The Scars on Our Mountains

Thanks to the constant updates via my Twitter feed, this week I discovered NASA’s Earth Observatory website. This website shows satellite images of the Earth — many tragic (arctic sea ice), some providing glimpses of hope (burn recovery in Yellowstone) and some simply bizarre (the growth of Dubai.) Perusing the images and attempting to interpret the changes from image to image was intriguing until the time lapse of mountaintop removal stopped me completely. I no longer marveled at the ability to capture such images, I was sickened at what we are doing to our mountains in Appalachia. I’ve seen mountaintop removal sites in person, but these images clearly show the scale and the permanence of the destruction.

According to the website:
“Below the densely forested slopes of southern West Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains is a layer cake of thin coal seams. To uncover this coal profitably, mining companies engineer large

Climate Activists in Richmond Take Action

We had a great workshop in Richmond on Saturday! JR Tolbert with Environment VA kicked off the event with an update on federal climate legislation.

Next up, activists from the region learned how to lobby a legislator with our environmental hero, Senator McEachin, accompanied by lobby expert, Matt Zogby with the Virginia League of Conservation Voters.

Followed by an interactive workshop with yours truly where everyone signed postcards, made calls to Senator Webb’s office and wrote handwritten letters urging him to vote in support of clean energy legislation and against the Dirty Air Act.

After that, the attendees learned the step-by-step process to writing a letter to their editor with Sierra Club staffer, Antigone Ambrose.

Each activist walked away from the workshop learning ways to get involved and taking lots of action. It was a fun workshop to be a part of!

NoVa Climate Activists Unite!

This past Saturday, over 75 climate change activists in Northern Virginia came together for the Northern Virginia Climate Action Network’s Tools for Change III: Energy Efficiency, Bringing the Message Home and Skills Training. Attendees came from across NoVa, from Loudoun to Bristow, with the common goal of learning more and getting involved in the fight for federal climate change legislation.

Speakers presented on a range of topics focused on some of the federal legislation in the Senate right now, as well as more local successes and projects in the works. Elenor Hodges, Executive Director of Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment, talked about the Green Living Challenge.

A tale of 3 cities and 2 very bad bills

Two bills before the General Assembly right now, SB 128 (McDougle) and HB 1300 (Kilgore), would limit the Air Board’s authority to regulate polluters in non-attainment areas. When a region fails to meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, set by the EPA to protect public health, the EPA will designate that area as a non-attainment region. Currently only Northern Virginia is listed as a non-attainment region in Virginia. However, Richmond and Hampton Roads are expected to be designated as non-attainment areas by March 2011.

Living in a non-attainment area is bad for your health. Smog and soot, measures used to determine ambient air quality, are linked to So2 and NOx which are in turn connected to decreased lung function, aggravated asthma, chronic bronchitis, irregular heartbeat, heart attacks, premature death. According to the American Lung Association, “Ozone smog threatens the health of infants, children, seniors and people with . . . lung disease. . . . Even healthy young adults and people who exercise or work outdoors can suffer from high levels of ozone pollution.”

Not only is a non-attainment area a major health issue but it is an economic development issue as well. Regions of non-attainment encounter significant federal restrictions. Businesses looking to develop in Virginia do not want to locate in Non-Attainment areas because of these increased restrictions. Getting out of non-attainment is critical for public health and economic development.

Now, back to the bills. SB 128 and HB 1300 would limit the Air Board in how it regulates a non-attainment area. Currently, the Air Board can prohibit major polluters in non-attainment areas from purchasing credits for excess pollution, thus forcing them to actually clean up their acts. With the passage of these 2 bills, the Air Board would no longer be able to prohibit this trading practice. What this means is that major polluters can continue to pollute in non-attainment areas while small businesses will continue to be heavily regulated, making it that much harder for areas to clean up their air.

SB 128 was amended to exclude existing non-attainment areas (NoVA) from this new regulatory change. Delegate Kilgore, the patron of HB 1300, promised he would make the same amendment, but this morning as he presented the bill before committee, he kept it as is. The bill passed out of committee without the NoVA carve out. If both bills pass they will be placed in conference committee to reconcile the differences. Either way, this isn’t good news for Richmond or Hampton Roads. Please call your state senator today and ask them to vote NO on HB 1300 when it comes to the floor.

Virginians Rally for Stream Saver Bill

George Mason students stand up for southwest Virginia's streams that have been buried by coal mining waste.Last Thursday, I joined hundreds of Virginians in support of SB 564, the Stream Saver Bill. The bill was introduced by state Senator Patsy Ticer and would ban dumping waste from surface mining into streams. 1,900 miles of streams in Appalachia have been buried or degraded by this practice, impacting clean water supplies for residents of southwest Virginia.

