Category: Blog

–Written by Pam Tinker, a recent visitor to “No Pipeline Summer: A Camp to Save the Limperts’ Land”
Greetings from Bath County Virginia!
Bruce and I are visiting the home and land of Bill and Lynn Limpert to see firsthand their land in the path of Dominion’s proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline. We urge you to bring a group to “No Pipeline Summer” to see and hear for yourself how sinister this proposal really is! Bill and Lynn are gracious and knowledgeable hosts. You will learn so much and the drive is beautiful!
We went for a beautiful walk this Sunday morning along the steep ridges and in the old-growth forest of trees that are several centuries old. I tried to imagine how a pipeline could possibly be built along these steep ridges without causing grave damage to the ecosystems and the waterways that feed to the James River and then to the Chesapeake Bay. The idea that a for-profit company is given the right to force their way onto private land and our public lands for economic profit using eminent domain is abhorrent to me.
I am incensed that the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) did not hold hearings in Northern Virginia and that

And click here to sign up for No Pipeline Summer. You won’t regret it!

Calling all photography enthusiasts!

In celebration of summer, we’re kicking off a photo contest and we’re hoping to hear from YOU! Do you have beautiful images you’d like to share with our community and the world? Do you want to showcase a visual story about climate change, the environment and community? What do you treasure about where you live? Why are YOU hopeful for the future?
Send in an image for your chance to win prizes and recognition within our member community and on the web. Prizes will include gift cards to local DC businesses. The three winners will also get the chance to guest write a blog post or take part in an interview, telling the story of their image. It’s a great way to connect with our community and share your perspective on your climate home.
Photos should feature the following:

• Environmental themes: Did you help protect our natural resources? Participate in a rally for a carbon price? Get your community involved in a solar project? Start a neighborhood garden? Lobby your legislator environmental justice? Show us how you are working on environmental issues.
• The natural beauty of the Chesapeake region: We’re lucky that DC, Virginia, and Maryland are so filled with nature! Showcase yourself with your favorite city/nature hotspot! Tell us in the description how it helps  refresh yourself.
• Anything you treasure at risk from climate change: From your favorite bee to your cousin’s nephew, what do you cherish and want to protect from climate change? Show us why it is so important to act on climate change where you live.

Entering our photo contest is free and easy. Simply choose to submit via Instagram or email, following the instructions below. Email info@carbonpricedc.org with the subject line “Photo Contest” with any questions.

• Google form: http://bit.ly/photo-contest-form
• By email: Send your photo and a description with the subject line “Photo Contest Submission” to info@chesapeakeclimate.org
• Act Fast! The contest is only open until early September (date to be determined soon).
• Follow all instructions under the Rules and Guidelines below.

Winners will be announced by early September and publicized in our communications and social media throughout the rest of summer and fall. Winners will be notified by email. Make sure your email is included when you submit your entry.
Prizes will be awarded to the Grand Prize winner and three finalists. The prizes will be gift cards to local businesses who support carbon pricing and climate action. The Grand Prize is $40 to ANXO Cidery and Pintxos Bar, and the runner-up prizes will receive gift certificates ranging from $18 to $25 to other DC businesses.
*By entering the  Photo Contest, you are agreeing to the rules and guidelines of the Photo Contest (below).

• To be eligible to enter, you must be 18 years or older.
• Limit five submissions per member.
• Each participant in the Photo Contest (each a “Participant”) is responsible for ensuring that he or she has the right to submit.
• Submit large, high resolution images in color or black and white.
• Only original photos taken by the person or featuring the person submitting are eligible; others will be disqualified.
• Only digital entries are eligible and must be submitted electronically. You may submit scans of slides or paper prints.

By sharing your photograph with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), you agree to the following:

