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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>74963</law_id><section_number>45.2-1705</section_number><catch_line> Legislative findings</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="45.2">Mines, Minerals, and Energy</unit><unit label="subtitle" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="V">Other Sources of Energy; Energy Policy</unit><unit label="chapter" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="17">Other Sources of Energy Generally; Energy Policy</unit><unit label="article" level="4" order_by="1" identifier="3">Energy Policy of the Commonwealth</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>The General Assembly hereby finds that:</p></section>
						<section id="1"><p><span class="prefix-number">1.</span> Energy is essential to the health, safety, and welfare of the people of the Commonwealth and to the Commonwealth&#x2019;s economy; <a id="paragraph-269305" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/45.2-1705/#1"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="2"><p><span class="prefix-number">2.</span> The government of the Commonwealth should facilitate the availability and delivery of reliable and adequate supplies of energy to industrial, commercial, and residential users at reasonable costs so that such users and the Commonwealth&#x2019;s economy are able to be productive; <a id="paragraph-269306" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/45.2-1705/#2"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="3"><p><span class="prefix-number">3.</span> The Commonwealth would benefit from articulating clear objectives pertaining to energy <span class="dictionary">issues</span>, adopting an energy policy that advances such objectives, and establishing a procedure for measuring the implementation of such policy; <a id="paragraph-269307" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/45.2-1705/#3"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="4"><p><span class="prefix-number">4.</span> Climate change is an urgent and pressing challenge for the Commonwealth. Swift decarbonization and a transition to clean energy are required to meet the urgency of the challenge; and <a id="paragraph-269308" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/45.2-1705/#4"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="5"><p><span class="prefix-number">5.</span> The Commonwealth will benefit from being a leader in deploying a low-carbon energy economy. <a id="paragraph-269309" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/45.2-1705/#5"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section></text><history>2006, c. 939, &#xA7; 67-100; 2020, cc. 1191, 1192; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
