This week I’m going to be in Wise County, where Dominion Power is planning to build a $1.8 billion coal-fired power plant. Members of the Sierra Club, Appalachian Voices, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards and CCAN are putting on events around the meeting of the Air Board on Tuesday.
Today I attended the first day of the hearing of the Air Pollution Control Board. As appropriate to hearings, all the arguments were vetted today
On July 1st, the DC City Council will be voting on the Clean and Affordable Energy Act (Bill 17-492), an important piece of legislation that would direct investments into energy conservation and efficiency, instead of new sources of electricity – right here in our nation’s capital!
Not surprisingly, PEPCO is opposed to this legislation, which means that the members of the City Council need to hear from citizen activists like you who strongly support taking steps to fight global warming while saving citizens money. If you’re a DC resident, send an email showing your support by clicking here.
The Clean and Affordable Energy Act would revamp the way consumers get energy and would create a sustainable utility to oversee it all. The bill would require a gradual increase in the energy produced by alternative methods such as solar power so that by 2020, at least one-fifth of energy would come from renewable sources. More information about the Clean and Affordable Energy Act.
So why is this important? Besides the fact that increasing in renewable energy and energy efficiency are always pretty good ideas, passing such strong legislation in DC in particular sends yet another message to our elected officials that we want real solutions to global warming – starting in the backyard of the Capitol Building.
Please take a minute now to email the DC City Council in support of the Clean and Affordable Energy Act. Continue reading
This week I’m going to be in Wise County, where Dominion Power is planning to build a $1.8 billion coal-fired power plant. Members of the Sierra Club, Appalachian Voices, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards and CCAN are putting on events around the meeting of the Air Board on Tuesday.
There’s been a lot of talk about the old ways here in Appalachia. Today is the first day of my trip to Wise County to see what we’re fighting for, to get to know the people who are fighting in this community to stop this plant and to attend tomorrow’s Air Board meeting, where they will decide whether or not to grant Dominion’s final permit.
We started the day by helping the Clinch Coalition build a trail in Jefferson National Forest. The forest is a glorious example of the Appalachian eco-diversity. Hickory, Red Oak and Beech gave way to rhododendron and hemlock. Hemlock is rare these days because of a small beetle, the woolly adelgid, which has infested large numbers of hemlock stands in Virginia. But these hemlock were free from infestation, as was the forest in general. There are few invasive species there, even though the roads and more populated trails have numerous examples of invasives like kudzu. The rhododendrons were still in bloom, and as we looked out over the vista of mountains and deep forest, the scars from mountain top removal mining were clearly in view.
A quarter of this county has been destroyed by mountain top removal mining. We visited black mountain with Larry Bush, whose family has been living there for generations, and we witnessed the intense scarring that mountain top removal mining cuts into this landscape. Miles of land, where a mountain once stood, was leveled, barren and destroyed. Continue reading
Protesters object to a green baseball stadium sponsored by the world’s dirtiest corporation
Essay by Mike Tidwell
Crossposted from Grist.org
Imagine a Major League Baseball stadium constructed to actually fight lung disease. Imagine engineers eschewing asbestos in every form, using only materials approved by the American Lung Association. Imagine emergency inhalers at every seat, with team officials aggressively marketing the “healthy-lung” park to conscientious fans.
Then imagine your surprise, in visiting the park, to see a huge Marlboro cigarettes ad plastered across the left field fence. Imagine another Marlboro ad behind home plate so TV viewers can’t look away. Imagine, finally, being asked to stand and sing Take Me Out To the Ball Game during the “Marlboro Cigarettes 7th Inning Stretch.”
Sounds absurd, right? Well, welcome to Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., for an inconceivable variation on this theme. With public alarm over global warming at an all-time high, team owners of the Nationals baseball team spent millions for a “healthy Earth” park, with environmental features like low-flow plumbing and energy-efficient lighting. The new park has been officially declared a “green facility” by the National Green Building Council, the first of its kind in American sports.
But visiting fans know the rest: Strike Marlboro cigarettes and substitute “ExxonMobil” and you have the astonishing reality at Nationals Park. Oil giant ExxonMobil, the biggest contributor to global warming of any company in the world, has its name splashed across the left field fence and, intermittently, behind home plate. ExxonMobil, which invests almost nothing in clean energy while gasoline goes to $4 per gallon, is the feel-good sponsor of the 7th-inning stretch, so your child can happily sing about peanuts and Cracker Jacks while the company logo sparkles on the biggest scoreboard in baseball. Continue reading
Launched! The campaign to get Exxon’s advertising dollars out of Nationals Park is officially underway. There was a healthy press turnout, with FOX News, WJLA and WAMU radio among those present to get the scoop on the campaign to Strike Exxon Out at Nationals Park.
