Author: CCAN Supporter

For Dominion there’s no hiding from the public

Photo Credit: Corrina Beall, Virginia Sierra Club
Last week over 150 protesters descended on Dominion Resources’ annual shareholder meeting in Glen Allen, VA. They came from all over—as far as Augusta County, Norfolk, and Cove Point, MD—to stand united against Dominion’s dirty energy investments.
For shareholders and executives attending the meeting, there was no hiding from droves of protesters lining both sides of the entranceway with their banners and a ‘mock’ inflatable pipeline.
What motivated so many activists to trek several hours for a protest on a Wednesday morning at 8am? For those who traveled from Augusta, Nelson, and Buckingham counties it’s their vehement opposition to Dominion’s proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), which would be constructed through their farms, businesses, and homes to serve as a conduit for ’fracked’ gas from West Virginia. Increasingly, Virginia landowners are fighting in solidarity with West Virginians opposing ‘fracking’ in their own backyards. If Dominion gets its way with the ACP, there’s little doubt that even more ‘fracked’ wells will be constructed in West Virginia to meet the growing pipeline capacity, threatening groundwater and releasing potent greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. With Virginia’s coast 2nd only to New Orleans as the most vulnerable area in country to sea level rise, it’s unacceptable for Dominion to be accelerating projects that contribute to climate change.
Pipeline opponents were not the only protestors in the crowd. Vans brought in dozens more from Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads and one group came from Lusby, MD, the site of Dominion’s proposed Cove Point export facility—another one of Dominion’s multi-billion dollar investments in ‘fracking’ infrastructure.
The huge turnout is an indicator of growing citizen backlash against the company’s dirty energy investments and dirty politics. This is becoming evident as articles and editorials in the press are frequently calling attention to Dominion’s “unrivaled power” in Virginia Politics, especially in the wake of the company’s successful efforts to partially halt the state’s oversight of its electric rates by passing favorable legislation in the 2015 General Assembly.
Opposition to Dominion’s dirty energy projects was not just limited to outside of the shareholder meeting. Even though non-shareholders were unable join the meeting, activist shareholders brought the public’s frustration to the forefront of the discussion. Six of the eight shareholder resolutions presented to the room demanded that the company take action on climate change or improve its environmental policies. Several of the resolutions received support in excess of 20%, and all but one received more support than last year, signaling a growing demand amongst investors that urgent action is needed on climate change. Later in the meeting shareholders had another opportunity to raise their concerns by asking questions directly to CEO Tom Farrell. Over a dozen people got up to ask questions and, except for one person, all of the questions were framed around Dominion’s dirty energy projects, climate change, or in one particular case, Dominion’s membership to the infamous American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
This year’s annual shareholder meeting was not a walk in the park for Dominion Resources. Opposition from inside and out is chipping away at Dominion’s carefully orchestrated public image. With the public and the media increasingly skeptical, the time is right to continue pressuring Dominion to halt building massive fracked gas infrastructure and to reexamine its energy portfolio, which is currently at odds with our climate.

Does your vision of Calvert County include Dominion?

Virginia-based Dominion Resources has never been the first thing that’s come to mind when I think about Calvert County. I think about trail-running in the American Chestnut Land Trust, or fossil-hunting as a kid at Calvert Cliffs, or sharing stories with friends in Solomons. To me, Calvert County is famous for its friendly communities, fresh air and natural beauty.
Yet, for the past 6 months, Dominion has been changing that. After hiring non-local construction workers, creating traffic jams and clearing forests, they are continuing to build their massive Cove Point export facility to process and ship billions of gallons of fracked gas from the Marcellus Shale overseas.
As CCAN gears up its legal battle to challenge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of Cove Point, a relentless and growing group of community members from across Southern Maryland continue to organize: holding meetings, presenting at weekly Board of Calvert County Commissioners’ meetings, knocking on neighbors’ doors, and pushing against a behemoth company to protect their neighborhoods. And it’s all leading up to an exciting rally, march, and community picnic on May 30th — The March for Calvert County to be Dominion-Free!
The day will begin with an inspiring rally at the Solomons boardwalk at 9AM. Following that, you can “join the flock” for a six-mile walk through Lusby ending at Cove Point Park, where we will celebrate everything we love about Calvert County. Join friends and community members for a family picnic and fellowship at 1PM.
Click here to join us at the March for Calvert County to be Dominion-free. On May 30th, we will show Calvert County that Dominion’s dirty fracked gas facility is not a done deal.
Since construction started, Dominion has failed the community, and now, it’s time to speak up. Show Calvert County and beyond that your vision of Calvert county is Dominion-Free. Let them know, we want our communities to be healthy and thriving, not polluted with more fracking wells or pipelines just so this corporation can make bigger profits.
Here are the details:
WHAT: March for Calvert County to be Dominion-free
WHEN: May 30th, 2015
WHERE: 9AM – Rally at Solmons Boardwalk in Solomons, MD
9:30AM – March! 6 miles from Solomons through Lusby
1PM – Picnic and Fellowship at Cove Point Park
750 Cove Point Rd, Lusby, MD 20657

