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EGACY Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.
WEDNESDAYS • Dec. 9, 2020
INSIDE Propelled by a personal tragedy... - 2 Hopewell: Rev. Curtis Harris’ legacy - 4 635 Virginian workers face lay offs - 8
Richmond & Hampton Roads
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C-19 Vaccine: What’s Next for the Black Community STACY M BROWN
NNPA - The first wave of coronavirus vaccines should reach the public this week, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommending that all adults receive the vaccination in 2021. While the CDC said there should be enough doses for as many as 20 million people to receive vaccination
by the end of December, health officials expect a much larger supply in the coming months. Still, with a justified distrust of unproven vaccines, and a perceived limited participation by African Americans in clinical the trials that lead to the development of the COVID-19 vaccine, many question whether African Americans will accept vaccination. Others are also concerned that,
even if the Black community generally accepts the vaccine, would doses be available. “I’m guessing white folks will be first in line,” Monica Roderick, a Temple Hills, Maryland mother of four, opined. “One of the reasons I shudder when I hear people talk about how Black people are still suspect because of the Tuskegee Experiment and other vaccines that
ended wrong is because it tends to give other folks the greenlight to leave us out,” Roderick said. She continued: “This virus is the worst thing the world has seen in 100 years. It’s too important not to consider the vaccine, especially since most people affected by the coronavirus are Black and Brown.” Putting whether the Black
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The LEGACY
2 • Dec. 9, 2020
How personal tragedy set this former VCU trainee on the path to become a urologic oncologist
Randy Vince Jr., M.D., was in his second year of medical school when his beloved grandmother died of kidney cancer. As he learned more about her last days, he realized she could have been a candidate for a potentially lifesaving surgery. Her physician never even suggested the procedure. Soon after, Vince made a decision that changed the trajectory of his career: to become a urologic oncologist that Black Americans like his grandmother needed. “I decided I wanted to know how to perform the surgery she was not offered and be the best at doing it,” said Vince, who completed his urology residency at Virginia Commonwealth University’s MCV Campus in 2019. “I wanted to help families in similar situations. It’s been well-documented that people of color are not given the same standard treatments of care.” Vince points to studies such as one published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science in 2016 that examined beliefs associated with racial bias in pain management. The study provides evidence that false beliefs about biological differences between Blacks and whites continue to shape the way medical students and physicians perceive and treat Black people, and that those beliefs are associated with racial disparities in pain assessment and treatment recommendations. Now a urologic oncology fellow at the University of Michigan, Vince regularly speaks with communities of color about the basics of cancer and its treatments. “I’ll give talks to groups of Black men so they have a working knowledge of prostate cancer and can advocate for themselves,” Vince said. In July, as COVID-19 and social unrest thrust health inequities into the national spotlight, Vince
Randy Vince Jr., at an event last October at the University of Michigan, where he currently is a urologic oncology fellow. - UM contributed to the Journal of the American Medical Association’s “A Piece of My Mind” series with an article titled, “Eradicating Racial Injustice in Medicine — If Not Now, When?” In the article, he calls on physicians and the medical community to become leaders in addressing the pervasive inequalities that exist in the health outcomes for African Americans and proposes a series of steps to do so successfully. He also describes growing up in West Baltimore, where as a kid he wondered why his family had to deal with basic struggles like putting food on the table and keeping the heat on, and details his experience as a Black man in medicine. “During medical school, I was one of five African Americans in a class of 120 students,” Vince writes. “I listened with great discomfort and despair to countless lectures describing the health conditions that disproportionately harm
African Americans. In none of these lectures, however, did any instructor explain or acknowledge what I had observed for many years — that access to care is a primary factor behind these disturbing statistics.” At Michigan, his research includes using genomic platforms to enhance the diagnostic and prognostic data for clinicians and patients. “Additionally, I aim to use genomic panels to highlight the impact of systemic racism, not racial biology, on disparities in cancer outcomes.” Vince returned to VCU — virtually — on Nov. 5 to deliver a presentation, “The Impact of Systemic Racism in Medicine: A Data-driven Assessment,” at the Department of Surgery’s Grand Rounds. “It gives me a lot of pride that Randy [Vince] came out of our program,” said Lance Hampton, M.D., chair of the Division of Urology. “With all that is happening now in our country, it was clear to me that what he described in JAMA
