Watch as our very dear billionaires for oil try to present one of their brethren, J. Steven Simon, Director and Senior Vice President of Exxon Mobil, with his Fossil Foolie Award! Unfortunately, Mr. Simon didn’t accept the award, though “the body guards somewhat acknowledged us.”
Washingtonian Calls Kaine "Dirty Rotten Scoundrel"
Being mentioned in the same breath as Cheney, Bush, Inhofe, and Barton is never good, but that is exactly what the Washingtonian did with Governor Tim Kaine as part of their list of the top ten local politicians that are not doing good for
the environment. The Washingtonian minced no words, essentially calling the Governor a hypocrite for his support of emissions reductions while still remaining a strong proponent of “dirty energy.” It is Kaine’s steadfast support of Dominion’s controversial Wise County coal plant that got the Governor listed as a “Dirty Rotten Scoundrel.”
Over the last month, the heat on Kaine has really been turned up. He has been dogged at nearly every public appearance and has been the subject of numerous articles relating to Dominion Power’s controversial coal proposal. His public position is that even though we want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and move away from coal, the $1.8 billion investment in new coal generation is a step in the right direction.
Other politicians and governing bodies have questioned the wisdom of building a new coal plant when better technologies exist, including the Metro Washington Council of Governments, Arlington County, the City of Alexandria, Fairfax County, the City of Blacksburg, Albermarle County, the City of Charlottesville, Fairfax Chairman Gerry Connolly, and Former Arlington Chairman Paul Ferguson.
Continue reading
Dominion rejects coal and starts puppy adoption center!
(Richmond, VA) After being presented with a fossil foolie award, recognizing Thomas Farrell, CEO, for his foolish plans to build a plant in Wise County, Mr. Farrell made a sober decision to swear off coal, and instead switch all their investments into puppy adoptions.
Somewhat resistant at first, Dominion called the police to boot the unassuming citizens, who were merely looking out for the moral fiber of the CEO. But, once he talked to them, and recognized the power of their arguments and their honesty.
Continue reading
Kaine Confronts Coal in Ashburn
Last night Governor Kaine held the 9th of 10 town hall meetings in Ashburn, Virginia. The meetings have been designed for the Governor to travel around the state to so he can speak highly of himself and the positive legislation that was passed in the General Assembly in 2008. But, as is rapidly becoming the case everywhere he goes, the Governor spent much of his time answering and dodging questions about Dominion’s controversial Wise County coal plant. Mr. Kaine has become very adept at juking the hard questions and deflecting criticism about his continued support of coal, in spite of the fact that it is becoming increasingly clear that a majority of Virginians want a clean energy leader, not another coal company stooge.
‘Protesters’ (e.g. me in a blazer, and Allison from GWIPL) greeted the Governor as he walked in, asking him to “please stop the Wise County Plant.” The governor deftly breezed past me like I was a chocolate eclair and he was on a diet. But, walking the gauntlet into the building was the easy part of Kaine’s night.
After the Governor rambled for thirty minutes about being an “optimist,” the questions about the controversial coal plant started.
Kayti Wingfield asked the Governor to be a ‘leader like Kansas Governor Sebelius’ who has stopped multiple coal plants and seen her national recognition and popularity rise as a result. The Governor respectfully declined.
John Koontz of Leesburg, a clean energy businessman, told the Governor that he frequently had to travel Maryland, Deleware and Pennsylvania to do business and asked the Governor to help make Virginia more hospitable to renewable energy. Once again, the Governor respectfully declined, stating his ‘belief’ that one day we will magically get a large portion of our energy from renewables.
One of the final questions of the night came from a man that asked the Governor, “why do we avoid free and non-polluting sources of energy [like wind and solar], and rush to polluting sources like coal that destroy our air and kill our children?” To which the Governor replied that renewable energy is not reliable enough to meet our needs — children be damned!
So what can we take away from this meeting? Has the Governor wavered in his support of Dominion’s controversial coal plant? No, not really. His talking points tonight were the same as the have been when we called into his radio shows and infiltrated his other Town Hall Meetings. His talking points include:
- Coal is getting cleaner, and this plant will be very clean [but will not capture carbon and will still s
pew NOx, SOx and Mercury] - I don’t envision a no coal future for Virginia or the Nation, but coal should comprise less of our energy portfolio [and the quickest way to increase renewable energy production and reduce reliance on coal is to build another coal burning plant?]
- You didn’t say anything when I approved this plant in 2006, my hands are tied [no one said anything about the abusive driver fees when it was passed either…]
- The SCC and Air Pollution Control Board/DEQ have authority over this permit, I couldn’t do anything even if I wanted to [1. like you have no influence in this state, give me a break! 2. we aren’t asking you to overstep your bounds, we are simply asking you to not publicly support this controversial plant]
So those are his stock responses, and he is really good at taking your question and fitting it into one of those answer. I challenege you, the people of Virginia, to ask him a question that he can’t give you one of those answers to. It a brain puzzler up there with the Rubicks cube.