See you May 30th at the March for Calvert County to be Dominion-free!

FERC Meetings in Virginia Demonstrate Widespread Opposition to Proposed Pipeline

Last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) held two public scoping meetings in Virginia to hear comments on the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline project, a 300-mile interstate pipeline proposed to run from northern West Virginia to southern Virginia. These meetings, intended to gather input on the issues FERC must address in its environmental review, are the only two public meetings currently planned by FERC in Virginia. Two meetings have been held in West Virginia already and two additional meetings will happen in West Virginia this week. The pipeline would cost $3.2 billion dollars and transport two billion cubic feet per day of fracked gas extracted from the Marcellus and Utica shale formations.
The first meeting was held Tuesday night in Elliston, Virginia. A large crowd of nearly 400 people turned out. Before the meeting began, organizers from The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League and Preserve Floyd joined local residents to sing songs and chants in opposition to the project. Unfortunately, while over 100 people signed up to comment at the meeting, only around 70 people were able to testify before the meeting was scheduled to end. On Thursday, residents gathered in Chatham, Virginia with an equally strong message of opposition to the project. About 100 people attended the Chatham meeting and a majority of the speakers expressed their opposition to the plans. Before the meeting, a group of opponents organized by The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League and Preserve Franklin gathered to call for a “community veto” of the project.
Commenters shared their concerns about the environmental threats of the project specific to their properties, as well as their concern that the project would not provide sufficient public benefits to merit seizing land through use of eminent domain law. Additionally, commenters raised the concern that the company behind the proposed pipeline, Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC, has not released specifics on the proposed compressor stations for the project, that could be sited in either Montgomery or Roanoke Counties. This is problematic because people who could be living near the compressor stations, which are known to emit toxic pollution and come with significant safety dangers, will not get the opportunity to share their concerns with FERC at a public meeting.
Now that the two Virginia scoping meetings are over, we’re encouraging opponents of this pipeline project to share their concerns with FERC in writing. The comment period for the Mountain Valley Pipeline ends on June 16th. You can submit a written comment to FERC about the project here.
The Mountain Valley pipeline is one of three new fracked-gas pipelines the fossil fuel industry is pushing in Virginia. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a Dominion project, faces strong opposition to proposed construction, as well. Currently, Virginia Student Environmental Coalition students, along with CCAN organizer Drew Gallagher are biking the route of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline in protest.
You can also join Beyond Extreme Energy for a protest at FERC Headquarters in Washington D.C. on May 27th for the Pipeline Opposition Day that’s part of Stop the FERCUS! and the May 14th mass nonviolent protest event, also happening at FERC headquarters during FERC’s May commissioner’s meeting.
Contact me for more information and to get involved! Lauren@chesapeakeclimate.org.

CCAN Applauds Step to Boost Va. Energy Efficiency Goals

Among states, Virginia ranks toward the bottom in efficiency; has 8th highest average electric bills

RICHMOND—Governor Terry McAuliffe today announced he is accelerating Virginia’s goal to reduce retail electricity consumption from 10 percent by 2022 to 10 percent by 2020, and establishing the Governor’s Executive Committee on Energy Efficiency to develop a state plan to ensure Virginia hits this new target.
Dawone Robinson, Virginia Policy Director at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, had the following statement in response:
“We applaud Governor McAuliffe for taking this win-win step forward for Virginia’s environment and economy. Increasing energy efficiency is our lowest-hanging fruit when it comes to reducing the carbon emissions fueling severe weather and sea-level rise. Currently, Virginia ranks toward the bottom of U.S. states in reducing energy use, which is a big reason our families pay the 8th-highest average electric bills. By investing in energy efficiency solutions, we will cut pollution while lowering the bills of low- to moderate-income homeowners and renters and putting people to work.”
Contact:
Dawone Robinson, 804-767-0372, dawone@chesapeakeclimate.org
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

###

The Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the biggest and oldest grassroots organization dedicated to fighting climate change in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. We’re building a powerful movement to shift our region away from climate-harming fossil fuels and to clean energy solutions.

