RELATED:
• Final draft report of the Commission on Climate Change
The state Commission on Climate Change unanimously adopted its final report yesterday, and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine indicated he would act on it.
"In my administration, we don't get reports and put them on shelves," Kaine told the panel during a meeting in the General Assembly Building.
The report makes more than 100 recommendations, including calls to conserve energy better, rely more on nuclear power and increase protections for forests and wetlands.
The report is expected to go to Kaine next week after staff members do some minor editing.
The governor could enact some recommendations on his own through executive orders. He is expected to take others to the General Assembly for action.
Outside the meeting room, Kaine declined to specify which recommendations he will move on, saying he wants to read the report first. But, in one example, he said he supported efforts to increase energy efficiency.
Representing business and farm groups, Virginia Coal Association President W. Thomas Hudson told the panel the public needed more time to digest the report. He asked for a 60-day comment period.
"Climate-change strategies may have enormous economic repercussions . . . and therefore must be thoroughly assessed," Hudson said.
Virginia Chamber of Commerce representative Tyler Craddock objected to a recommendation to require that new commercial buildings be built to energy-saving standards.
"It is never a good time to increase the cost of constructing commercial floor space," Craddock said. "But right now is one of the absolute worst times."
Commission members said there would be plenty of time in the General Assembly and other venues to debate the recommendations. The panel did not grant the 60-day comment period.
The Virginia Conservation Network, which includes several environmental groups, issued a statement supporting the report and challenging Kaine and the legislature to act on the recommendations.
The panel, which Kaine appointed a year ago, included scientists, business people, lawmakers and environmentalists.
The panel found, among other things, that global warming could spread disease in Virginia, threaten coastal areas and imperil native animals such as crabs.
Contact Rex Springston at (804) 649-6453 or rspringston@timesdispatch.com
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