was a conversation we needed to be having. He lays it out in a very impactful way.” Hampton, the Barbara and William B. Thalhimer Jr. Professor of Urology, notes that urology lags behind other specialties in terms of racial diversity. Only 2% of urologists are Black; 4% are Latino. To build a program and a field that more closely reflects society, the Division of Urology has created a new Diversity Scholars Program to attract top minority medical students to complete an away rotation on the MCV Campus. “It will give us the ability to see the best students from around the country and hopefully they end up staying here for residency,” Hampton said. “Even if they don’t, it’s a good way to improve diversity in urology overall by providing experience in academic medicine and access to urologists who can write letters of recommendation. We have an opportunity to be the leaders in expanding racial diversity in our field.” Vince also has made it a goal to expose more students to urology through his mentorship of premed and medical students, and is currently working with 20 mentees. He knows the importance of having just one person who believes in you and instills confidence in your choices. “If I hadn’t had that one professor who told me I was smart enough to be a physician, I probably would have tucked my tail between my legs,” Vince said. “I didn’t know anything about becoming a doctor. It was really hard and took a long time. But I got into medical school, I got top scores on my board exams and matched into an extremely competitive specialty. Think how many kids have the potential to do this and more.” VCU News
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Op/Ed & Letters
Dec. 9, 2020 • 3
Republicans: To what end? HEATHER COX RICHARDSON Coronavirus continues to devastate the country, with official deaths topping 281,000, but it turns out that the Trump administration did not actually have a plan for distribution of vaccines. Federal officials have drastically slashed the amount of vaccine they promised to states before the election. Instead of the 300 million doses the administration had promised before the end of 2020, the plan is currently to distribute 35 to 40 million doses. Even those, though, are plagued by bottlenecks in parts of the production process, as well as manufacturing issues. This means a longer struggle with the disease than many had come to expect. Trump continues to refuse to acknowledge his loss in the November election. On Saturday, before a scheduled rally in Georgia for two Republican senators facing runoffs against their Democratic challengers, Trump called Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to pressure him to overturn Biden’s win in the state. Trump asked Kemp to convince the state legislature to ignore Biden’s victory and appoint their own slate of electors who would give the president the state’s votes in the Electoral College. Biden won Georgia by about 12,000 votes, and Georgia law does not permit the legislature to submit The LEGACY NEWSPAPER Vol. 6 No. 50 Mailing Address P.O. Box 12474 Richmond, VA 23241 Office Address 105 1/2 E. Clay St. Richmond, VA 23219 Call: 804-644-1550 Online www.legacynewspaper.com
alternative electors. When Kemp, who is a Republican, declined to do as Trump asked, Trump took to Twitter to attack him. Trump also asked Kemp to demand an audit of the signatures on mail-in ballots, which Kemp does not have the power to do. Georgia’s governor may not interfere in elections. Instead, the state secretary of state has jurisdiction, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, has defended the existing signature match process and says there is no evidence of fraud. At tonight’s rally, Trump continued to insist he had won the election and to assure attendees they are all victims of the Democrats’ plot to steal the election. The rally was nominally about the senate candidates, but Trump treated it pretty much as he treated his rallies before the election. He is convincing his supporters that the election was The LEGACY welcomes all signed letters and all respectful opinions. Letter writers and columnists opinions are their own and endorsements of their views by The LEGACY should be inferred. The LEGACY assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. Annual Subscription Rates Virginia - $50 Other states - $75 Outside U.S.- $100 The Virginia Legacy © 2020
rigged, and that President-Elect Biden will be an illegitimate president. Trump loyalists at the Pentagon continue to refuse to let Pentagon officials communicate with Biden’s transition team. According to an official, the Pentagon chief of staff Kash Patel, a former staffer for California Representative Devin Nunes appointed after the election, has rewritten policy descriptions to reflect well on Trump before letting Biden’s people see them. He has also stopped communications. He “told everybody we're not going to cooperate with the transition team,” an official said, and he has "put a lot of restrictions on it." He is “controlling the information flow.” This will put the Biden camp behind on getting up to speed on sensitive foreign policy issues with Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, and North Korea, hurting national security. Also today, the Washington Post printed the results of its query to all 249 Republicans in the House and Senate, asking them who won the 202 presidential election. Only 27 of them are willing to acknowledge that Biden won. Two Republicans insist that Trump won the election, all evidence to the contrary. The rest of them—220 of them—refuse to say who won. This is a big deal. This was not a close election. Biden currently has
over seven million more votes than Trump, and has won by 306 to 232 in the Electoral College. And yet, Republican leadership is permitting Trump to undermine our democracy. Try to imagine any past Republican president doing what Trump is doing, and you can’t. But today’s Republican lawmakers are standing to the side, permitting Trump to poison our democracy. To what end? Why are Republicans accepting this anti-American behavior from Trump? It seems to me they are unwilling to risk losing Trump’s voters in the future because they are determined to regain power. They don’t much care about our democracy, so long as they have a shot at keeping Trump’s people on their side. But then, again, to what end? If Republicans regain power in 2022 or 2024, what will that look like? Do we have any reason to think they will then begin to defend our democracy? Do we have any reason to think they are interested in anything but even more legislation that moves wealth upward? Cox Richardson is a political historian who uses facts and history to make observations about contemporary American politics. Her new book is “How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America.”
