Category: Blog

Often the stories and faces of real people get lost in the debate over Virginia energy policy. The letter below was sent to Governor McAuliffe by eight Virginians who all have one thing in common: They have been harmed or will soon be harmed by the Governor’s actions (or lack thereof) on fracked-gas pipelines, improper coal ash disposal, and flooding driven by climate change.
These eight Virginians are asking to meet directly with Governor McAuliffe so they can share firsthand how his policies are affecting them. They also make the case in their letter for how McAuliffe can, using his explicit current authority as Governor, make energy policy changes that will directly protect them.
Read on to go beyond the statistics and get to the human story behind Virginians’ growing resistance to the Governor’s and Dominion’s energy policies. Click here to view and download a PDF version.
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Dear Governor McAuliffe,
We are Virginians of multiple races, ages and backgrounds representing every region of the Commonwealth. We are writing you today to share our belief that clean energy – with your support – can soon fully power our lives and our economy without poisoning our air or our water or sacrificing entire regions of our state.
But currently, Governor, your energy policies are sacrificing whole communities. Your support of the dirty-energy projects of Dominion Power and other polluting companies is harming us – the signers of this letter – in clear and concrete ways. We just wanted to write you directly to put real human faces behind the growing public concerns over your policies.
In April, several leading organizations issued a report card grade of D+ to your administration on the issues of climate change and energy. In June, more than 60 groups from across the state issued an open letter to you asking you to put the welfare of Virginia’s people ahead of the interests of polluters. In July, 600 of us visited your home to reiterate our concerns as part of the July 23 “March on the Mansion.”
But Governor you have not responded to any of these concerns. You have not announced any change in your energy policies. So we call on you once again to reverse course immediately on supporting fracked-gas pipelines and the improper burial of coal ash waste in our communities. We want to ask you instead to begin fully embracing a just energy policy for all Virginians that reduces total climate pollution while investing in clean-energy jobs and real investments to protect our people and the military from accelerating sea-level rise and other impacts of global warming.
Who are we? We are a northern Virginia resident whose drinking water has already been contaminated next to a Dominion Power coal ash storage site. We are a Buckingham County minister whose congregations reside in the harm radius of a proposed 57,000 horsepower compressor station for a fracked-gas pipeline you support. We are a Nelson County landowner whose heritage includes indigenous American descent and whose hay fields and cattle could be negatively affected by direct erosion from the Atlantic Coast Pipeline for fracked gas. And we are a Korean War veteran and landowner whose very property will be seized and whose fields and forests will be disrupted by a second massive fracked-gas pipeline – the Mountain Valley Pipeline – that you support.
We are a student whose entire future depends on rapid cuts to greenhouse gases to combat global warming. We are a senior citizen in Hampton Roads who is fearful of being stranded in the growing coastal floods linked to climate change and who must now pay for flood insurance for a house that was never previously vulnerable to floods.
We know, Governor, that you can lead us toward a better energy future by embracing better policies. We are grateful that you have taken small steps to promote solar power, wind, and energy efficiency. We know that clean-energy prices continue to fall rapidly worldwide and that virtually every state in America uses more wind and solar power than Virginia and has better energy-efficiency standards.
But proportionally, your current policies overwhelmingly embrace fossil fuel development over clean energy use. The expanded emissions from new gas pipelines would by themselves totally counteract all you have done to combat climate change through renewable energy. Your support of the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines for fracked gas would seize a 1000-mile strip of public and private land, threaten drinking water, incentivize fracking, and rapidly increase global warming pollution. Indeed, a recent study shows these pipelines, if built, will trigger total greenhouse gas emissions equal to twice the volume of all of Virginia’s current power plants combined. Finally, your support of Dominion Power’s policy of dumping coal ash liquid into rivers and burying coal-ash solid waste in unlined soils is a profound threat to human health and the environment.
We ask you to join us – immediately – in changing course on the policies we’ve identified here. Will you please meet with us at your earliest convenience to discuss these vital issues?
We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
George Jones, 86, landowner, Giles County, Virginia – George served in the US Navy from 1950-54, serving in the Korean War. The land of his 10-generation Virginia family would be seized, bisected, and substantially deforested by the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline carrying fracked gas from West Virginia into Virginia. George is devastated by this invasion of his homeland and the violation of his citizen’s rights but equally concerned with the certain destruction to the ecosystem and especially ancient water systems that can never be “fixed.” The Mountain Valley Pipeline is supported by Governor McAuliffe.
 
