April is Earth Month – though we know that the Earth should be our focus all the time!!
Here at UUCville we will have an Earth Day Service on Sunday April 19 with a pot luck to follow. Our theme this year is Food – Spiritual and Sustainable. We would love to have help in the planning; contact us if you want to help plan and/or be a part of the Service.
Here’s a roundup of recent Earth news…..
Spanberger creates new cabinet position, appoints SELC’s Allmond chief energy officer
Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed an executive order creating the cabinet position of chief energy officer and has appointed Josephus Allmond, a Charlottesville-based staff attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center. Allmond has worked as a staff attorney with SELC for over five years and has served on the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation. He was also co-chair of Spanberger’s energy transition team. Allmond has experience litigating utility policy cases before the State Corporation Commission. He recently represented environmental advocacy group Appalachian Voices in a rate case for Appalachian Power Company and has weighed in on the Dominion Energy shared solar case to allow for more mid-sized solar projects to be connected to the grid without excessive requirements and costs. For the rest of the story go to Allmond
From our friends at Citizens Climate Lobby:
Register now on Eventbrite for our upcoming Earth Month event! Join us at our 3rd annual Tom Tom Festival Community Partners event: “Holding the Line: Local Courage for Climate Progress” on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, 5-6:30 PM at Level 10 (323 2nd St SE in Charlottesville). At a time when the federal government is rolling back climate efforts, our health, air quality, and local jobs are at risk. Still, local communities are keeping climate action moving forward and local champions continue to lead with courage. This interactive workshop is a space for those leading the work—and those just stepping in—to connect, share ideas, and keep climate progress alive. The event features keynote speaker Mike Tidwell, founder of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) and author of The Lost Trees of Willow Avenue, along with local climate leaders. It will allow time for interactive, practical group activities.
From NECL (a group you have probably never heard of):
The National Caucus of Environmental Legislators (created by and for state legislators, NCEL serves as a resource to lawmakers working to protect, conserve, and improve the natural and human environment) announced that, in 2025, NCEL grew our offerings and expanded our impact to ensure the 1,300+ state lawmakers in our network could lead confidently on environmental policy solutions amid an uncertain federal landscape. To learn more about this non partisan network, go to NECL.
From WVEC: What’s really driving higher energy bills in Virginia?
Clean energy often gets blamed for higher costs, but Chesapeake Bay Foundation experts say Virginia’s energy mix tells a more complex story. According to Jay Ford, policy manager with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the biggest factor is demand; data centers are driving ratepayer impacts here in Virginia.
Mixed news about VA’s path to 100% clean energy:
Instead of ramping up additions of solar and storage, utilities are importing more fossil fuel electricity from other states, according to columnist Ivy Main, Virginia Mercury. She reports that Virginia installed only 716 MW of solar in 2025, the least amount since 2019 and less than half of what it installed in 2024. The state added no new battery storage, though the Department of Environmental Quality approved plans for several projects late in the year. For a state with one of the most ambitious energy transition laws in the country, we should be doing a heck of a lot better. For context: 716 MW of solar is less than the amount of new data center capacity Dominion Energy Virginia says it’s receiving requests for each month. Never mind the Virginia Clean Economy Act, Virginia is going backwards on climate. Read the full article here: VA & Clean Energy.
Data center bills dominated this year’s General Assembly. Here’s what passed.
The rapid growth of Virginia’s data center industry was a key point of focus during the 2026 legislative session, as lawmakers sought to balance the sector’s benefits — including over $80 billion in state investments and thousands of jobs — against its enormous electricity and water needs, which are a growing concern for communities statewide. Legislators filed dozens of bills directly aimed at regulating the industry but only a handful passed, with some significant changes. Get the list here: Date Center Bills.
More GA Legislation: Virginia lawmakers pass three bills to fight invasive plants:
According to Virginia Invasive Species, invasives can cost the state over a billion dollars each year. Damage to the economy and landscapes is a call for people to come together to manage the spread of problematic plants. Invasives
From Virginia Mercury:
Dominion Energy’s wind farm off the Virginia Beach coast sent its first batch of power to the regional electric grid last week. The first fully completed turbine began spinning this week, generating just under 15 megawatts of power, enough to cover 3,674 homes. It is the largest offshore wind project in America. For more info go to: Wind Power.
