Oregon Hill’s State Senator Donald McEachin is doing great work to push forward a clean energy agenda for Virginia in the current General Assembly session.

Sadly, his bill to limit offshore oil drilling (while promoting offshore wind), SB814, died in committee yesterday. This is particularly galling to those concerned about the undue influence of the fossil fuel corporations and their disasters.

Fortunately, there are other bills to root for. In particular, SB907, also sponsored by McEachin, which is now scheduled to come up (again) in the Senate Commerce and Labor committee next week. SB907 would direct the State Corporation Commission to order utilities to develop an appropriate pricing strategy to incentivize residential customers to reduce their consumption. Inclining block rates (IBR) is just such a strategy and is designed so that the more electricity consumers use, the more they pay, sending a price signal, especially to high-use residential customers, to reduce their consumption.

Does this sound familiar? It should, because it is similar to the municipal water reform that Oregon Hill residents have lobbied for in the recent past. Paying for what you use and rewarding conservation makes the sort of common sense that many citizens want to see on all levels of our government.