Chalk Point and Dickerson Coal Plants Set to Retire

Retirements will Protect Public Health, Continue Maryland’s Transition to Clean Energy

Annapolis, Maryland – This week, NRG Energy signaled that it plans to retire the Chalk Point and Dickerson coal plants in May 2017. Chalk Point, located along the Patuxent River in Prince George’s County, and Dickerson, located in Montgomery County, are 2 of only 7 remaining coal plants in the state. Advocates cheered the decision stating that these retirements will protect public health and continue Maryland’s transition from dirty, outdated coal towards more clean energy. Now advocates are calling for NRG Energy, Governor O’Malley and the Maryland legislature, and all people who care about justice and fairness to ensure a responsible transition for affected workers.

“As Maryland invests in more clean energy, polluting coal plants like Chalk Point and Dickerson are now obsolete,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies which has contributed $50 million to Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. “Marylanders will benefit from the retirement of these two plants with cleaner air, lower healthcare costs, and less climate-disrupting pollution. What’s more, this officially marks 30% of all the nation’s coal plants announcing retirement since 2010. Make no mistake — coal is going away for good.”

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Weekly Climate Insider: Climate talks, wind energy, and a recap of CCAN's busy November!

We had a busy November here at CCAN! Your Weekly Climate Insider has taken a hiatus as we’ve been traveling around Maryland and Virginia for some big fall events! The Maryland Crossroads Tour and Safe Coast Virginia Conference were great successes!
After a disappointing (albeit unsurprising) lack of progress at the Warsaw climate talks, Activists and grassroots organizers from around the world protested the talks. Greenpeace Germany’s Martin Kaiser believes “”The climate conference in Warsaw was a waste of energy.”
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Anti-fracking activists protest gas plants at Hood

The Frederick News-Post

By Rachel S. Karas

Local and state environmental activists joined around 150 area residents at Hood College on Nov. 18 to protest natural gas projects in Frederick County and on the Eastern Shore.

The Chesapeake Climate Action Network, a grassroots nonprofit organization working against global warming in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, visited the school with one message in mind: “Clean energy, not Cove Point.”

The group traveled to nine cities across Maryland to oppose Virginia-based Dominion Resources’ plan to build a liquefied natural gas export facility on the Chesapeake Bay. They claim the Cove Point project is tied to a Dominion subsidiary project to build a gas compressor station in Myersville, which could feed gas to Cove Point to be shipped overseas.

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Rally rejects fracking, gas export terminal

Cumberland Times-News

By Matthew Bieniek

CUMBERLAND — Speakers during the local stop in a statewide series of town hall meetings against a planned $3.8 billion gas export terminal in Cove Point said the project will bring further pressure to develop natural gas in Western Maryland. Speakers also said the planned natural gas terminal would move state policy away from a current emphasis on clean energy.

Cumberland’s stop for the meetings was Wednesday at the New Embassy Theatre, where about 50 people showed up.

Cove Point is in Calvert County on the Chesapeake Bay. The Cove Point project was linked to fracking by speakers and by informational material distributed to participants.

“If approved, the Cove Point export facility would provide a strong economic incentive for companies to expand fracking across our region, including in Maryland, where no drilling has yet occurred. In other states, the expansion of fracking has caused drinking water contamination, air pollution, illnesses and even earthquakes,” according to the informational material.

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Safe Coast Conference Launches Bigger, Bolder Coastal Climate Movement

On Saturday, November 16th, more than 120 Virginians came together in Norfolk to launch the next phase of grassroots action to protect Virginia’s coastal communities from climate change. The science is clear: rising sea levels and more powerful storms – driven by our burning of fossil fuels – are already causing frequent flooding and disrupting lives, business and critical civilian and naval infrastructure up and down the coast.
As DeLevay Miner, a local resident featured in the documentary premiered at the conference, Sea of Change, said, “You cannot depend on the history before because everything is changing.”
If this urgent reality was what motivated so many to spend their Saturday at the “Safe Coast Virginia” conference (see pictures here), the question of what we can and must DO about it was the theme that charged the day.
Here are three big takeaways from the conference that will galvanize our action moving forward:
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Hybrid Tax Repeal Campaign Takes First Step Forward

On July 1st 2013, one of the worst ideas of the year became law in Virginia: the state began taxing climate-conscious owners of hybrid vehicles $64 per year. In response to this absurdity, Democratic Delegate Scott Surovell and Senator Adam Ebbin joined me to protest the tax and announced their intention to introduce a bill repealing it during the 2014 General Assembly session. Yesterday, on the first day to pre-file bills for the upcoming session, the two legislators kept true to their word.
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Maryland Crossroads Tour Draws Largest Crowd Yet

By Arielle Conti, Grassroots Organizing Intern
An eager and energetic crowd packed into The Brown Center’s Falvey Hall on Tuesday for the Baltimore Tour Stop of the Maryland Crossroads Tour. After great turnouts in Annapolis, St. Mary’s and Silver Spring, Baltimore was the 4th and largest stop of the tour. The turnout proved Marylanders do not want to take the “radical detour” of exporting fracked gas from Cove Point and instead want to continue to see clean energy grow in our state.
The evening began with the soothing, rooted sounds of Artie and the Vipers and kicked off with Mike Tidwell, CCANs Founder and Director, recognizing and rewarding local Baltimore Climate Heroes. Thanks again to Maryland Environmental Health Network, Free Your Voice, and Nina Beth Cardin for all you do to help fight climate change in your city.
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Food Safety Modernization Act: Bad for Farmers, Bad for Consumers

As part of our Maryland Crossroads Tour, CCAN is presenting Climate Hero awards to local leaders who have made a difference in the climate movements in their communities and across the state. 
Last Thursday when accepting his Climate Hero award, Mike Tabor, local sustainable farmer and environmental activist, raised the issue of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Mr. Tabor shared how FSMA will radically change our food system and limit our food choices if it is funded.
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Safe Coast Virginia Conference: One-of-a-kind climate action this Saturday!

Coastal Virginia is at the center of the fight against climate change. That’s why, this Saturday from 9:30-4:30pm Hampton Roads residents and Virginians from across the commonwealth are coming together in Norfolk for the Safe Coast Virginia Conference. Community and clean energy leaders, scientific experts and climate champions from Virginia and beyond will deliver keynotes and lead discussions about the threat of rising seas and bigger storms and how we can move towards a clean energy future that keeps us safe.
To join us, you can pre-register for the Safe Coast Virginia Conference online until midnight November 14th, or register at the door.
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Exporting natural gas is a bad deal for Maryland

The Washington Post
By James McGarry
Imagine somebody offered you a deal. First, you have to agree to take a pay cut at your job. Second, you have to agree to pay more for basic necessities such as food and electricity. Third, you have to breathe dirtier air and live next to a dirtier Chesapeake Bay. And what do you get in exchange for all this pain? You get to watch a handful of companies that are already doing extremely well make a lot more money. Would you take that deal?
When it comes to exporting U.S. natural gas from a drilling process called fracking, that’s the tradeoff for the public.
Virginia-based Dominion Resources wants to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) through the Chesapeake Bay via a facility at Cove Point in southern Maryland. This project would not only damage our state’s environment, it is also part of an unwise potential national shift toward exporting natural gas, which threatens the economy and jeopardizes our country’s goal of reducing harmful greenhouse gas pollution.
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