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byline: Beth JoJack

Clouds gathering over big solar farms in Va.?

In recent years, many solar farms have been approved by local governments across the state, but the outlook in some areas isn’t so sunny anymore.

In Frederick County, the Board of Supervisors’ rejection of a utility-scale solar project has led to a lawsuit.

In April, Hollow Road Solar LLC and property owners National Fruit Orchards Inc. and Diane Holmes filed a $7.5 million lawsuit against the Frederick County Board of Supervisors in the county’s circuit court, and it’s now been transferred to federal court at the request of the county. 

Representatives from Hollow Road Solar, a subsidiary of Leesburg-based Blue Ridge Energy Holdings LLC, had hoped to win approval to build an 80-acre solar plant on a 326-acre property in Gore. It would have generated up to 20 megawatts of energy, and the project required a conditional use permit from the board. 

However, on March 10, supervisors voted 6-1 to deny the permit. The move came after the board approved two other permit applications for solar facilities in 2020.

During the meeting, Supervisor J. Douglas McCarthy explained he voted in favor of the earlier projects because the properties were owned by local farmers who wanted to maintain the “rural character of the land.” Hollow Road Solar, he said, is “a purely commercial enterprise. I think we need to be careful not to gobble up agricultural land.”

In response, Hollow Road Solar charges in its lawsuit that the board’s denial was “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable.”

Jonah Fogel, a program manager for the University of Virginia’s Environmental Resilience Institute, says it’s not unusual for local officials to be concerned about the ever-increasing number of developers seeking to build solar facilities on Virginia’s rural properties.

He suggests the Frederick County Board of Supervisors — as well as other county boards with similar concerns — may want to consider addressing solar energy specifically in county planning documents. As of late 2020, about 70 solar projects between 5 and 150 megawatts were under consideration by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

“It may be that solar kind of came along, and they tried to be as welcoming as possible,” Fogel says, “and then realized that these projects are [getting] bigger and bigger and it may not fit easily into their intention for . . .  meeting the strategic objectives of the rural area as it’s outlined in their comprehensive plan.” 

G-Men headed for Springfield? Possibly.

After being sidelined during the Trump administration, the plan to build a new FBI headquarters in the Washington, D.C., suburbs appears to be back on track.

Earlier this year, U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both Democrats, and their Maryland counterparts wrote to President Joe Biden to request that the federal government choose one of three recommended locations — a site in Springfield and two in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The FBI is currently housed at the aging J. Edgar Hoover Building in the District.

“It’s no secret that the current building housing our FBI headquarters is crumbling and in a state of disrepair,” Warner said in an email. “I believe that building a new consolidated headquarters in the national capital region is not only a cost-effective decision, it’s also a strategic necessity, as the men and women of the FBI need a headquarters that best allows them to meet their critical law enforcement and national security missions.”

In an April 30 letter to the president, Warner, Kaine and Maryland Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen noted that the General Services Administration was supposed to submit a new plan for the FBI headquarters to Congress by March 27. However, the senators pointed out, “a plan has not been submitted.”

Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Warner continues to be a cheerleader for Virginia’s contender for the project, the GSA Franconia Warehouse Complex, located near the intersection of Interstate 95 and Franconia Road. He calls the site “the best option to build a secure and state-of-the-art facility that meets the needs of the FBI and its workforce.”

Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity, who represents Springfield, points out that many FBI employees already live in the area and that the site, which provides numerous options for public transportation, is also only about a 30-minute drive from the agency’s training academy in Quantico. Last year, the FBI decided to send 1,500 of its Washington-region employees to Huntsville, Alabama, with more potentially headed there in future years.

Nevertheless, the agency will still have a significant presence in the D.C. metro area, and Herrity hopes the government will soon make a decision based solely on what each site has to offer. “It’s a shame that this becomes a political decision,” he says. “This should be about the FBI and the FBI’s needs.” 

 

Botetourt wind project hits resistance

Apex Clean Energy Inc. continues working toward a day when wind turbines standing atop Botetourt County’s North Mountain might generate enough energy to power up to 21,000 homes each year.