Snowbound students at George Mason University collected over 80 photo petitions in support of the bill and on the same day, 800 people rallied at the Kentucky General Assembly for “I Love Mountains Day” in support of a similar bill, according to the Kentucky Herald-Ledger.

Snowbound students at George Mason sent in over 80 photo-petition pictures as support for SB 564. A planned rally was cut short in order to allow supporters to get in line for the special hearing held by the Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources committee. Due to turnout, I sat in an overflow room. Hundreds had come to speak for and against the measure. Matt Wasson with Appalachian Voices presented on the environmental and economic destruction that mountain top removal leaves in its wake. During the 45 minutes each side had for public comments, residents of southwest Virginia spoke passionately about their concern for their family and friends’ health and for the mountains.

Many opponents to the bill spoke about their concern for job loss in the already struggling area. A legitimate concern yet coal mining employment in the United States has plummeted over the past century. Currently there are only about 4,797 coal mining jobs in the Commonwealth, 1,433 of them surface mining jobs. Coal is an important part of the economy in southwest Virginia but it’s also keeping diversified economic opportunities from investing in the area, such as tourism.

“The mountains that have been lost can never be brought back,” stated Wasson. “The streams will be polluted for a long time.”

Virginia's AG's already making headlines!

Today was another day for Virginia to make headlines. Like most headlines of late, this wasn’t a good one either. Our new Attorney General has made the environment one of his top priorities. Shouldn’t this be a GOOD thing you ask? In some instances, yes, but not when his goal is to make every federal law regulating greenhouse gas emissions illegal in our state.

After sending out an email to his listserv last week disputing global warming all together, our AG, Ken Cuccinelli held a press conference today, announcing his petition to the EPA to reconsider its finding that global warming threatens our livelihood. His reasoning for this petition? Climategate. Remember that little mole hill climate deniers successfully made into a mountain? Our state government has decided this is such an important issue that we should spend staff time and taxpayer money on it. Meanwhile, we’re looking at a $1.2 billion budget shortfall. Great idea guys. Let’s spend money on this.

So let’s recap here. While our new Governor is backroom wheeling and dealing over serious budget cuts, including a $730 million cut to K-12 education programs over 2 years, and more Virginians are out of work and without health care, the new AG is spending money on frivolous lawsuits against the EPA because he is concerned that the EPA is finally going to do its job. Whew, we are not off to a good start.

Senate Committee Votes Against 10,000 New Jobs for Virginia

The Senate Commerce and Labor Committee today rejected Senate Bill 71, the “Virginia Jobs and Efficiency Act” patroned by Senator Donald McEachin. The legislation would have held utilities accountable for cutting energy waste through set efficiency standards, creating jobs in Virginia, saving families and businesses money and cutting pollution linked to global warming. Continue reading

Stand with Ted

You may have heard that our very own Ted Glick is going on trial on February 24th in D.C. Superior Court for hanging a “Get to Work; Green Jobs Now” banner in the Hart Senate Office Building the day the Senate returned from its summer recess. The prosecution has said it wants to make an example of him and send him to jail for at least 30 days, possibly more, for this deed. If you want to support him and the cause by coming to the trial, you can sign up here.

Student Response to the State of the Union

This blog was written by Caroline Selle, a student at St Mary’s College of Maryland

I just read the transcript of the State of the Union Address and don’t really know what to say. So here goes.

I’m running on empty. I’m exhausted. School plus my job plus the all of the environmental organizations I’m involved with equals something that’s probably not sustainable. But I’m going to keep working. Along with all of the rest of you amazing people, I’m going to keep making sure that my voice is heard.

Some (okay, many) of the things in the President’s address were disappointing. Coal and nuclear will never be clean sources of energy. But the fact that the President spoke about clean energy at all gives me hope. In his own words, he called for, “a comprehensive energy and climate bill with incentives that will finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy in America.”

I’m going to go ahead and call that one a success.

The White House is listening. We knew that before this speech, when they set up a meeting with youth environmentalists, three Cabinet secretaries and the head of the EPA. We knew that when Obama finally decided to go to Copenhagen. And know we now because the President addressed the nation on the issue of climate change.

The President is listening, so let’s keep getting louder. Let’s call for a clean energy revolution. Let’s build coalitions within our communities. Let’s work from the ground up to “Define Our Decade” and each ask our leaders to “Show Me Democracy.” Let’s reach out to each other. Let’s be an all inclusive movement, because the issues we’re facing don’t discriminate. Our President responded to our asks, so let’s keep asking.

I was exhausted before; I’m energized now. And I know that I’m going to keep working. I’m going to keep protesting and calling and petitioning and organizing and inviting and recruiting. Because now I am certain that my voice is being heard.

Who’s with me? Let’s start a non-violent, all inclusive clean energy revolution. We know we have power. The last election had the largest youth voter turnout, ever. (And ever is a pretty long time). Our government is listening, and we need to tell them what we want.

Let’s call for clean energy. Now.