Activists Block Dominion’s Richmond Headquarters

On Monday, Dominion employees got some unexpected exercise on their way to work. Protesters opposing Dominion’s proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline blockaded the access road into Dominion’s Tredegar Campus in downtown Richmond, Virginia. A menagerie of singing protesters, stilt walkers, giant puppets, and banners stood in the path of Dominion employees as they walked, rather than drove the final half mile to their workplace. But just before reaching their campus, a final surprise loomed above: two activists suspended themselves from a pedestrian bridge with a banner reading “Stop Selling Our Futures.”
1_11014912_10203385627712527_360589942513582886_nActivists chose to escalate their protest to non-violent direct action on Monday as Dominion steadfastly continues their plans to construct the 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline. With its proposed 42” diameter, the pipeline would have the daily capacity to transport 1.5 billion cubic feet of “fracked” natural gas from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina. This has climate activists up in arms for its potential to increase the rate at which greenhouse gases are released into our atmosphere. Landowners, too, are upset at the prospect of a massive pipeline running through their backyards. Many have refused to let survey crews access their property, which has led Dominion to respond by filing lawsuits against these families.

Photo Credit: Flower Meadowsmith

The initial blockade began at 7am with 40 activists that quickly occupied an intersection leading into Dominion’s campus. An hour later at 8am, another crowd of 40 arrived from the Richmond’s People Climate March. Activists stood their ground for just over three hours before the police began issuing dispersal orders. Ten protesters bravely defied police orders and sat down in the road. 9 of the 10 received summonses for obstructing traffic.
The grassroots battle opposing the Atlantic Coast Pipeline continues to grow in Virginia and Monday’s action underscores the commitment amongst local activists. In the last few months, there’s been a groundswell of escalated action against the rapid expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure across the region, including at Dominion’s Cove Point facility in Lusby, MD.
HOW CAN YOU TAKE ACTION?
4_DSC0070We’re demanding Governor McAuliffe withdraw his support of the Atlantic Coast pipeline. We’ve set up a petition to make this happen and 2,500 Virginians that have already voiced their opposition to the pipeline. Please sign the petition to help us reach our goal of 5,000 by April 1st. We need all hands on deck to stop this extreme energy project! If you would like to collect petitions in your community, click here to get in touch and we will help to get you started!
 
Additional Press:
Activists Block Dominion Office. Richmond Style Weekly. 2/23/15.
Demonstrators create blockade downtown in protest of Atlantic Coast Pipeline. CBS 6. 2/23/15.
Ernie Reed. 1070 WINA Radio. 2/23/15.
Ten People Arrested While Protesting Pipeline That Would Run Through Virginia. Think Progress. 2/25/15.

Momentum Builds to Expand Maryland’s Clean Electricity Standard

Over the past week, an impressive array of business, faith, labor, civil rights, city council, and grassroots voices have spoken out passionately and persuasively on the need to raise Maryland’s clean electricity standard in the 2015 General Assembly.
The bill, the Clean Energy Advancement Act (HB 377/SB 373), was amended in recent House and Senate hearings to set a requirement of 25% clean electricity by 2020, a compromise from the bill’s original target of 40% clean power by 2025. The state’s Climate Action Plan calls for raising our Renewable Portfolio Standard to 25% by 2020 as the single biggest step Maryland can take to reduce emissions of climate-disrupting pollution.
As Delegate Frick, lead House sponsor of the legislation, emphasized ahead of his committee hearing last Friday, this bill is “smart economic policy, smart environmental policy, and smart politics.”
Here’s a round up of the growing momentum behind the Clean Energy Advancement Act, following hearings in the House Economic Matters and Senate Finance committees:

  • Business leaders say clean energy puts people to work: Last Friday, business leaders and workers in Maryland’s growing solar and clean technology industries held a press conference and testified before the House committee in support of the bill. Testimony emphasized that Maryland’s existing “Renewable Portfolio Standard” law is the main driver of clean energy job growth in Maryland now, and must be raised to expand on this prosperity. See the press release here.
  • Activists rally for clean energy despite bitter cold: On Monday, over 120 grassroots activists braved near-single digit temperatures to rally on Lawyers’ Mall in support of the bill, capping off a lobby night. You can see photos here. Chants of “clean energy now” echoed into the State House as legislators convened for their evening session.
  • 230+ Maryland faith leaders—including 7 bishops and senior ecumenical leaders—call on the General Assembly to act: In an unprecedented show of religious leadership on a state environmental issue, seven Maryland bishops and senior ecumenical leaders joined over 230 faith leaders in delivering a letter to lawmakers on Tuesday, making a moral case for shifting the state to cleaner energy. Bishop Wolfgang Herz-Lane also personally testified at the Senate hearing. See the letter here.
  • NAACP report calls for expanding Maryland’s Renewable Portfolio Standard: In releasing the Maryland 2015 Just Energy Policies report, the NAACP called for expanding Maryland’s clean electricity standard, ideally to 40% by 2025. As the report underscores, poor communities and communities of color pay the highest price for our current reliance on fossil fuels.
  • Baltimore City Council and Mayor endorse the Clean Energy Advancement Act: Noting that, “Maryland has the worst air quality on the east coast, and Baltimore has the highest emissions related mortality rate in the state,” the Baltimore City Council unanimously passed a resolution Monday night calling on the General Assembly to pass, and the Governor to sign, the Clean Energy Advancement Act. Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake also wrote testimony in support of the legislation.
  • Capital Gazette op-ed: “Acting on climate empowers us to grow and protect our economy.” This Capital Gazette op-ed from Feb. 24 outlines how Maryland will incentivize significant new growth in good-paying, skilled, and diverse construction, installation, and manufacturing jobs by setting a region-leading clean energy standard.
  • Experts testify to modest ratepayer impact: As wind and solar prices continue to plummet, a study conducted by the independent firm Sustainable Energy Advantage predicts that the impact of increasing Maryland’s RPS to 25% by 2020 will likely be $0.52 per month per residential ratepayer (in 2014 dollars) in 2020. The impact of increasing the RPS to 40% would likely be $1.94/month for residential ratepayers in 2025. See the full study here (and find the 25% estimate on p. 10, figure 6).

In summary, the Clean Energy Advancement Act is gaining such broad support because it would bring so many far-reaching benefits to Maryland. Raising our Renewable Portfolio Standard is the top way that Maryland can reduce emissions of planet-heating pollution. It would make Maryland a regional leader in creating new jobs and economic investment in rapidly growing 21st-century industries. It would save lives and save billions in healthcare costs by cleaning up our air and water.
Click here for more information and resources on the legislation and its benefits.

A Twofer for the Climate on February 24

If you’re concerned about the climate emergency and were plugged in to news sources yesterday, you probably know that the climate movement won a big victory: President Obama vetoed the legislation passed by Congress to approve the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
But there was another, less publicized, important development yesterday: the introduction by Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen, with 16 co-sponsors, of the Healthy Climate and Family Security Act (H.R. 1027) in the House of Representatives.
The Healthy Climate bill uses a “cap and dividend” framework. It would legislate a steadily declining cap on carbon emissions, about 2% a year starting the year that it is passed, leading to an 80% reduction compared to 2005 levels by 2050. Coal, oil and gas companies that bring fossil fuels out of the ground or into the country would be required to buy permits at auction. The overall number of those permits would decrease as the cap declines, leading to rising permit prices. All of the money raised by this process, many hundreds of billions over the first decade, would be returned in equal amounts as “dividends” to every US resident with a social security number.
Given the absolute need for the federal government to enact a price on carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions, this less publicized development is, arguably, as important as President Obama’s veto.
The fact is that there are several things which the climate movement must be doing:
1) Stopping the expansion of extreme energy extraction: tar sands oil, fracking, Arctic oil and gas drilling, mountaintop coal removal, and deep ocean oil and gas drilling in particular.
2) Accelerating the rapidly growing shift from fossil fuels to wind and solar as energy sources for electrical power.
3) Advancing local, state and federal legislation that incentivizes energy efficiency and renewables.
4) Supporting strong federal regulation of greenhouse gases.
5) Working to enact federal legislation that puts a price on carbon and other planet-heating greenhouse gases.
Given the power, wealth and greed of the fossil fuel industry and its ability, so far, to control almost all Republican congresspeople and a significant percentage of Democrats, it is not surprising that number five is the least developed of all of these.
That has to — absolutely has to — change.
As 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben emphasized on yesterday’s tele-press conference on the bill’s reintroduction, it makes “no sense to allow one industry to throw its pollution into the atmosphere for free. If anyone owns the sky, it’s not Exxon. It’s all of us.”
The Healthy Climate and Family Security Act would “accelerate very quickly the biggest job on the planet: getting rid of carbon,” added McKibben. “There would be no plan for Keystone XL if there was anything like a rational price on carbon.”
With Congressman Chris Van Hollen leading the way and the support of groups like 350.org, CCAN, Center for Popular Democracy, Center for Biological Diversity, National People’s Action, Public Citizen and the Sierra Club, a strong, fair and commonsense federal solution to price carbon is finally moving forward. More information on this legislation can be found at http://climateandprosperity.org.
For more information on this new legislation:
Van Hollen moving climate change with 2016 leverage. CNN News. 2/23/15.
Focus legislative energy on a national carbon policy, not Keystone XL. Washington Post. 2/24/15.