• If the photo(s) you share with this group is of someone other than you or something not on your or public property, you have obtained permission and/or have the ability and authority to submit such photo(s) for display on CCAN’s website as described above, and you agree that the images do not infringe on any third party’s rights.
• No payment will be made to you for CCAN’s display of the photos taken of or submitted by you.
• If your photo is selected as a finalist, you hereby grant CCAN permission to display the photograph you submit along with your name in promotions of the Photo Contest on the CCAN website, other publications, Facebook updates, Twitter content, and in member emails.
• By entering the Photo Contest, participants agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless CCAN, its respective subsidiaries, affiliates, attorneys, agents and representatives, from any and all third party liability for any injuries, loss, claim, action, demand or damage of any kind arising from or in connection with the competition (collectively, “Losses”), including without limitation any third party claim for copyright infringement or a violation of an individual’s right to privacy and/or publicity right. The Photo Contest is void where prohibited by law.
• CCAN is not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by website users or by any equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the photo competition, or by any technical or human error that may occur in the processing of submissions to the photo competition, including but not limited to any misprints or typographical errors. CCAN assumes no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, or alteration of, entries. CCAN is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer equipment, servers, providers, computer on-line systems, software, or failure of email on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website, including injury or damage to participant’s or to any other person’s computer related to or resulting from participating or uploading images or information in the photo contest.
• If, for any reason, the photo competition is not capable of completion as planned, including but not limited to, any reason of infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other causes beyond the control of CCAN that corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of the photo competition, CCAN reserves the right at their sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the photo competition.

 
Photo at the top by Alexa Gaul on Unsplash
Alexa Gaul

I camped in Dominion’s “right of way” for the ACP, among 300- and 400-year old trees in Bath County

Come join “No Pipeline Summer: Camp to Save the Limperts’ Land”

By Mike Tidwell

To fully understand the unbearable insanity of Dominion Energy’s plan to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, you’ve got to come here to Bath County, Virginia to see it. I arrived June 29th with half a dozen other activists to launch a colorful, determined and transparent camp of protest designed to last all summer long with hundreds of people like you. When I got here, I promptly set up my tent among 300- and 400-year old sugar maples, basswoods and hickory trees.
Bill and Lynn Limpert, staunch foes of Dominion’s $6 billion pipeline for fracked gas, own one of the most pristine stands of old-growth forests in all of Virginia. Some of the trees are as old as 500 years old. The jaw-dropping hardwood growth covers most of a 3000-foot-long Appalachian ridge that the Limperts appropriately call “Miracle Ridge.” For perspective, there are no old-growth forests like this anywhere in Shenandoah National Park, a crown jewel of the US National Park System. Let that sink in.  The Limperts’ 120 acres in Bath County, now in the direct pathway of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, is as pristine and wondrous as any forest in the state. Dominion wants to cut it all down and blow up all of Miracle Ridge — the whole ridge — for the pipeline.
I’ve been lucky in my life. I’ve seen the great Sequoias of California, the Baobabs of Africa, the towering tea trees of Western Australia. But there’s a special magic to the Limperts’ ancient forest. Backpack in tow, I first visited “Ona,” a 300-year-old sugar maple who would be one of the first trees Dominion cuts down. Ona, an old Lithuanian name, has a staggering 15-foot circumference. You stand at her base and look up and see a seemingly infinite expanse of massive, gentle branches cradling entire ecosystems of birds and epiphyte plants and harboring the soft sound of leaves stirring from gentle summer winds. In Ona’s presence, you look up, you look down. Your feet stop moving. You sigh. You want to cry…with a joy you cannot name. You feel the past and the future all at the same time. And you feel utterly present in the miracle reach of this tree almost too big NOT to be a dream.
Ona is just a 10-minute walk from the Limperts’ mountain home. I hope you’ll come see her and this land sometime this summer. The Limperts — Bill 71, Lynn 63 — are inviting concerned people like you and me from across Virginia and the region to come pitch a tent on their soft grass around their home at 3,200 feet of elevation, with a view of vast mountain ranges to the north. It’s a very comfortable place to visit. There’s a wide porch with tables for outdoor cooking. There’s a Jiffy John on the edge of the meadow. You bask in the view, make new friends, drink coffee. You can drive your car right to the home and camp comfortably no matter what your age and how many kids you have.
Or you can walk along a marked trail and camp right in the pipeline right of way, among the giant trees of Miracle Ridge. That’s what I did, with my new friend Jerrod who found the camp online and drove over from Richmond. As the last light of day left the sky, I sat in a camp chair on the ridge and watched all the trees come alive around me, in magical dark silhouettes. They seem even bigger at night, with a soft riot of June fireflies all around them under a full moon and a blanket of stars. How could an energy company — or any company at all — believe that it is right to destroy this ridge and these trees to transport violently drilled fracked gas that will further warm our planet?
Bill Limpert, the friendly, soft-spoken, guitar-playing steward of this land is inviting anyone who cares to come see the forest in person, to spend time as his guest and be part of the biggest environmental fight now going on in Virginia. As Bill says, “A picture is worth a thousand words, but a visit is worth a thousand pictures.”
Please come and join us any time between now and early September. Come for a day hike or come for several days of glorious, convenient, and meaningful camping. Get your picture taken with Ona and share it on social media. Come be part of the back porch letter-writing campaign. Help us invite Governor Northam and members of the State Water Control Board to personally see what their actions or inactions could allow to happen.

