CONSERVATION NEWS ACROSS VIRGINIA
Conservation Updates from the 2020 General Assembly – Week 1
SIGN UP TODAY! Happy Hour Primer "Madam Speaker." For the first time in the 400-year history of the Virginia General Assembly, a woman was elected Speaker of the House. Del. Filler-Corn was sworn in on Wednesday and joins Charniele Herring, the first woman and African American Majority Leader, and Suzette Denslow, the first woman Clerk of the House of Delegates and Keeper of the Rolls, up on the dais. More than 2,400 bills have already been filed (woah!). This time last year, around 1,600 [...]
Thank you for a great year for conservation in the Commonwealth
2019 was a big yearThis year, we pushed a unified agenda, gaining historic investments for our rivers and streams, and a plan to clean up coal ash in Virginia. We kicked off the third and final phase to clean up the Chesapeake Bay by 2025, ratcheted up our effort to address climate pollution from transportation – the largest source of emissions in Virginia – stood up against rollbacks to the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, celebrated as [...]
Roundup: Northam announces $3.7 billion investment in rail infrastructure
Gov. Ralph Northam announced a $3.7 billion investment to transform the Commonwealth’s passenger, commuter, and freight rail.
Roundup: Lawmakers, advocates unveil the Virginia Clean Economy Act
On Thursday morning, Sen. Jennifer McClellan, Del. Rip Sullivan, and Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy joined a broad and diverse coalition of advocacy groups and business voices to unveil the Virginia Clean Economy Act, a bill that will take historic steps to give Virginia a 100% carbon-free electricity grid and eliminate emissions by Virginia’s utilities by 2050. The Act will lower utility bills, create tens of thousands of new clean energy jobs, and give Virginia cleaner air, while tackling climate change, protecting [...]
Roundup: Environmental Protection Agency Increases Chesapeake Bay Program Funding to $85 million
ROUNDUP: ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY INCREASES CHESAPEAKE BAY PROGRAM FUNDING TO $85 MILLION Yesterday, Congress announced the funding of $85 million to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) for FY20. This is an increase over the $73 million allocated to CBP for the past five years. Now that there is agreement on the funding package, it must now pass the House and the Senate and be signed by the President by midnight Friday to avoid a [...]
Roundup: Northam announces $733 million for natural resources
The Northam Administration announced investments in natural resources for the 2020-22 budget, such as Chesapeake Bay clean up by 2025, addressing climate change through RGGI to boost coastal resilience, creating the Office of Offshore Wind, and more.