Marylanders Rally in Annapolis to Urge Lawmakers to Increase the State's Clean Energy Goals

Citizens ask their elected officials to work together for cleaner air and water, improved public health and clean energy jobs

Annapolis, Md. – With mini-wind turbines spinning in the frigid night air and glow sticks lighting the walkway to the State House, more than 100 Marylanders rallied in Annapolis on Monday to show their support for the Clean Energy Advancement Act. Business, health, faith, labor and climate leaders headlined the rally alongside legislators, urging the General Assembly to act in 2015 to expand the state’s goals for clean electricity ahead of a key Senate hearing on the bill.
The Clean Energy Advancement Act (HB 377/SB 373), recently introduced with 16 Senate and 45 House co-sponsors, would gradually raise Maryland’s existing clean electricity consumption mandate, called the “Renewable Portfolio Standard.” The bill would require that 25 percent of Maryland’s electricity comes from clean sources by 2020 and set a trajectory to reach 40 percent by 2025, doubling the current standard. The bill is up for a hearing in the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday afternoon.
“Ten years ago, we passed the first bill of this type under Governor Ehrlich and there were only a few solar companies in Maryland,” said Senator Brian Feldman, a lead sponsor of SB 373. “Now we have more than 150 solar companies employing more than 3,000 people. This legislation gives us the opportunity for clean energy to have an even greater impact on our economy.”
The bill comes at a time when Maryland is experiencing the increasingly detrimental effects of relying on fossil fuels—coal, oil, and gas—for energy, including dangerous air pollution, contaminated water and damaging weather:

  • Last year, 2014, was the hottest year on record worldwide, while recent studies show that Baltimore and Annapolis lead the nation in increased flooding driven by rising sea levels.
  • Eighty-five percent of Maryland residents live in areas that fail to meet the nation’s clean air standards, and Maryland has the 8th worst ground ozone pollution level in the nation.
  • Maryland ranks 5th in the nation in adult asthma and nearly 12 percent of Maryland children have asthma.

