Kaine came out with an Energy Plan back in September in which he accepts without question that Virginia's electricity use will grow. While states like California and Maryland are making plans to cut their overall carbon emissions 80% below 1990 levels by 2020, Kaine committed Virginia to reducing its emissions back down to -- drum roll please -- where it was in 2000, by 2025. That's showing some serious leadership right there.

The VA Dep't of Environmental Quality is having its final public hearing tonight. After that, the public comment period closes on March 12. And if all goes Dominion's way, the company can break ground as early as mid April (although they have already started bulldozing the site despite the fact that they still have not received EITHER of the two permits they need to build - talk about arrogant!).

Thanks for the post. Coal sucks and no one in a position of leadership should get away with unabashedly supporting it.

As a Virginia Democrat, I have to say Kaine has pretty much turned out to be a dud. While he's still better than the alternative, George Allen, he's proven to be less a progressive and more of an inept  bureaucrat. He's dropped the ball on basic environmental issues as this post points out and -- perhaps worse -- bumbled initiatives like the Dulles Rail project and aggressive driver fees that will provide plenty of fodder for Republicans in a state that is still very much a deep purple.

In a state with term limits and a short election cycle for governors it's easy to see how Kaine's missteps could lead to a Republican victory next time around.

As usual, Biodiversistivist (ack!) hits it on the head:

Will the Dems EVER push for 80% by 2020 when they have no real pressure to do so??