4 • Dec. 9, 2020
The LEGACY
Senate approves renaming Va. PO after Virginians U.S. senators, Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) recently celebrated the Senate passage of three bills to rename United States Postal Service (USPS) facilities in Hopewell, Leesburg, and Midlothian after three Virginians who made significant contributions to both the Commonwealth and the nation: The Rev. Curtis West Harris, Norman Duncan, and Dorothy Braden Bruce. “The renaming of these post offices reflects long overdue gratitude for the work Reverend Harris, Mr. Duncan, and Mrs. Bruce accomplished throughout their lives,” the senators said in a statement. “We’re glad to see our colleagues support these bills that recognize the significant
contributions these Virginians made in civil rights, transportation, and our military.” The “Reverend Curtis West Harris Post Office Building”, at 117 West Poythress St. in Hopewell, honors the legacy of Harris, who long fought for racial justice and equity. Harris served as pastor of Hopewell’s Union Baptist Church for nearly 50 years, was the first African-American mayor of Hopewell, and was also elected to serve in the Hopewell City Council from 1986 to 2012. He died in 2017 and was buried in Appomattox Cemetery, a site he first fought to integrate in 1960. The “Norman Duncan Post Office Building” at 15 East Market St. in Leesburg honors the legacy
of Norman Duncan, a child of Jewish immigrants who was awarded the Legion of Honor for his service during World War II where he was promoted to the rank of Master Sergeant. After his service, Duncan worked in McLean as a transportation logistics specialist and advocate for minority participation in the transportation industry and was an active community member in Loudoun County. He volunteered his expertise on President Jimmy Carter’s National Defense Executive Reserve and consulted on transportation logistics for President Ronald Reagan’s inaugural committee. He died in 2019, two months after attending the 75th anniversary
and commemoration of the D-Day landings in Normandy. The “Dorothy Braden Bruce Post Office Building”, at 1201 Sycamore Square Dr. in Midlothian, honors the life and legacy of Bruce, a Virginia native who served as a key codebreaker in a top-secret group with other women during World War II to help disclose locations of Japanese ships, disrupt enemy supply chains, and protect the lives of countless servicemembers. Despite Bruce’s efforts contributing to Allied success, her role was kept secret for over 70 years while she continued to serve her community in Midlothian. She passed away in 2019 after finally being publicly recognized for her role as a codebreaker in 2017.
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P.T. Hoffsteader, Esq.
Dec. 9, 2020 • 5
Vaccine (from page 1) community can trust the vaccine aside, the next controversy on the immediate horizon is whether African Americans will have access. The initial supply certainly will overwhelm demand, CDC officials said. The federal government plans to distribute the vaccine in phases. Health care workers and patients in long-term health care facilities are first in line. According to guidelines, senior citizens and those with high-risk comorbidities and essential workers are next. After that, state and local government officials will determine who next receives a vaccination. So far, most states have yet to develop a concrete plan. The outline reportedly provided suggested no explicit details about reaching marginalized populations like the Black community who have suffered the most. “I’m looking at social media, and I’m seeing [Former President] Barack Obama saying he’ll take the vaccine on television, and I’m shaking my head,” said Tonia Everhart, a Northeast, Washington, D.C., nurse. “First, understand that Obama isn’t necessarily the most trusted voice in the Black community, and he’s not a doctor. “While I understand what he’s trying to do to encourage participation and eliminate fear, our community needs Black medical professionals, trusted voices, to
Toner
say it’s okay to take the vaccine and then we need to be assured that we are not going to be left behind when the vaccine becomes available,” said Everhart. Health
officials agree. “You need that deep community engagement to strategize and inform what needs to be done, community by community,” Eric Toner, a senior scholar with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, who was the lead author for Johns Hopkins’ Covid-19 vaccine allocation framework, told NBC News. That means engagement of local leaders, from pastors to principals, to reach hesitant individuals, he said, adding that such strategies are particularly key to reaching historically marginalized and disenfranchised communities. “That is a public health priority not only for ethical and moral reasons but because that’s where a lot of the transmission of the disease is happening,” Toner added. “It’s absolutely true that we can’t reach them solely through public messaging,” Toner continued. “States need to be working now to create the relationships in those communities with trusted leaders to encourage people to seriously think about getting vaccinated.”