Send Kaine an email or call him at 804-786 2211
Billionaires for Oil greet oil executives
Today, Director and Senior Vice President of Exxon Mobil J. Steven Simon, President of Shell John Hoffmeister, Vice Chairman of Chevron Peter J. Robertson, Executive Vice President J.E. (John) Lowe, and Chairman and President of BP America Robert A. Malone arrived at the Cannon Office Building to report to the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming. These men were greeted by “Billionaires for Oil“, a giant piggybank, and students who were asking them to invest in their future, not new gas.
This action was part of a nation-wide student-lead campaign called, “Fossil Fools Day,” a day of activism and non-violent direct action to bring awareness of global warming. Students in Boston chained themselves to a bank, residents in North Carolina stopped construction on a coal plant, and more. Students greeted the executives in front of the Cannon building with boos and signs that said “, for pictures, go here.
Continue reading
Tasers, really?!! Police decide to use violence instead of negotiation
This just in from the Fossil Fools Day action in North Carolina: “Shortly after activists locked themselves to construction equipment, police arrived on the scene and used pain compliance holds and tasers to force them to unlock themselves.”
One activist, who was arrested at the protest, said that the sound of the screams from the other protestors convinced her to step down her act of protest.
Tasers International has seen it’s stock jump by an impressive 8 per cent in January, and it’s even higher today. Tasers are widely misconceived as being used as an alternative to guns, but as former Toronto mayor John Sewell says, “the taser is not the thing that replaces the gun, it’s what replaces all the other things that police might do other than use a gun, like talk to you.”
Follow the Money
Government subsidies for big oil come in many shapes and sizes: reduced corporate income taxes; lower than average sales tax for gasoline; government funding of programs that benefit primarily oil industry and motorists; and the “hidden” environmental costs caused by the consumption of fossil fuels. Billions of dollars go from the taxpayers indirectly through these subsidies, despite the fact that Exxon is making more than $75,000 a minute around the clock. In effect, these subsidies have meant that the American people have been paying for gas twice: at the pump and on April 15.
But these subsidies have led to secondary effects Continue reading
WAPO: "Power Plant Approval Could Lead to Higher Rates"
Great article by Tim Craig at the Washington Post today about the Wise County coal plant. Read the full article below. Emphasis is mine.
Kaine Says Coal-Burning Power Plant Is Necessary
Support for Wise County Facility, Which Could Lead to Higher Utility Rates, Angers EnvironmentalistsRICHMOND — Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has been battered by criticism from environmentalists over his support of a new coal-fired power plant for southwest Virginia, which Dominion Virginia Power says is essential to the state’s energy needs but which could also lead to higher utility rates for consumers statewide.
The controversy pits Kaine (D), who has made environmental protection a top priority, against a sizable chunk of his political base, even though the governor said he is powerless to stop the project even if he wanted to. The State Corporation Commission and other regulatory agencies issue the construction permits.
Continue reading
Coal Prices Rise But Virginia Coal Production Decreases
The demand for coal has never been higher. Developing and developed nations alike are rapidly building new coal facilities to fuel economic growth, driving the price for coal through the roof globally. According to the Washington Post, over the last five months we have seen the price of coal has increase over 50%! And if Asia’s appetite for coal is as ‘voracious’
as all the prognosticators are making it out to be, there is no price relief in sight.
This news comes at a time when we are still fighting to stop Dominion from building another controversial coal plant here in Virginia — why should we take a chance on this international coal market?
Dominion claims that we can meet our coal needs in state, helping us avoid this international boondoggle. But news on that front isn’t that much rosier. According to a Richmond Times Dispatch article:
Virginia coal production is down about 10 percent this year through March 15.
For the 52-week period that ended March 15, Virginia coal production was down 16 percent. A total of 24.6 million tons were mined, compared with 29.4 million tons a year earlier.
For those 12 months, Virginia coal production was about half what it was during a similar period less than two decades ago.
The natural conclusion that one would make from this evidence is that Virginia is running out of coal. If, as a State, we had vast easily accessible reserves we would be mining that coal and selling it for a great profit on the international market — or at least using it domestically to save our stagnating economy a few bucks.
So what will Governor Kaine do to help protect Virginians from rapidly increasing coal prices? Nothing! He is
toeing the Dominion’s line about their controversial new plans for a new coal plant in Wise County. Kaine doesn’t see us heading 
towards a “no coal future,” a future that we aren’t asking him to deliver. We want a future where we can get a measurable percentage of our energy from clean sources such as wind and solar (okay, we do get a very small percentage of our energy from renewables… but it ain’t much) — commodities that are not subject to international markets and whose prices don’t increase exponentially as the Asian economies become stronger.
Oh, and last I checked, the prices of wind, solar, biomass, and other renewable energies have only getting cheaper — something that we definately can’t say about coal, oil and natural gas.
Contact the Governor today, and tell him to protect our energy future.
All the dirty details on the MD senate
This is the most in-depth information I’ve found about what exactly happened with the Global Warming Solutions Act in the MD Senate – it even includes a vote breakdown on the major weakening amendment, so scroll to the bottom of the article to see which way your Senator voted! (Thanks Baltimore Sun Bay & Environment Blog!)
Global Warming Bill Dealt Blow
The Maryland Senate today severely weakened a bill designed to reduce global warming pollution in the state.
An amendment approved by a vote of 27-20 would require the Maryland Department of the Environment to jump through several more hoops