Groups Appeal Federal Approval of Cove Point Fracked Gas Export Facility

Lawsuit charges that regulators illegally ignored the project’s impact on fracking, climate change, and the Chesapeake Bay

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Environmental groups sued the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today over its decision to approve a massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal along the Chesapeake Bay in southern Maryland without conducting a rigorous environmental review.
The lawsuit, filed in the federal appeals court for the D.C. Circuit, charges that FERC circumvented the law by failing to consider how Dominion Resources’ $3.8 billion Cove Point project would trigger expanded fracking for natural gas in the Marcellus shale region, leading to significant new amounts of air, water and climate-disrupting pollution. Additionally, the groups contend that FERC failed to adequately consider the impact of foreign ships dumping dirty wastewater into the Chesapeake Bay. Earthjustice filed the suit today on behalf of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Patuxent Riverkeeper, and Sierra Club.
“After months of delay, we will finally get our day in court to challenge the fundamentally flawed approval of Dominion’s climate- and community-wrecking project,” said Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “Time and again, FERC has shown a blatant disregard for the health and safety of people and the climate and, we believe, the law. Tragically, FERC’s foot-dragging has allowed Dominion bulldozers to start construction before Calvert County residents had legal recourse to challenge the agency’s decision.”
For nearly seven months, FERC had delayed ruling on the groups’ request for a rehearing of its September 29 decision approving the project, even as the agency approved order after order allowing Dominion to begin construction. FERC finally rejected the groups’ rehearing motion on Monday, clearing the way for today’s legal challenge.
Dominion’s construction activities have already begun to irrevocably damage the landscape and quality of life in Calvert County, Maryland. Some local residents have put their homes up for sale and moved away rather than deal with mounting pollution, noise, and large trucks and construction vehicles inundating roadways, as well as the potential for catastrophic explosions and fires if the facility becomes fully operational.
“With this order, FERC yet again has failed to fulfill its duty under federal environmental law,” said Jocelyn D’Ambrosio, senior associate attorney at Earthjustice. “Exporting nearly 1 billion cubic feet of LNG per day means more gas drilling, which wreaks havoc on both the climate and the communities scarred by wells and pipelines. We are asking the federal court to ensure that FERC evaluates the many ways that the Cove Point project will degrade the environment.”
FERC has faced escalating protests and mounting legal challenges over the past year for facilitating a massive expansion of gas export infrastructure and pipelines at the expense of the public interest. Legal challenges are also pending over the agency’s approval of LNG export facilities in Sabine Pass and Cameron, Louisiana and in Freeport, Texas.
“Exporting LNG will lead to more drilling—and more drilling means more fracking, more air and water pollution, and more climate-fueled weather disasters like record fires, droughts, and superstorms,” said Nathan Matthews, Sierra Club staff attorney. “FERC consistently fails to take the full impact of fracking into account when it considers whether to green light LNG exports, and it did so again in the case of Cove Point. For the sake of public health and our fragile climate we have no alternative but to challenge FERC’s incomplete environmental review in federal court.”
“The Dominion expansion at Cove Point has been given a green light by parties at the county, state and federal level regardless of and with little regard for the likely environmental impacts,” said Fred Tutman, Patuxent Riverkeeper. “The local environmental impacts have been dismissed even as the economic impacts have been largely distorted and inadequately explored. We now look to the courts to step in where our regulators have failed in order to safeguard our waterway and communities.”
The Dominion Cove Point project would take gas from wells across Appalachia and liquefy it along the shore of the Chesapeake Bay for export to Asia. The project would be the first LNG export facility ever built so close to so many homes and the first built in close proximity to Marcellus Shale fracking operations. According to federal data, exporting fracked gas could contribute more to global warming over the next two decades than burning coal mined in the Asian countries importing LNG.
The groups’ lawsuit centers on FERC’s unlawfully narrow Environmental Assessment. That review—challenged in over 150,000 citizen comments—omitted credible analysis of the project’s lifecycle global warming pollution, along with all the pollution associated with driving demand for upstream fracking and fracked gas infrastructure; its impact on water quality in the Chesapeake Bay and risk to the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale; and potentially catastrophic explosion and fire threat to hundreds of nearby residents.
View the petition filed today in the federal appeals court for the D.C. Circuit (Case No. 15-1127) : http://chesapeakeclimate.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Cove-Point-Petition-for-Review-as-Filed-2015-05-07.pdf
Contact:
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Keith Rushing, 202-797-5236, krushing@earthjustice.org

