Governor Abigail Spanberger joined House Speaker Don Scott in throwing cold water on legislative requests for more time to review the merger between Dominion Energy and NextEra. The position comes after bipartisan elected officials, and environmental groups have bashed the plan.
In a letter sent to lawmakers this week and first reported by the Virginia Scope, Governor Spanberger pointed to her intervention into the $67 billion dollar merger plan as work enough. And unless Virginia’s House and Senate quote “choose to come together at this time,” she won't be calling a special session to extend the State Corporation Commission's review.
Such a call from the legislature is unlikely following comments from House Speaker Don Scott to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He told the paper he didn’t think more review time was necessary, but he compared the merger to a time that saw major banking headquarters leave the commonwealth and blamed quote “consolidation.”
As for Senate President Louise Lucas, she said at an August meeting she has faith in the SCC: “That’s the reason we appointed the people who are there, because we trust the people we appointed.”
That’s disappointing news to folks like Loudoun Senator Russet Perry who was among the legislators who asked for an extended review.
“We don’t have enough time to put in place the laws that make this merger possible," Perry told Radio IQ Friday morning. "So, if there is not going to be an extension on the request for time to look at this merger then I think the merger has to be denied.”
Brennan Gilmore with Clean Virginia also advocated for more review time and is also disappointed: “It undermines trust in these leaders’ decisions at a time when many Virginians can’t afford their electric bill.”
The SCC is expected to wrap up their work on the merger in early 2027.
