Pittsylvania County eyes green energy (Virginia)

Comment:  Great idea!  Rather be green power than nuke power, no to uranium mining!
By John Crane
Published: December 9, 2009

Pittsylvania County may explore the idea of providing tax incentives for those who generate green energy.

But Staunton River Supervisor Marshall Ecker, who introduced the proposal at the Board of Supervisors’ regular meeting Monday night, says it probably won’t get very far.

“It wasn’t a positive response,” Ecker said of supervisors’ reaction to his idea to consider reduced local taxes for green-energy production facilities, such as wind turbines or solar power collectors, in Pittsylvania County.

The board voted 4-3 to take the matter to the Legislative Committee.

Dan River Supervisor James Snead opposed Ecker’s request because everyone who generates and sells green power, including corporations, would be asking for the tax breaks.

“First thing you know, we’ll start losing a lot of taxes,” Snead said Wednesday.

“This would hurt us, especially with our budget crunch going into the new year,” he added.

Ecker, who heads the Legislative Committee, said he has scrapped it from the committee’s agenda for its next meeting Tuesday and plans to re-introduce it next year or when the economy improves.

Pittsylvania County has green-power generating facilities, including Dominion’s Pittsylvania Power Station in Hurt, which burns wood chips and biomass to produce electricity, and Piedmont BioProducts in Gretna. VanDerHyde Dairy aims to use methane gas from cow manure to produce electricity via an anaerobic digester and has been working to raise money for that innovative project.

Federal and state governments are directing localities to develop alternative energy sources that are environmentally friendly.

This year, the Virginia Association of Counties began participating in the Go Green initiative started by the Virginia Municipal League in 2007, said Larry Land, director of policy development for the Virginia Association of Counties. It includes a friendly competition among localities called the “Green Movement Challenge,” which includes a scorecard to encourage more efficient use of energy and to reduce carbon emissions, Land said. Winners who score at least 100 are awarded Go Green certificates, which are color-tiered based on how much a locality scores above 100.

Read more at:
http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/danville_news/article/pittsylvania_county_eyes_green_energy/16203/