Environmental Legislation: Annapolis Leads, Richmond Lags

Not exactly a bright morning to be a Virginia environmentalist. While the newspapers are raving about Maryland's bold environmental leadership, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine signed a power bill he should've vetoed. Gov. Kaine made only minor changes to gently urge Dominion towards providing renewable energy.

Here's the analysis from DailyKos Virginia:

The bottom line is that this proposal is purely to increase Dominion's profits while demonstrating complete disregard for Dominion customers, Virginia residents and the environment. Contrary to the multi-million dollar media campaign they have undertaken to scare people into believing we need these lines, they refuse to provide any proof.

Even the eponymous Raising Kaine blog doesn't support the governor on this one:

As you know, many here at Raising Kaine - as well as groups such as the Virginia Conservation Network, Piedmont Environmental Council, the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, AARP Virginia, etc. - had been urging Gov. Kaine to veto or heavily amend the bill.

... Those appear to be positive changes, but I'll have to study this more closely before I decide whether it takes the bill from the "absolutely awful" category to "acceptable."

Gov. Kaine Takes the Lead on Making Virginia Smoke-Free

Congratulations to Governor Tim Kaine for showing great leadership pushing to make Virginia's bars and restaurants smoke-free! He amended a bill yesterday to include a bar and restaurant smoking ban.

Similar legislation has passed the Senate repeatedly in the last two years, but the House has refused to even allow the bill to come up for a vote before the full body. The rest of the House has been able to hide behind a tiny committee that's blocked the bill, but as I've written before, now they'll have to step out of the shadows to vote.

And really, that's all we've been asking for -- the full House and the full Senate take votes, and if they pass it, the Governor decides whether to sign it. A little bit of democracy in Richmond. Was that so hard?

Moving Virginia Backward

In case you missed it, Virginia is taking away one of the benefits of driving a hybrid, ending the HOV exemption. Critics of the exemption blame hybrids for clogging the HOV lanes on I395, but there are more HOV violators than hybrids. According to the Washington Post, "Virginia officials estimate that 22 percent of the 35,250 people who used the I-95/395 HOV lanes on a typical morning in 2004 were violators. Officials said hybrid use was as high as 17 percent. "

It's a major step backward in a region that's long been in violation of federal clean air standards. According to The Sierra Club, 30 years after passage of the Clean Air Act, the Washington area still fails to meet health standards for smog. We should be encouraging people to buy more hybrids, more electric cars, and take more public transportation.

It's been disappointing to see the lack of leadership Virginia Governor Tim Kaine has shown on environmental issues. The Democrat got elected in part on an anti-sprawl agenda, but he barely mentioned any of those initiatives this year. Instead, he's encouraging people to live in the outer suburbs by supporting I66 expansion, and discouraging people from driving hybrid cars by taking away the HOV exemption. Go to Kaine's "Moving Virginia Forward" website, and you'll see plenty of talk of expanding roads and cutting taxes, but no mention of the environment or sprawl.

As the Washington Post detailed back in March, environmentalists are trying to give Kaine a chance. Kaine certainly says all the right things, so we're hoping as term goes on, he's able to get more accomplished. But considering as many as 80 percent of Americans consider themselves environmentalists, you'd think Kaine would be using his environmental beliefs to appeal to Virginia voters of both parties.