The challenges ahead
In less than seven weeks, Joe Biden is scheduled to be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States. And these next four years will be riddled with monumental challenges: climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic response, the economy. And then there’s immigration. On the campaign trail and debate stages and in TV interviews, Biden has promised to dismantle President Donald Trump’s restrictionist immigration agenda and create more humane policies at the border and beyond. And on our immigration team, we’re gearing up to keep his administration accountable. The road to reverse Trump’s antiimmigrant legacy won’t be easy. As The Washington Post pointed out this week: “Biden’s administration will inherit an enforcement system cracking under the strains of the coronavirus pandemic, a crippling immigration court backlog and a demoralized workforce at the Department of Homeland Security, where leadership instability and administrative chaos have been signatures of Trump’s tenure.” Trump is pushing to further limit immigration. Since Election Day, the government has lengthened the citizenship test immigrants must pass in order to be naturalized, from 100 to 128 questions, reports Politico. Officials also have moved to further reduce the kind of jobs immigrants can apply for under H-1B visas, which are temporary
work permits filed by companies that want to hire high-skilled immigrants when there’s a shortage of American workers. Sources have also told CNN that the Trump administration wants to enter into more “safe third country” agreements before Trump’s term ends. The agreements require asylum-seeking migrants to first claim asylum in another country along their journey to the U.S. border. That means migrants must wait in countries that lack the proper resources and infrastructure to help them. And if asylum seekers arrive at the U.S. border before first seeking protection somewhere else, they’re subject to being deported and sent back to the conditions they fled in the first place. Only one such agreement currently exists, with Guatemala. Refugee ministries are laying the groundwork for a rise in admissions under Biden. When Trump significantly lowered the Obama-era cap of 110,000 refugee admissions in a year to just 15,000, many refugee resettlement organizations either reduced their capacity or completely shut their doors. But on the heels of Biden’s announcement that he will increase the cap for refugee admissions to 125,000, the agencies that remain are working quickly to establish new partnerships and recruit volunteers. To be sure, returning to such a high level of resettlement after several years of historic lows will be very challenging. Scott Arbeiter, World Relief
The LEGACY
6 • Dec. 9, 2020
NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC OF 2020 RENEWABLE PORTFOLIO STANDARD (RPS) FILING BY VIRGINIA ELECTRIC AND POWER COMPANY D/B/A DOMINION ENERGY VIRGINIA CASE NO. PUR-2020-00134 • Virginia Electric and Power Company d/b/a Dominion Energy Virginia (“Dominion”) has submitted its 2020 Renewable Portfolio Standard (“RPS”) Filing. The Filing includes Dominion’s RPS Development Plan and requests for approval to construct new solar facilities and to enter into new solar power purchase agreements. • Dominion requests approval of Rider CE with a revenue requirement of $10,575,000 over the 2021 rate year. According to Dominion, this amount would increase a typical residential customer’s bill using 1,000 kilowatt hours per month by $0.19. • Due to the ongoing public health emergency related to the spread of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, the State Corporation Commission will hold a telephonic hearing in this case on February 12, 2021, for the receipt of public witness testimony. • An evidentiary hearing will be held remotely on February 17, 2021, via Microsoft Teams, for the receipt of evidence of Dominion, respondents and Commission Staff. • Further information about this case is available on the SCC website at: scc.virginia.gov/pages/ Case-Information. During its 2020 Session, the Virginia General Assembly enacted Chapters 1193 (HB 1526) and 1194 (SB 851) of the 2020 Virginia Acts of Assembly. These duplicate Acts of Assembly, known as the Virginia Clean Economy Act (“VCEA”), became effective on July 1, 2020. The VCEA, inter alia, establishes mandatory renewable energy portfolio standards (“RPS”) for Virginia Electric and Power Company (“Dominion” or “Company”) in new § 56-585.5 of the Code of Virginia (“Code”). Subdivision D 4 of Code § 56-585.5 requires Dominion to submit annually to the State Corporation Commission (“Commission”) plans and petitions for approval of new solar and onshore wind generation capacity (“RPS Filing”). The Commission must determine whether the RPS Filing is reasonable and prudent, given due consideration to the following factors: (i) the RPS and carbon dioxide reduction requirements in Code § 56-585.5; (ii) the promotion of new renewable generation and energy storage resources within the Commonwealth, and associated economic development, and (iii) fuel savings projected to be achieved by the plan. The Commission’s final order regarding any RPS Filing is required by Code § 56-585.5 D 4 to be entered by the Commission not more than six months after the date of such filing. On October 30, 2020, Dominion submitted its RPS Filing to the Commission (“2020 RPS Filing” or “Petition”). The 2020 RPS Filing requests the Commission: (i) approve the Company’s annual plan for the development of new solar, onshore wind, and energy storage resources (“RPS Development Plan”) in connection with the new RPS program (“RPS Program”); (ii) grant certificates of public convenience and necessity (“CPCNs”) and approval to construct and operate three solar generating facilities totaling approximately 82 megawatts (“MW”) (“CE-1 Solar Projects”) pursuant to Code § 56-580 D and the Commission’s Filing Requirements in Support of Applications for Authority to Construct and Operate an Electric Generating Facility; (iii) approve a rate adjustment clause (“RAC”) to recover the costs of the CE-1 Solar Projects and related distribution and transmission interconnection facilities, designated Rider CE, pursuant to Code § 56-585.1 A 6 (“Subsection A 6”) and the Commission’s Rules Governing Utility Rate Applications and Annual Informational Filings; and (iv) make a prudence determination for the Company to enter into six power purchase agreements (“PPAs”) for the energy, capacity, ancillary services, and environmental attributes of approximately 416 MW of solar generating facilities owned by third parties pursuant to Code § 56-585.1:4 (“CE-1 Solar PPAs”). RPS Development Plan The Company states that its RPS Development Plan reports on the Company’s progress toward meeting the solar, onshore wind and energy storage development targets outlined in the VCEA and presents the
