June 2014 Maryland

Dear Marylanders,
As we fight back against big polluters and a government that too often caters to them, it’s always exciting when we can report some good news. Earlier this spring, CCANers helped bring about a major clean energy victory that has national implications. After receiving thousands of emails from people across the country, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley vetoed a bill that would have killed the largest utility-scale wind power farm currently under development in Maryland, all because of totally resolvable military radar testing concerns. The veto clears the path for development of a $1 billion wind power industry across Maryland’s Eastern Shore region.
While we celebrate this move towards clean energy, we continue to resist a massive dirty energy threat: Dominion Resources’ proposed fracked gas export facility at Cove Point. Just two weeks ago, a federal study showed that U.S. gas exports to Asia would likely be worse than burning coal for the atmosphere over the next 20 years. Worse! But the White House and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) still aren’t getting the message.
As decisions near this summer, we’re gearing up to send a strong message to Washington. Here are two actions you can take:

  • On Thursday, June 26 at 8 pm, dial in to the National Call to Stop Fracked Gas Exports to learn more about the July 13th mass rally in Washington. Rev. Lennox Yearwood, scientist Tony Ingraffea, Pennsylvania no-fracking leader Karen Feridun, and more will join this conference call at 559-726-1200 and code 776632.

Our movement is bigger than ever just as our action now is more critical than ever. In response to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s flawed Environmental Assessment for Cove Point, Americans submitted more than 150,000 comments to FERC saying no to Cove Point. That record number of comments for a fracked gas export project let FERC know that the public wants clean energy — not dirty, dangerous gas exports.
The major bright spot in recent weeks came when President Obama’s administration released the nation’s first mandatory limits on carbon pollution from power plants. While the rules aren’t as strong as the science shows is needed, they are a welcome shift toward meaningful climate action out of Washington. CCAN will be working to ensure they are implemented in a way that speeds the transition to clean energy — not more fracked gas — in our region.
Here are even more ways you can take action with CCAN this summer…
MARYLAND: Join the conference call June 26 at 8 PM eastern time to hear from leaders in the movement to stop gas exports and learn the latest on the July 13th mass rally in Washington. Join in at the time of the call by dialing 559-726-1200 and using code 776632. Speakers will include scientist Tony Ingraffea, Pennsylvania no-fracking leader Karen Feridun, Hip Hop Caucus president Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Food & Water Watch leader Emily Wurth, and myself. You’ll be able to ask questions and learn more about the exciting role you can play in attending the rally in Washington.
DC/NATIONAL: Join the Climate Ride! This year, from September 20th – 24th, 2014, CCAN board members, staff and friends will take part in a five-day bike ride from New York City to the Capitol steps in DC. Learn more about the ride and sign up here to join us!
VIRGINIA: Join the Virginia Summer Activist Call with CCANers from around the state on Monday, June 30th at 7pm. We’ll recap our spring successes and talk about how we’ll push even further for climate solutions in Virginia this summer. From collecting thousands of petitions to the State Corporation Commission, to creatively exposing Dominion’s greenwashing at Earth Day festivals, to earning unprecedented investor support for climate resolutions at Dominion’s annual shareholder meeting, we’ve hit Dominion where the company is most vulnerable — its public image and it’s bottom line — thanks to activists like you. RSVP here for our first statewide call of the summer!
These last few months have made it clear; we have a lot to do. That’s why, on July 13th, thousands of Americans will converge in Washington DC to send a strong message to FERC: Stop Gas Exports and Stop Cove Point. Learn more about the biggest event to date in the fight to stop Cove Point and sign up to be a part of it here.
Onward,
mike-tidwell
Mike Tidwell
 
 

