Headed to Hampton: Sen. Mark Warner to Host Virginia Energy Policy Forum

By Karen Schaufeld

U.S. Senator Mark Warner’s 2016 Virginia Energy Policy Forum this Friday is designed to offer energy and climate stakeholders, such as Powered by Facts, the opportunity to learn more about major energy regulations that “will not only affect the Virginia economy but the way we diversify our energy moving forward.”

We are looking forward to presentations by private organizations, public utilities, environmental groups and lawmakers at the state and federal levels will range from energy policy for the Commonwealth and the nation; energy efficiency and storage; new developments in clean energy technology; and – importantly – “Cybersecurity for a 21st Century Energy Grid” and “Energy Security and Resiliency.”

In addition, we are looking forward to the keynote speech by Dr. Ernest Moniz, U.S. Secretary of Energy, as well as representatives of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Navy, the City of Norfolk, the Alliance to Save Energy, Dominion Resources, Energy Storage Association, Environment Virginia, Apex Clean Energy, Johnson Controls and the Virginia State Corporation Commission, among others.

The VEPF is a non-partisan event hosted by Sen. Warner, who believes that the U.S. needs to reduce dependence on foreign oil while investing in new technologies that reduce harmful emissions and, according to his website, favors an “all of the above,” portfolio approach that employs solar, wind, bio-fuels, nuclear energy and next-generation battery technologies.

Virginia, as our readers know, lags behind other states in creating the “all of the above” approach to which Sen. Warner aspires. Thanks to Sen. Warner for hosting the VEPF. I am hoping it and similar events (the 2016 Energy, Sustainability & Resiliency Conference held in Richmond in May, for example) will foster greater dialogue about the energy mix – or lack thereof – in the Commonwealth.