“Clean energy is putting Marylanders to work and cleaning up the air we breathe. It’s a critical solution to global warming, and to improving the lives of the most vulnerable among us. That’s why every member of the Maryland Latino Legislative Caucus has cosponsored this legislation, and we look forward to seeing it pass this year,” said Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk, chair of the newly formed Maryland Latino Legislative Caucus.
The Maryland faith community also rallied Monday to express concern about toxic emissions caused by power plants that result in harmful air and water pollution. The impacts from that pollution are usually worse in communities of color.
“Over 220 religious leaders across Maryland, including the bishops of seven Christian denominations, have joined together to speak out for clean energy,” said Rev. Stephen Tillett, of Asbury Broadneck United Methodist Church, who also spoke at Monday evening’s rally. “It’s not right that we still get half of our state’s energy from fossil fuels that pollute the air and make our neighbors sick. Our faith communities are showing that there is a better way.”
The National Academy of Sciences estimates that illness caused by polluting energy sources costs Maryland households an average of $73 per month. A separate analysis shows that a 40 percent clean electricity standard will prevent 200 to 450 deaths per year in Maryland.
“This is a remarkable opportunity for all Marylanders to let their policymakers know that we want to replace dirty energy making dirty, sick air with clean, renewable energy that makes our air cleaner and healthier,” said Dr. Cindy Parker, President of Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility. “We want policymakers to make the right choice to support healthy air so children, elders, people with heart or lung diseases like asthma will live longer, happier, more productive lives with much less suffering from asthma attacks, hospitalizations, and lost work and school days. “
In addition to reducing significant health costs, doubling Maryland’s renewable portfolio standard would spur significant economic gains. The policy would create nearly 1,600 new jobs per year in the state’s solar industry and spur 18,000 new jobs in the regional wind-power economy. According to the Maryland Clean Energy Center, clean energy jobs already generate more than $8.2 billion in associated salaries and wages in Maryland on an annual basis.
“The Maryland Clean Energy Advancement Act means more jobs for Maryland, including more public sector jobs, more manufacturing and constructions jobs,” added Charly Carter, Executive Director of Maryland Working Families. “That is a big win for all of Maryland’s workers and for our communities.”
“As the seas rise along Maryland’s shores, a grassroots movement for change is rising up, too,” said Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “We’re here today to tell our legislators that we have a moral obligation to act, and we also have an opportunity to act. By getting more of our electricity from the wind and the sun, we will protect our children while growing our economy.”
NOTE TO JOURNALISTS:
Advocates are using the hashtag #CleanerMDnow to distribute information about the legislation and these supporting events.
Click here to view photos of Monday’s rally and lobby night.
Contact:
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Tiffany Hartung, 248.933.2451, hartungt@nwf.org

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The mission of the Maryland Climate Coalition is to unite Marylanders to mitigate climate change to protect our environment, health, and economy. The Coalition works with a broad range of partners engaging in policy advocacy, grassroots organizing, and public education. For more information about the Maryland Climate Coalition, visit http://www.marylandclimatecoalition.org.

Business Leaders Urge Lawmakers to Raise Maryland’s Clean Energy Goals as Hearings Begin in Annapolis

Leaders say legislation will expand job growth and economic development while reducing costly air and climate pollution