Dubbed Rocky Forge Wind, the proposed wind farm north of Eagle Rock would be Virginia’s first onshore wind project in operation. However, some residents have filed a lawsuit in hopes of quashing it.

County and state officials have been discussing the wind energy project for six years with Charlottesville-based Apex, which constructs, owns and operates wind and solar power facilities across the nation.

In 2019, Gov. Ralph Northam announced the state government had entered into an agreement to purchase Rocky Forge Wind’s approximately 75-megawatt output — a move designed to help the state meet its goal of obtaining at least 30% of the electricity required for state agencies from renewable sources by 2022.

Limited tree clearing on the property began in mid-March “and marked the commencement of construction for Rocky Forge Wind,” Apex spokeswoman Natasha Montague says. Apex plans to erect 14 turbines, each standing 612 feet high and generating up to 5.5 megawatts apiece. The company expects the wind project to be operational in fall 2022.

However, a grassroots group called Virginians for Responsible Energy and 13 residents of Botetourt and Rockbridge counties filed a December 2020 lawsuit in Botetourt Circuit Court alleging that Rocky Forge Wind’s application to the state Department of Environmental Quality, approved last year, was “woefully incomplete” and that state reviewers rushed to approve the application even though it contained “old and irrelevant documents.”

A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Aug. 20. Jeff Scott, a member of Virginians for Responsible Energy and one of the suit’s plaintiffs, lives on about 30 acres of wilderness in Rockbridge and is concerned about the project’s impact on wildlife. “I’m not opposed to renewable energy,” he says. “I’m opposed to renewable energy that is not situated appropriately.”

In a response filed in court, attorneys representing Rocky Forge Wind charged that the lawsuit was an “opportunistic, last-ditch effort to stymie the project.”

Dan Crawford, chair of the Sierra Club’s Roanoke Group and chair of onshore wind promotion for the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, believes the lawsuit, in the end, will amount only to a speed bump.

“They’ll clear the legal hassle and start construction,” Crawford predicts. 

Virginians bet $236M on sports for April

Virginians bet $236 million on sports during April, the third full month for legal sports wagers in the commonwealth, according to data released Friday by the Virginia Lottery.

Bettors made about $217 million between April 1-30. Virginians bet 22% less in April than in March when they wagered heavily on the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament.

The seven licensed operators included in the April numbers were Betfair Interactive US LLC (FanDuel) in partnership with the Washington Football Team; Crown Virginia Gaming LLC (Draft Kings); BetMGM LLC; Rivers Portsmouth Gaming LLC (Rivers Casino Portsmouth); Caesars Virginia LLC (William Hill); WSI US LLC (Wynn); and Unibet Interactive. 

The state has placed a 15% tax on sports betting activity based on each permit holder’s adjusted gross revenue. With four operators reporting positive adjusted gross revenue, the total take for the state government was $1.65 million.

Sports betting was legalized in Virginia in mid-January.

Transurban hires sustainability manager

Transurban has hired Vincent Guimont-Hebert as sustainability manager for the Australian toll road operator and developer’s North American operations, which are headquartered in Tysons.

In the newly created position, Guimont-Hebert will ensure sustainability investments are part of current and upcoming projects, and will work to advance climate change programs along with transitioning the company to net-zero carbon impact.

“The addition of Vincent Guimont-Hebert as sustainability lead in North America bolsters our global commitment to building and operating resilient infrastructure, especially as we target net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,” Transurban North America President Pierce Coffee said in a statement. “Vincent understands the value of sustainability from an environmental and economic lens and will be critical to helping us deliver on our commitments to minimize our environmental footprint and expand our social impact in Virginia, Maryland and Quebec.”

In February, Maryland transportation officials announced a predevelopment deal with Accelerate Maryland Partners LLC, a joint venture led by Transurban and Macquarie Infrastructure Developments LLC, to deliver the American Legion Bridge 1-270 to I-70 Relief Plan. The project would add two high-occupancy toll lanes to approximately 37 miles of highway from the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Virginia across the American Legion Bridge and on Interstate 270 to Interstate 70 in Maryland. On that project, Guimont-Hebert will work to prioritize environmental stewardship with the reduction of emissions through congestion management, integration of new transit and carpooling choices and investments in water quality enhancements.

