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Dominion, Decriminalization, and Demilitarizing the Police: An Exclusive Q&A With Jennifer McClellan

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RVA Mag spoke with Virginia State Senator and candidate for governor Jennifer McClellan about her plan for Virginia, from renewable energy and Citizen Review Boards to marijuana legalization and the Green New Deal.

Jennifer McClellan, a Virginia State Senator representing the Richmond-based 9th District, has declared her candidacy in the 2021 race for governor.  If successful, she would be the first Black woman elected governor in United States history, and the second woman elected to statewide office in Virginia. An attorney by trade, McClellan was also the first member of the Virginia House of Delegates to participate in a legislative session while pregnant. After Donald McEachin’s election to the House of the Representatives, McClellan won her current seat in the state senate in a special election.

A former vice chair of the Virginia DNC, McClellan has moved to the left of other prominent Virginia Democrats who have facilitated widely criticized energy contracts and pipelines in collaboration with energy giants such as Dominion. Below, McClellan presents a platform that includes fighting Dominion, demilitarizing the Virginia State police, and decriminalizing all drugs.

RVA Mag: Senator McClellan, thank you for taking the time to sit with us. Let’s start with the main thing on everyone’s mind right now: policing. As a candidate for Governor, how do you view police reform on a state-wide level? 

Jennifer McClellan: Starting with special session, it’s shifting a couple of different ways. There’s accountability, transparency, and consequences around police misconduct — whether it’s use of force, corruption, the whole nine yards. We need independent investigations from either a Civilian Review Board (CRB) or, at the state level, just a separate entity outside the police. They need to have subpoena power, to be able to recommend, if they find a wrongdoing, that there are consequences and that that is transparent. And that you don’t have a system where a police officer can be found to have done something wrong in one place, and just get transferred and go on as if nothing happened. 

Police have been used as the first responder for too many issues that are not crime issues. It’s not just mental health, but mental health is a big part of it. I’m carrying a bill to allow localities to do Marcus Alerts and have the Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Department of Behavioral Health to provide guidelines around that. Ghazala Hashmi and I are working together on the CRB, but we’ll also have broad police reform [legislation] – no chokeholds, no no-knock warrants. 

It’s not just the action of police and the community; it’s also what happens once you’re in the criminal justice system. Making sure that we provide more of what I’ll call “prosecutor mercy” — getting rid of mandatory minimum sentences so that if there is a crime, the penalty for it is proportionate to the injury, and allowing prosecutors to do deferred disposition for certain things. 

RVA Mag: Would you be interested in the CRB being a full-time, paid job for citizens? How do you conceive of the makeup of that board, and how do we give people enough training, confidence, and support to do that job, and do it seriously? 

JMC: From the state’s level, we are [structuring] broad guidelines that localities could use to tailor-fit their areas. Having said that, I do think having, if not full-time, at least members who are fully trained so that they fully understand the nature of what law enforcement does on a day-to-day basis, so that they understand the training that law enforcement has.

RVA Mag: If we only put in place broad legislative guidance that municipalities need to have a CRB, aren’t we leaving undue leeway for racially-biased municipalities to not take it seriously? Aren’t we allowing them to make it toothless?

JMC: I’m not ready to share the full details of [Senator Hashmi’s] bill, but we are talking with Princess Blanding and a lot of the advocates here. We are including their feedback in the draft we have.

We want to make sure that if a locality has a CRB, it has teeth and it’s independent: that it is not beholden to the police that they’re investigating. Boards of Supervisors or City Councils could have bias, and we’re trying to account for all of that. We’re focusing on enabling legislation, because it’s probably going to take more time to figure out all the best practices that we can put in place going forward. 

RVA Mag: Let’s talk about defense contracts and the Navy. Previous governors have seemed somewhat uncritically beholden to these contracts. It’s been said implicitly, and perhaps explicitly, that the economy of Virginia hinges on these contracts. How do you feel about the critical centrality of defense contracts to Virginia’s economy?