ANNAPOLIS—Maryland lawmakers would help spur good-paying jobs and economic development by passing legislation in 2015 to expand the state’s use of clean, renewable energy, said business leaders and workers who came to Annapolis today to testify before a key House committee.
During a morning press conference with the bill’s lead sponsors, renewable energy entrepreneurs—including a former Army Major General—emphasized that a region-leading clean electricity goal would establish Maryland as a regional hub for investment in the fast-growing solar and wind industries.
“This legislation will lock in Maryland as a leader in the clean technology sector, expanding jobs and prosperity while diversifying our economy,” said Senator Brian Feldman, lead Senate sponsor of the Maryland Clean Energy Advancement Act (HB 377/SB 373).
“This is a clear instance where cleaning up our air and water means putting people to work,” said Delegate Bill Frick, lead House sponsor of the bill. “Maryland’s solar industry now employs 3,000 workers, growing by 29 percent in 2014. In 2015, it’s time to speed up this growth by expanding our state policy.”
The legislation, which has a hearing in the House Economic Matters Committee this afternoon, would gradually raise Maryland’s existing “Renewable Portfolio Standard,” which requires that an increasing amount of the state’s electricity comes from clean sources like wind and solar power. The bill would require that 25 percent of Maryland’s electricity come from clean sources by 2020 and set a trajectory to reach 40 percent by 2025, doubling the current standard.
Among the press conference speakers was Roger Blunt, a founder and chairman of Essex Construction who is also a retired U.S. Army Major General, a former director of Pepco, and a former director of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce. Essex is a Prince George’s County-based business that specializes in clean energy building projects.
“For the good of our economy, and for the good of our veterans, we need to pass the Maryland Clean Energy Advancement Act,” said Blunt. “By raising our renewable energy standard, we’ll send a strong market signal that Maryland is the place for solar and wind manufacturers to set up shop. We’ll also expand a growing clean energy workforce that employs a high percentage of veterans like me.”
Maryland is already first in the Mid-Atlantic region for green jobs per capita. Analysis shows that doubling Maryland’s use of renewable energy would create nearly 1,600 new jobs per year in the solar industry, which are well-paid and diverse. The policy could create 18,000 new jobs across the regional wind power supply chain, providing an economic lifeline to Maryland’s windy Eastern Shore and reinvigorating the state’s manufacturing base.
Executives of Baltimore-based BITHENERGY, Inc., a firm that has developed, financed, and integrated over 33 megawatts of solar projects, underscored that state policy is key to attracting businesses like theirs to Maryland.
“When we started BITHENERGY a few years ago, we had the option of starting the company in any number of states,” said Robert L. Wallace, president and CEO of BITHENERGY. “We chose the State of Maryland because of its commitment to expanding clean energy technologies and creating an economic environment that made it attractive to companies like BITHENERGY. The passage of HB 377 would significantly enhance the economic imperatives that are necessary for clean energy companies like BITHENERGY to thrive and to accelerate job formation.”
“E2 has tracked more than a quarter-million clean energy jobs nationwide the past three years, and what we’ve seen is this: states with the strongest clean energy policies get the jobs,” said Bob Keefe, executive director of Environmental Entrepreneurs, a national nonpartisan business group. “If Maryland wants more clean energy jobs, it should increase the renewables standard.”
Sustainable Energy Advantage, LLC (SEA), an independent renewable energy consulting and advisory firm, found that the ratepayer impact of increasing Maryland’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to 40% by 2025 will likely be just under $2 per month per residential ratepayer (in 2014 dollars) in 2025. The ratepayer impact of increasing Maryland’s RPS to 25% by 2020 will likely be $0.52 per month per residential ratepayer (in 2014 dollars) in 2020.
In addition to delivering significant economic benefits, the Clean Energy Advancement Act would reduce the costly impacts of relying on fossil fuels—coal, oil, and gas—for energy, including dangerous air pollution, contaminated water and damaging weather. More than 85 percent of Marylanders live in areas that fail to meet the nation’s clean air standards. Increasing the state’s clean electricity standard is the top way the state can reduce the planet-heating emissions raising sea levels and fueling strange and severe weather in Maryland.
View the executive summary (PDF) of the Sustainable Energy Advantage, LLC ratepayer impact analysis.
NOTE TO JOURNALISTS:
Friday’s press conference kicked off a series of events demonstrating broad support for the bill among Maryland businesses, faith communities, public health advocates, labor leaders, social justice and environmental groups. Advocates are using the hashtag #CleanerMDnow to distribute information about the legislation and these supporting events:

On Monday, February 23rd from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., hundreds of citizens will join legislators, faith, labor, and health leaders for a rally on Lawyers’ Mall to pass the Clean Energy Advancement Act, capping off the Maryland Climate Coalition’s citizen lobby night on the bill.

On Tuesday, February 24th at noon, ahead of a Senate Finance Committee hearing, two Maryland bishops will join other faith leaders for a tele-press conference, unveiling a letter signed by over 200 clergy of all faith traditions who are calling on legislators to expand clean energy. Journalists can join the tele-conference by dialing (605) 477-2100 and using passcode 306196#.

Contact:
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Jeff Benzak, 202-513-6248, jeff@e2.org

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Statement of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network in Support of Striking Oil Refinery Workers