Company’s development plan for solar, onshore wind and energy storage facilities through 2035. Including facilities that are in operation, under construction, or proposed for approval, including the CE-1 Solar Projects and the CE-1 Solar PPAs, the 2020 RPS Filing shows that Dominion has a total of 1,391 MW of solar and onshore wind construction and purchases as of June 30, 2020. For energy storage, the 2020 RPS Filing shows the Company has 16 MW of energy storage in operation, under construction, or in preconstruction. The Company’s RPS Development Plan calls for additional investment in solar, onshore wind and energy storage in the short and long term. The Company states in furtherance of these plans, it will issue annual requests for proposals (“RFPs”) for development proposals and third party PPAs for new solar and onshore wind projects. The Company states that it also intends to issue annual RFPs for small-scale solar projects to support development of small-scale solar resources. The Company calculated the projected incremental monthly bill impact associated with the RPS Development Plan and the RPS Program over the next 15 years for residential, small general service and large general service customers. The Company projects, for example, that the monthly bill of a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours (“kWh”) per month will increase by approximately $39.02 by 2035 to reflect the incremental impact of the costs of the RPS Development Plan and the RPS Program. The Company notes that these bill projections are not final, and all customer rates are subject to regulatory approval. CE-1 Solar Projects The Company seeks CPCNs and approval to construct and operate the CE-1 Solar Projects, which consist of three solar generating facilities: (i) the approximately 20 MW (nominal alternating current (“AC”)) Grassfield Solar Project located in the City of Chesapeake (“Grassfield”); (ii) the approximately 20 MW (AC) Norge Solar Project located in James City County (“Norge”); and (iii) the approximately 42 MW (AC) Sycamore Solar Project located in Pittsylvania County (“Sycamore”). According to the Company, the total estimated costs for the CE-1 Solar Projects are approximately $168.2 million, excluding financing costs, or approximately $2,051 per kilowatt at the total 82 MW (nominal AC) rating. The Company asserts that the CE-1 Solar Projects are needed to comply with the VCEA, to serve customers’ capacity and energy needs, and to comply with carbon regulations. The Company states it selected the CE-1 Solar Projects from a 2019 RFP (“2019 Solar-Wind RFP”) for additional utility-scale solar and onshore wind generating facilities in Virginia. As proposed, the CE-1 Solar Projects would be composed of ground-mounted, single-axis tracking solar panel arrays with an expected operating life of 35 years. The Company states Grassfield is expected to be in-service by December 2021, and Norge and Sycamore are expected to be in-service by late 2022. Rider CE In this proceeding, Dominion asks the Commission to approve Rider CE for the initial rate year beginning June 1, 2021, and ending May 31, 2022 (“Rate Year”). Pursuant to Subsection A 6, the Company seeks approval for its accrual of allowance for funds used during construction (“AFUDC”) of the CE-1 Solar Projects, and to recover the costs of the CE-1 Solar Projects and the related distribution and transmission facilities through proposed Rider CE. The costs of the CE-1 Solar PPAs will not be recovered through Rider CE. Pursuant to Code § 56-585.5 F, the Company proposes Rider CE to be applicable to all of the Company’s Virginia retail customers as a non-bypassable charge, irrespective of whether a customer purchases electric supply service from a competitive service provider (“CSP”), subject to two exceptions. The Company proposes to exempt a customer meeting the accelerated renewable energy buyer requirements pursuant to Code § 56-585.5 G and any customer with a peak demand in calendar year 2019 that exceeded 100 MW and that elected to purchase electric supply service from a CSP prior to April 1, 2019, pursuant to Code § 56-577 A 3. The three components of the proposed total revenue requirement for the Rate Year are the Projected Cost Recovery Factor, the AFUDC Cost Recovery Factor and the Actual Cost True-Up Factor. Because the Grassfield solar project is projected to commence commercial operations during the Rate Year, the revenue requirement for the Rate Year includes separate pre- and post-commercial operations date (“COD”) amounts for Grassfield. The annualized Projected Cost Recovery Factor revenue requirement totals $8,109,000 and $8,478,000 for the pre- and post-COD periods, respectively. The Company’s proposed annualized AFUDC Cost Recovery Factor revenue requirement for the pre- and post-COD periods are approximately $3,220,000 and $1,557,000, respectively. Thus, the total annualized revenue requirement requested for recovery during the pre-COD period of $11,329,000, and the total annualized revenue requirement requested for recovery during the post-COD period of $10,035,000 will produce approximately $4,721,000 and $5,854,000 in pre- and post-COD revenues, respectively. Therefore, the
Dec. 9, 2020• 7
www.LEGACYnewspaper.com Company is requesting a total revenue requirement of $10,575,000 in Rider CE for service rendered during the Rate Year.