I’ll leave you with more words from Bill Limpert. A reporter asked him why he was forming this summer protest camp on his property. “Lynn and I want to save these glorious trees, of course,” he said. “We want to save the ridge and protect the water of our state. But more than anything, we want to use this camp and this pipeline to protest and stop the calamity of climate change. Lynn and I are not youngsters. We’re retired and getting up there in years. But it is our full intention to outlive the fossil fuel industry.”
Let that one sink in too. Don’t you want to be part of this peaceful, principled, spirited fight we’re putting up?
Come join “No Pipeline Summer: Camp to Save the Limperts’ Land.”
I’ll see you there.

CCAN activist Lee Williams, a lifelong environmental advocate, is a force to be reckoned with in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 2016, Lee helped pull together the March on the Mansion, getting over 700 folks to the Governor’s Mansion in 100+ degree weather. In the fall of that year, she was arrested with a dozen other activists outside of that mansion, protesting then-Governor Terry McAuliffe’s support for the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines. This past spring, she worked to pull together a delegation of more than a dozen Virginia Delegates and Senators to hold a press conference in Richmond to denounce the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines. In May, she organized one of the most energetic Dominion shareholder protests in recent memory, getting landowners, elected officials, faith leaders, and even the famed tree-sitter Red Terry herself to come and speak to the impassioned crowd.
With her no-quit and high-spirited attitude she has continued to work for the people and climate in Virginia well into our present moment. Although there is still much work to be done, this Richmond-based climate warrior is not going anywhere. In fact it is precisely because of people like her that Virginia is becoming more and more connected in the struggle for our future. Read on to meet Lee Williams!

Your age: 53
Where you live: Richmond, Virginia
What are the impacts of climate change that hit closest to home for you?
I have family in Florida and Charleston, South Carolina and I am concerned every hurricane season for their safety. Half the year, the city of Charleston regularly faces tidal flooding, a situation that will worsen with continued sea level rise.
Why did you decide to get involved in taking action on climate?
I have been a lifelong activist and nonprofit volunteer who has focused primarily on environmental and social justice issues. Once you spend any time doing environmental work, it becomes irrefutably clear that the majority of our issues intersect with environmental justice issues. Poor populations often bear the brunt of climate impacts, living on the front lines of rising seas, catastrophic storms, and drought. Women, African Americans, and other people of color bare a disproportionate burden of climate change in the United States and across the world.
I was frustrated by the many climate deniers holding elected office and saw a need to shine light on this injustice and push for attention at the policy level to direct planning and resources where they are most needed. Investments in natural buffers, flood control measures, and climate-resilient housing are only half of the story and too reactive.
As a Nurse, I believe “an ounce of prevention, is worth a pound of cure.” I am engaged in the struggle encouraging elected officials to ACT on climate change – not just REACT with mitigation measures. We must stop building fossil fuel infrastructure immediately, and invest in clean, renewable technology.
What has inspired you most working with CCAN and/or in your community?
It’s been proven that humans are not just motivated by monetary reward or even recognition, but also by finding purpose in their work. I’m the type of person that finds energy from passionate people. In the nonprofit sector I’ve meet lots of kind, purpose-driven people with attitude that are more than teammates, they’ve become family. The folks in our Virginia coalition of environmentalists are working for a better world for everyone. You can’t find a a better group of people to work towards mutual goals with than that!
What do you like to do when you’re not advocating in your community?
I need to be outside playing! Whether paddling on our beautiful James River or running the paths of the Buttermilk Trail, I need to be surrounded by Nature to counterbalance the challenging and sometimes soul-sucking work that I do.
Who would you high five?
My mom. She showed me from a young age how to share your voice for those that have no voice, love and care for all living things and to never knowingly do harm. She was never afraid to stand up for what she believed. She died 21 years ago. I hope she’d like to high five me too!