Wrapping Up the Maryland General Assembly 2014

In the final days of the 2014 legislative session, the Maryland General Assembly — despite passing many strong bills on climate change in recent years — voted to effectively stop construction of an entire modern wind farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
But that’s not all. The same bad bill — HB 1168 — would effectively delay and perhaps stop land-based wind power development in all or part of 12 Maryland counties in the eastern and southern parts of our state. Why? Because of military radar concerns that experts believe can be totally resolved without harmful new state legislation.
In solidarity with Maryland’s major environmental groups, Governor Martin O’Malley vigorously opposed this “anti-wind power” bill during the legislative session that just ended. The governor explicitly urged the General Assembly not to stymie wind power development this way. But with ferocious lobbying from special-interest defense contractors and their political supporters, the bill passed anyway. Now, for the sake of climate change and clean energy solutions, it’s time for Governor O’Malley to pull out his veto pen!
Click here to ask Gov. O’Malley to VETO HB 1168, the “anti-wind power” bill. Please send your email right now — the future of Maryland wind power is truly at stake. 
Overall, it was a challenging year for clean energy in the 2014 General Assembly. The so-called “black liquor loophole” bill — which would have ended renewable-energy bonuses to out-of-state paper mills that burn toxic pulp waste — did not pass. But we strongly believe that with your help, this bill will get over the finish line next year! Likewise, a great bill to double wind and solar power usage goals in Maryland by the year 2025 did not become law. This bill — also known as the “40% RPS bill” — was enthusiastically welcomed by many key lawmakers, especially given rapidly falling wind and solar prices nationwide. We’ll pass it next year. Finally, the General Assembly failed to act once again on fracking — we’ll keep you updated on ways to take action on that front this summer.
But there’s still time to turn the 2014 legislative year into a big win for the environment if Governor O’Malley simply vetoes HB 1168. A veto will send the message that Maryland really is serious about clean energy development that helps rural farmers and creates good-paying union jobs while remaining utterly compatible with national security needs. Indeed, stopping climate change is America’s TOP national security need.
So please ask Gov. O’Malley to VETO HB 1168, the “anti-wind power” bill, so Maryland can pursue a robust, clean energy future. 
Learn more facts about this bill by clicking here, including how the Patuxent River Naval Air Station is already in agreement with a wind farm developer on the Eastern Shore for how radar needs and wind power can co-exist. The key — confirmed by an MIT study — is simply to turn the windmills off when the Navy is using a key radar system. The wind company — Pioneer Green — has agreed to do this. But exaggerated concerns by private defense contractors led to passage of HB 1168 nonetheless.
Governor O’Malley — whose 8-year stint as governor ends this year — can leave office with perhaps his most heroic action yet on climate change: vetoing a bad bill so Marylanders can benefit forever from healthy, clean energy.
Click here to take action now. 

"We Need a Surgeon General’s Report for Fracked Gas Exports at Cove Point"

This piece by CCAN Director Mike Tidwell, Katie Huffling, Program Director for the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, and Joelle Novey, Director of Interfaith Power and Light, was originially published on DeSmog Blog. 
Fifty years ago the US Surgeon General’s report on cigarettes and lung cancer changed America forever. Before the report, Americans generally thought smoking was okay – maybe even good for us given ads like, “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette!” But then the hard evidence – the undeniable facts – came to the surface and we changed.
That’s the good news. The bad news for Maryland is that we have a new “Camel cigarette” problem. For the past several months, a powerful corporation called Dominion Resources has been telling Marylanders that we can light something else on fire – something called “fracked gas” – and that it will be good for public health and the environment.
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A Big Fracking Lie

Politico Magazine
By Bill Mckibben and Mike Tidwell
If you want to know just how bad an idea it is for America to ship “fracked” natural gas to overseas markets, travel the 65 miles from the White House to a place called Cove Point in southern Maryland.
There, right on the Chesapeake Bay, the Obama administration wants to give fast-track approval to a $3.8 billion facility (12 times the cost of the NFL Ravens stadium) to liquefy gas from all across Appalachia. The new plant, proposed by Virginia-based Dominion Resources, would somehow be built right between a coveted state park and a stretch of sleepy beach communities, with a smattering of Little League baseball fields just down the road. Along the Chesapeake itself, endangered tiger beetles cling to the shore while Maryland “watermen” hunt crabs and oysters in age-old fashion.
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Chesapeake Climate Action Network's Response Letter Refuting Dominion Claims on Cove Point

December 11, 2013

Mr. Daniel A. Weekley
Vice President – Government Affairs
Dominion Resources
120 Tredegar St.
Richmond, VA 23219

Dear Mr. Weekley,

I am in receipt of you letter dated November 25, 2013. Please find below a point-by-point response to the issues that you raised. Given the very large scope of your $3.8 billion proposal to liquefy gas from hydraulic fracking and ship it to Asia via the Chesapeake Bay, we continue to regret Dominion’s resistance to conducting a standard Environmental Impact Statement. This resistance to a customary federal EIS, perhaps above all else, has become a widespread and deep concern among many, many Marylanders.

