{"id":48,"date":"2016-02-09T21:12:58","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T02:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/vapowerdialog\/?page_id=48"},"modified":"2016-07-22T11:24:41","modified_gmt":"2016-07-22T15:24:41","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/vapowerdialog\/","title":{"rendered":"Home – Overview of the VA Power Dialog"},"content":{"rendered":"

On\u00a0Friday, April 8, 2016, students from across the Commonwealth of Virginia held a meaningful discussion\u00a0with state regulators, officials, and peers on how our state will help meet the US climate commitment of 30% cuts in global warming emissions by 2030.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The VA Power Dialog was motivated by the historic international climate agreement<\/a> reached in\u00a0December 2015 in Paris and by the\u00a0Clean Power Plan<\/a>, a set of rules established in August 2015 by the US EPA designed to decrease carbon emissions from electric power plants. Though the Supreme Court granted a stay<\/a>, effectively halting implementation of the Clean Power Plan until legal challenges can be resolved in court, the state of Virginia plans to meet its clean power commitment.<\/p>\n

One day after the Supreme Court decision,\u00a0Governor McAuliffe stated, \u201cwe will stay on course and continue to develop the elements for a Virginia plan to reduce carbon emissions and stimulate our clean energy economy\u201d (Szkotak, 2016<\/a>).\u00a0The VA DEQ is currently in the process of developing a State Implementation Plan for Virginia.<\/p>\n

We are proud of the\u00a0hundreds of\u00a0students and citizens who came out to Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Richmond\u00a0to discuss a topic\u00a0that will determine not only their future, but also the\u00a0future of our planet.<\/p>\n

Special thanks to our student panelists and the members of the organizing team, which had representatives from 12 Virginia colleges and universities.<\/p>\n

Overview of the Day<\/strong><\/p>\n

The day’s activities began in the morning at VCU. Opportunities to learn and connect, including a networking breakfast, Clean Power Plan overview, and morning dialogue with elected students, marked the day. Speakers included\u00a0<\/span>Dawone Robinson with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network,\u00a0Michael Dowd with DEQ,\u00a0<\/span>Will Cleveland with the Southern Environmental Law Center, and\u00a0<\/span>Katharine Bond with Dominion Power.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the afternoon, the “anchor event”\u00a0 of the Power Dialog included an introduction from University of Richmond President Crutcher, a keynote from DEQ Director David K. Paylor on the implementation of the Clean Power Plan, and a discussion on opportunities and challenges presented by the Clean Power Plan with Deputy Secretary of Natural Resources Angela Navarro. Student representatives from colleges and universities throughout Virginia engaged invited state officials in a series of questions. Following the student-led panel discussion, the floor was\u00a0opened to attendees.<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0discussion concluded with “Conversations on Clean Energy and the Virginia Environment,” a social event in which organizations, campus initiatives, and students were encouraged to showcase their work. Light snacks were\u00a0served while student groups, classes, and local agencies displayed posters\u00a0and chatted with attendees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The VA Power Dialog was one of a number of<\/span> statewide dialogs<\/span><\/a>\u00a0coordinated by the Bard Center for Environmental Policy to give “students a voice in critical decisions that will determine their future, and the future of the earth.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/p>\n

Szkotak, S. (2016, February 10).Despite US setback, Virginia moving forward on \u2018Clean Power.\u2019 The Washington Post<\/em>.\u00a0Retrieved from https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On\u00a0Friday, April 8, 2016, students from across the Commonwealth of Virginia held a meaningful discussion\u00a0with state regulators, officials, and peers on how our state will help meet the US climate commitment of 30% cuts in global warming emissions by 2030.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2866,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-48","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/vapowerdialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/vapowerdialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/vapowerdialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/vapowerdialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2866"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/vapowerdialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/vapowerdialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/48\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/vapowerdialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}