###

Dominion Confronted by Protests Outside Annual Shareholder Meeting Over Company’s Dirty Energy and Dirty Politics

Protesters from Augusta Co. to Norfolk to Cove Point, Md. unite to challenge business practices wrecking communities and the climate

Glen Allen, Va.—Over 150 protesters from across Virginia and Maryland greeted Dominion Resources executives and board members arriving for the company’s annual shareholder meeting this morning, in a sign of the growing citizen backlash over the company’s dirty energy investments and dirty politics. (Click here to view photos.)
More than 50 landowners and concerned citizens from Buckingham, Nelson, and Augusta Counties—all in the path of the company’s controversial proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline—journeyed by bus. They were joined outside the entrance to Dominion’s training facility by citizens who had packed vans from Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and other communities fighting the company’s climate-threatening plans and its anti-democratic lock on Virginia politicians.
Protesters charged that Dominion—the top corporate campaign donor and top climate polluter in Virginia—is using its vast political influence to stack the deck in favor of costly and risky investments in massive ‘fracked’ gas and nuclear projects, trample the property rights of landowners, and attack sensible solutions like the federal Clean Power Plan.
“Dominion and its shareholders need to know that we are here today because the plan to route the Atlantic Coast Pipeline through our home deeply violates so many of our personal and community values,” said Joanna Salidis, President of Friends of Nelson County. “Property owners want Dominion to respect that ‘No’ means ‘No.’ We want Dominion to uphold their claim that eminent domain is a method of last resort — not a gift from the government to maximize profit on the backs of unwilling private property owners and communities.”
To underline their point, protesters erected a “Dominion-opoly” board showcasing the sites of dirty energy projects currently proposed or under construction by the company. A 40-foot-long mock pipeline was inflated and carried by the crowd, while chants and colorful banners drew the attention of arriving attendees and passersby.
“Students from campuses across Virginia are heeding the warning of climate change and are now acting on what they have found to be the most urgent issue that we as humans have collectively faced,” said Rabib Hasan, President of the the Virginia Student Environmental Coalition. “Dominion’s plans to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and expand fossil fuel infrastructure show the company’s negligence towards this global challenge.”
Dominion Virginia Power’s most recent 15-year energy plan would increase planet-heating carbon emissions by more than 30 percent. In the recent state legislative session, Dominion came under fire for using its vast political influence to squash significant measures to address climate change and to ram through anti-consumer legislation.
“Dominion’s dirty energy choices and political dealings with ALEC are not in the best interest of the citizens of Virginia,” said Kendyl Crawford, Conservation Program Coordinator with Virginia Sierra Club. “Dominion needs to get serious about addressing climate change. According to its own projections, Dominion’s over reliance on natural gas will increase its climate changing carbon pollution 39% by 2028.”
“We’re frustrated by Dominion’s failure to take strong action on climate change,” said Charlie Spatz, Statewide Field Organizer with Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “Dominion’s spending billions of dollars to expand ‘fracked’ gas infrastructure, yet when it comes to renewable energy the company has very little to show. In recent weeks, Dominion announced it would be indefinitely delaying its offshore wind project. That’s not the kind of leadership we need to get us on track to solve the climate crisis.”
“It’s important for people in Cove Point to stand with people in Richmond, Nelson County, Myersville and everywhere else Dominion is running roughshod over people’s lives,” said Donny Williams of the We Are Cove Point coalition. “Dominion is already more than six months behind schedule in constructing its mammoth LNG export terminal in Cove Point thanks to the people standing up for their communities to stop it. We’re here today to make it as clear as possible that we simply will not allow the company to continue putting profits before our well-being — risking many of our lives in the process.”
Organizations supporting the protest today include the Augusta County Alliance, Beyond Extreme Energy, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Chesapeake Earth First!, FANG (Fighting Against Natural Gas), Free Nelson, Friends of Buckingham County, Friends of Nelson County, Myersville Citizens for a Rural Community (Md.), Richmond Resistance, SEED (Stopping Extraction and Exports Destruction), Virginia Chapter Sierra Club, We Are Cove Point, and Wild Virginia.
CONTACT:
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