From Wired:
This is happening in Texas, but affects us all: A New Google-Funded Data Center Will Be Powered by a Massive Gas Plant/Documents show that one of Google’s new data centers would be powered by a natural gas project that emits the yearly emissions equivalent of putting more than 970,000 additional gas-powered cars on the road—an increasingly common trend in the industry. For more: Data Center.
City of Charlottesville Shares Good Climate News:
Charlottesville City Schools (CCS) and the City of Charlottesville (City) are pleased to announce the successful execution of a major Solar Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Under this new agreement, a 1.318 MWdc size solar energy system will be installed at Charlottesville High School (CHS). Once operational, the system is expected to generate approximately 1,738,000 kilowatt-hours of renewable energy each year. This production will offset an estimated 59% of CHS’s total annual electricity use.
Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) Reports on Other Environmental Wins
Rejoining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative – RGGI caps pollution from power plants and funds flood resilience and low-income energy efficiency programs.
Banning Solar Bans – Right now, over half of Virginia localities ban or severely restrict the development of utility-scale solar projects. This legislation eliminates local bans on ground-mounted solar farms, ensuring projects can get a vote before the local Board, and establishes siting standards for responsible projects (i.e. setbacks from wetlands, etc).
Increasing Battery Storage Goals – This legislation dramatically increases battery storage goals in the Virginia Clean Economy Act and establishes new long-duration storage goals, helping obviate the need for new gas peaker plants.
Enabling Balcony Solar – Virginia became the second state in the country to pass legislation enabling the use of plug-in or “balcony” solar kits. That puts clean energy within the reach of millions of more Virginians in apartments, condos, or any home where rooftop is not feasible.
Expanding Residential Solar and Storage – These bills expand our small-scale clean energy goals and make financing options easier for more classes of customers.
Pursuing Low-Income Energy Efficiency Programs – There are myriad utility or state-run energy efficiency programs (and federal programs). But these programs do not “talk to each other” very well – that is, outreach, implementation, and data regarding who is receiving services are not well coordinated. These bills create a taskforce to facilitate coordination and suggest new policies to provide energy efficiency to all of the Commonwealth’s low-income residents.
Reducing Barriers to Storage on Solar Farms – This legislation will speed approval for battery storage projects on existing solar farms, supplementing those projects with clean, flexible power without expanding the overall project footprint.
Giving Localities Tools for EV-Ready Homes – Barriers remain to charging EV’s at home – particularly in dense, urban localities. This bill will allow local governments to require certain types of new constructions to be “EV ready” – meaning, the wiring and panel are ready for the installation of an EV charger. Such a policy helps drivers avoid costly retrofits to accommodate chargers in buildings not designed to support them.
Fast-tracking Renewables at Existing Grid Interconnection Sites – these bills will fast-track new renewable projects near existing, underutilized grid interconnection points. Virginia is at the front of the pack of a suite of states pursuing this novel approach to increase our electric supply.
The General Assembly continues to struggle to hold big corporations accountable – whether that’s Big Tech giants and data center proliferation or Big Oil polluters and the damage they have done to Virginia’s people and infrastructure.
FAILED LEGISLATION Incentivizing Data Centers to Use Clean Energy – Without a doubt, the biggest decarbonization challenge the state faces is how to ensure a forecasted tripling of the state’s energy needs is supplied by clean electricity. But there is a fairly straightforward answer – the state can push the data center industry to acquire their own clean electricity, including moving away from toxic diesel back-up generators. This legislation, which passed in the House and failed in the Senate, would have provided a strong incentive for the industry to go above and beyond our utility clean energy targets. And while the legislation failed, the environmental standards contained in the bill continue to be part of the ongoing budget negotiation. We must insist that any reformation of how data centers are taxed or regulated includes these strong standards.
News You Can Use
How to Buy Used or Refurbished Electronics
Save money and reduce your carbon footprint with these tips to snag the best deals on quality refurbished and used electronics. Electronics
How To Lower Your Electric Bill – The state Department of Energy has launched Virginia Energy Connect — a new, easy-to-use online hub that combines links to state, federal and local energy programs in one place. Energy Connect
FREE Mulch Available at the Ivy Solid Waste & Recycling Center – The Rivanna Solid Waste Authority (RSWA) is excited to announce the return of its FREE mulch program. Nearly 2,700 tons of double-ground mulch are now available at the Ivy Solid Waste & Recycling Center (4576 Dick Woods Road). Open Monday through Saturday from 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM.