Lawsuit seeks to stop federal loan guarantee for coal planned for export from Hampton Roads

Daily Press

By Tamara Dietrich

As a registered nurse at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital for more than 20 years, Lorraine Ortega has noticed more and more serious asthma patients who need treatment.

“I was alarmed by the increased number of acute asthmatics in our area, as well as people actually being diagnosed with lung cancer when they’re non-smokers,” Ortega said.

One of those acute asthmatics happens to be Ortega’s daughter, who’s wound up several times in the emergency room. Ortega says she’s also had her own share of “really, really bad lung congestion” and pulmonary issues, even though she, too, is a non-smoker. She didn’t have such problems before moving from Brooklyn to Chesapeake in 1991.

She believes the culprit is coal.

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Environmental groups, critical of coal export loans, file lawsuit

Cumberland Times-News

By Matthew Bieniek

CUMBERLAND — At the same time the coal industry is fighting against what industry leaders say is a war on coal, several environmental groups have filed a lawsuit to fight multimillion dollar loan guarantees to export U.S. coal to foreign nations including Japan, South Korea, China and Italy.

Much of that coal leaves the country through the Port of Baltimore.

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Environmentalists sue Export-Import Bank over loan guarantee to domestic coal broker

The Washington Post

By Max Ehrenfreund

Above the harbor in Baltimore’s industrial Curtis Hill district is a one-acre urban farm. Jason Reed, a community organizer who works there, described the view. “I can look out over the harbor, and you can see the piles and piles of coal,” he said.

That coal is the subject of a lawsuit filed Wednesday by a coalition of environmental groups against the Export-Import Bank of the United States. The groups are challenging the federal agency’s financing of fossil fuel exports from ports in Baltimore and Hampton Roads.

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Lawsuit Challenges Federal Financing of Coal Exports from East Coast Ports

Environmental groups today filed the first-ever lawsuit challenging the federal government’s financing for the export of Appalachian coal from the United States. The U.S. government approved this financial support for coal exports without considering the increased toxic air and water pollution that could affect communities near the mines and ports, and along the railways that connect them.

The groups filing the lawsuit charge that the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) violated federal law by providing a $90 million loan guarantee to Xcoal Energy & Resources without reviewing the environmental impacts as required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). According to Ex-Im Bank, the taxpayer-backed financing, approved on May 24, 2012, will help leverage a billion dollars in exports of coal mined in Appalachia. The coal will be shipped from ports in Baltimore, Maryland and Norfolk, Virginia to markets in Japan, South Korea, China and Italy.

“Ex-Im Bank turned a blind eye to the toxic coal dust, heavy train traffic and disruptive noise that our members living near ports and railways experience on a daily basis,” said Diana Dascalu-Joffe, senior general counsel at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “People on the front lines of the U.S. coal export boom deserve to know the risks and to have a say over whether their tax dollars finance it.”

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Camp David-to-DC Climate March Culminates with White House Rally, Calling on Pres. Obama to Keep His Promises

Grandparents and youth who just walked 100 miles in ‘Summer Heat’ to call on President Obama to stop Keystone XL are welcomed by hundreds of supporters at White House rally

WASHINGTON, DC—On Saturday, grandparents, parents and youth culminated a 100-mile, eight-day march from Camp David to DC by rallying with hundreds of supporters in Lafayette Park across from the White House. They called on President Obama to keep his promises to children now and to future generations by rejecting the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and moving toward independence from all fossil fuels.

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#Walk4Grandkids Day 8: NO KXL!

From July 19th to July 26th, grandparents, parents and young people, from age 15 to 78, journeyed together on a eight-day trek from Camp David to the White House. After 100 miles of sweat and blisters through this summer’s worst heat wave, the Walk for Our Grandchildren reached DC today. Dozens gathered downtown at the headquarter of ERM to expose corporate influence in the US Department of State’s analsysis of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Tomorrow, we will reach our ultimate goal – the White House, calling upon President Obama to demonstrate substantive leadership on climate by rejecting the KXL.
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Governor O’Malley Unveils One of Nation’s Strongest Global Warming Plans

CCAN applauds plan as critical example of climate leadership as our planet passes the carbon pollution danger zone of 400 parts per million

BALTIMORE—Governor Martin O’Malley released today a far-reaching plan to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions in Maryland by 25 percent by 2020. The plan will create an estimated $1.6 billion in economic benefits and create over 37,000 jobs. The plan surpasses California and all states except Massachusetts in its goals, while incorporating carbon reduction and clean energy policies that experts believe are credible and achievable. Today’s release positions Maryland as a national leader in facing the climate change crisis head-on.

“A problem of this magnitude requires tough choices and bold leadership,” said Maryland Senator Paul Pinsky (D-Prince George’s County), sponsor of the 2009 landmark Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act. “Not only is it dangerous and foolhardy to ignore this looming threat, but acting now to mitigate the future damage from climate change can also enrich our state in numerous ways. Today’s plan offers the right mix of policy solutions that will both reduce the dangerous greenhouse gas emissions that are causing global warming while offering the maximum economic benefits for Maryland.”

“In the face of virtually unrecognizable weather and rapidly rising seas, Governor O’Malley is stepping up to lead,” said Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “The Governor’s plan is an example that other states should follow, given the intensifying impacts of climate change and the unacceptably slow response on Capitol Hill.”

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Loudoun Rally Promotes Clean Energy

Leesburg Today

By Emily Moschetto

Almost 50 people gathered outside the Loudoun County Government Center Tuesday afternoon to catch the attention of local leaders and to raise awareness about how Loudouners can help combat climate change.

The “Wake Up Loudoun” rally drew members of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and a group of activists from the “Walk for Our Grandchildren” group who are in the midst of a 100-mile walk from Camp David to the White House.

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O'Malley crafts stricter plan to fight climate change

The Baltimore Sun

By Erin Cox and Tim Wheeler

The O’Malley administration’s aggressive new plan to fight climate change calls for Maryland residents to further cut their energy use or face higher monthly utility bills.

The plan, to be released Thursday by Gov. Martin O’Malley, also requires that more of the state’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2020.

Maryland’s goals for reducing greenhouse gases are among the most ambitious in the nation. The plan requires stricter measures than previously proposed to meet the requirement set by the General Assembly in 2009 to cut carbon emissions that scientists say drive climate change.

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#Walk4Grandkids Day 4: Voices From the Trail

The following is a Day 4 update by Elisabeth Hoffman, who’s on the trail of the Walk for Our Grandchildren, July 19th-July 27th.
For our children, we would do anything.
From the mundane to the extraordinary, we have done what ever was necessary to protect, clothe, educate, and help them grow.
Parents on the 2013 Walk For Our Grandchildren baby-proofed the house, stayed up all night with sick children, coached, and volunteered in schools. Some gave up lucrative jobs to work from home for their children or to go sledding on snow days. Those memories are now the fuel that moves them onward step by step to Washington, DC.
Bill Ramsey of Asheville, NC instilled a love of nature in his children with summer backpacking and camping trips. But they also participated in protests, including once when his oldest son, then two years old and out of view in a backpack, was inadvertently arrested with him at a farm workers’ strike. “They’ve seen me, day after day, working and acting as if we can create change,” he said. Bill now walks for his grandchildren, age eight and three.
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