Gov. Bob McDonnell has charged the state's transportation agencies to consider environmental factors in addition to budgetary concerns.
The governor announced his "Going Green With Virginia Transportation" initiative Oct. 28, which aimed to illustrate opportunities for cost-savings on a variety of transportation programs.
"The environmental impact of transportation is significant, and it can be lessened by utilizing a variety of new technologies, practices and research," McDonnell said. "This initiative is part of our 'All the above' approach to making Virginia energy independent."
For example, the initiative encourages waste reduction and recycling within the transportation agencies. It also seeks to promote the use of renewable materials, Energy Star-rated appliances and biodiesel fuels.
Meanwhile, Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton pledged his commitment to telecommuting, aiming to allow no less than 20 percent of its members to work from home or another operational base and to decrease energy consumption by at least 5 percent by fiscal year 2012.
"There is a lot of work being done in the Potomac conservation," he said. "What we decided to do was to put it all together in a coordinated effort to form this initiative."
But although the Republican governor hopes these goals will reduce wasteful transportation practices, Virginia's Democrats note that some of these initiatives may not be realistic.
"I think the goal of 20 percent is an aggressive goal and a good goal," said Del. Mark D. Sickles, D-Fairfax. But "a lot of employers, including a lot of state employers, like to have their employees in the office."
Other strategies were outlined by the individual transportation agencies. The Department of Motor Vehicles, for example, will implement an automated license renewal program to reduce the printing and mailing of paper notices. The Department of Aviation is pushing Project Green Cockpit, a plan to replace paper copies of airport files with tablet computers that will store the information.
The initiative is consistent with the cost-savings recommendations outlined by the Governor's Commission on Government Reform & Restructuring and is the latest step in Virginia's plan to promote energy conservation and independence. In 1969, Virginia opened High Occupancy Vehicle lanes on highways and has recently begun converting its diesel-powered vehicles to electrically powered ones.
"We want to become a leader in environmental protection in the state," Connaughton said. "What we're trying to do is make this a regular part of our business and continually push our agencies to do even better."
Sickles agreed, noting that most of these initiatives are not new and have been ongoing.
"Virginia has a great potential to be a leader in biodiesel," Sickles said. "Sometimes it's hard to get [these goals accomplished] in the real world rather than as an abstract idea. I don't want to discourage it, [and] I don't think it breaks too much new ground here, but I'm really happy he's doing it"
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