JMC: If you’re dependent on mechanisms of war, that’s just wrong. We shouldn’t be dependent on war for people to eat. Our number one business is Agribusiness. Our number two industry is Forestry. We should be working to strengthen those, and working to strengthen small businesses to not be as dependent on defense contracting, because then how well our economy does is dependent on if we’re in a state of war, or a state of [war] readiness, or not. That’s contradictory to the view of a beloved community.

Sen. McClellan with the late John Lewis. (Photo via Jennifer McClellan/Facebook)

RVA Mag: For the past two months, we have witnessed firsthand the intersection of the police and military in the streets of Richmond. That extends to the Virginia State Police, which you as governor would have control of. State police have arrived in the streets of Richmond with military vehicles and artillery. What is going on, and how are we going to address that?

JMC: I do not think police should be militarized. They do not need militarized weapons, and I think we should begin to demilitarize them. A lot of equipment is paid for through grant programs. Rather than using funding to buy military grade equipment, we should be using funding to address the root causes of crime, like mental health issues, and, to a certain extent, poverty: lack of access to economic opportunity. I don’t think you need military grade equipment.

RVA Mag: We already have the military grade equipment. Would you commit to selling off the stock of military equipment?

JMC: I would be open to that.

RVA Mag: And what about the formerly-known-as Robert E. Lee Monument, now known as Marcus-David Peters Circle? Are you for VSP fully standing down and staying out of that circle?

JMC: Unless someone is actively threatening someone else, I don’t know why they’d be there.

RVA Mag: Kim Gray has taken issue with the Black, community-based security that has been there ostensibly to protect black protesters from white supremacists. Do you agree with Kim Gray that we should disallow the carrying of AR-15s by these security personnel who have the legal right to carry them?

JMC: Right now open carry is legal for anybody, and you can’t pick and choose who can carry and who cannot. There are a lot of people who want to have a conversation about whether anybody can open carry in a public park space, and I think that’s a conversation worth having. But I don’t think you can pick and choose: these people can, and these people can’t.

RVA Mag: Let’s discuss marijuana policy. Why, under the new state law, are police still being given enforcement discretion over a petty issue such as possessing a small amount of marijuana, an issue that disproportionately criminalizes Black and brown people? Why decriminalization and not full legalization?

JMC: It needs to be full legalization for both possession and distribution. Unfortunately, the reason it’s just decriminalization now is that we couldn’t get the votes to go farther than that this year, but we’re pushing to go farther as soon as possible. I would have preferred full legalization of possession now. We’re doing a study on how to do distribution in a way so that the new market is not just the folks who have medical cannabis licenses now who are mostly white, upper middle class, and have a leg up. I have the resolution to have JLARC study how we do that distribution piece equitably, while also dealing with expungements and unraveling the War on Drugs, and giving people who have been arrested for what is going to be legal a path forward. We need to do both as quickly as possible. You’ll see, come January, we’re going to have legislation to do both.

RVA Mag: What about harder drugs? For example: heroin, cocaine, crack, crystal meth. We are incarcerating people for a health issue, and it does the opposite of providing rehabilitative care. Do you think it’s possible that sending someone to jail for substance abuse is ever a rehabilitative gesture by the government?

JMC: I don’t think we should send somebody to jail just for using drugs, let me be clear on that. Whether it’s drugs or anything that is a crime, how we deal with it should be proportionate to the injury caused. There are a lot of crimes where the punishment is too harsh, and we should change that.

For example, there are no gradations of assault on a police officer. If you throw an onion ring at a police officer and it hits him, you can get the same sentence as if you beat him over the head with a sledgehammer. That doesn’t make sense. 

I’m open to looking into all crimes to say, “What’s the social benefit of making this a crime? Does it still exist? If it does, is the punishment proportionate?” That’s the direction we should be moving in. They shouldn’t just punish you because you did something wrong and then warehouse you, throw away the key, and assume you’re never getting out. It should be: what is going to be a deterrent and a proportionate punishment, and how do we focus on rehabilitation and reentry?

