The White House released its 2014 National Climate Assessment yesterday, and the diagnosis is serious. It points out that many Americans are already feeling the impacts of climate change, and asserts that those impacts will only worsen if we continue on our current path. The report is over 800 pages long and, according to its authors, is the most comprehensive assessment of climate change impacts in the US to date. According to the Huffington Post, “average U.S. temperatures have increased 1.3 degrees to 1.9 degrees Fahrenheit (depending on the part of the country) since people began keeping records in 1895, and much of that warming has come in recent decades.”
Learn about the Climate Assessment in the White House’s own words here.
A national coalition of environmental and health groups as well as shareholders in Dominion filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this week asserting that the company behind the proposed fracked gas export facility at Cove Point had “potentially omitted or inadequately disclosed significant risks to potential investors as it seeks permission to raise project funds through a sale of stock.” Platts reports that “Dominion on March 31 filed a Form S-1 with the SEC regarding its proposed initial public offering of common units representing limited partner interests.” According to the BayNet, “Dominion spokesman Karl R. Neddenien said the SEC’s rules prohibit the company from making comments about the “master limited partnership” established in March.“
Four months after coal-processing chemicals spilled into the Elk River in West Virginia, Think Progress reports that “the Environmental Protection Agency will test the chemical in air and set a corresponding safety limit for breathing the fumes.” The decision is too little, too late for residents who, regardless of what the EPA finds, have been breathing this air for the past four months. Alarmingly, “while approximately 10,000 gallons of the chemical mixture are estimated to have spilled into the Elk River, just upstream from a major water intake facility, residents reportedly began smelling the licorice-like odor characteristic of crude MCHM several weeks before the spill was reported.”
On a conference call drawing people from across the Mid-Atlantic region last week, climate and anti-fracking leaders rallied activists behind the next big steps in the fight to stop Dominion’s proposed fracked gas export facility at Cove Point. Most immediately, on May 15th, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is expected to release its “Environmental Assessment,” a cursory environmental evaluation that, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, “should not contain long descriptions or detailed data which the agency may have gathered.” After the release, there will be a 30-day public comment period, during which time FERC has agreed to hold one public meeting. That meeting will likely be on May 31st in Lusby, Maryland; sign up here to receive updates.
Maryland:
During Earth Week, The Nation covered the Cove Point fight as a major battle to protect the climate. They close with a call to action, saying “In the struggle to mitigate the effects of climate change, Cove Point would take us backwards. We need to move forward.”

Last week, a train carrying 8,000 tons of coal derailed in Bowie, Maryland, spilling at least one car’s-worth of coal, according to the Bowie Volunteer Fire Department. There were no immediate public health or safety concerns as a result of the spill, but the spotlight is on CSX, the railroad involved in this and two other incidents in the past week. The Baltimore Sun reports that,“Three CSX employees who were aboard the train at the time were accounted for and uninjured.”
Last Wednesday, the American Lung Association released its 15th annual State of the Air report which revealed that “ozone, or smog, continues to be a major air pollution problem in many parts of Maryland.” Poor air quality isn’t unique to Maryland: “half of the country lives in counties where ozone and particulates make air unhealthy to breathe.” While smog levels remain high, the Capital Gazette reports, “there has been progress in reducing particulate pollution nationwide because of cleanup of coal-fired plants and reformulating diesel fuels.” The Baltimore Sun had a slightly more positive take on the state’s air pollution status quo, saying, “Air quality has improved a lot in Maryland and nationwide over the past 15 years, according to a new report.” But the story acknowledged that there is still a problem: “the state got failing marks for the number of days when people outdoors were forced to breathe levels of ozone pollution, also known as smog, that could trigger asthma attacks or heart attacks.”
The Washington Post reports on HB 1168, the bill that threatens to stall land-based wind power development in Maryland. Most immediately, the bill would effectively kill a state-of-the-art wind farm project ready to begin construction on the lower Eastern Shore. The nearby Patuxent River Naval Air Station and the wind farm developers had developed an agreement to turn the turbines off when the the Naval Air Station performed test flights. However, according to the Washington Post, they didn’t expect that  “U.S. House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) and a coalition of Southern Maryland lawmakers would circumvent the process.” Now, Governor O’Malley has a decision to make: will he veto the bill or sign it into law? Signing the bill would signal that Maryland doesn’t want the jobs and investment that come with wind power development, while a veto would protect Maryland’s growing clean energy economy. You can call on Governor O’Malley to veto HB 1168 here.
Virginia:
Lynchburg, Virginia, made international headlines last week when a train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded, spilling crude into the nearby James River. Thankfully, there were no injuries reported, but the fire sent black plumes of smoke several stories high into the air and caused the evacuation of about 300 people. Several sources initially reported that the train cars involved in the incident were a type of car banned in Canada for involvement in similar incidents. However, it now appears that these cars were a newer model, deemed safer by the oil industry. According to DeSmog Blog, “a whole new Pandora’s Box of problems just opened up for the oil industry and the rail industry if the ‘safer’ ones also exploded.” Click here for more on the explosion.
WVTF Public Radio reported last week on Dominion’s reluctance to invest in renewable energy in Virginia and the backlash they’re seeing from Virginians concerned about the company’s role in fueling climate disruption. The company announced last month “that it had bought six solar development projects in California,” yet the company still generates no utility-scale solar power in the commonwealth and is instead choosing to invest heavily in more fossil fuels. The report says that “shareholders have been introducing resolutions at annual meetings, asking Dominion to report on the financial risks of climate change, the use of biomass and the release of methane.”
This year, we’re seeing big changes as the demands for Dominion to be accountable are growing louder and stronger. “As [Dominion CEO Tom] Farrell and his board meet today in Cleveland, people are taking action to say enough is enough. Ohio anti-fracking activists are protesting outside todenounce Dominion’s Cove Point gas export plan. Meanwhile, inside the meeting, Virginia shareholders are presenting four resolutions that call on the company to address its contribution to climate change.” Those four resolutions were met with unprecedented support from over 20% of the voting shareholders.
Air pollution is making headlines in Virginia, too, as the Supreme Court ruled the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can regulate air pollution that drifts across state borders. The Daily Press reports on the decision and quotes the Sierra Club’s Glen Besa who says, “the ruling is good news for urban regions coping with air pollution issues, including Hampton Roads. Overall, he said the ruling is good for the state.”