April 30th – Citizens Information Forum – Energy

Join us for the first Nelson County Citizens Information Forum
Understanding Electricity Generation and Demand in our County
Wednesday, April 30th 6-7:30pm
at the Nelson Center in Lovingston

 

Learn from experts about current and projected energy demand and generation,

where and how energy gets to us in Nelson County, financial impacts, environmental impacts, and an update of current legislation.

Questions for panelists will be collected from attendees during the first half of the event.

We will be joined by CVEC president Gary Wood, and Attorneys Josephus Allond and Elizabeth Putfark from SELC.

A diverse group of speakers will round out a panel for discussion.

Representatives from CVEC and Appalachian Power will be present with information and resources for customers.

 

If you would like to participate in this forum from afar, please email questions to friendsofnelson@gmail.com

A recording of the discussion will be available following the event on our website. 


We look forward to learning together!

Proposed Transmission Line between Fauquier & Campbell Counties

Below are links to information about a 765-kilovolt (kV) transmission line to be built between Fauquier and Campbell counties. As of Friday, the route had not been published, but the third link below has a map where the line will most likely go. Assuming this is the route, it does not look like it will come through Nelson, but we should pay attention to this.

Dominion Energy Newsroom

Larger transmission towers coming to Northern Virginia | News | fauquier.com

Fauquier County 2025 Updates – The Piedmont Environmental Council

information compiled by Susan McSwain for Friends of Nelson

Household Hazardous Waste & Special Collections 2025


Nelson has published dates for 2025 Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) & Special Collections. 

Collections will be at the Ivy Materials Utilization Center, and will be held 9am-3pm on:

  • Spring 2025
    • Friday, April 25, 2025
    • Saturday, April 26, 2025
  • Fall 2025
    • Friday, September 19, 2025
    • Saturday, September 20, 2025


You can view it from this link : https://www.nelsoncounty-va.gov/household-hazardous-waste-hhw-special-collections-2025-spring-fall-dates/

Nelson County residents will need a voucher to participate. Vouchers can be obtained at any of the staffed collection sites, County Administration office or contact Sue Baker, Recycling Coordinator, at sbaker@nelsoncounty.org.

Cuts in Federal Workforce would affect Rural Virginia


Federal workforce cuts could create unemployment levels in Northern Virginia not seen in living memory. That’s a potential problem for rural Virginia. – Cardinal News
The biggest geographical source of income tax in Virginia comes from Northern Virginia. In all, the D.C. suburbs account for about 40% of the state’s revenue, so anything that’s state-funded, from schools to roads to prisons ultimately owes a lot of its funding to the economic health of Northern Virginia. Rural school systems get most of their funding from the state, and the biggest source of state funding is the income tax.

For additional statistics, visit Northern Virginia’s population decline is a problem for the whole state – Cardinal News
The biggest single source of tax revenue in Virginia is the individual income tax; 67% of general fund revenue comes from personal income taxes. Fairfax County alone accounts for 22% of the state’s taxable income, according to the annual report from the state’s tax commissioner. Altogether, Northern Virginia accounts for 40% of the state’s taxable income. The bottom line: Northern Virginia is subsidizing rural school systems (and lots of other things).

Information compiled by Susan McSwain

‘Civic Health’ Rating for all U.S. Counties


Three organizations – Brown University, Internews (a California-based nonprofit that supports independent media), and Press Forward (a grant-making organization that supports local news media) – have joined together to devise a measurement tool called the Civic Information Index. Using 21 data points, the Index gives every county and independent city in the U.S. a “civic health” score.


The Index – Civic Information Index


The numerous data sets used to determine the scores include such items as the percentage of households with access to broadband, number of library visits, access to health care, voter turn-out, charitable giving, life expectancy, poverty rate, and the number of news outlets in each county.
You can zoom in on any county for the score.

Here are the scores for Nelson on a scale of 0 – 100.


Overall Index percentile: 68
News and Information percentile: 46
Civic Participation percentile: 58
Equity and Justice percentile: 90
Health and Opportunity percentile: 75