Sen. McClellan with her daughter, Samantha, at the House of Delegates. (Photo via Jennifer McClellan/Facebook)

RVA Mag: One of the ways people approach drug abuse as a health issue is talking about harm reduction during drug use, since people can’t necessarily just stop using drugs because the state says so. Do you think it would be a good idea to help facilitate safer drug use practices as we treat people for their drug addiction, like providing access to safe supplies of needles?

JMC: Yes, I do. We should be looking at the underlying reasons of what made you turn to drugs in the first place. If it’s a mental health issue that’s gone untreated, let’s get you into the treatment you need so that you won’t turn back to drugs. That has to be part of the process.

RVA Mag: How do you feel about energy exploration off the coast of Virginia? How do you see Virginia’s energy independence moving forward, and how do you feel about Dominion colonizing that area?

JMC: Broadly, electric generation needs to shift away from fossil fuels to renewables. We are going to need more solar and more wind, regardless of who provides it. It would be better to have more wind provided by a third party, separate companies from Dominion. I don’t see how we get to 100 percent carbon-free without wind. We can’t get there with solar only. Wind is much better for the climate than natural gas or coal.

We did not have the votes in the General Assembly to get the full Green New Deal. The Clean Economy Act, which we did pass, does make a huge shift away from carbon into renewable, but it’s a first step. We need to push to try to get there faster.

RVA Mag: Do you take money from Dominion?

JMC: I do not.

RVA Mag: How do you feel about the Mountain Valley Pipeline?

JMC: I oppose it.

RVA Mag: Can you commit for the people of Virginia to make going against Dominion, and speaking out against the Mountain Valley Pipeline and offshore colonization, a central platform in your campaign for Governor?

JMC: Yes. I am focused on addressing climate change and shifting our energy policy so that it is less harmful to the environment, reducing energy demand through energy efficiency projects in a way that does not cause rate shock and allows the lights to stay on. I am fighting for the policy, and whoever stands in the way, I will fight against them.

RVA Mag: So…Big T [Terry McAuliffe] is running again. Is he the right person?

JMC: I can’t explain what he does either. I’m running because Virginia is ready for a new generation of leadership who will build a recovery in a way that addresses 400 years of inequity, and I’m ready to do that. I’m not running against anybody else. I’m just running for the future of Virginia that I want to see, that comes to terms with our past. I’m focused on talking to the community and talking to voters directly, and not on what other candidates are doing.

Top Photo via Jennifer McClellan/Facebook

Hundreds Trek To Virginia’s Capitol To Support Environmental Bills

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Supporting alternative energy, lowering carbon emissions, and protecting Virginia’s vulnerable communities were important issues to the crowd that gathered at the Capitol building.

Hundreds of clean energy supporters trekked to the State Capitol last week demanding Virginia move away from reliance on carbon-based energy, invest in alternative energy supplies, and lower rates for customers.

At the rally, hosted Tuesday by the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund, and other environmental organizations, participants pushed for Virginia to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, an effort to cap and reduce carbon emissions from the power sector. 

Gov. Ralph Northam supported the initiative in his 2020 budget proposal by including $733 million in new funding for the environment and clean energy. 

“In Virginia, we are proving that a clean environment and a strong economy go hand-in-hand — and having both is what makes our Commonwealth such a great place to live, work and play,” Northam said in a press release. 

Supporters of clean energy gather on the Capitol steps. Photo by Jeffrey Knight

Organizations lobbied for bills that seek to depart from a reliance on fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. One focus was House Bill 1526 and its counterpart Senate Bill 851, known as the Virginia Clean Economy Act. 

These bills would develop mandatory standards, annual timelines and call for specific reductions of carbon emissions, with the goal to hit 0 percent by 2050. The bills also push for offshore wind operations and solar energy generation. 

