The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is 0-4 on first down conversions. The red zone is nowhere in sight, and the clock is running out. Why are people still betting on this team?
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The 2023 General Assembly session is around the corner, and the partisan fearmongering has unfortunately already begun. Republicans pre-filed seven bills to repeal clean car standards.
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The wine was flowing. The birthday cake was delicious. And the party-goers had a blast! Legislators, activists, and nearly 300 of Chesapeake Climate Action Network’s closest friends gathered on October 20 in Washington, DC to celebrate 20 years of climate action and the recent passage of historic federal climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act. And, most importantly, they pledged to keep working together in the future to fight climate change.
That’s right. It’s been 20 years since Mike Tidwell left behind a successful career in journalism to launch CCAN out of his home in Takoma Park, Maryland. From that humble start grew what Bill McKibben – the renowned author, educator and environmentalist – calls the “best regional grassroots climate group in the world.” Today, CCAN has tens of thousands of supporters nationwide – with 23 dedicated staffers, three regional offices, and dozens of climate activist group allies – all dedicated to protecting our planet.
Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Jr., President and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus, got us started by recalling early days in the fight against climate change – working with some of the activists who were in attendance at this anniversary event and even getting arrested at several protests with his good friend, Bill McKibben. He concluded by saying, “I’m excited for the movement… but this is the thing. We don’t have 20 more years, so we can’t be here thinking about what we’re going to do 20 years from now. We won’t look ahead to 2042. That isn’t the goal for this organization. We’ve got to fix this now. We’ve got to fix this for our children. And for our children’s children. Thanks so much CCAN for all that you do!”
DC Councilmember Mary Cheh received CCAN’s first-ever Regional Climate Champion Award. After 16 years on the council, Cheh has decided to retire but during her tenure she spearheaded groundbreaking climate bills that became law a good two or three years before similar legislation passed in the surrounding states. They include a 50% renewable electricity standard in 2016, a 100% RES in 2018, and most recently, a bill that — with some exceptions — prohibits methane gas in new buildings in the nation’s capital after 2026. In accepting her award, Cheh issued a friendly challenge to Maryland and Virginia: Please catch up fast!
Virginia State Senator Jennifer McClellan gave a rousing speech about her collaboration with CCAN. She talked about the remarkable progress that Virginia has made in recent years including passage of the South’s first-ever clean energy standards, the Virginia Clean Economy Act, and in the same year passed the Solar Freedom Act and Environmental Justice Act, then one year later passing the Clean Car standards. Every step of the way, McClellan said, “CCAN was right there.” Now, she said, there are new challenges but “with your help … Virginia can stay a leader. Happy Birthday!”
Climate activist Bill McKibben, who helped inspire Tidwell to launch CCAN, congratulated CCAN again on its victories and issued a stirring call to action: “Now, more than ever, we need groups like CCAN because we’re moving now from the exhortation phase of this fight to the execution phase! We’ve got to keep demonstrating… but we’ve got to deploy, too. So it’s going to take this set of skills that groups like CCAN have spent so much time developing. Now the role will be to help other people around the country and around the world go down the same path.” We’ve started a movement for climate action and now it’s time for us all to continue – full speed ahead!
US Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), our final featured speaker, first met Mike more than 20 years ago. Van Hollen was running for the US House of Representatives. The Sierra Club asked Mike to write a profile of the young candidate. During the interview, Mike asked Van Hollen what he thought about Mike’s idea to form a grassroots regional climate group, and what advice he had to pass transformative legislation. Van Hollen gave Mike the advice that guides us to this day: “Number one, build the biggest coalition you can for your issue. Leave no one out. Reach out widely. And two, never, ever, ever, ever, EVER, give up.”
At the 20th Anniversary event, Van Hollen underscored that theme again, urging the attendees to focus on implementation of new legislation. “In many ways, the hard part starts now. It’s also the reality that even if [the IRA] is perfectly implemented, we all know it only takes us part of the way… We need to do more to address all of the challenges we’re facing. And use the opportunity to put more people to work in the clean-energy economy. We’ve got a lot of work to do!”
In addition, to these and other speakers, we were also joined by other leading legislators — the region’s climate “royalty” who have passed landmark climate bills at the local and state levels, including:
And many others, from climate activists to dear friends and family, more than we can relay here!
