The 5th Congressional District is now Virginia’s energy capital. Will McGuire and Perriello talk about what that means?

For generations, Southwest Virginia was the energy capital of Virginia — an accident of geology.

Today, Southside Virginia is becoming the energy capital of Virginia — an accident of topography and geography, with a strong dose of politics mixed in.

Fealty to coal remains a defining issue in the 9^th Congressional District that covers Southwest, even though coal itself has declined as an economic factor. The last time the 9^th District switched parties — in 2010 — the issue was which candidate would do the best job protecting coal.

Today we see the 5^th District, which covers much of Southside (plus some additional territory), roiled by energy issues which are far more complicated than the ones the 9^th ever faced. The question is whether any of those issues will be motivating factors for voters in that district. On the one hand, it would be odd if they weren’t — there are federal roles in many of them. On the other hand, neither candidate may have an interest in grabbing hold of the energy issues in the 5^th District because they might find themselves on the wrong side of public opinion if they stuck to their party’s positions.

Republican incumbent John McGuire would have to explain why President Donald Trump has been an enthusiastic promoter of artificial intelligence and more transmission lines — one of which is the controversial Valley Link line that would cut through part of the district. McGuire sent a letter to the governor urging her to oppose the project, but he declined to answer questions from Cardinal News about the project. For Democratic challenger Tom Perriello, the challenge might be from those opposed to the solar arrays spreading across rural Virginia — a direct consequence of Democratic pro-renewable energy policies. During a recent media availability, Perriello was happy to talk about the Valley Link project that McGuire declined to talk about — but didn’t address questions about other energy issues in the district.

Left to their own devices, both candidates seem likely to talk about other things — Perriello about how bad the Trump administration has been for the district, McGuire about how good it’s been (plus how bad Democrats these days are). How the candidates feel about Trump is important, of course, and if that’s the only thing voters care about, then, well, nothing else matters, does it? However, we are seeing the 5^th District transformed into an energy district, and not everyone who lives there is happy about that, so you might think the congressional candidates ought to be talking about it. If voters are inclined to press the candidates about that the way Cardinal has tried to, here are some things to know.

Solar energy

The 5^th District produces more solar energy than any other congressional district in Virginia. According to the Solar Database put together by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia, there have been 6,315 megawatts approved in the 5^th. That’s 38.9% of the state’s total. In second place is the adjacent 4^th District, represented by Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond. Localities there have approved 4,888 megawatts of solar, 30.1% of the state’s total.

This is part of a national irony: Much, if not most, of the renewable energy being brought online is being developed in districts represented by Republicans. That’s a function of rural districts being Republican and rural districts being where energy gets developed — because you can’t realistically site industrial-scale energy facilities in metro districts where Democrats get most of their votes.

Solar is more complicated than some realize: Yes, it’s something being pushed by the left, but it’s also embraced by those who believe in property rights, which are generally a conservative concern. The opposition to solar is often that it’s ugly and ruins viewsheds, which may be a legitimate concern, but philosophically it’s a liberal viewpoint. The solar growth in the 5^th may be something neither candidate wants to talk much about: McGuire may not want to be seen championing renewable energy even though it’s putting money in the pockets of some 5^th District landowners; Perriello may not want to risk blowback from those who think it’s turning Southside into an industrial hellscape.

In any case, there’s little that either one of them can do about this, one way or another. The solar growth in Southside is driven primarily by a state law: the Clean Economy Act. The Trump administration eliminated the solar tax credit for residential users and has generally been hostile toward solar development, yet it’s kept happening anyway because that’s what the market is demanding. It’s also the quickest form of energy to build, even if solar projects only produce energy part of the time.

Nuclear power plants

Virginia has two nuclear power stations: Dominion Energy’s North Anna plant in Louisa County in the 5^th District) and the Surry plant in Surry County in the 4^th District. (Disclosure: Dominion is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy. You can become a donor and have no say, too.) The 5^th is unusual, though, because it’s home to two proposals for a new breed of small nuclear plants, the so-called small modular reactors. Dominion and Amazon are exploring one at North Anna; Appalachian Power has proposed one at its Joshua Falls substation in Campbell County.