“I’m 100% for environmental issues,” Sen. Lionell Spruill Sr., D-Chesapeake, and co-patron of SB 851, said to supporters of the bill during the rally. “If I have to stand alone for environmental issues, I will do it alone.”

After supporters met with legislators, they reconvened at the nearby St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where they heard speakers champion environmental justice and steps to combat climate change. 

Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-Prince William, took to the podium during the rally to address coal ash, a by-product of burning coal in power plants that contains arsenic, mercury, and other metals.

“Most of our environmental impacts, not only of climate change but also with coal ash and pipelines, are in our most vulnerable communities,” Carroll Foy said to the audience. 

Harrison Wallace, Va. director of the Climate Action Network, address the crowd during the Clean Energy Rally. Photo by Jeffrey Knight.

Dominion is Virginia’s main energy supplier, with 2.6 million customers in Virginia and Eastern North Carolina, according to its website. The energy giant has been moving away from coal production, but environmental advocates worry that closure of Dominion’s coal ash ponds will affect nearby communities. They want Dominion to haul away the coal ash, instead of capping it in place.

Advocates also said that the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline that Dominion and other utility companies want to build as they tap into alternative energy sources will compromise communities and deviate from a zero carbon future.

“There will be 35 years of non-renewable energy if the pipeline continues,” said Corrina Beall, legislative and political director of the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter. 

The Environmental Justice Act (HB 704 and SB 406) patroned by Del. Mark Keam, D-Fairfax, and Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Richmond, respectively, would require state agencies to review proposed environmental policies with regard to the impact on low income communities, communities of color and vulnerable populations and calls for “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people.”

The Clean Energy Rally brought hundreds to advocate for zero carbon emissions as well as other environmental legislation. Photo by Jeffrey Knight.

Supporters at the rally also pushed for the Fair Energy Bills Act (HB 1132), patroned by Del. Jerrauld “Jay” Jones, D-Norfolk, and Del. Lee Ware, R-Powhatan. The bill calls for lower rates from energy suppliers like Dominion Energy, who reportedly overcharged Virginians $277 million more than they were allowed in 2018. 

SB 966 restored the SCC’s ability to conduct earnings reviews to determine whether Dominion Energy had collected more money than required. If so, the extra revenue could be reinvested in electric distribution grid transformation as well as solar and offshore wind projects, at no extra cost to the consumer. 

“What makes more financial sense is for the money to be reinvested, which allows the customer to get the benefit of the project without any additional rates,” said Rayhan Daudani, manager of media relations for Dominion Energy. 

He said that customers get a “great value” with rates 6.8 percent below the national average, along with increased investment in renewable energy and a transformed energy grid. Dominion said it plans to invest $750 million between offshore wind projects and smart meters that provide better grid service. 

“Our mission is to keep those prices low, build the nation’s largest offshore wind project, continue to provide solar energy across the state, and keep the lights on for our customers,” Daudani said.

Supporters of clean energy gather on the Capitol steps. Photo by Adrienne Eichner.

The offshore wind project is set to be the largest in the U.S., with enough energy to power up to 650,000 Virginia homes, according to a recent Dominion Energy press release. 

So far none of the bills supported by clean energy advocates have passed committee.

Written by Jeffrey Knight, Capital News Service. Top Photo by Adrienne Eichner.

Op-Ed: Virginia Needs The Green New Deal

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The Commonwealth can’t afford to prioritize corporate profit over environmental protections, writes Silvia Serrano.

Nobody is happy with the Green New Deal. Both conservatives and progressives have criticized it for being unrealistic, or not specific enough. But one thing is clear: people are finally talking about climate change. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey said it is necessary to mobilize the country the same way we did during World War II. The reality is that there is no planet B. So the question is: How much are we willing to fight to save the only planet we have?  

“If there is any national emergency in the country it is not immigration, it is climate change,” Zachary Brown, state senate candidate for the 10th district of Virginia, told me in an interview. He is not the only person in Virginia who supports the Green New Deal. In fact, many politicians and economic, environmental, and social groups came together last December to introduce Green New Deal Virginia. Del. Elizabeth Guzman, who represents Virginia’s 31st House of Delegates district, and Sam Rasoul are the founders of this project.