Now, take a walk through CCAN’s history by watching this video:
RICHMOND, VA-Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s “2022 Virginia Energy Plan” – released today – is a veiled threat to Virginia’s clean-energy progress in recent years and threatens to move the Commonwealth backwards during the world’s last-chance decade to solve climate change. The 29-page report takes a supposedly “all-of-the-above” approach to energy, calling for support for more coal and gas and nuclear while calling for changes to the state’s landmark “Clean Economy Act of 2020” and “Clean Cars Act of 2021.”
Mike Tidwell, Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, issued the following statement in response to the new energy plan from the Virginia Department of Energy:
“As hurricanes bash the U.S. in the east and wildfires torch the west, Governor Youngkin’s new energy plan for Virginia fails to meet the challenge of cleaning our air and solving the climate crisis. His ‘all-of-the-above’ approach would have been fine in 1950 but has no place in the year 2022. Methane gas is not ‘clean’ and nuclear power is fantastically expensive and will not protect consumers or the environment. Instead of embracing false solutions like gas and nuclear, the Governor should be embracing and implementing the Virginia Clean Economy Act and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative – policies already on the books and benefiting Virginians. Instead, he calls for review and changes to these fully functioning and successful policies. The people of Virginia want serious solutions, not games, when it comes to energy. They want low-cost wind and solar and the electric vehicles Detroit is all-in on manufacturing. Glenn Youngkin should catch up to modern Virginia and leave 1900s Virginia behind.”
The 2022 Virginia Energy Plan can be read here.
Contact:
Mike Tidwell, Executive Director, CCAN, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org, 240-460-5838
KC Chartrand, Communications Director, CCAN, kc@chesapeakeclimate.org, 240-620-7144
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Related campaign:
US Senator Joe Manchin will stop at nothing to strong-arm fossil fuel boondoggles into existence, especially the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) in West Virginia and Virginia. His approach this time? A Dirty Deal with US Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to pass so-called “permitting reform” legislation.
This label is misleading because the bill would actually sacrifice frontline communities to fast track permits for all kinds of risky, destructive fossil fuel projects.
The MVP is a climate-warming, land-destroying, family-wrecking pipeline that is utterly unacceptable to us. Which is why we have been fighting it from the day it was proposed in 2015. That pipeline would cross nearly 1000 streams and wetlands to transport fracked gas from West Virginia to Virginia and possibly to overseas markets. We unequivocally oppose this pipeline and any legislation that would greenlight it.
The Dirty Deal bill has a difficult path to passage, but we need to pull out all the stops. No one has seen the official legislation yet, but the one-page summary of the deal that was leaked is a disaster – it guts bedrock environmental protections, endangers public health, fast-tracks fossil fuels, and pushes approval for Manchin’s pet project, the Mountain Valley Pipeline – and a draft legislative text that’s circulating is just as bad, it even bears a watermark from the American Petroleum Institute!
Manchin’s deal will not only attempt to force through the Mountain Valley Pipeline, it’ll also threaten the National Environmental Policy Act, a bedrock environmental policy.
Here’s what the draft deal claims to do if passed:
…and more. Read the full text at this link.
This is a dirty deal written by and for the fossil fuel industry. It’ll also sacrifice frontline communities to fast-track permits for other fossil fuel projects. Leader Schumer could attach this legislation to a must-pass government spending bill this September, so we must do everything we can to stop this legislation in its tracks.
Manchin’s deal will not only attempt to force through the Mountain Valley Pipeline, it’ll also threaten the National Environmental Policy Act, a bedrock environmental policy.
We will not stand for this.
Manchin’s Dirty Deal would have monumental repercussions. It would gut existing environmental law by cutting public input and dismissing tribal authority. The clear result would be more dangerous fossil fuel infrastructure that decimates public health and accelerates out-of-control climate chaos.
No one should be sacrificed for profit. We have to fight back and urge our elected officials to do all they can to stop this terrible legislation.
Send a message to your members of Congress. Tell them to say NO to Manchin’s Dirty Deal!
