Social Media Ideas for Stephen D. Haner

Assembly To Data Centers: “Here’s Your Hat, There’s the Door”

by Steve Haner The energy regulatory provisions buried in the final conference report on Virginia’s 2026-2028 budget, approved by the General Assembly Monday, are as complex and de...

Spanberger Administration Wants Your Energy Input

The Spanberger Administration is preparing to draft the state energy policy required by law and has created a public survey form to seek your individual or corporate input. You wil...

The Rest of the Story on the Dominion Fuel Price Hike

by Steve Haner The stories making the round last week about Dominion Energy’s bill increase for fuel were blatantly incomplete, as were Dominion’s communications on the matter. Her...

Assembly and Spanberger Made Zero Progress on Virginia Energy Challenges

By Steve Haner, In advance of the 2025 election, the Jefferson Forum outlined in this June commentary the energy challenges facing Virginia.  New Governor Abigail Spanberger (D) an...

Data Centers Will Pay Same Tax on Solar Power as on Coal

by Steve Haner The new energy tax being imposed on Virginia’s data center industry effective July 1, assuming the new state budget conference report passes next week, is totally ec...

Coop Customers (But Not NOVEC) May Now Get RGGI Rebates

by Steve Haner Governor Abigail Spanberger’s proposed amendment to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative rebate system will give most but not all residential customers of Virginia...

The Budget “Talks” Are Heating UP

by Dick Hall-Sizemore As reported by the Virginia Political Newsletter, Sen. Lucas and Gov. Spanberger have been engaging in public responses to the House budget conference proposa...

Spanberger, Assembly Pass on Meddling With Dominion Sale

By Steve Haner, The most important energy outcome of recent legislative wrestling over Virginia’s energy-focused state budget is what it didn’t include.  Governor Abigail Spanberge...

The Many Ways to Measure Virginia’s Electricity Poverty

By Steve Haner, Is Virginia really the number one importer of electricity, the state most dependent upon others to keep the lights on and the servers humming?  Yes and no. The go-t...

Don’t Let Data Centers Force a Virginia Government Shutdown

by David J. Toscano [FLASH: Rumors are now circulating that House and Senate negotiators may be close to a budget deal. That is good news, but it still must pass both bodies and be...

Pittsylvania County Breathes Sigh of Relief

by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Colorado-based company, Stack Infrastructure (Stack), has announced that it will move forward with its plans to build a giant data center complex in Pitts...

The Budget Clock is Ticking and It is not Getting Any Easier

by Dick Hall-Sizemore Due to economic development announcements and actions by Governor Spanberger, the job of the General Assembly negotiators on the biennial budget just got hard...

Virginia: The Commonwealth of Wine

Hanwha Defense USA Names Stephen Adams Senior VP of Finance

Hanwha Defense USA has named Stephen Adams as senior vice president of finance Adams will help lead business transformation efforts and strengthen program execution as the company...

With Tax Now $35 Per Ton, Are RGGI Rebates on the Way?

By Steve Haner, The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) held its second 2026 carbon allowance auction last week and the bidding cleared at $35 per ton, the group announced Fr...

Virginia Budget Debate Turns Public Amid Data Center Dispute

THE CENTER SQUARE—Virginia budget negotiations spilled into public view last week as top Democrat leaders publicly clashed over data center policy ahead of the June 30 budget deadl...

Why NextEra Wants to Buy Dominion, What it Gets

by Steve Haner Dominion Energy Virginia and NextEra Energy are expected to file the necessary Virginia application for the sale of Dominion to the Florida company soon, probably in...

Virginia’s Cannabis Crossroads: Governor Spanberger’s Veto Leaves the Adult-Use Market in Limbo

Thanks to Heat Wave, RGGI Will Bite Fast and Hard

by Steve Haner There is some irony in how Virginia will reenter the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme on Wednesday just as a long and deep heatwave begins...

Virginia’s Deceptive Gas Tax Continues to Confuse, Rises Again

By Steve Haner, Virginia’s gasoline taxes rise again on July 1, a continuing legacy of former Governor Ralph Northam’s most taxing term.  He signed the 2020 bill calling for annual...

🎧Podcast 808 – Stephen Kautz, President, Ironstone Vineyards, Calaveras County

Virginia legislature passes budget proposal as partial government shutdown deadline nears

With a partial state government shutdown looming in just nine days, the Virginia legislature is advancing a budget compromise ahead to Gov. Abigail Spanberger. The budget propos...

Spanberger Retreats on Weed Market to Get Budget

by Derrick A. Max Governor Abigail Spanberger announced her support for a deal to create a legal retail cannabis market in Virginia — only weeks after vetoing a bill to do much the...

Yes, Virginia, There Won’t Be a Shutdown

In the end, as the Virginia General Assembly returned Monday for a perfunctory vote on the one-sided $212 billion tax plan, it appears that the Senate president pro tempore was hol...