Guzman told me that she believes the Green New Deal makes it possible to achieve 100 percent renewable energy in Virginia by 2035. She said that the technology exists, and other countries like Iceland or even Costa Rica, a third world country, have already made this transition. That goal is even more ambitious than the GND, which aims to transition to 100 percent clean, renewable and zero-emission energy by 2050.

Delegate Elizabeth Guzman (via Facebook)

Dominion Energy is the largest provider of electricity in Virginia. On their website, they advertise themselves as a clean, reliable, sustainable energy. Nevertheless, their goal is to achieve only 15% renewable energy in Virginia by 2025. Because, Guzman told me, it is not their priority. She said Dominion is making more money with fossil fuel energy than offering renewable energy. According to Guzman, Dominion Energy is overcharging customers by hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

Renewable energy requires an investment, but it is cheaper in the long term. So, is it because there is not enough money that companies are not investing in clean energy? That is difficult to believe when the President and Chief Executive Officer at Dominion Energy is making more than $14 million a year.

Money is the only reason for politicians not to support a transition to 100 percent renewable energy, according to Brown. He explained that people who have an interest in financially maintaining the current energy system, those who work for the fossil fuel industry, are giving large campaign contributions to political parties. In 2018, Dominion Energy donated more than $5 million to the Democrats and more than $6 million to the Republicans, according to the nonprofit, nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project. Brown believes that every candidate who is serious about combating climate change needs to pledge not to take any campaign contributions from people like Dominion Energy.

The Green New Deal is not the first climate-change-related proposal from the Democratic Party, but so far, it is the biggest step forward in the fight against climate change. The proposal is a start. It has put climate change discussion on the table. What we need to do now is make sure that we are implementing specific policy proposals from this broad idea.

The Green New Deal is bold, because the situation requires us to be bold. Climate change is not a joke. It is going to require a lot of money, energy, and resources to save our planet — our only planet.

Note: Op-Eds are contributions from guest writers and do not reflect RVA Magazine editorial policy.

Top Photo by Shenandoah National Park — Timber Hollow Overlook. Public Domain, via Wikimedia

New Henrico County Solar Farm to Power 5,000 Homes

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Thursday afternoon, Gov. Ralph Northam announced the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality issued a permit for the construction of a new solar facility in Henrico County. The 20-megawatt project, Briel Farm Solar LLC, will cover approximately 230 acres and is estimated to power over 5,000 homes. The new facility is a major step Northam is taking towards a green energy core in Virginia.  

“The solar industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of our economy and this announcement is a strong testament to the thriving solar energy marketplace in Virginia,” Northam wrote in a statement. “My administration remains committed to supporting projects like this one that will bolster our solar energy infrastructure and bring low-cost, emissions-free electricity to homes and businesses across the Commonwealth.”

The construction will be completed by Urban Grid Solar and will be one of the largest solar facilities in Virginia since the construction of the 9 MW solar facility constructed in Danville last year. “Urban Grid is excited to receive this critical regulatory permit and would like to thank all the agencies who collaborated on this permit, and we would specifically like to thank the individuals at these agencies that made this permit possible, therefore assisting Urban Grid in bringing utility scale solar to Henrico County,” President of Urban Grid Frank DePew stated in a press release.

The new solar project is expecting to “offset the generation [of] approximately 64,739,173 pounds of carbon dioxide, 43,978 pounds of nitrogen oxides and 51,091 pounds of sulfur dioxide.”

As of 2018, this solar project is one of seven permits issued for to be constructed, and is a key example of the expedited growth of clean energy in Virginia. Just since 2014, production has increased from 17 MW to more than 300 MW, according to the press release. The released stated that the project is part of Virginia’s ultimate goal of 3,400 MW in renewable energy.