Sycamore Solar Project
Norge Solar Project
For purposes of calculating the revenue requirement in this case, Dominion utilized a rate of return on common equity (“ROE”) of 9.2%. This ROE is the ROE approved by the Commission in PUR-2019-00050. If the proposed Rider CE for the Rate Year is approved, the impact on customer bills would depend on the customer’s rate schedule and usage. According to Dominion, implementation of its proposed Rider CE on June 1, 2021, would increase the bill of a residential customer using 1,000 kWh per month by approximately $0.19. CE-1 Solar PPAs Prudence Determination In its 2020 RPS Filing, Dominion also seeks a prudence determination from the Commission with respect to six CE-1 Solar PPAs pursuant to Code § 56-585.1:4 H. The six CE-1 Solar PPAs consist of: (i) the approximately 20 MW (AC) Watlington Solar Project located in Halifax County; (ii) the approximately 20 MW (AC) Pleasant Hill Solar Project located in the City of Suffolk; (iii) the approximately 118 MW (AC) Chesapeake Solar Project located in the City of Chesapeake; (iv) the approximately 75 MW (AC) Wythe County Solar Project located in Wythe County; (v) the approximately 170 MW (AC) Cavalier Solar Project located in Isle of Wight County and Surry County; and (vi) the approximately 12.5 MW (AC) Rivanna Solar Project located in Albemarle County.
Grassfield Solar Project
Dominion asserts that the CE-1 Solar PPAs are needed to comply with the VCEA, to serve customers’ capacity and energy needs, and to comply with carbon regulations. According to the 2020 RPS Filing, the Company selected the CE-1 Solar PPAs from the same 2019 Solar-Wind RFP from which it also identified the CE-1 Solar Projects. The 2020 RPS Filing states that the CE-1 Solar PPAs have a positive customer net present value when compared to market purchases. The Company further states that it allocates PPA costs between energy, capacity, and renewable energy certificates (“RECs”) based on their forward value at the time the PPA is executed. The Company states that the costs allocated to energy will be recovered through the fuel factor, the costs allocated to capacity will be recovered through base rates, and the costs allocated to RECs will be recovered through a separate RPS Program RAC. The allocation factors applicable to the CE-1 Solar PPAs are 71.9% to energy, 12.9% to capacity, and 15.2% to RECs. Interested persons are encouraged to review the Petition and supporting documents for the details of these and other proposals. TAKE NOTICE that the Commission may apportion revenues among customer classes and/or design rates in a manner differing from that shown in the Petition and supporting documents and thus may adopt rates that differ from those appearing in the Company’s Petition and supporting documents.The Commission entered an Order for Notice and Hearing in this proceeding that, among other things, scheduled public hearings on Dominion’s 2020 RPS Filing. On February 12, 2021, at 10 a.m., the Commission will hold a telephonic hearing, with no witness present in the Commission’s courtroom, for the purpose of receiving the testimony of public witnesses. On February 10, 2021, any person desiring to offer testimony as a public witness shall provide to the Commission (a) your name, and (b) the telephone number that you wish the Commission to call during the hearing to receive your testimony. This information may be provided to the Commission in three ways: (i) by filling out a form on the Commission’s website at scc.virginia.gov/pages/ Webcasting; (ii) by completing and emailing the PDF version of this form to SCCInfo@scc.virginia.gov; or (iii) by calling (804) 371-9141. This public witness hearing will be webcast at scc.virginia.gov/pages/ Webcasting. A public evidentiary hearing shall be convened at 10 a.m. on February 17, 2021, and shall be held remotely with no party present in the Commission’s courtroom to receive the testimony and evidence offered by the Company, respondents, and the Staff on the Company’s 2020 RPS Filing. Please see the Commission’s