Conservation Priorities
Learn about the top conservation priorities during the 2012 General Assembly Session.
Healthy Rivers
Virginia must provide adequate funding and enforcement to restore the Chesapeake Bay and must protect drinking water from the toxic pollution associated with uranium mining.
· Fully fund agricultural best management (BMP) cost-share and technical assistance to meet demand, which the Department of Conservation and Recreation has estimated at $70 mil. annually.
· Ensure safeguards for water quality in Virginia’s framework for nutrient pollution trading, including the current 2:1 ratio for point-to-nonpoint source trades and new provisions to retire credits.
· Maintain Virginia’s moratorium on the mining and milling of uranium; any attempt to develop a regulatory scheme in 2012 is unacceptable.
Green Communities
In order to have thriving communities, Virginia must contain infrastructure costs through better land use, provide transportation choices, and protect natural and historic gems.
· Reform the Public Private Transportation Act to guarantee public benefits and better protect taxpayers; do not allow private companies to tap into general fund revenue streams via the PPTA.
· Maintain Urban Development Areas as a cornerstone of land-use planning that helps contain infrastructure costs, protect natural resources, and maintain rural and agricultural economies.
· Complement the state’s model Land Preservation Tax Credit with a combined investment of$45 mil. per year in the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation, local Purchase of Development Rights programs and the Virginia Civil War Sites Preservation Fund. This is necessary to achieve Governor McDonnell’s 400,000-acre goal.
Clean Energy
As Virginia scales up energy efficiency and renewable energy, we protect consumers, create jobs and position the Commonwealth for future competitiveness.
· Foster Virginia’s renewable energy industry through a reformed renewable portfolio standard (RPS) that requires in-state production and sets sub-goals for wind and solar power.
· End subsidies for mountaintop removal coal mining.
· Consider public health costs and benefits in long-range energy planning by requiring they be part of utility integrated resources plans.