The Chesapeake Climate Action Network released the following statement in solidarity with oil refinery workers currently on strike for safe working conditions and fair labor practices:
“For over 12 years, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network has been working to advance the urgently needed shift away from oil, coal and gas to a clean, efficient and renewables-based energy system and economy. We do so because we want to prevent catastrophic climate change which will dramatically impact human societies and other life forms all over the world. Our desire is for a much more democratic, just and healthy world for all life on earth.
“That is why we support the work stoppage initiated on February 1 by the United Steelworkers of America at nine oil refineries. They did so over a number of issues, including: ‘dangerous conditions the industry continues to ignore; the daily occurrences of fires, emissions, leaks and explosions that threaten local communities without the industry doing much about it; and the flagrant contracting out that impacts health and safety on the job.’ (Steelworkers International Vice-President Gary Beevers, head of the Steelworkers National Oil Bargaining Program)
“It is in the interests of workers and nearby communities to demand that the oil industry provide a healthy and safe workplace. This is true for all workplaces, no matter what the industry, but it is particularly necessary for inherently dirty, polluting and dangerous industries.
“As we support the refinery workers, we continue to work for that time in the future when all energy jobs in this country are based on safer, cleaner, and sustainable energy like wind and solar power. We support a just transition to such an economy that includes provisions for jobs and job training for workers currently employed in carbon-based energy jobs.”
Contact: Ted Glick, 240-396-2155, ted@chesapeakeclimate.org

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Baltimore-Area Delegate Introduces Bill To Shed Light on the Growing Threat of Crude Oil Trains in Maryland

In wake of West Virginia derailment and explosion, advocates applaud the bill as a crucial step to increase transparency in Maryland

ANNAPOLIS–Citing growing local safety concerns and an alarming lack of transparency, Delegate Clarence Lam (D-12) has introduced legislation in the General Assembly to require state study of the potential risks of crude oil train accidents in Maryland. The bill also requires disclosure of the volume of crude oil being transported by trains in the state.
“Many communities near our railways are not aware of the millions of gallons of highly volatile crude oil that pass only feet from their homes,” said Delegate Lam, who represents areas of Baltimore and Howard Counties. “As a strong proponent of disclosure and transparency, I believe that this information should be made public so that state agencies and local communities can plan and prepare for the possibility of rail accidents involving crude oil.”
“As we just saw from yesterday’s crude oil train derailment in West Virginia, accidents involving crude oil along our railways are becoming all too frequent, costly, and dangerous,” continued Del. Lam. “With the amount of crude oil being transported by rail, an accident in Maryland is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when.’ A similar disaster occurring in or near Baltimore could place many lives at risk, inflict tremendous environmental harm, and cripple significant parts of our economy.”
A boom in fracking in the Bakken region of North Dakota has led to a surge in the transport of highly flammable Bakken crude oil on North American rail lines in recent years. A dramatic increase in spills, derailments, and explosions has followed. Just yesterday, a CSX crude oil train derailed and exploded in West Virginia, destroying one house, setting over a dozen tankers on fire, spilling oil into the Kanawha River and forcing the evacuation of two nearby towns.
In Maryland, the oil industry is currently targeting the port of Baltimore as a new throughway for shipping oil from the Bakken region of North Dakota to East Coast refineries. Texas-based Targa Resources is seeking approval to ship millions of gallons of crude oil daily out of the port of South Baltimore. Meanwhile, rail companies CSX and Norfolk Southern are in the middle of a controversial lawsuit to prevent the state from disclosing the amounts and routes of Bakken crude travelling throughout the state.
“We applaud Delegate Lam for working to clear the fog of secrecy surrounding the movement of toxic and explosive crude oil through Maryland communities,” said Jon Kenney, Maryland Community Organizer at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “The explosion that occurred in West Virginia yesterday is yet another wake up call. The public deserves to know where this highly flammable oil is traveling by rail and how our state would respond to a worst-case spill or explosion.”
The legislation introduced by Del. Lam, HB 1073, would require the Department of the Environment and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to jointly prepare a risk assessment for the event of a crude oil-by-rail spill in Maryland, and to prepare prevention, emergency response, and contingency plans. The bill also mandates disclosure of the amount of crude oil being transported by rail through Maryland.
“If only one car was to derail and explode, at minimum a half-mile evacuation radius would be necessary to prevent loss of life, while toxic crude could simultaneously spill into our waterways and the Inner Harbor, causing potentially irreversible damage to our drinking water, economy and ecosystem,” said Will Fadely, Baltimore Program Organizer for Clean Water Action. “Is Baltimore really ready for such a devastating possibility?”
Read a fact sheet about the threat of Crude Oil-by-Rail through Baltimore here:
http://chesapeakeclimate.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/CCAN-Baltimore-Crude-Factsheet-1.pdf
Contact:
Jon Kenney, 301-385-4187, jon@chesapeakeclimate.org
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

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Oppose New Fracked Gas Pipelines in Virginia!