 
 
 
Pastor Paul Wilson, 63, ordained minister, Buckingham County, Virginia – Pastor Paul ministers to the Union Hill and Union Grove Baptist Churches in Buckingham County. His rural congregations would be dramatically affected by the pollution, noise, and maintenance activity of a proposed 57,000-horsepower compressor station that would process fracked gas from the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline running from West Virginia to Virginia. The ACP pipeline and the compressor station are both supported by Governor McAuliffe.
 
 
 
 
Caroline Bray, 20, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia – Caroline was born and raised in Virginia and is currently studying biology at the University of Virginia, where she is the president of the Climate Action Society. Through her advocacy against new pipelines in Virginia and campaign for fossil fuel divestment, she has become increasingly concerned with the influence of Dominion Power and other fossil fuels companies on her state government and her school.
 
 
 
 
Dan Marrow, 60, homeowner, Possum Point Road, Dumfries, Virginia – Dan and his wife and two daughters live within a thousand feet of a coal ash waste pond operated by Dominion Power. His teenage daughters were raised entirely on the property. Recently, the family’s drinking water well showed elevated quantities of several toxic heavy metals associated with coal ash. Dominion refuses to remove the nearby coal ash to a modern landfill as North Carolina and South Carolina are requiring of utilities. Governor McAuliffe supports Dominion’s coal ash plans that are deemed unsafe in the Carolinas and Georgia.
 
 
 
 
Russell Chisholm, 48, landowner, Newport, Virginia – Russell is a US Army veteran who served in Desert Storm with the 24th Infantry Division. His home in Giles County, Virginia is walking distance from the Appalachian Trail and just a few miles from the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline for fracked gas. Russell and his wife, Anna, also an Army veteran, draw their drinking water from a spring that, because of the special “karst” geological features of this part of Appalachia, could be disrupted or drained completely by the sort of trenching and pipe-laying required by the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Again, Governor McAuliffe supports the MVP.
 
 
 
Janice Johnson, 77, retired city employee of Hampton, Virginia, who now lives in Newport News, Virginia – Janice, a native of the Hampton Roads region, lives in daily fear that increased flooding and extreme weather events will leave her and other vulnerable seniors stranded in the event of a major storm. Worse, because of sea-level rise, she’s now being asked to pay for expensive flood insurance for a home that had never before been in a designated flood zone, and she is required to pay for a costly surveyor to come on her land to authenticate the height of her home. Governor McAuliffe has declined to support the Virginia Coastal Protection Act, which would provide the first dedicated state funding to address many of the region’s flooding issues.
 
 
Wisteria Johnson, 66, landowner, Shipman, Virginia. Biographical statement from Wisteria: “We are seven-generation mountain folk of indigenous American, European and African dissent. We currently live peaceably in conjunction with untouched headwaters and untouched nature typical to this part of Virginia. We have timberlands and hay fields and we are growers of a small herd of beef cattle for public consumption. We are also families who, despite our attempt to remain isolated from American corporate exploitation, we now find ourselves to be probable recipients to a gas-filled pipeline that would either parallel the headwater beds or lie in the belly of the mountain ridge. The ridge, being its natural self, has steep slopes and God-grown forest. Lastly, we are a family facing endangerment while political and corporate defenders thrive.”
 