Dominion and Dong Energy to move forward with offshore wind project

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In a July media release, Dominion Energy has announced plans to move forward on an offshore wind farm off the coast of Virginia Beach. After reaching an agreement with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to lease 2,000 acres on the Atlantic Ocean for wind turbine use, Dominion plans to install two turbines, each producing six-megawatts of renewable wind energy. The turbines will be located 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach.

                                   Photo by Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

“It’s a demonstration project to see, among other things, how well wind turbines can withstand hurricane-type conditions, which are prevalent in the mid-Atlantic,”said Dan Genest, media relations/generation or Dominion. 

This is technically Dominion’s second attempt at creating an offshore wind farm. After attempting to initiate a similar project back in 2011, entitled the Virginia Offshore Wind Technology Assessment Project (VOWTAP), Dominion could not settle with a large offshore wind company to help fund the project. That’s where Dong Energy comes in.

Dominion Energy has partnered with Dong Energy, a leading offshore wind technology company in Europe, and the largest energy company in Denmark. “We approached Dong because we knew they were an expert in the field, a worldwide leader, and asked them,” said Genest.

Dong Energy will be leading in engineering, building, and maintaining the turbines, including excavation into the ocean floor to install the cables and pipes leading from the turbines to the shore. The turbines themselves won’t be visible from the beaches of Virginia Beach due to the curvature of the earth plus the distance from the shore.

                                                             Photo by Dominion Energy

Additionally, the turbines won’t affect the shipping routes that frequent the waters of the Virginia coastline. “They will be placed on all of the navigational maps,” said Genest. “As part of its research, when it determined what areas could be leased for wind turbine development, BOEM and the Coast Guard and several other state and federal agencies did a very thorough study of all of the shipping lanes. They’ve located an area that has minimum shipping.”

Although the exact number is unclear, Genest guarantees the project will create jobs. “The port of Virginia would be used for importing all of the parts and materials,” he said. According to Dong Energy, the Department of Energy reported last year that more than 500,000 people were employed in the renewable energy industry.

Additionally, Dong states that an average offshore wind project creates up to 1,000 construction/installation jobs, with around 100 year-round jobs, which would be beneficial for the Virginia Beach/Norfolk area, whose unemployment rates range from 3.5-4.5 percent.

“Virginia Beach is an excellent spot for this demonstration and eventual large-scale farm,” Genest said. “In Virginia, there are very few areas that can support wind farms. We just don’t have the winds.”

The coast of Virginia has rather moderate wind rates in comparison to the rest of the country, according to BOEM. Genest said that, after running studies across the commonwealth, there are very few areas that could support a 30-40 percent running time, which is optimal for a wind farm. However, the Virginia coastline has optimal conditions for such requirements.

Since this a demonstration project, Dominion has bigger plans for an offshore wind farm. “If it proves to be successful, and we move toward doing the commercial area, it would have up to 2,000 megawatts of wind turbine production,” said Genest. The 2,000 acres Dominion has leased in the Atlantic Ocean will eventually carry dozens of wind turbines. However, these plans will be for an undetermined future date.  Each megawatt of energy would serve 250 customers of Dominion, meaning this large-scale project could affect a large portion of the coastal cities and perhaps even beyond.

This hopeful project comes at a time where Dominion is under substantial criticism due to the plans for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), which has greatly upset many Virginia residents. Dominion’s spotty history with renewable energy has affected not only its customers, but also those who are affected by the projects that shy away from renewable energy, such as the ACP.

Genest cites the high prices of installing and maintaining renewable energy, such as solar, for the commonwealth. “We have always believed in renewable energy, but until recently the cost of renewable energy was such that we couldn’t justify it in large scale for our customers,” said Genest.

Breaths are held as Dominion prepares to break ground with Dong Energy off the coast of Virginia Beach. And if all fares well, Dominion will move forward in bringing renewable energy to Virginia.

“As part of the agreement, we have told Dong that they would be eligible if we proceeded to the commercial development portion of this, to work with us on that,” said Genest.