Sunday, September 20, 2009
Candidates far apart on environment
The difference "is about as clear as you can get," said the executive director of a conservation organization.
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In scouting for big differences between the two candidates for governor, Virginia voters can look to the environment as one issue offering a stark contrast.
Based on voting records, position papers, campaign platforms and interviews with friends and foes, two images become clear:
State Sen. Creigh Deeds, the Democrat, is the choice of environmentalists and progressives who want more attention and action on protecting things green, and who favor a faster shift away from fossil fuels.
Former Attorney General Bob McDonnell, the Republican, is the clear champion of business and industry interests, who want fewer environmental rules, which they say often complicate economic development with higher costs and hassles, and who favor a slower, more deliberate transition to alternative energy.
Deeds, from Bath County, has been endorsed by the Virginia League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club. He has sponsored land-conservation initiatives, written a law to punish "bad-actor" farmers caught polluting, and helped create a state fund for cleaning up abandoned landfills that leak toxic wastes.
McDonnell, too, has backed tax incentives that promote land conservation. And he's pledged to increase those incentives if elected governor as part of a larger promise to protect 400,000 acres of undeveloped property.
During his time as a state delegate from Virginia Beach, McDonnell was perhaps best known for his anti-environmental positions, including efforts to limit, and terminate, a state wetlands-protection program approved over his no vote in 2000.
In speeches, McDonnell can sound like former Gov. George Allen in appealing for a "business-first" approach to state government that keeps taxes and regulation "at a minimum."
McDonnell, a military veteran and attorney, has been endorsed by several business groups, including the Virginia Association of Realtors. He receives generous contributions from developers, oil, gas and electric companies.
Speaking in Norfolk last week, McDonnell described a cap-and-trade proposal pending in Congress to tackle climate change as "a horrible new energy tax." He urged Congress to defeat the measure, which President Obama and Gov. Tim Kaine endorse.
Deeds served on Kaine's Climate Change Commission last year. He said in a debate last week that he believes global warming is a serious problem, but does not favor the cap-and-trade plan as drafted.
McDonnell supports drilling for oil and natural gas at least 50 miles off the Virginia Beach coast, expanding nuclear power by "getting more of those reactors online," and tapping the state's "incredible natural resources" such as coal and natural gas.
Deeds is more measured when discussing fossil fuels. He says he "remains open" to offshore drilling if done safely to the environment and without interruption of military training and commercial fishing.
He could support more nuclear energy, he says, "provided we first address all issues critical to safety, including national security, disposal and the safe operation of any plant."
Deeds says Virginia's energy portfolio must be "balanced" and include coal and gas extraction as well as coal-fired power plants, such as the one under construction in Wise County by Virginia Dominion Power, the state's largest electric utility. Environmentalists are challenging the project in court.
McDonnell says he fully supports a larger coal-fired plant proposed in Surry County by Old Dominion Electric Cooperative. Deeds is less committal, saying "all options should be on the table."
Both candidates say they would encourage alternative energy and seek to create more "green" jobs.
Deeds supports a mandatory renewable-energy portfolio for utilities of 15 percent by 2020 and 22 percent by 2025. He would invest in the development of three biomass facilities, including a plant in coastal Virginia that would convert algae into biodiesel fuel.
McDonnell says he would classify the entire state as a "Green Jobs Zone" and offer tax incentives to companies that create alternative-energy jobs here.
He promises to expedite permitting of new energy facilities, and to seek federal stimulus money for clean-energy research, including funds to advance technology that would sequester carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants.
While the gap between Democratic and Republican candidates has long been wide in Virginia politics, especially in gubernatorial elections, the difference this year "is about as clear as you can get," said Lisa Guthrie, executive director of the state League of Conservation Voters.
Since 2000, the league has rated state lawmakers on their environmental voting records.
Deeds usually finishes near the top, including a 91 percent score in 2009.
McDonnell, during his time in the General Assembly, placed near the bottom almost every year, including two scores of zero.
On Earth Day this year, McDonnell announced a promise to protect 400,000 acres of undeveloped land, and applauded Kaine for pursuing the same goal during the past four years.
At the same time, he announced a "Sustainable Virginia Pledge" that "strikes a necessary balance to assure that Virginia prospers both environmentally and economically."
"As governor," McDonnell continued, "I will present a coordinated, effective and businesslike plan to be a good steward of the environment."
Retired state Del. Tayloe Murphy, the secretary of natural resources under former Gov. Mark Warner, said he could not recall McDonnell "ever being around" when big environmental debates were afoot in Richmond in the 1990s and early 2000s.
"With his background and interests, it's just not something he got involved with," Murphy said.
"He's more inclined to do what's best for the business community. That's his constituency," Murphy said.
McDonnell this year won a unanimous endorsement from the Virginia Association of Realtors. He showed up in person for the interview; Deeds did it by phone.
McDonnell "has a better understanding of the role of government in what we do," said John Broadway, an association vice president.
"There's a feeling among our members," Broadway continued, "that state government in the past eight years has not been in tune with the consequences of some of their actions" when passing rules and regulations affecting development, the environment and property rights.