Guimont-Hebert founded Brundtlands Minds, a nonprofit network of sustainability experts that offer consulting, industry collaboration and training and research services surrounding environmental and social initiatives. Prior to that, he worked as corporate social and environmental responsibility manager at Canada’s Federal Bridge Authority, where he worked to implement a five-year corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda. He also held consulting roles at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), AECOM and Golder Associates.

“I am thrilled to join Transurban, a global leader in sustainability performance, to help advance forward-thinking initiatives that will environmentally, socially and economically generate value for the communities we operate in,” Guimont-Hebert said in a statement.

In 2019, Transurban adopted new greenhouse gas targets that focus on decarbonizing the business by 2050. The company’s sustainability strategy is aligned with the sustainable development goals adopted in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly. For five years in a row, Transurban was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

Slovenian manufacturer bringing $2.6M U.S. HQ to Harrisonburg

SIBO Group, a Slovenia-based manufacturer of closure solutions for tubes, containers and other packaging systems, will invest $2.6 million to establish its U.S. corporate headquarters and a new manufacturing operation in Harrisonburg. The subsidiary will operate as SIBO USA LLC and the project will create 24 jobs.

Founded in 1967, SIBO Group got its start producing plastic closures for the cosmetics industry. The company now manufactures plastic caps and shoulders, molds, technical components and other items, supplying many of the world’s leading brands in oral care, cosmetics, pharmacy, medicine, household, sanitary and food products. SIBO Group exports to more than 65 countries around the world, has more than 300 customers worldwide, and produces more than five billion pieces every year. The company is establishing a U.S. corporate headquarters to shorten delivery times to North America and South America, according to the SIBO Group.

“SIBO Group decided to establish its first U.S. production facility in Harrisonburg and to commit our production resources to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley due to the welcoming culture, strategic geographical position, investment-friendly state incentives, advanced infrastructure, economically active and innovative population, highly-qualified human capital, and tradition of industrial manufacturing,” SIBO USA CEO Mat Zakotnik said in a statement. “Our global team analyzed potential investment opportunities across the U.S., and we concluded that Virginia and Harrisonburg offer the best deal for our mutual success, not only in the form of market expansion opportunities for SIBO USA, but also by providing unprecedented local job creation potential, [an] inclusive local community and long-term corporate partnership.”

SIBO USA is eligible to receive up to a total of $21,600 from the Virginia Jobs Investment Program, a performance-based incentive offered through the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, according to Suzanne Clark, VEDP spokeswoman.

 

Reston-based Qlarion acquired by Maryland contractor

Columbia, Maryland-based government contractor GCOM Software LLC announced Wednesday it has acquired Reston-based Qlarion Inc., a data analytics and business intelligence contractor.

The purchase marks GCOM’s fifth acquisition since 2018 and its first acquisition of a data analytics company.

“Liberating data will enable governments at all levels to make more informed decisions, creating better outcomes for their constituents,” said GCOM CEO Kamal Bherwani in a statement. “Qlarion’s analytics will amplify GCOM’s mission to support our government partners to improve population well-being, promote equity and drive economic growth.”

Qlarion designed the commonwealth of Virginia’s Framework for Addiction Analysis and Community Transformation (FAACT) , a cross-agency, cloud-based data-sharing platform that launched in 2019 to help communities in Virginia combat opioid addiction.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, according to Qlarion, Virginia began using the framework to get insights like which hospitals needed supplies and pharmaceuticals, which hospitals had beds and ventilators available and locations with the largest number of COVID-19 cases.

“We believe in the power of data to help transform government services and we are looking forward to having a broader reach as we join forces with GCOM,” Jake Bittner, president and CEO of Qlarion, said in a statement. “Both GCOM and Qlarion are committed to creating real, tangible value for our customers and we’re excited to continue our pursuit of this shared goal.”