In an age of rising seas and harmful pipelines, one thing is clear: Virginia needs strong climate action now.
To do so, CCAN is proposing that Virginia join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI. This would be a bold move on climate in Virginia. One way to get there would be to pass statewide legislation, such as the Alternative Energy and Coastal Protection Act. But no matter how we get there, it’s worth laying out all the questions you may have.
What is the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative,  anyway?

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a market-based climate change plan that reduces harmful pollution from fossil-fuel power plants and makes polluters pay for their carbon emissions. There are currently nine East Coast states in the program that together set a “cap” on planet-warming fossil fuel emissions from power plants, which lowers each year. Then, they allow the power plants to “trade” pollution allowances however they see fit to keep total emissions under the cap from Maine to Maryland (thus the name “cap and trade.”)

It’s a flexible, market-based approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and has proven effective in helping states cut carbon.

The auction also generates millions of dollars of revenue, which goes back to the states to fund additional carbon reduction programs and other public benefit initiatives decided by each state.
Virginia is currently in the drafting process of regulations that would allow us to partially engage in the program, but we still have more work to do — more on that below.

What is a pollution “allowance”?

An allowance represents one ton of carbon dioxide that is burned in a power plant within a RGGI state.
RGGI controls and reduces pollution by setting a number of allowances that are available to buy based off of each state’s cap and lowering that number each year. Then, power companies can bid on the allowances based off of what they need to provide power to their customers.

The regulated power plants can buy allowances from any state, but because there are a limited amount of them, the companies also look to other methods that don’t involve fossil fuels like energy efficiency and renewable energy to provide their customers with energy at a lower cost. The bidding for these allowances takes place at regional auctions four times per year.

What exactly is covered under RGGI?

Specifically, any power plant in a RGGI state that burns fossil fuels (coal or natural gas) with a capacity of 25 megawatts (MW) or greater is required to meet the climate pollution standards set by RGGI. More generally, this applies to large utility-owned power plants that provide energy for large numbers of people. They are called “regulated sources.”

These “regulated sources” are required to have their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions monitored. They must also buy allowances for each ton of CO2 they plan to emit. Once RGGI sets a cap on the number of allowances available, polluters must figure out how to stay below the cap — either by paying more to pollute or by investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

I’ve heard that Virginia is already joining RGGI. What does that mean?

In November 2017, the Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board approved draft regulations to cap carbon emissions by linking with RGGI. “Linking” means that Virginia polluters will be able to trade within the RGGI market, but through a consignment auction — which means Virginia regulators themselves would give away allowances instead of selling them.

This means that Virginia regulators at the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will have no say over where the revenue raised from these auctions will go. It also means that DEQ would give polluters their allotted allowances for free instead of buying them from the state. They would then be obligated to sell them back into the RGGI market and buy back what they need.

This process blocks Virginia (and its residents) from accessing the huge funding opportunities that other RGGI states currently enjoy. It also opens the possibility that polluters could actually make a profit off of the RGGI market if they buy back less pollution allowances than they sold.

Also, this “link” has an end date. It only permits Virginia’s participation in the program through the year 2030.

So why should Virginia formally join?

By formally joining RGGI, our elected Virginia officials would be able to access the millions of dollars in revenue to spend on programs that benefit the Virginia public — instead of lining the pockets of corporations.

As a formal member, state regulators at the Virginia DEQ would have the authority sell all of Virginia’s allowances to polluters — instead of giving them away for free — and invest the revenue (projected to be up to $200 million per year) in projects that would mitigate climate change and help the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable residents. This step would also place a long-term cap on carbon, guaranteeing that we’ll continue to lower carbon pollution past the year 2030.

How do we go about doing that?

Legislative action is required to formally join RGGI. We at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network have been advocating for this, most recently through a bill called the Virginia Alternative Energy and Coastal Protection Act (VCPA).

A bill like this would allow us to formally join the program and give DEQ full authority to make a carbon rule with much more long-term certainty.

Has RGGI effectively reduced carbon emissions?

Yes! RGGI has proven effective in helping states significantly reduce carbon emissions while bolstering their economies at the same time. In 2016, RGGI states emitted even less than the cap required — 8.4 percent less. Overall, emissions have fallen 40 percent since RGGI launched. The newest RGGI model rule will lead to an additional 30 percent reduction from current emissions by 2030 as well.

What will cutting carbon emissions mean for our health?