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Friday, February 11, 2022
Contact:
Contact: Morgan Caplan, (443) 986-1221 or Morgan.Caplan@sierraclub.org
Washington, DC — This week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers committed to withhold a Clean Water Act Section 404 permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) at least until the project has a valid Endangered Species Act biological opinion. This confirmation was received in response to a letter from Appalachian Mountain Advocates and the Southern Environmental Law Center. The 404 permit, if issued, would allow for the pipeline to trench and blast through hundreds of streams and wetlands in its path.
This is another serious blow to the beleaguered project, which has already had several key permits rejected by the courts. In early February, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals invalidated the biological opinion and incidental take statement issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. That decision came on the heels of the court’s late-January invalidation of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management approvals for the second time, preventing the pipeline from crossing the Jefferson National Forest.
The Corps’ response casts further doubt on the future of the Mountain Valley Pipeline and means that for the foreseeable future the pipeline will not be able to build across streams, wetlands and several major rivers. Those crossings threaten long-term degradation of water quality.
“That the Corps did its job, simply by following the law — gives hope. Southwest Virginia, together with our neighbors to the west and the south, have endured eight years of MVP abuses, specifically to our exceptional waters that are the life force of our forests, aquifers, karst, wetlands and floodplains. By following the law, the Corps has answered the moral imperative of the climate emergency — that in supporting our most fragile biological species and the waters they depend upon, we protect our people — and their future on Earth — over profit,” says Roberta Bondurant, a member of Preserve Bent Mountain, a chapter of Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL), and Co-Chair of Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights Coalition (POWHR).
“The recent letter from the Corps means MVP can’t be granted an ‘all access pass’ to our waterways before the pipeline’s effects on endangered fish are carefully studied,” Sierra Club Senior Organizer Caroline Hansley said. “This project has already received major setbacks with permits still missing and more being challenged, along with millions of dollars in fines for hundreds of violations of clean water protections. Not only is MVP billions over budget and more than three years behind schedule, MVP still has hundreds of difficult waterbody crossings left to complete. Investors and lenders should walk away from this unjust and unneeded project. We all have a right to clean water and will continue to make sure our communities are protected.”
“The Corps’ decision to delay action on the 404 permit is the right course at this time,” said Peter Anderson, Virginia Policy Director for Appalachian Voices. “We will continue to hold the unnecessary Mountain Valley Pipeline accountable for all of its serious flaws and the harms it inflicts on our communities.”
David Sligh, Conservation Director at Wild Virginia stated: “One resource agency after another has failed the public in granting ill-considered and improper approvals for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. In this case, the Corps has acknowledged its legal duty and that gives many of our precious and sensitive streams a reprieve from MVP’s damages. Now is the time for federal officials to finally stop this project, which has already caused so much pain and pollution in the affected communities.”
“Climate change poses a ‘code red for humanity,’ according to the world’s leading scientists. The last thing we need is another massive pipeline that will prolong our reliance on dirty fracked-gas, harm Virginia’s streams and rivers, and trample on people’s property rights,” said Anne Havemann, general counsel with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “As permit after permit gets thrown out or delayed, it’s time for MVP to see the writing on the wall and abandon the project.”
“This is very good news about a project and a route that never should have been allowed,” commented Bill Wolf of Preserve Craig, Inc.
“Endangered species like the candy darter and Roanoke logperch are nature’s ‘canaries in the mines’ — a warning to us all about the health of our water, air and entire ecosystem. We appreciate that the Army Corps of Engineers is paying attention and will not complete its review until a valid Biological Opinion is in place,” commented Howdy Henritz, president of Indian Creek Watershed Association.
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person’s right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.
About the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights Coalition
Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR) is an interstate coalition leading the fight to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The coalition includes individuals and groups from counties in Virginia and West Virginia dedicated to protecting water, land, and communities from fossil fuel expansion and environmental injustice. For more information, visit our website: powhr.org.
Decision comes just after Fourth Circuit invalidated U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management
Thursday, February 3, 2022
Contact:
Morgan Caplan, (443) 986-1221 or Morgan.Caplan@sierraclub.org
Molly Moore, (847) 401-3633, molly@appvoices.org
Washington, DC — Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit invalidated the biological opinion and incidental take statement issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The court found that the agency failed to adequately analyze the project’s environmental context when assessing the detrimental impacts to the Roanoke logperch and the candy darter, a species on the brink of extinction. The court’s decision means that construction should not move forward along the 304-mile pipeline route.
Today’s announcement is a result of a case argued by the Sierra Club on behalf of a coalition of conservation organizations, including Wild Virginia, Appalachian Voices, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Defenders of Wildlife, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, Preserve Giles County, Preserve Bent Mountain, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Indian Creek Watershed Association and Center for Biological Diversity. Appalachian Mountain Advocates also represented the petitioners.
The decision is yet another setback for the Mountain Valley Pipeline after another recent decision from the Fourth Circuit invalidating approvals by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management for construction through Jefferson National Forest. The project continues to face several legal battles and is more than three years behind schedule, barely half complete to full restoration, and billions over budget. The pipeline has been required to pay millions of dollars in fines for more than 350 water quality-related violations in Virginia and West Virginia, and has disturbed and destroyed important habitat that has adversely affected local wildlife. Today’s decision should stop the pipeline’s onslaught against one of the largest remaining wild landscapes in the eastern U.S.
Sierra Club Senior Director of Energy Campaigns, Kelly Sheehan, said, “Three more key federal agencies have been sent back to the drawing board after failing to analyze MVP’s harmful impacts. The previous administration’s rushed, shoddy permitting put the entire project in question. Now, the Biden administration must fulfill the commitments it has made on climate and environmental justice by taking a meaningful, thorough review of this project and its permitting. When they do, they will see the science is clear: MVP is not compatible with a healthy planet and livable communities. MVP must not move forward.”
Russell Chisholm, Co-Chair of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR) Coalition, said: “Sacred life prevailed today with the court’s acknowledgement of the harmful impact MVP has on everything in its path, specifically endangered and threatened species. Holding MVP accountable to the law is key to the ultimate cancellation of this noxious fracked gas pipeline. This decision not only protects the candy darter and other endangered species, it sets us on course to stop MVP, decisively transition away from deadly fossil fuels, and reroute towards a renewable economy on a livable planet.”
Sierra Club Senior Attorney Elly Benson released the following statement: “MVP’s dangerous pipeline project has already destroyed and degraded the habitat of endangered species along its route, in addition to the threat it poses to clean air, water, and our communities. We have seen its harmful effects on the region’s forests and streams as MVP has put profits before people and wildlife. Today’s decision underscores that the Fish and Wildlife Service can’t minimize MVP’s impacts on vulnerable species like the Roanoke logperch and candy darter that are already facing numerous other serious threats, including climate change.”
“At a time when we need to urgently move away from fracked-gas pipelines and all the harms they bring — from impacts to endangered species to damage to water quality to climate change — the law and science prevailed in this case,” said Anne Havemann, general counsel of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.
Roberta Bondurant of Preserve Bent Mountain, a local member group of the POWHR Coalition, said, “Today’s is a sweetly welcome decision in our fight to stop the ravage of MVP. The Bent Mountain community together with our allies, have fought relentlessly, and at unspeakable costs, to protect forest, meadow and waters of our venerable Appalachians. This is a banner day for Planet Earth—-the Swomee Swan soars, the Humming Fish jumps, and the Truffula Tree breathes a grateful sigh of relief.”
“Once again, the courts have found that federal regulators weren’t following the laws passed by Congress to protect the public and our environment,” said Peter Anderson, Virginia Policy Director for Appalachian Voices. “Communities in this region rely on its rich biodiversity to support many recreational and economic opportunities. We take seriously our laws protecting habitat and ecological function, even if Mountain Valley Pipeline does not.”
“Again, the agencies that should be guardians of our most precious resources and the public interest failed us,” stated David Sligh, Conservation Director at Wild Virginia. “But today is a victory for sensitive and valuable species, which have already been harmed by MVP’s pollution. This decision again reinforces the truth that this destructive project must not be allowed to continue. The company needs to face that fact now and should be forced to help heal the wounds it has inflicted.”
“This is an incredible victory,” said Jared Margolis, Senior Attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a fossil fuel nightmare that threatens the essential habitat of imperiled wildlife. These projects lock us into an unsustainable spiral of climate change that inflict incredible damage to vulnerable species. That cycle must end.”
“Enough is enough,” said Cindy Rank of WV Highlands Conservancy. “This is just one more example of how wrong this pipeline is, how much it harms the earth and the critters that make our world a treasure to be protected from unwise developments like MVP.”
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person’s right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.
About the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights Coalition
Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR) is an interstate coalition leading the fight to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The coalition includes individuals and groups from counties in Virginia and West Virginia dedicated to protecting water, land, and communities from fossil fuel expansion and environmental injustice. For more information, visit our website: powhr.org.
Dear friends,
I founded Chesapeake Climate Action Network nearly 20 years ago with the hope that one day, if we worked hard enough, the US Congress would enact a truly transformative climate bill. In mid-November, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act that invests $550 billion in climate solutions. But, as you’ve probably heard, Senator Joe Manchin now says he cannot vote for the bill as currently written.
It is up to all of us to change his mind. In the days and weeks ahead, CCAN will use its on-the-ground organizing in Manchin’s home state of West Virginia to make it happen.
We can’t let Build Back Better die because we need it for a livable future. We need BBB investments to fuel the clean power sector, increase access to electric vehicles, and support communities most severely impacted by changing climate. We need BBB to create over 300,000 good jobs in a new Civilian Climate Corps and 150,000 in clean manufacturing. We need BBB to install 500,000 EV charging stations across the country as well as convert more than 60,000 diesel school buses to clean electric buses. And that’s just the beginning.
CCAN is already making plans to renew the battle for climate sanity in 2022 and beyond. We’ll do whatever it takes to get the White House and Congress to deliver bold climate action when they reconvene. And after the Build Back Better Act is enacted, we will continue to press ahead because there is more work to be done. .
Modeling shows that, while the Build Back Better Act gets us close, it doesn’t achieve the full 50 percent reductions in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say we need by 2030. But don’t worry. Individual states can and will make up the difference. Our teams in Maryland, Virginia, and DC are going to keep pushing for state-level reductions. We’ll join other states nationwide to mandate that all new buildings are powered by electricity, not gas. We’ll push for pedestrian-friendly communities while fighting new fossil fuel infrastructure projects. And we’ll make sure all new federal climate spending — tens of billions of dollars in our region — is invested wisely.
Because of our grassroots supporters, we’ve made incredible progress… but there is so much still to do. Help us make 2022 — CCAN’s 20th year — our best year yet. Join us as a member here, sign up to volunteer here or make an end-of-year donation here.
Thanks again for your support… and Happy New Year!
Mike Tidwell
Director, CCAN and CCAN Action Fund
On November 19th, the US House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act. It’s the strongest climate legislation ever passed by a legislative body and will keep millions of Americans out of poverty. You can find a helpful description of what’s included in the plan at this link.
Our sister organization, CCAN Action Fund (CCAN AF), worked tirelessly and in close collaboration with allies across the country over the past year to help pass this plan. A half dozen Democrats in the House initially refused to vote for the bill! So, the coalition of activists went to work and our targeted, coordinated advocacy helped get those holdouts to vote YES.
Today, this legislation still needs to pass the Senate. CCAN Action Fund has been working all year to communicate to Senator Joe Manchin why the people of West Virginia support the Build Back Better Act. We‘ve recruited hundreds of constituents to call his office, projected images of climate disasters onto his local office, convinced community organizations to sign resolutions, and so much more. And now we will redouble our efforts in order to achieve success in early 2022.
The Build Back Better Act will get us into the ballpark of reducing our emissions 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. You can find a detailed projection of the plan at this link. Reaching the 50 percent reductions called for by 2030 will require further executive action and state legislation to close the gap, and our powerful community of advocates and grassroots members will help make sure that happens. That means we need you. Join us as a member for as little as $1 per year.
Represented by our friends at the Environmental Integrity Project, we announced on December 9th our intention to file suit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to properly regulate pollution from landfills, including potent greenhouse gas, methane. The EPA’s model for measuring emissions is based on a set of methods called “emission factors” which the EPA is required to consider updating every three years. These factors haven’t been updated since 1998. The underestimation of emissions results in landfills avoiding regulation and prevents regulators and the public from realizing the full extent of air pollution coming from landfills. We expect our lawsuit to result in the EPA updating these 1998 emission factors and better regulating landfills across the country. See our press release.