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Camp David to the White House: The first three days of extreme heat and high spirits

I’ve walked thirty miles across Maryland the past three days in the middle of the worst heat wave of the year. The heat index has soared well above 100 each day, causing the corn fields and forests to shimmer in the distance. My feet, meanwhile, are so tender I’ve literally begun applying duct tape to the balls of my feet to ward off blisters.
And I couldn’t be in higher spirits. Why? Because today I get to do it all over again with 60-70 inspiring climate activists from across the country as part of the “2013 Walk for Our Grandchildren.” For eight days, from July 19-27th, we are walking 100 miles from the gates of Camp David — the presidential retreat in western Maryland — all the way to the White House. Our goal: Tell President Obama to stop the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and accelerate solutions to global warming.
Frederick-farmer-shelly-wolfAlready, we’ve walked through the “green tunnels” of the Catoctin Mountains. We’ve marched across soybean farms and into towns with one stoplight. We camped one night on a Civil War battlefield. What keeps us going with bandaged feet and evaporating pounds are the stories we hear along the way. We met farmer Shelly Wolf who says the weather in rural Frederick County Maryland is unrecognizable compared to when she and her husband bought their farm 58 years ago. The snow back then would shut down their country road for a week at a time. Now it barely snows. And today it’s not just the heat waves but the summer humidity! Insufferable, she says. There was nothing like it during her childhood.
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Why I’m Walking From Camp David to DC

This is one in a series of posts sharing the stories of grandparents, parents and young people who are joining the Walk for Our Grandchildren, July 19th-27th.
Blog07-18-13This week-long, 100-mile walk will bring an intergenerational message of hope from Camp David to the White House to demand that President Obama reject the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline and confront the growing crisis of climate change. You can join us for a day on the trail, or join walkers and thousands of others for a culminating rally at the White House on July 27th. Click here to learn more and sign up.

I’m making the 100-mile “Walk for Our Grandchildren” trip from Camp David to the White House because nothing in my 51 years has made me happier than having a son.
Sasha Tidwell is 16 years old now. He is an honor student, an Eagle Scout, and a starting pitcher for his varsity baseball team. Before Sasha was born, I thought I knew what happiness was. I had climbed peaks in the Alps, written three books, and shaken hands with the Dalai Lama. Life was pretty full. Then Sasha was born. It was May 30th, 1997.
At that moment I was lifted onto a cloud of joy – far above the old world below – and I have never come back down. I watched him take his first step, read his first book (Berenstain Bears), ride his first skateboard, and – last week – drive his first car. Through all the skinned knees and book reports and muddy shoes on the carpet, I have always known that being with him and being his father made me the happiest person I could ever be. Life was pretty much perfect.
Except for the sadness. Every day, mixed deeply into the joy, is a sadness: Our climate is changing. The seas are rising. Storms are getting bigger.
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Take a hike, Keystone pipeline

The Baltimore Sun
By Mike Tidwell
I’m walking from Camp David to the White House starting Friday — 100 miles in the July heat. I’m doing this to honor the 19 firefighters who died fighting a wildfire near Prescott, Ariz., on June 30. These men died particularly horrifying deaths doing particularly heroic deeds. I’m also walking to honor the 50 men and women who died during the oil tanker train explosion this month in Lac-Megantic, Canada.
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400 is here: God help us

We now live in a world of veritable science fiction. Last week, scientists reported that our delicate, life-giving global atmosphere has reached a new level of danger: 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide concentration. There hasn’t been this much heat-trapping CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere in at least 3 million years, long before human beings evolved. If there was ever a wake-up-call moment on global warming, a time to become really alarmed, it’s now!

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'Black liquor' a rip-off for Frederick ratepayers

The Frederick News-Post
By Mike Tidwell
There has been some confusion recently about a proposed piece of legislation in Annapolis called the “black liquor bill” (HB 1102). Tragically, this bill came one vote shy of passing, even though it would have ended a huge loophole in state law forcing Maryland’s electricity ratepayers to give millions of dollars in subsidies to out-of-state paper mills that contribute nothing to the cleaner energy that Marylanders want.
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