###

Opposition Mounts to New Fracked Gas Pipelines in Virginia

Public outrage continues to build in opposition to the proposed Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines. Groups across the state are meeting frequently to stay informed about the scoping processes, support landowners in the paths of the proposed pipelines and share the potential harmful effects these projects could have if they are allowed to move forward.
On April 21st, Politico published a lengthy investigative piece entitled, “Pipelines Blow Up and People Die”, bringing pipeline safety issues front in center in the national political conversation about energy. At the beginning of April, CCAN and anti- pipeline coalition partners delivered over 5,000 messages to Governor McAuliffe’s office urging him to rescind his support for the project.
Virginians across the state are coming together and the message is clear: no new fracked gas pipelines! Take action now by submitting a public comment to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in opposition to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline here. We have until April 28th to weigh in with FERC on the proposed scope of its environmental review of the project, and demand that the agency consider all of the possible impacts to our communities and climate.
In the battle against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, opponents are calling for an extension to this April 28th deadline. Groups in Nelson, Augusta and Buckingham Counties, along with thousands of concerned citizens and U.S. Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Tim Kaine (D-VA), have submitted requests to allow more time for the comment period, and to hold further meetings in communities that will be impacted by the project.
The senators’ joint letter to new FERC chairman Norman Bay highlighted the frustration Virginians have faced so far during the scoping process:
“As discussed, our offices received multiple accounts of discrepancies between these meetings announced start times and the times at which people could sign up to speak. Some constituents commuted significant distances after full days of work arrived to discover that speaking slots had been claimed hours earlier.”
Communities in the path of these projects will not be silenced and CCAN will continue to work with coalition partners to organize against them.
The next step you can take to get involved is to attend a FERC scoping meeting for the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline. FERC announced on April 17 that it will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Mountain Valley Pipeline and, like for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, will first consider public input on the scope of this review. There are two scheduled meetings in Virginia:

Tuesday May 5, 7:00 p.m.
Eastern Montgomery High School
4695 Crozier Road, Elliston, VA 24087

Thursday May 7, 7:00 p.m.
Chatham High School
100 Cavalier Circle, Chatham, VA 24531

See you there and thanks for staying involved! Please reach out to Lauren Goldman, Virginia Campaign Coordinator to get involved at Lauren@chesapeakeclimate.org.

Climate Advocates Applaud Signing of Virginia Solar Bills, Call for Bolder Solutions

CHESTER, Va.—Governor Terry McAuliffe today signed into law several pieces of clean energy legislation passed by the 2015 General Assembly. The bills signed include legislation doubling the cap on the size of solar energy systems that Virginia businesses are allowed to install to offset their own energy usage (HB 1950/ SB 1395), and legislation creating a new Virginia Solar Development Authority (HB 2267/ SB 1099).
Clean energy advocates applauded both bills as positive steps forward, while noting they are only the beginning of what’s needed to catch Virginia up to its neighbors in developing clean power and the jobs that come with it.
Dawone Robinson, Virginia Policy Director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, had the following statement in response:
“The fact that we’re celebrating Earth Day by witnessing several pieces of clean energy legislation get signed into law is proof of the growing movement in Virginia demanding solutions to climate change.
“Virginia currently has only 11 megawatts of solar installed, and that figure is embarrassingly low, especially compared to our neighbors. Virginia has as much or more solar potential than Maryland and North Carolina, yet those states have more than 200 megawatts and 950 megawatts of solar currently installed respectively thanks to much stronger state policies.
“Thanks to the leadership of key lawmakers—including Senators Dance and Stuart, and Delegates McClellan and Hugo, chief patrons of the bills signed into law today—we are beginning to take necessary steps to catch up with our neighbors in clean energy jobs and investments. We appreciate Governor McAuliffe’s signature on these bills and we look forward to passing even bolder clean energy solutions in the next legislative session.
“Hampton Roads is ground zero for climate change, as sea level rise driven by fossil fuel pollution gets progressively worse. As our citizens battle the climate crisis on a daily basis, Virginia must become a leader in advancing bold climate solutions, and an ‘all-of-the-above’ approach doesn’t cut it.”
Contact:
Dawone Robinson, 804-767-8983, dawone@chesapeakeclimate.org
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

###

Check out DomTruth.org and pass it on

Earth Day is here and so is our eagerly anticipated new website: domtruth.org. After months of hard work, we’re excited to release this interactive website as an educational platform to expose the dirty truth about Virginia’s largest utility company and most powerful corporation: Dominion Power.
Every year around Earth Day, Dominion funds slick ads, community projects like tree-plantings, outdoor festivals and more to paint itself as a “green” and “sustainable” company. Domtruth.org is our way of setting the record straight.