Qlarion’s data analytics experts will work closely with GCOM’s product team to inject analytics into the company’s existing software as a service products, a move designed to help customers better quantify and understand the effect of their policies and programs.

GCOM’s technology platforms are used in 22 states by state and local governments, with a focus on systems in health and human services, justice and public safety, licensing and regulatory markets.

Qlarion’s existing management team will continue to lead offices in Reston and Richmond.

GCOM is a portfolio company of New York City-based private equity firm Sagewind Capital.

California manufacturer opening $9.1M facility in Fluvanna

Stewart Tool Co. Inc., a California-based prototype-to-production manufacturer, will invest $9.1 million to establish its first East Coast manufacturing operation in Fluvanna County, creating 22 jobs.

The company plans to renovate the former Kloeckner Metals facility in Fluvanna’s Troy area.

“We were looking for a location close to the East Coast operations of our major customers, and we selected Virginia in part because it was one of the top states for business,” said Amber Stewart, company president, in a statement. “We are confident that Fluvanna County is the right place for our manufacturing facility.”

A family owned-and-operated business, Stewart Tool Co. designs and manufactures pressure vessels, working to the specifications of government and international customers, in addition to offering quick-turn prototyping, computer numerical control (CNC) and manual machining, welding and fabrication, engineering and design of parts and product testing. The company also serves clients in need of pump repair and rebuilds for shipboard pumps, high pressure pumps, turbines, as well as pumps for propoline, butane, methane, propane and liquefied natural gas.

Stewart Tool Co. is eligible to receive up to a total of $19,800 from the Virginia Jobs Investment Program, a performance-based incentive offered through the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, according to Suzanne Clark, VEDP spokeswoman. Virginia Career Works-Piedmont Region will help Stewart Tool Co. with recruiting.

 

Checkered Flag Auto Group acquires Newport News dealership

Virginia Beach-based Checkered Flag Auto Group announced Tuesday that it has purchased the Pomoco Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Alfa Romeo and Fiat dealership in Newport News.

The acquisition is the company’s first dealership on the peninsula and its first to include U.S. automotive brands.

Checkered Flag Auto Group consists of 10 other dealerships in the greater Hampton Roads region selling automotive brands including Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Genesis, Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, Porsche, Land Rover and Jaguar.

Founded by Ed and Jean Snyder in 1964, Checkered Flag has about 600 employees and is run by the late couple’s son, Steve Snyder, the company’s president.

M.C. Dean announces phase 2 of $25M expansion in Caroline

Tysons-based M.C. Dean Inc. announced Monday it has entered the second phase of its $25 million expansion, breaking ground on an 84,000-square-foot modular manufacturing and systems integration facility at its Center for Innovation and Industry in Caroline County.

The electrical engineering firm designs, builds, operates and maintains cyberphysical solutions for clients including local, state and federal government agencies, as well as corporations, hospitals and biotechnology firms.

Expected to open this fall, the new facility in Caroline County will be home to ModularMEP, M.C. Dean’s line of modular electrical buildings, rooms and assemblies, which are shipped to project and construction sites across the country. The expansion to more than 300,000 square feet will increase production and manufacturing space.

“We continue to invest significantly in our ModularMEP manufacturing capacity to deliver complex modular systems for customers’ mission critical facilities where quality, safety and speed to market are paramount,” CEO Bill Dean said in a statement. “We’ve already exceeded our growth projections, adding 150 new manufacturing jobs and doubling our under-roof production space in two years, as we scale to meet our customers’ increased demand for offsite construction.”

Since first building in Caroline in 2006, M.C. Dean has made three rounds of investment at the 585-acre site.

“M.C. Dean has helped Caroline County become a technology employment center in the region, stimulating growth, while adding capital improvements that allow further development on the site,” Reginald Underwood, chairman of the Caroline County Board of Supervisors, said in a statement.

Gov. Ralph Northam approved a $500,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund and a $250,000 performance-based grant from the Virginia Investment (VIP) program for the Caroline County expansion, which was announced in 2019. M.C. Dean employs more than 4,500 people.