In Virginia, the grassroots battle continues to ramp up against Dominion Resources’ proposed Atlantic Coast pipeline. This proposed 550-mile fracked gas pipeline would originate in Harrison County, West Virginia, cut southwest across Virginia to Greensville County and then head south to eastern North Carolina. A spur would also go into Chesapeake, Virginia.
People across Virginia are coming together to oppose this dirty fracked gas plan. CCAN is partnering with new and highly energized local groups that have formed along the route of the pipeline, including the Augusta County Alliance, Friends of Nelson County and the Allegheny Blue-Ridge Alliance. The Richmond Times-Dispatch documented this growing “mountain of opposition” to the pipeline in January. Together we are building power throughout the state to challenge Dominion’s pipeline and eminent domain laws that are letting Dominion trample over the rights of local landowners.
Here are the latest updates:

  • In December, news broke that Dominion is suing over 40 landowners who have refused to let surveyors for the pipeline come onto their property.
  • Landowners are fighting back. On February 5th, a federal judge heard arguments in a suit brought by landowners to challenge the constitutionality of a state law that gives natural gas companies the right to survey land over the owners’ objections.
  • During the General Assembly session, landowners joined environmental advocates to rally against the pipeline at the State Capitol in Richmond. Unfortunately, legislators failed to advance a bill that would have revoked the 2004 law that Dominion is using to survey landowners’ property.
  • In January, students with the Virginia Student Environmental Coalition delivered over 170 handwritten letters to Governor McAuliffe’s offices in Richmond, calling on him to renounce his support for the pipeline.

Pipeline fighters have also launched local canvasses to inform residents along the route of the pipeline of the risks involved, and are pushing back against Dominion’s overblown claims about the project’s benefits. Friends of Nelson County released a press statement on February 11th to counter a report released by Dominion about the benefits of the pipeline. Friends of Nelson president Joanna Salidis explains why pipeline opponents are developing their own “pipeline impact” study, to be released in May 2015:

The economy of Nelson County is based on tourism, agriculture, recreation and the scenic beauty of the Rockfish Valley. These and so much more are threatened by the proposed pipeline. It makes me sick to my stomach to hear Dominion crow about economic benefits when the truth is their pipeline is nothing more than the large scale transfer of wealth from counties like ours on the route to their shareholders’ pockets. Our Pipeline Impact Study will give us numbers of our own.

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline isn’t the only new natural gas pipeline proposed in Virginia. The Mountain Valley Pipeline is another proposed fracked gas pipeline in the development phase. Residents along the route of the MVP are rallying in Blacksburg on Saturday, March 21st in opposition.

How can you take action?

CCAN is collecting petitions to urge Governor McAuliffe to withdraw his support of the Atlantic Coast pipeline. We need your help! We need Governor McAuliffe to know that Virginians don’t want dangerous new natural gas pipelines criss-crossing our forests and farmlands, and taking us backward in fighting global warming. Working with groups along the proposed route of the pipeline, we’ve collected over 2,500 petitions to the governor so far. Our goal is to collect 5,000 before we deliver them right to his office in April. Click here to sign up to collect petitions in your community, and I’ll follow up with you to give you the materials you need to take action.
CCAN and allied groups are meeting in Virginia in early March to plan the next phase of this campaign. Want to get involved? Email me at Lauren@chesapeakeclimate.org.

