RICHMOND— On Thursday, the Virginia House of Delegates voted overwhelmingly for legislation (HB 975) to repeal the hybrid car tax. The bipartisan 89-9 vote follows a 35-3 vote in the Senate earlier this week, all but ensuring that the repeal legislation will become law as Governor McAuliffe has committed to signing it.
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Welcome back to the Weekly Climate Insider!
In Maryland, fracking and the results of the Environment America study posted in last week’s Climate Insider are still making headlines. As a recap, the report found that our water supply is put at risk by the billions of gallons of dirty wastewater produced by fracking. See the coverage from Capital News Service.
This week, we’re profiling two Maryland businesses that are environmentally newsworthy.
A Maryland construction company called Hobbitat builds small houses made out of reclaimed materials. The 250 square foot houses, called “hobs,” are made almost exclusively from from salvaged or repurposed materials, nearly eliminating the adverse effects of new construction. In energy terms, “The hobs’ square footage is about 11 percent of the median U.S. house size, so much less energy is required to heat and cool them.” Check out some photos of these gorgeous little hobs!
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ALEXANDRIA—As Virginia’s broadly renounced new annual tax on hybrid vehicles went into effect on Monday, Senator Adam P. Ebbin (D-Alexandria) and Delegate Scott A. Surovell (D-Mt. Vernon) joined hybrid car owners and climate advocates outside a Department of Motor Vehicles office to announce their plans to repeal the punitive policy.
By Patricia Sullivan
Two Northern Virginia state legislators will introduce bills to repeal Virginia’s new tax on hybrid and electric vehicles on the first day of the next legislative session, they announced Monday, when the tax took effect.
“It’s illogical, unfair, not well thought out and hastily passed,” state Sen. Adam P. Ebbin (D-Alexandria) said Monday at the Alexandria office of the Department of Motor Vehicles. “The way to improve our environment is not to tax vehicle owners who are doing the right thing.”
By Keith Laing
Environmentalists are unhappy with Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R)’s decision to retain a tax on hybrid vehicles in a transportation funding plan for the state.
McDonnell reduced the amount of the tax from $100 per year to $64, his office announced on Tuesday.
But the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) said he should have removed the entire tax.
“While Gov. McDonnell bent to public outcry and reduced the hybrid car tax, he should have vetoed it altogether, as thousands of Virginians urged,” CCAN Virginia State Director Beth Kemler said in a statement. “The hybrid tax remains an unfair and unreasonable policy. A $64 fee is just as arbitrary as the whole policy is to begin with.”
By Kathy Adams
With signs, cardboard wind turbines and a parade of Priuses, hybrid car owners on Thursday afternoon sent a message to legislators meeting inside the Capitol: No hybrid tax.
The demonstration by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network was in protest of legislation that would tax hybrid car owners and repeal renewable-energy incentives for electricity companies.
By Julie Carey
Environmentally-conscious drivers and their supporters took to the streets to protest part of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation funding plan. News4 Northern Virginia Bureau Chief Julie Carey has more on the hybrid vehicle fee proposal.
By Joe Dashiell
Owners of hybrid cars drove around Capitol Square honking their horns Thursday afternoon. Other supporters carried signs and chanted, “No hybrid tax.” They were protesting proposed legislation, including an element of the Governor’s transportation plan that would impose a $100 fee on hybrid and electric cars.
By Errin Haines
A Prius parade descended on the Virginia Capitol on Thursday in protest of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell’s proposal to impose a $100 fee on alternative fuel vehicles as part of his legislative package on transportation funding.
Cars honked as they rolled past the Capitol as protesters holding signs shouted, “No hybrid tax!”
RICHMOND, Va. – Hybrid and electric car owners circled the Virginia Capitol to protest a $100 yearly fee that would be placed on their vehicles if Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation plan passes.