Virginia's energy future looks brighter

Before dozens of supporters, Senator Chap Petersen unveiled the “Clean Energy Future Act,” at a press conference yesterday. The bill is a comprehensive new vision for Virginia’s energy future. It comes amidst growing concern over Virginia’s current energy path, and just weeks after Governor Kaine announced the formation of the Virginia Climate Commission. Faith, student and environmental leaders joined together to welcome this bold new vision for Virginia.

CCAN had a hand in all aspects of the bill and worked with Senator Petersen from the very beginning to make this a truly groundbreaking bill. This way, at the same time that we’re opposing Dominion’s proposed 1.6 billion dollar catastrophe (aka its new coal plant), we can also be for something. Needless to say, we are 101% behind the bill and will be working over the next couple of months to rally some serious grassroots support.

Finally, Senator Chap Petersen deserves a huge thank-you. He gets it, and is not afraid to step out in front on the crucial issues of our day. He will be introducing the bill tomorrow, the first day of the Virginia legislative session. You can find a fact sheet on the bill on our website.

Below is our press release. You can read more coverage of the bill on Raising Kaine, in the Richmond Times Dispatch and on WDBJ7.
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Show Virginia Where Global Warming Starts

I know what you’re thinking. “I want to show my concern about global warming, but I don’t want to stop dressing like my idol Ashton Kutcher. Why can’t I do both?”trucker hat

Well rest easy. Now you can. The Chesapeake Climate Action Network has opened an online store where you can buy a trucker’s hat emblazoned with “Dominion: Global Warming Starts Here.”

OK, so you might actually prefer the t-shirt printed on 100% organically-grown cotton. Or the bumper sticker, ready-made for slapping on your Prius. Or the mug, which will advertise that you and your coffee are hotter than they should be.

It’s a purchase you can feel good about because not only will you get high-quality merchandise, but a portion of all sales will go to benefit CCAN and its fight to cut our region’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Can I have a private conversation with The Green Girlfriend for a minute here? Just skip down to the next paragraph. OK? Thanks. Here goes: Yes, I’m buying a trucker’s hat. No, I won’t wear it around you. Yes, I promise never to be photographed wearing it. Or tell anyone you’re my girlfriend while I’m wearing it. Or admit we ever met while I’m wearing it.

Whether you decide to help usher in the new trend of climate fashion or not, please take action now to tell your legislator to support the Virginia Clean Energy Future Act. The legislation, sponsored by State Sen. Chap Peterson, would create incentives for in-state renewable energy and manufacturing, create a Green Jobs training program, and set a statewide standard of 20% renewable energy and 10% improvement in efficiency!

Cross-posted from TheGreenMiles.net

Clean Coal is Still Coal – Herald Tribune

Now they’re talking about the problems with clean coal in Florida.   Who knew we were so influential?  But seriously folks, we’re on a roll with this campaign, let’s keep it up.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080102/OPINION/801020440/1030

HERALD TRIBUNE

‘Clean coal’ is still coal

Conversion process could create new environmental problems

Several Democratic and Republican presidential front-runners are touting”clean coal” technology as part of the solution to the nation’senergy woes. Congress and President Bush have devoted funding to research anddevelop the effort. And coal companies, of course, are all for the concept.But some electric utilities appear to be losing enthusiasm for the idea becauseof uncertainty about costs, regulatory requirements and the reliability of akey part of the technology.In the past year, at least eight proposed clean-coal plants have been canceled,rejected or postponed, according to USA Today. That’s one-third of suchprojects in the works.Advocates of clean-coal plants see tremendous potential in the process, whichconverts coal into a gas and cuts down on harmful emissions of mercury as wellas pollutants linked to acid rain and smog.One of clean coal’s biggest selling points has been its ability to reduceemissions of carbon dioxide, widely viewed as the chief contributor to globalwarming.But the technology’s promise may not be as clear as proponents contend.Environmental regulators and even electric utilities are expressing concernabout a key element of the process, which involves capturing the carbon,liquefying it and pumping it into the ground.Critics fear that a massive expansion of underground carbon storage, in use inonly a few parts of the world, could create new environmental problems.In October, Tampa Electric Co. dropped its plans for a $2 billioncoal-gasification plant in southwestern Polk County, about 40 miles northeastof Bradenton.Company officials cited several reasons for their decision, including anexecutive order signed by Gov. Charlie Crist last summer that calls forutilities to reduce carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2025.Even with the clean-coal technology, the plant still would have emitted about 4million tons of carbon dioxide each year.Another factor in TECO’s decision was uncertainty about the risks associatedwith underground storage, according to company President Chuck Black.If the carbon “leaks out of the ground some place like HardeeCounty,” he told the St. Petersburg Times, “what have weaccomplished?”A similar question might be asked about the entire movement to expand the useof coal-fired plants, which already generate 40 percent of U.S. carbonemissions.Even if those emissions are reduced and the storage concerns are minimized, the”clean” effort does nothing to address the environmental damagecaused by a now-prevalent type of mining known as mountaintop removal.America’s policy-makers and utilities would be far wiser to invest their energy– and our tax dollars — in the development of renewable energy resources.Investing more in coal, a relic of the past, will accomplish little. _______________________________________________