Click here to start the “tour” and pass it on!

As you scroll through the site, you’ll see that Dominion is the state’s #1 emitter of the heat-trapping pollution wrecking our climate. Dominion is also the #1 corporate donor to state politicians. For far too long, Dominion has used its power to rig the system against local, clean energy solutions and for costly fossil fuel projects, and Virginians are paying a high price as a result.
We call Dominion’s deliberate misleading of the public “greenwashing.” This year in particular, we expect Dominion to churn out more greenwashing than ever before — because the company is facing more public scrutiny and protests over its dirty energy projects than we’ve seen before.
You know there’s a serious image problem when sixth graders and senior citizens alike are standing up at county meetings to decry Dominion’s 550-mile pipeline for fracked gas; when riverkeepers are joining with history buffs to challenge Dominion’s massive proposed transmission lines over Jamestown; and when editorial writers across the state are hammering the company’s anti-consumer “power politics.”
With so much opposition brewing, particularly in response to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, we’re seeing cracks open up in Dominion’s tightly controlled corporate image. We’re also seeing Dominion’s tight grasp over our democracy get renewed exposure and criticism in the media.
When Dominion put forward legislation in the 2015 General Assembly to partially halt state oversight of its electric rates, news stories zeroed in on Dominion’s “unrivaled political power” over the General Assembly. Following fierce public backlash, legislators ended up amending the bill to lay the groundwork for 400 megawatts of new utility-scale solar in Virginia and to create new energy efficiency pilot programs.
We know by exposing the truth, and bringing more people across Virginia into our movement, we begin to take the power back from Dominion. And nothing worries Dominion more than losing its power — over our energy system and over our democracy.
Help pull back the curtain on Dominion’s greenwashing, and build the movement for solutions, by checking out domtruth.org and then passing it on — especially to your friends and family in Virginia!

CCAN Stands With UMW Students Forcibly Removed and Arrested During Peaceful Sit-In for Fossil Fuel Divestment

FREDERICKSBURG, Va.—A 21-day, peaceful student sit-in for fossil fuel divestment at the University of Mary Washington was forcibly ended Wednesday night after university officials called in the state police to evict the students. Over 20 students with the group Divest UMW were forcibly removed from an administrative office, and two students and one community member were arrested and charged with trespassing. Video of the arrests is available from a Free Lance-Star reporter who was on the scene: https://youtu.be/RZvdvqMim88
The Divest UMW sit-in began three weeks ago after the university’s Board of Visitors rejected—without any deliberation or discussion—students’ simple proposal to establish a subcommittee to study the issue of divesting their endowment from fossil fuels. Today, the university’s Board of Visitors will formally meet on campus for the first time since the student sit-in began, and students are holding a march and “Rally for Student Voice” in response starting at 3:00 p.m.
As reported by the Free Lance-Star, board members appeared divided on the issue during a meeting held on campus yesterday to discuss approval of minutes from the March meeting in which Rector Holly Cuellar dismissed the students’ proposal. Member Carlos del Toro reportedly said, “I, as one member of this board, think additional recommendations should be made considering divestment. I believe there needs to be further discussion. I believe I am not alone in this opinion.”
Drew Gallagher, Campus Organizer at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, had the following statement in response to the forcible eviction and arrest of students:
“We’re disappointed that University of Mary Washington officials resorted to calling in the state police to end a 21-day, peaceful sit-in for fossil fuel divestment. These students have shown remarkable leadership in their fight to remove morally unacceptable investments in the fossil fuel industry from their university’s endowment. We need this same leadership from school officials and the Board of Visitors. Restricting free speech and assembly will not solve the climate crisis. We urge UMW officials to drop the charges against their students, and work with them for climate solutions.”
“Students from across the country understand the severity of the climate crisis, and are leading the way in demanding solutions. So far, over 20 colleges and universities across the country have stood with students and pledged to divest from the fossil fuel companies wrecking their future. University of Mary Washington administrators are facing growing protests because, like those at Harvard, Tulane, the University of Colorado, Yale, and Swarthmore, they have so far stood on the wrong side of history. By ignoring the voices of their students on fossil fuel divestment, University of Mary Washington officials are failing to heed the warnings of scientists—including those on their own campus.”
Contact:
Drew Gallagher, 804-896-2654, drew@chesapeakeclimate.org
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

###