Join us on February 12, 2022, for our annual Polar Bear Plunge (also our inaugural event to launch and celebrate CCAN’s 20th Anniversary)! We’re holding a “hybrid” Plunge this year, meaning you can join us from anywhere — in person at National Harbor, just outside of DC, or you can take the Plunge from your backyard or a water body of your choosing.
So grab your friends and family and #TakeThePlunge.
Though landmark renewable energy legislation was passed in 2019, we haven’t yet adequately addressed the two other top-emitting sectors — transportation and buildings. We’ve been working with a broad coalition since the summer, vetting policies and preparing for big wins in Annapolis in 2022.
This year, we’ll be working on policies to electrify our transportation sector and decarbonize buildings. We’ll also be working on crucial legislation to divest Maryland pension funds from fossil fuels and put the environmental human rights amendment to the Maryland Constitution on the 2022 ballot. Learn more about our Climate Platform Resolution and show your support.
In the last few weeks before the legislative session begins, our sister organization, CCAN Action Fund, will hold lobby trainings, legislative previews, and preparation and planning meetings with our partners and volunteers. We hope you can join us! Contact victoria@chesapeakeclimate.org to learn more, or sign up here to volunteer.
The transportation sector is the number one climate polluter in Virginia and nationally. Our “Mobility for All” campaign pushes for a comprehensive approach to decarbonizing transportation by rapidly electrifying as many vehicles as possible and providing folks with safe, reliable, and affordable alternatives to driving such as transit, biking, and walking. Our sister organization, CCAN Action Fund, had a number of key legislative victories on this front in the 2021 session and we plan to continue this work in the upcoming year.
The recent election results in Virginia mean CCAN Action Fund will likely have to defend a number of recent climate victories in the Commonwealth, like the Virginia Clean Economy Act of 2020. We’ll be working closely with partners to ensure that state senators and delegates understand the health and economic benefits of transitioning to a clean energy economy. If you want to help advocate for continued progress and protect the strides already made, please encourage your friends and family to join CCAN as a member. Members receive monthly updates on our legislative and political campaigns, have access to training and discussions, and learn how they can best plug in to our campaigns.
On December 14th, the Virginia State Water Control Board sided with a polluter in approving a key water permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. This happened a few short days after hundreds of pipeline fighters got together for the “NO Mountain Valley Pipeline Violation Vigil,” which highlighted the more than 300 water violations — yes, 300 — that the pipeline company has already committed. The fight is not over. We will continue to fight, as we await decisions from our neighbors in West Virginia, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. We’re eyeling legal and other action — stay tuned. See CCAN’s statement.
The climate and political challenges today are even bigger and more complex than when CCAN was founded 20 years ago. Which means we have to adapt. In September we launched a new Membership program to build volunteer leadership capacity, which is critical to building a movement at the scale needed to solve today’s challenges. If you’ve made a gift to our work in the past year, you were automatically enrolled in our Membership program. If not, you can join for as little as $1 per year. Find more information on the Membership program at this link. Or contact mustafa@chesapeakeclimate.org to connect with a CCAN organizer.
Several members have already taken on new projects and leadership roles. Here are a few highlights:
Training up
Rob, longtime CCAN supporter (now member), designed a Letter to the Editor training we recently used to prepare dozens of volunteers in Maryland to write LTEs around our legislative priorities. Meanwhile, volunteers in Virginia wrote LTEs to encourage Virginia’s Water Control Board to deny a 401 permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
National action teams
Pamela and Christy are working together to develop Friends, Family and Neighbors Action Teams. These teams will offer a mechanism for members across the country to gain information, strategies, and general support on reaching out to and engaging friends, family, and neighbors (FFN) in the climate movement.
Thank you to our Polar Bear Plunge sponsor, Ne
ighborhood Sun.
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Anyone who pays an electric bill is eligible to subscribe to a solar project and receive a majority of their electricity from locally-generated solar energy! You can find the latest on their projects at neighborhoodsun.solar.
The Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) joined other climate activists today in reacting to the Virginia State Water Control Board’s decision to approve a water permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Below is the statement from CCAN:
“The decision to permit a pipeline that has already amassed over 300 violations of existing permits is not only reckless, but works against the interests of residents of the Commonwealth and threatens the existence of all living things,” said Elle De La Cancela, Central Virginia Grassroots Organizer for Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “We need to act on climate now, and this is a major step in the wrong direction. The MVP will undoubtedly continue to destroy areas of private and public land, only to line the pockets of CEOs and investors. We will continue to fight, as we await decisions from our neighbors in West Virginia, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.”
See below for the complete press release from activists opposing the MVP Pipeline. ______________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 14, 2021
Contact:
Denali Nalamalapu, (302) 307-6966, denali@powhr.org
Dan Radmacher, (540) 798-6683, dan@appvoices.org
Virginia Water Board Approves Key Permit for Mountain Valley Pipeline
RICHMOND, VA — Today, the Virginia State Water Control Board approved a water permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) via a 3-2 vote, finalizing state approval for the MVP to build across hundreds of Virginia waterways.
The Board is an independent regulatory body composed of seven private citizens appointed by the Governor. Despite significant evidence to the contrary, the Board accepted the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s recommendation and found that the agency’s draft permit will adequately protect more than 200 water bodies in the state from the pipeline’s impacts. Under the Clean Water Act, projects like pipelines that release pollutants into U.S. waters must secure both federal and state permits that assure water quality standards will not be violated. The MVP has already violated Virginia’s water protection laws more than 300 times and has been heavily fined for failing to control erosion and sediment.
Despite this decision, the fight to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline continues. The project still needs authorizations from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in order to cross water bodies. Additionally, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has yet to rule on MVP’s request to bore under waterways in West Virginia and Virginia.
Roberta Bondurant, Co-Chair of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights Coalition (POWHR) responded: “As we reflect on the losses of neighbor landowners and communities suffering MVP’s destructive effects on land, forests and waters, in the midst of an intensifying climate crisis, Virginia’s Water Board has marked for itself an infamous place in history. In granting MVP, a 300 plus repeat offender, a Clean Water Act 401 permit, Virginia regulators have shown its willful indifference to the stark reality of climate catastrophe and squandered an opportunity to do real environmental justice for the people of Southwest Virginia.
“MVP’s chosen route for its mega-pipeline, blasting and barreling across steep, landslide and earthquake prone mountain slopes, our pristine streams, and protective wetlands, multiplies already high risks of drinking water pollution and fiery explosions, imposing constant threats upon vulnerable and often silent witnesses in its path — including the elderly, single, low- and fixed-income residents, people of color, military veterans, and the disabled. MVP at once renders whole communities either ‘pipeline prisoners,’ or if they are fortunate enough to be able to leave, ‘environmental refugees.’ The result today, shameful but not surprising, leads us to brace for MVP’s continued wrath upon our people and their great places. We will go forward– relentless in pursuit of environmental justice — for the livable future that is the birthright of today’s and future generations.”
Peter Anderson, Virginia Policy Director for Appalachian Voices said: “While we are very disappointed with Virginia regulators’ decision today, the Mountain Valley Pipeline still has a long and uncertain road ahead. We remain convinced that this pipeline cannot be built in compliance with the law, and we will continue to stand with impacted communities as they fight this unnecessary and dangerous project.”
Lynn Godfrey, Sierra Club Virginia Chapter Community Outreach Coordinator, said, “The Mountain Valley Pipeline mainline is billions of dollars over budget, three years behind schedule, and has racked up more than $2 million in fines for water quality-related violations in Virginia and West Virginia. The MVP project already threatens 236 of Virginia’s waterways and this latest permit would signify the continued disregard of water sources essential to maintain a healthy ecosystem with lasting and permanent impact to Southwest Virginia’s waterways. We will not stand by as regulators continue to give a free pass to corporate polluters and will pursue all legal avenues to ensure that this pipeline is never completed.”
Elle De La Cancela, Central Virginia Grassroots Organizer for Chesapeake Climate Action Network: “The decision to permit a pipeline that has already amassed over 300 violations of existing permits is not only reckless, but works against the interests of residents of the Commonwealth and threatens the existence of all living things. We need to act on climate now, and this is a major step in the wrong direction. The MVP will undoubtedly continue to destroy areas of private and public land, only to line the pockets of CEOs and investors. We will continue to fight, as we await decisions from our neighbors in West Virginia, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.”
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