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Where are the Wind Farms in Maryland?

The Baltimore Sun

By Mike Tidwell

With ominous global warming accelerating year after year, why can’t Maryland construct a single clean-energy wind farm within its borders? Al Gore wins a Nobel Peace Prize and Gov. O’Malley’s own blue-ribbon commission says we must get off fossil fuels very, very soon. But our state – one the most vulnerable in America to global warming and one the most politically liberal – can’t achieve even the baby step of a single commercial wind farm? What’s the problem? West Virginia has dozens of modern windmills. Pennsylvania even more.

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Bristol Herald editorializes AGAINST Wise County Coal Plant

Two weeks ago, the US Forest Service wrote the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality concerned that the proposed Wise County Power Plant would pollute a national park in North Carolina. Citizens spoke out against the proposed plant at a hearing last week. Charlottesville, Blacksburg, and Arlington have all passed resolutions against the proposed plant.But NONE of those come close to today’s development. The Bristol Herald (which last week endorsed Senator William Wampler) just editorialized AGAINST the Wise County Power Plant. Check it out!

BY Bristol Herald Courier Editorial Board

Dominion Power plant is no bargain for the region

Tuesday, Dec 18, 2007

All along, Dominion Power Co. has touted its planned coal-burning plant in Wise County as a boon to the region.The plant, we were told, will create as many as 800 construction and coal mining jobs, along with jobs running the plant, and inject wealth into an economically depressed area. It will supply much-needed energy to fellow Virginians. It will exclusively burn Virginia coal.Sounded good until we read the fine print. Many of the jobs are temporary and the number has decreased over time. The plant, while cleaner than older coal-fired facilities, isn’t clean enough. It is still a polluter. Continue reading

The holidays are here and we're still at war

Video by Jay Tomlinson

From October 21-23, 2007, hundreds young and old rose up against war and global warming by participating in an intervention in Washington DC. Their demand:

STOP the war in Iraq and future resource wars by ending our addiction to fossil fuels.

SHIFT government funding to rebuild New Orleans and all communities suffering from racism and corporate greed.

GO green and promote environmental justice with new jobs in a clean energy economy.

Resistance is building, and the call continues. Visit www.nowarnowarming.org to learn more.

Australians R Us!

No country in the world is more like the U.S., so where’s our national climate-change leader?

This essay from Mike Tidwell was published in Grist on December 14th.

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Culturally, politically, and spiritually, what country in the world is most like the United States? It’s not Canada and it’s sure not Great Britain. The answer is Australia. Ask anyone who’s been there. It just feels like America there, from the sprawling suburbs to the cars people drive, from the obsession with sports to their unit of currency: the Australian dollar. Add these factors too: both countries were British colonies, both wiped out indigenous peoples, both have big cities in the east and vast frontiers to the west, both have huge coal deposits and per capita greenhouse-gas emissions that lead most of the world, and, in the last several years, both have had conservative national governments that basically deny the reality of global warming. The Aussies R Us!

So how, then, did Australia just complete a national election where the issue of climate change played a central role and may have determined the outcome? How did a country so steeped in America’s brand of fierce self-reliance, consumerism, and fossil-fuel addiction throw out a “climate skeptic” prime minister and hand a landslide victory to a Labor candidate who talked persistently about ratifying Kyoto? And most important, if they can do it Down Under, is there still hope for America?

