Governor McDonnell and Attorney General Cuccinelli are making a name for themselves on the national climate denier scene. They’ve engaged Virginia in a lawsuit against the EPA and have gone as far as accusing leading scientist Michael Mann of fraud by seeking public funding for his research. So the irony was not lost when Gov. McDonnell yesterday announced that the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture has designated 59 counties as primary natural disaster areas because of the excessive heat we’ve seen in 2010. Farms in this area

Unfortunately, the Governor is leaving out any mention of climate change. Utilities are also refusing to address the issue, fighting progress toward a clean energy future. For example, Old Dominion Electric Cooperative is still moving full-steam ahead on a proposed coal plant by the Chesapeake Bay. This plant would be the largest in Virginia, emitting 14.6 million tons of carbon dioxide per year.

Many farmers in the counties now designated as a federal disaster area get their electricity from the ODEC cooperatives and would foot the $6 billion bill. In other words, they would simultaneously lose money from heat-induced reductions in crop yield and be paying for a new coal plant that is going to contribute to the climate crisis and continue to make droughts and excessive heat more frequent.

Climate change is here. Now. And we’re only going to pay more and more until the McDonnell/Cuccinelli administration and utilities use their influence to move us to a clean energy future.