He and other conservatives say they add too much to Virginian’s energy bills: “Today’s energy plan is the strongest argument we’ve seen yet for repealing the Virginia Clean Economy Act and getting Virginia out of RGGI.”
But Fairfax Democratic Delegate Rip Sullivan pushed back on Kilgore’s concerns.
“What this plan will do and what the Clean Economy Act was always designed to do, was wean Virginia off of expensive fuel, unpredictably priced fuel and try and make everyone’s bills predictable and, of course, lower,” Sullivan told the press after Spanberger's announcement.
The plan will now go to the legislature where officials will work to develop bills that align for the January 2027 legislative session.