Perriello said he was open to the small modular reactor at North Anna because it’s an existing nuclear facility; he didn’t address how he felt about the Appalachian proposal. McGuire wouldn’t talk at all. That means voters don’t know how either candidate feels about what is likely to be the more controversial of the two proposals — controversial simply because it’s in a location that hasn’t had a nuclear plant before and because nuclear often freaks some people out. This is also the issue where perhaps voters ought to be hearing from the candidates and learning whether their representative will be advocating for or against this project. While the 5^th District representative, no matter who it is, has no executive authority over nuclear siting, nuclear power is very much subject to federal regulation — unlike those solar farms. So far, though, voters have no idea where either candidate stands.

Transmission lines

We do know where the candidates stand on the proposed Valley Link transmission line that would run from Campbell County to Culpeper County, a route that would be mostly in the 5^th District. The purpose is to move power from the Midwest to Northern Virginia, so this is very much related to the explosive growth of data centers in Northern Virginia.

McGuire asked the governor to oppose the link; Perriello said he’s against the route and faults McGuire for not doing anything more than sending a letter. McGuire did not respond to inquiries from Cardinal about Valley Link (or anything else). As with solar farms, the authority over Valley Link is at the state level, not the federal government, so maybe it doesn’t matter what either candidate thinks.

However, there are some federal policy issues lurking in the background. Both parties agree that we need more power; they just disagree on what kind. Both parties have also pushed for transmission lines to get that power to wherever it should go — where the Biden administration pushed for transmission lines to carry green power, the Trump administration has pushed for transmission lines to carry power from fossil fuels. Maybe those policy choices don’t come into play here, but they will more generally. The more power that the 5^th District produces, the more there will be a need for transmission lines to carry that power.

Perriello questions whether a new transmission line is necessary, saying there are other options, such as more on-site energy generation. He’s right — there’s lots of talk about how, in the near future, data centers need to come with power plants attached. However, good luck trying to locate power stations in Northern Virginia near the existing data centers.

Natural gas plants and pipelines

Perriello opposed the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (which was never built) and the Mountain Valley Pipeline (which was). The former would have gone through the 5^th District; the latter does, terminating in Pittsylvania County, with an extension approved and under construction that will go south into North Carolina. There are also two proposals for natural gas plants in the 5^th District — in Fluvanna County and Cumberland County. The Clean Economy Act was supposed to phase out fossil fuels but allows for natural gas if it’s needed for reliability. That provision has opened the way for those gas plant proposals (and also one in Chesterfield County). Again, all that is state policy, not federal policy, although current federal policy has encouraged carbon-based energy.

As long as there is rising energy demand, we’re probably going to see more natural gas projects because natural gas is “dispatchable” — meaning you can turn it on and off when it’s needed — while solar energy isn’t.

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that voters often have no idea which level of government does what and get frustrated that there’s often no one single place to go to for answers. The system of federalism that our founders set up is great philosophically, but many voters don’t want a civics lesson; they just want an answer to their question. Energy development and transmission is the perfect example of that. While the 5^th District is becoming an energy capital, some of the decisions driving that are local, others are state, a few are federal. That gives the candidates for Congress an easy out — they’ve got no say on some of these issues, and no direct authority over any of them. Candidates also get to decide what they talk about and who they talk to, so if Perriello doesn’t want to answer some questions and McGuire doesn’t want to answer any, they’re within their rights. However, do voters in the 5^th want to hear them talk about some of these issues anyway?

If so, here’s a form where we’ll compile those questions and send them to the candidates. Neither answered our Voter Guide questionnaire during the primary, and neither has answered it so far for the general election. We’ll see now if they answer any of your questions.

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