Former Gov. and U.S. Sen. George Allen has launched an organization, the American Energy Freedom Center, to try to influence the public debate about energy. In a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Allen said coal, oil and natural gas are the solution to the nation’s energy problem. “The sun doesn’t shine all the time; the wind doesn’t blow all the time,“ he said, referring to alternative energy sources of wind and solar power.

Power Play Sunday’s Times-Dispatch carried a thorough presentation of the debate over the Cypress Creek power plant that has been proposed for Surry County. The coal-fired facility would generate badly needed electricity and provided badly needed jobs. It also would produce huge amounts of pollution. The state plainly will need more juice. In the next couple of decades the state’s population likely will grow from 7 million to 10 million, and the number of homes will increase by about 1 million. Even if Virginia adopts stringent conservation measures, current production will not suffice to meet demand.

The proposed coal-fired power plant in Surry County has emerged as one of few issues that clearly divide the Democratic candidates for governor. On Jan. 22, former Del. Brian J. Moran of Alexandria announced his opposition to the plant, holding a news conference outside the Department of Environmental Quality headquarters in Richmond.

The $4 billion Cypress Creek power plant would be big, and it would burn coal. And those are problems, say opponents who argue that there are better ways to deal with rising energy demands. If built in Surry County to provide 1,500 megawatts, Cypress Creek would be Virginia’s largest coal-burning plant, topping Dominion Virginia Power’s Chesterfield Power Station near Chester.

DENDRON Surry County Administrator Tyrone W. Franklin thinks of the proposed Cypress Creek power plant as a redevelopment project that will bring good jobs as well as energy. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Dendron was a big company town, built and run by the Surry Lumber Co. to house its mills and employees. The company—the largest processor of yellow pine timber east of the Mississippi River—thrived, and by the 1920s nearly 3,000 people lived in Dendron. The town’s very name comes from the Greek word for “tree.“

On this Earth Day, it is time for us to lay a new foundation for economic growth by beginning a new era of energy exploration in America. The choice we face is not between saving our environment and saving our economy—it’s a choice between prosperity and decline. Perhaps not, but until recently there has been a strong correlation between energy consumption and economic growth. See http://www.pewclimate.org/global-warming-basics/facts_and_figures/ fig18.cfm.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling unveiled twin energy plans yesterday that call for drilling for oil and natural gas off the coast of Virginia. McDonnell, at a stop in Norfolk, and Bolling, across the state in Roanoke, said Virginia must take advantage of traditional sources of energy—coal and nuclear power as well as oil and gas—while promoting alternative-energy sources.

A large majority of Virginians think global warming is real, but most aren’t doing much about it, a statewide poll shows. In the poll conducted by Christopher Newport University’s Center for Public Policy and the Virginia Environmental Endowment, 76 percent said global warming is happening. Sixty percent said they have made minor changes to their living and shopping habits, while 29.6 percent said they have made major changes.

President Barack Obama will need to confront the nation’s food issues sooner or later because they are key to solving three major problems in the nation—energy independence, the health crisis and climate change, author Michael Pollan said at last night’s Richmond Forum. Agriculture and modern processing use 20 percent of the total fossil fuel consumed in the nation and produce more greenhouse gas than any other industry, Pollan told an audience at the Landmark Theater.

President Barack Obama will need to confront the nation’s food issues sooner or later because they are key to solving three major problems in the nation—energy independence, the health crisis and climate change, author Michael Pollan said at last night’s Richmond Forum. Agriculture and modern processing use 20 percent of the total fossil fuel consumed in the nation and produce more greenhouse gas than any other industry, Pollan told an audience at the Landmark Theater.

Before filing away your 2008 taxes, think about the $1,500 you could save on next year’s returns if you add extra insulation or a skylight. Congress tripled the tax credit for energy-efficiency home improvements when it passed the latest stimulus plan. The tax credit now covers up to 30 percent of the cost of products installed this year and next.

The news that hackers possibly tied to the Russian and Chinese governments infiltrated the computer systems running the U.S. power grid presents a sobering reminder of the scope of America’s national-security challenges. Once upon a time, the country’s leaders could take comfort in the fact that the nation was insulated by a vast ocean on each side and friendly, or at least unhostile, countries to the north and south.

Offshore drilling for oil and gas could bring billions of dollars and thousands of jobs to Virginia, and help secure the nation’s energy future, speakers at an industry-sponsored forum said yesterday.

In 1991, the TV program “Eerie, Indiana” first aired. It was the story of 13-year-old Marshall Teller who moved with his family from a New Jersey suburb to what appeared to be an idyllic small town. But things were not always as they seemed, and young Teller soon discovered that the Midwestern burg was actually the “center of weirdness for the entire planet.“

Old habits in Washington appear to have clouded President Obama’s vision of change. The first budget of his new administration contains change no doubt, but when it comes to energy, it is not the kind of change the American people are hoping for. The president’s budget contains $80 billion in new taxes on the U.S. energy sector over the next decade. Apparently, the president thinks we have enough domestically produced natural gas and oil. He must be comfortable with our level of reliance on foreign oil.