Meet the newest members of our CCAN Virginia team

We are so lucky to have had three new organizers recently join our staff to build power in Virginia! Lauren Goldman and Charlie Spatz are new CCAN organizers working out of our Richmond office, alongside Virginia Policy Director Dawone Robinson and Virginia Campus Organizer Drew Gallagher. Harrison Wallace is our new organizer based in Hampton Roads.
Read on to learn more about our newest Virginia team members.
Your age:
Charlie Spatz, Virginia Statewide Organizer: 23
Harrison Wallace, Hampton Roads Organizer: 25
Lauren Goldman, Virginia Campaign Coordinator: 28
Where you live:
Charlie: Richmond, Virginia
Harrison: Virginia Beach, Virginia
Lauren: Richmond, Virginia
Why are you a CCAN employee?
Charlie: I joined CCAN for the opportunity to work on the front lines of climate change here in Virginia. While coal mining continues in the western half of the state, the tidewater area of Virginia is already experiencing sea level rise. In fact, coastal Virginia is the 2nd most vulnerable coast in the nation to sea level rise. This presents an opportunity for a Southern state to take bold steps forward on climate change and hopefully lead others in its direction. I’m excited to be working on our Safe Coast Campaign to make this a reality.
Harrison: I grew up in the commonwealth, I went to college here, and my family has long-standing roots here. I love Virginia because it has the best of both worlds: a beautiful coastline and breathtaking mountains. So, I joined CCAN to do my part to make sure that our wonderful natural resources will be here for my future children and grandchildren. We are at a crossroads in history and I will work tirelessly to make sure that Virginia ends up going in the right direction.
Lauren: I’m a CCAN employee because I care about conservation of fragile ecosystems, and I love solar energy! Also, I lived in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and my house flooded in Hurricane Sandy in Greenpoint, Brooklyn so I am concerned about extreme weather.
What has inspired you most working for CCAN so far?
Charlie: The incredible activists that I get to work with every day. Day in and day out, they are committed to fighting for climate solutions.
Harrison: Listening to Reverend Yearwood’s speech and joining over 100 activists in running into freezing water for our annual polar plunge.
Lauren: I’ve been inspired by the willingness of volunteers to engage with their elected officials through lobbying and call-ins during this 2015 legislative session. I think engaging with elected officials on a regular basis and holding them accountable for their decisions on key issues is something we all need to do more of.
What have you contributed to bringing about a clean energy revolution that you are most proud of?
Charlie: Before joining CCAN, I worked on the People’s Climate March as an organizer for Greenpeace USA. It was an incredible opportunity to work on a team with some of the best organizers from around the country on what became the largest climate change march in history. The People’s Climate March flooded New York City streets with over 400,000 people in September of 2014.
Harrison: Organizing over 40 coastal residents to travel to Richmond and lobby their representatives in the General Assembly. We made sure our voices were heard in the legislature and within the McAuliffe Administration via a great meeting with Chief Resilience Officer Brian Moran.
Lauren: I’ve organized a series of solar phone banks and call-ins during this legislative session, and CCAN supporters across Virginia have been eager and willing to talk to their representatives about legislation that takes away barriers to solar energy in Virginia.
Who would you high five?
Charlie: Famed labor and environmental organizer Chico Mendes, who worked to save the Brazilian Amazon.
Harrison: President Obama.
Lauren: A polar bear (with proper protection) and Yoko Ono for her work against fracking.

Victory for clean energy in DC

December 2014 marked the end of a nearly two-year campaign effort to dramatically increase the use of wind- and solar-powered electricity in the District by closing a major loophole in DC’s most important clean energy law. Following a unanimous DC Council vote in December, Mayor Muriel Bowser signed the “Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard Amendment Act of 2014” into law on January 26th, 2015.
The law will make sure that D.C. ratepayers no longer subsidize the burning of dirty “black liquor” and inefficient wood waste – energy sources that pollute on par with coal – under D.C.’s Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) law. As a result, we’ll reduce carbon pollution by the equivalent of taking 142,000 cars off the road every year — and incentivize the equivalent of about four new utility-scale wind farms throughout our region!
Since July of 2013, with your support, CCAN has been working together with the DC Environmental Network, the Sierra Club DC Chapter, DC Divest, and others to get this bill passed.
This victory puts DC on the path to reducing huge amounts of climate pollution, and incentivizing huge amounts of new clean energy investment across our region. As the world’s top scientists warn that swift action is necessary – at all levels and right now – to avoid irreversible climate impacts, the District is a BIG step closer to doing its part.
We enthusiastically thank the DC Council for voting to support a future with more solar and wind power! Their actions are helping build the infrastructure to create new industries that can employ District residents with good, meaningful jobs.