A successful and well attended event with representatives from CCAN, Greenpeace, Hip Hop Caucus, Friends of the Earth and Oil Change International addressing Exxon’s attempt to piggyback on the Nationals’ LEED Silver Certified stadium to “green-wash” their brand. Not on our watch! Keep Nationals Park truly green!
Now we’ve got to keep the ball rolling. The first five volunteers to sign up to hand out literature at Nationals home games will get free tickets to the game. You read correctly, free tickets. To Nationals home games. For the rest of the season. If you want to help educate the public about Exxon’s long history of environmental destruction and funding of global warming denial groups AND get free tickets to a Nationals home game, this volunteer opportunity is for you. But you’ve got to act soon, spots are filling up. Here’s where you sign up.
It’s that time of year again – appropriations time. That time when all those great laws (or not-so-great laws) that were passed by Congress get money so that they can actually be implemented. Continue reading
Governor Kaine has some friendly advice for the Air Board. Apparently there have been “recent reports” to the Governor necess
itating that he reiterate the “obvious parameters within which to exercise [their] authority.” This is just a little FYI, in-case-you-forgot, heads-up-on that-little-meeting coming up, right? Perhaps. Or it’s oblique intimidation, an attempt to rhetorically undercut the independence of the board by declaring his superior knowledge of the regulatory structure of the board.
And of course while the letter does not explicitly reference the Wise County plant, the close proximity to the date of the board’s vote makes its regulatory referent clear enough.
Gov. Kaine seeks to make it clear in the letter that his knowledge of the proper role and regulatory structure of the Air Board is greater than that of the board members themselves. He’ll go ahead and let the board members work from the reasonable assumption that a person (nay, a Governor!) with his knowledge of the functioning of a regulatory body should be able to predict the actions of said regulatory body with a high degree of accuracy. It follows that if the members of the board are to believe Governor Kaine does in fact understand the structure and role of the Air Board as well as he claims he does, then the decision he anticipates should be the correct one. The Governor wants to make it clear to the Air Board that they should get in line with his decision, and if they don’t they are incompetent regulators.
But surely Governor Kaine is aware that the mercury emissions alone from the Wise County plan (not to mention the C02) merit the denial of the Air Permit under the Clean Air Act. Mercury is particularly dangerous to pregnant women and young children. Mercury exposure has been linked to autism, poor attention and language skills, and other developmental problem, prompting the EPA to regulate the toxin. Dominion must meet a standard of 1.1 pounds of emissions per year, but the Wise County plant is in gross violation of this rule and will emit 72 pounds per year.
The board should stick to their guns and not let Governor Kaine intimidate them. Continue reading
Senator Jim Webb displayed his strong leadership and courageous approach to politics this morning. He wrote a formal letter to the SCC opposing Dominion’s proposed rate hikes, saying “In this time of economic uncertainty, an increase in energy costs could compel individuals and families to choose between putting food on their table and paying their energy bill.”
As a Vice-President prospect, this is a heartening development. Sen. Webb is willing to take on one of the most powerful energy corporations in his own state. Dominion’s influence in Virginia politics is systemic, including as a top donor to Governor Kaine. That former boxer, Sen. Webb, is willing to wade into the fray and challenge Dominion’s power is a testament to his commitment to social justice.
With $4 gas prices squeezing rural US, Virginians are faced with rising gas prices on one side and higher electricity costs on the other; oil and coal are rapidly becoming energy sources of the past. Why should Virginians, who are willing to start moving toward cleaner energy, shell out money to support Dominion’s addiction to dirty energy? Dominion needs to start moving toward cleaner energy, create opportunities for green jobs, and make investments in energy efficiency. By starting to make investments in clean energy, not coal, Dominion has the potential of creating over 336,000 of good, local, green jobs that will help move Virginia’s economy into the future.
Continue reading
If Gov. Kaine wanted to find allies in the fight against the coal plant in Wise County, it wouldn’t be hard. Business leaders from across the state issued a press release today opposing the Wise County coal plant. Citing the SCC’s finding that that operating the Wise County Coal plant would cause a net loss of 1,476 jobs in Virginia, they conclude, “it would be bad business for Virginia to pick dirty energy over clean energy.”
As a business leader I am particularly concerned about coals impact on the communities and environment of our state. The pollution, toxic waste and carbon emissions that accompany coal extraction and burning will make Virginia a less competitive economy. Instead of investing in coal, we should be putting our money behind renewable energy projects and creating green jobs. The future of my business is dependent on a cleaner, greener and competitive economy in Virginia.
Economically, this plant just doesn’t make sense. Congress is widely expected to put a price on carbon sometime in the near future. The price of coal Continue reading
There’s never been a better time to be involved in climate activism. With the federal government finally talking about climate legislation (well, sort of) and diverse groups joining the fight from different angles, the momentum behind the movement is definitely growing – but that doesn’t mean that that it’s time to rest on our laurels.
This is why I’m so excited that there’s a ton happening right here in Washington DC this summer. Continue reading