The Environment

Protecting Our Natural Resources For Future Generations

Virginia is blessed with an abundance of wonderful natural resources.  The magnificent Chesapeake Bay, the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains and the rolling farm fields of Southside and Southwest Virginia provide a marvelous vista for a state whose beauty is unequaled.

Bill Bolling knows that while we are blessed to enjoy the beauty Virginia offers, we also have a responsibility to preserve our natural resources and protect our environment for future generations of Virginians, and he has a record of doing just that.

As our Lieutenant Governor, Bill Bolling is working to protect Virginia’s natural resources by pursuing responsible and effective public policies to:

• Clean up the Chesapeake Bay
  • Implement comprehensive tributary management strategies to reduce pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed
• Improve air quality and water quality
  • Upgrade waste water treatment plants
  • Assist farmers with the implementation of best management practices to reduce agriculture run off
  • Develop a statewide storm water management program

• Promote “green energy” initiatives and effective conservation measures to reduce energy consumption
  • Advance renewable wind, solar and biofuel energy research and development
  • Enact “Green JOBZ” tax free zones to incentivize renewable energy technologies
  • Require new state buildings to incorporate LEED energy standards
  • Require state agencies to reduce energy consumption by entering into Energy Savings Performance Contracts

• Encourage smart growth and development practices
  • Provide additional incentives for high density/low impact development that reduces sprawl and promotes sustainable communities.
• Preserve more farmland and open spaces.
  • Preserve an additional 400,000 acres of land by increasing the land conservation tax credit from 40% to 50%