Order for Notice and Hearing for further details on the evidentiary hearing. The Commission has taken judicial notice of the ongoing public health emergency related to the spread of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, and the declarations of emergency issued at both the state and federal levels. In accordance therewith, all pleadings, briefs, or other documents required to be served in this matter should be submitted electronically to the extent authorized by 5 VAC 5-20-150, Copies and format, of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure (“Rules of Practice”). Confidential and Extraordinarily Sensitive information shall not be submitted electronically and should comply with 5 VAC 5-20-170, Confidential information, of the Rules of Practice. For the duration of the COVID-19 emergency, any person seeking to hand deliver and physically file or submit any pleading or other document shall contact the Clerk’s Office Document Control Center at (804) 371-9838 to arrange the delivery. Pursuant to 5 VAC 5-20-140, Filing and service, of the Commission’s Rules of Practice, the Commission
has directed that service on parties and the Commission’s Staff in this matter shall be accomplished by electronic means. Please refer to the Commission’s Order for Notice and Hearing for further instructions concerning Confidential or Extraordinarily Sensitive Information. An electronic copy of the Company’s 2020 RPS Filing may be obtained by submitting a written request to counsel for the Company, Sarah R. Bennett, Esquire, McGuireWoods LLP, Gateway Plaza, 800 East Canal Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219, or SBennett@mcguirewoods.com. Interested persons also may download unofficial copies from the Commission’s website: scc.virginia.gov/pages/Case-Information. On or before February 12, 2021, any interested person may file comments on the 2020 RPS Filing by following the instructions found on the Commission’s website: scc.virginia.gov/casecomments/SubmitPublic-Comments. All comments shall refer to Case No. PUR-2020-00134. On or before December 18, 2020, any person or entity wishing to participate as a respondent in this proceeding may do so by filing a notice of participation. Such notice of participation shall include the email addresses of such parties or their counsel. The respondent simultaneously shall serve a copy of the notice of participation on counsel to the Company. Pursuant to Rule 5 VAC 5-20-80 B, Participation as a respondent, of the Commission’s Rules of Practice, any notice of participation shall set forth: (i) a precise statement of the interest of the respondent; (ii) a statement of the specific action sought to the extent then known; and (iii) the factual and legal basis for the action. Any organization, corporation, or government body participating as a respondent must be represented by counsel as required by Rule 5 VAC 5-20-30, Counsel, of the Rules of Practice. All filings shall refer to Case No. PUR-2020-00134. On or before January 4, 2021, each respondent may file with the Clerk of the Commission and serve on the Staff, the Company, and all other respondents, any testimony and exhibits by which the respondent expects to establish its case, and each witness’s testimony shall include a summary not to exceed one page. In all filings, respondents shall comply with the Commission’s Rules of Practice, including 5 VAC 5-20-140, Filing and service; and 5 VAC 5-20-240, Prepared testimony and exhibits. All filings shall refer to Case No. PUR-2020-00134. Any documents filed in paper form with the Office of the Clerk of the Commission in this docket may use both sides of the paper. In all other respects, except as modified by the Commission’s Order for Notice and Hearing, all filings shall comply fully with the requirements of 5 VAC 5-20-150, Copies and format, of the Commission’s Rules of Practice. The Company’s 2020 RPS Filing, the Commission’s Rules of Practice and the Commission’s Order for Notice and Hearing may be viewed at: scc.virginia.gov/pages/Case-Information.