Feeling the heat

Several factors help explain how a “global-warming candidate,” Labor’s Kevin Rudd, unseated incumbent John Howard after 11 years of conservative rule. But first among them is probably the nation’s nightmarish drought. Beginning in 2002, the drought conditions intensified each year until a staggering 25 percent of all food production was lost in 2007. Emaciated livestock now roam a vast landscape of dry riverbeds. Rice production and wine grapes have been devastated. Food prices have soared and up to 1 percent of the nation’s entire GDP has been lost, according to credible estimates. Continue reading

Va. Energy: Questions to Ask Before Construction

Today is the last day for placing questions and comments before the Virginia State Corporation Commission (VSCC) (comments) about two major issues from Dominion Virginia Power.

  1. Wise County coal-fired power plant (application, 14 page pdf) PUE-2007-0066

  2. A 500 kV transmission line to bring coal electricity to Northern Virginia from Ohio (application, 29 page pdf) PUE-2007-00033

CCAN has had excellent discussion and impassioned calls on the first, the UNWise County coal-fired plant. And again, since today is THE LAST DAY to submit your comments against the Wise County coal plant, please take a moment to do so>>

Now let’s turn to the Power Line question. Quite simply, there has been no efficiency focus in the power line debate, with too much NIMBYite focus. Public officials, before rushing forward with approval of Dominion’s proposal, should ask the questions that follow and consider potential responses.

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Md. Student Climate Coalition holds state-wide Day of Action

Green out

On December 5th and 6th students across the University System of Maryland took action on climate change. Undaunted by the first snow of the season, students across the state rallied in a series of creative actions for clean energy.

The day of action was organized by the Maryland Student Climate Coalition (MSCC). A coalition of student groups from across the University System of Maryland (USM) who have united in a campaign to get the entire university system to adopt a comprehensive carbon neutrality policy. This policy includes using basic energy efficiency technology, clean energy purchasing, improving mass transit, and integrating sustainability into the curriculum. The students are gathering 13,000 signatures across the state to present to the Board of Regents on February 15th and urge them to pass the policy. Their efforts have already made headway with recognition on the USM’s website. The Maryland Student Climate Coalition’s campaign slogan is: “Invest in our Future: Make Carbon Neutrality a Maryland Reality.”

The headline actions occurred at Towson University and the University of Maryland College Park. The campus group, Towson Energy Activists creatively dressed in costumes and staged a mock fight between a smokestack (to represent the dirty fossil fuels of the past) and a wind turbine (symbolizing the clean technology of the future.) The wind turbine won! The event also had a special unveiling of Captain Climate, a new generation super hero sent to our planet to solve the climate crisis. Through their exceptional press work they garnished media coverage from The DC Examiner, the 501, and the Towson Towerlight.

Green out

Another highlight event was at the USM flagship institution, University of Maryland College Park. The group UMD for Clean Energy held a big “Green Out!” day in which they got hundreds of students across campus to wear green to show their support for clean energy. They also got dozens of students to volunteer to gather signatures for the USM carbon neutrality petition. They got 700 signatures in a single day! This brings them just 118 signatures shy of their semester goal of 5,005, which they expect to easily reach the final week of school. The culminating event of the “Green Out” was when dozens of students convened on the main campus lawn for a big clean energy rally. Against the backdrop of a field of 6 foot scale homemade wind turbines they cheered, beat drums, and listened to speeches from student leaders and student body president, Andrew Freidson. The event also drew campus and local media attention from the Prince George County Gazette, Prince George’s County Sentinel and the Diamondback newspapers.

Other coordinated actions occurred at Salisbury University, University of Maryland Baltimore, University of Baltimore, Frostburg State University, and University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

The Maryland Student Climate Coalition’s Day of Action was a great success, by capping off an active semester on their campaign for system wide carbon neutrality.

To support the MSCC and their campaign you can sign the petition here or by joining the facebook group “Support the MSCC”.

CCAN takes the plunge

Video by Jay Tomlinson

Hundreds Brave Icy Chesapeake Bay to Take “Polar Bear Plunge,” Largest Global Warming Event in Maryland History

Md. Event Among More than 30 Plunges Across the Country, Activists Demand Action on Global Warming as U.S. Congress Considers Energy Bill

Takoma Park, MD Continue reading