VAIPL 2024 General Assembly Resources
VAIPL 2024 General Assembly Priorities
Virginia Interfaith Power & Light (VAIPL) seeks to partner with faith communities from every tradition across Virginia to advocate for climate and environmental justice. Our extractive economy threatens the planet with its continued dependence on burning fossil fuels for electricity, transportation, and food production. These activities release heat-trapping greenhouse gases and pollution into our atmosphere, damaging our climate and hurting our water and air quality. We further recognize that these polluting industries have a cumulative impact, creating environmental justice concerns for our neighbors in vulnerable and frontline communities.
In 2020, Virginia emerged as a leader in the region by passing several bills focused on water and energy justice. During the 2022 General Assembly session, many bills were introduced that threatened to halt our progress toward this environmental and climate justice made since 2020. VAIPL, with our supporters and coalition partners, defended that progress and prevented a setback in the goals to reduce carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions.
In the 2024 General Assembly, VAIPL will continue to prioritize environmental justice and support just common-sense legislation to strengthen and defend laws protecting the health of all of Virginia’s residents to maintain our quality of life. We support the following policy goals:
- Protect the health of all Virginians statewide by offering the option for a healthy communities strategy for our localities’ and municipalities’ comprehensive planning
- Protect all Virginians’ access to energy, water, and gas utility services in times of crisis
- Increase Virginians’ access to affordable solar electricity for use in their homes
- Protect Virginia’s water resources, increase funding for water infrastructure
- Protect the reduction of greenhouse gases in all energy sectors, especially in the energy and transportation sectors
- Defend the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) & Virginia Environmental Justice Act