The LEGACY
8 • Dec. 9, 2020
VCU Health laying off 635 employees
Outsources billing and collections VCU Health System is farming out its billing and collections services, trimming 635 people from its payroll in the process. However, the vast majority of those workers found new employment with the outside firm — Ensemble Health Partners. Ensemble on Nov. 1 took over VCU Health’s so-called revenue cycle service, which is the process by which health care providers manage and track revenue generated through patients. VCU workers who are affected by the change will have their employment with VCU terminated Dec. 19, and those workers who accepted offers from Ensemble will begin their employment with Ensemble the next day. In an email, VCU Health spokeswoman Laura Rossacher said that more than 90 percent of the
workers affected by the layoff have arranged to transfer to Ensemble. The changes will leave VCU Health with about 13,200 employees. None of VCU Health’s facilities are slated to close as a result of the transition. VCU Health said the change is the end result of a year-long study of the system’s billing, collections and scheduling operations and industry best practices. The change is expected to be permanent. “The partnership with Ensemble brings technology, exceptional operators and healthcare financial management best practices that will drive financial performance excellence and improve the patient experience for all of our patients,” Rossacher said. The decision to outsource follows media reports that began last year scrutinizing the health system’s billing and collections practices. A
2019 investigation by Kaiser Health News found VCU Health exhibited a pattern of aggressive payment collection against tens of thousands of patients that included liens on patients’ homes and wage seizure, which ceased after Kaiser published the story. Rossacher said the decision to outsource was not influenced by that reporting or public response to it. “Our work to improve our patient experience through every point in the care process is ongoing. Rooted in our vision, we are guided by what is best for our patients and media coverage on our past collections practices has not had implications on our decision-making process,” Rossacher said. Ensemble has more than 40 clients in 40 states, managing $19 billion in outsourced revenue
annually, according to the company’s website. Ensemble was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Ohio. In other VCU Health news, the organization in March announced a deal to buy Riverside Health System’s Riverside Tappahannock Hospital as well as a handful of physician practices in the eastern part of the state. VCU Health and Riverside announced in October that they had finalized the purchase agreement, and that the hospital, which will be called VCU Health Tappahannock Hospital, will officially join VCU Health on Jan. 1. And construction continues on the health system’s new 17-story, $349 million adult outpatient facility along East Leigh Street between North 10th and 11th streets to be completed in summer 2021. -RBiz
Dec. 9, 2020• 9
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Health insurers must answer for COVID-related disparities devastating minority communities HAZEL TRICE EDNEY Black and Latino communities throughout the United States have disproportionately suffered the most devastating impacts of the coronavirus, including a higher rate in deaths, underscoring inequities in the nation’s health care system and the broader society. In New York state, for example, African-Americans make up 14 percent of the population, but have experienced 26 percent of all deaths. In Virginia, 49 percent of coronavirus cases come from the
Hispanic and Latino community, which makes up 10 percent of the population. The disparities reflect a number of factors. But experts point to one factor in particular: the relatively high costs of medical care for COVID-19 at a time when Blacks and Hispanics are less likely to have health insurance than Whites are. Indeed, as pointed out by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the persistent gap in insurance coverage in minority communities is at the start of a chain of events that produces worse health outcomes.
Some 36 percent of nonelderly Latinos and 22 percent of African Americans are uninsured. Uninsured adults are twice as likely to forego doctor visits, which often means that developing or worsening health conditions go undetected and untreated. In fact, Gallup released a poll earlier this year that found that 14 percent of American adults said they would avoid seeking healthcare for early symptoms of coronavirus infection for themselves or a family member because they could not afford to pay for the care.
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How lower rates of insurance coverage among Black and Latino Americans contributed to disparities seen during the pandemic should be atop the list of questions posed to major insurance companies by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which recently launched an investigation into insurance companies’ policies and practices amid COVID-19. Demanding clear plans to remediate these critically important coverage issues must be a non-
(continued on page 11)
10 • Dec. 9, 2020
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Dec. 9, 2020• 11
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VIRGINIA REDISTRICTING
negotiable first step in holding health insurers accountable. In recent years, health insurers have been shrinking physician networks – the number of innetwork doctors available to patients in a given geographical area – in an apparent attempt to cut costs and pad their bottom line. A number of states have seen drastic reductions in coverage networks, including Texas, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Georgia. For communities of color, shrinking coverage networks compound the problem of medical indigency, which continues to be a systemic failing. Even in the wake of Obamacare, 30 million people remain uninsured, with half of them being people of color. The concern of Black leaders over the harmful practices and policies of health insurers surfaced earlier this year. They spoke out forcefully against an attempt by industry lobbyists to press Congress to approve legislation that would have enabled companies to pass on costs to medical providers and patients instead of requiring insurers to pay their fair share. During a primary campaign stop in South Carolina, Rev. Al Sharpton issued a clarion call for Congress to reject those industry efforts and craft legislation that protects the underinsured and those without insurance. And in a follow-up piece explaining the reason for his
visit to the state, Sharpton wrote, “African American access to highquality health care in particular is a pressing issue this election – if not a full-blown crisis.” That was before the pandemic struck. In the months since, insurers have engaged in other tactics to sure up profits at the expense of doctors and patients, from strongarming doctors to accept lower reimbursement rates to restricting the types of COVID-related procedures that would be covered. Those aggressive measures have paid off: one of the nation’s largest health insurers, United Healthcare, recently posted its most profitable quarter in the company’s history. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers are rightfully trying to respond. In fact, those historic profits at a time when so many other industries are struggling to stay afloat are what prompted lawmakers to open an investigation. It is unclear how Congress will press the insurance companies to address the persistent racial disparities in coverage that preceded the crisis and appeared to play a role in making the pandemic particularly deadly for Black and Latino Americans. But at a time when there’s an urgent national conversation on social and racial justice sweeping the country, lawmakers have a responsibility to hold their feet to the fire.
-TEWire
https://redistricting.dls.virginia.gov/