Virginia stands to gain huge benefits from RGGI that go far beyond climate impacts. By cleaning up our power plants, we would also cut down dangerous air pollutants like soot and smog alongside carbon. States that are currently in RGGI have already seen immense health benefits: air quality improvements have prevented at least 8,200 asthma attacks, 39,000 lost workdays, and 300 premature deaths. It is estimated that RGGI has provided these states $5.7 billion in public health benefits. Joining RGGI will not only provide long-term relief from climate change, but also immediate public health benefits to Virginia’s most vulnerable residents.

And what about our economy?

Joining RGGI would provide a huge economic boost to Virginia residents. The revenue Virginia would receive would be invested in energy efficiency and renewable energy programs that create jobs and help businesses. It would also help lower electric bills through investments in energy efficiency. Participation in RGGI has generated over $1.4 billion in economic activity for participating states in just the past three years. The program has also created over 44,000 jobs. Customers in those states have also saved money through energy efficiency improvements and by switching to cheaper renewable energy — $1.37 billion to be exact!

How could joining RGGI lead to more wind and solar power?

Formally joining RGGI would open up new funding to help solar and wind power companies. This crucial investment will help Virginia create jobs and catch up to neighboring states in the growing clean energy economy. Formally joining would also provide a permanent incentive for renewable energy sources, since they will not require a RGGI allowance and will thus gain a price advantage over dirty energy.

Currently, we are lagging far behind our neighbors in terms of renewable energy. Virginia only gets 0.5 percent of its energy from solar power — and we have yet to build a wind turbine bigger than the 10 kilowatt residential standard systems! Long-term investment in renewables and incentives like the RGGI market will help us increase those numbers astronomically.

Ok, let’s talk money. How much revenue would we be able to access?

It’s estimated that RGGI would bring up to $200 million in revenue to Virginia each year. This could lead to as much as $2 billion in new revenue by 2030 for projects that mitigate climate change and improve the livelihood of residents across the Commonwealth!

Wow! What could we do with all those proceeds?

With access to the revenue from RGGI, we couldd boost our economy, protect our most vulnerable communities, and lower energy bills for all Virginians.

In the bill that was discussed in this year’s General Assembly (the VCPA), proceeds would provide consistent funding for twenty-first century economic development in southwest Virginia — an area that is heavily reliant on the fossil fuel industry — leading to more capacity to aid families and train workers in the growing renewable energy job market.

It would also help protect Virginians from sea level rise by providing a reliable revenue stream for the Shoreline Resiliency Fund, a revolving fund created by the General Assembly in 2015 to help residents, businesses, and municipalities fund flooding resilience projects.

It would invest millions of dollars in energy efficiency — with a special focus on low-income communities — to help lower bills and use less energy in general.

Finally, it could provide millions of dollars to stabilize funding for agricultural “best management practices” (BMPs) that help farmers and protect the Chesapeake Bay.

But what about fracking? I’ve heard RGGI incentivizes fracked gas.

RGGI does NOT incentivize fracking. A significant switch to gas (beyond fuel switching already happening for non-RGGI reasons) is unlikely to be triggered by participation in this regional power plant cap-and-trade program.

This is because RGGI incentivizes zero-carbon sources of energy the most. With wind and solar energy more affordable, constructing new natural gas plants would be relatively more expensive than the status quo situation. As for the existing natural gas plants, these power plants are already operating at near maximum capacity and simply cannot absorb a significant increase in gas use, making a build out in renewables a better choice for the environment and for the polluters’ bottom lines.

Renewable energy is becoming more affordable and more of a priority in Virginia, as the amount of renewables in the public interest will increase tenfold to 5,000 MW this summer.

These three RGGI factors — a deterrent to the construction of new gas plants, a lack of capacity in Virginia of existing gas plants, and a clearer path to new renewable energy — mean that the state’s participation in the program would not promote an expansion of natural gas.

So, what is CCAN doing to stop fracked gas expansion?

CCAN has been working hard to end Virginia’s deadly addiction to fracked gas for years. Ever since the announcement of plans to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline, we have done everything we can to stop them. We continue to fight them to this day.

We also are planning to fight new fossil fuel projects in Virginia before they are even announced. We will do this through legislation and grassroots mobilization, under the banner of a “No New Fossil Fuels” pledge. Stay tuned.
In the end, our goal is to make sure that NO dangerous fracked-gas pipelines (current or future) will ever be operational, and our leaders will turn to renewable sources instead. Joining RGGI would make that all the more likely.

More information:

Virginia Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative: Youngkin is Dragging Virginia Backwards On Climate