 
Lee Williams, 51, critical care nurse, Richmond, Virginia. Lee is the mother of three and avid outdoors enthusiast, living near the James River. She has also been a property owner in Nelson County for 18 years, and has raised her children at Wintergreen on the Appalachian Trail and surrounding National Forests. Lee is fighting to ban hydro-fracking and the building of new infrastructure to transport it, because the best scientific evidence points to climate change, resulting sea level rise and super storms, poisoned water, a sickened population, and a devastated landscape. As an active member of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church and The Interfaith Climate Justice Team, she is called to safeguard life and respect creation by urging decision makers to recognize and honor indigenous communities, other people of color, and our most vulnerable communities throughout the commonwealth that are most at risk of losing access to clean water; whether from contamination from coal ash, construction sediment, spilled oil, or rising sea levels. Lee steadfastly fights for racial justice and reconciliation with climate justice and caring for God’s creation as a matter of stewardship.

This note is about radical polluters versus really sane Virginians who want to conserve their land. It’s about Governor Terry McAuliffe standing with Dominion Power instead of embracing the moral imperative of a “fossil fuel resistance” movement nationwide. It’s about brave and ordinary people standing up to extreme energy companies – people like the Standing Rock Sioux tribe who have fought heroically against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
This is going to be a longer note than usual from CCAN – and I hope you’ll read it to the end. But here are the questions I want to ask:
Will you come to Richmond at least once between October 3 and 5 for a citizens’ “picket line” against pipelines, coal ash, and coastal flooding? We’ll be picketing outside Governor McAuliffe’s office in the capital city. And on a separate front: What are your thoughts about the role of peaceful civil disobedience in the Virginia climate movement? Is it time? Are you interested?
First, it’s no secret that global warming now affects all of us — far beyond the dying coral reefs and faraway glaciers. From the flooding in Norfolk last week from tropical storm Hermine to the extreme heat wave across Virginia right now, this is a crisis reaching right into YOUR neighborhood. And these harmful trends are all linked to carbon and methane pollution from the burning of oil, coal and gas.
So what’s Governor Terry McAuliffe’s response to the climate crisis? You might not think of him as a pro-pollution “radical,” but his support for high-pollution energy projects actually makes him so. He wants to build two massive pipelines for fracked gas that could dramatically threaten farms, drinking water, and parkland while doubling greenhouse gas emissions on the ground. (The parallel to the Dakota Access Pipeline, opposed by indigenous leaders, is striking). McAuliffe also wants to drill for offshore oil in Virginia and bury millions of tons of coal ash next to our major rivers. It’s pretty amazing.
Meanwhile, McAuliffe’s very close friends at Dominion Power have their own radical climate ideas. One company vice president recently published a letter saying that global warming might be GOOD for us. I’m not making this up. He speculated in the Richmond Times-Dispatch that climate disruption might actually improve the world. And Dominion itself is a member of a right-wing legislative group (ever heard of ALEC?) that openly questions the scientific consensus of human-caused climate change.
Given these out-sized threats from the Governor and Dominion, what should SANE people – folks like you and me – do in response? What’s a reasonable escalation of our efforts to speak out and protect human health and human rights? Here’s one idea:
Let’s form a citizens’ lunchtime “picket line” outside Governor McAuliffe’s office in Richmond for three days in October. He’s not listening to the voices of farmers, students, and sane citizens statewide. Let’s bring those voices – peacefully but persistently – to his office October 3-5 for a lunchtime parade of signs, chanting and truth. Won’t you join for a day?
Why three days of picketing? Because we have three major battles on our hands in Virginia: Pipelines, coal ash, and coastal flooding from sea-level rise. On Day One, October 3rd, we’ll feature the voices of people across the state opposed to McAuliffe’s fracked-gas pipelines and compressor stations. Day Two, October 4th, will feature communities impacted by harmful coal ash dumping along the Potomac, James, and other rivers. And Day Three, October 5th, will feature citizens statewide concerned about climate change, sea-level rise, and the appalling flooding in coastal Virginia.
Why October 3-5? Because it’s just time. The Governor needs sustained pressure to break his ties with the extreme fossil fuel interests. And also because the whole nation will be turning its attention to Virginia that first week of October: On Tuesday, October 4th, the U.S. vice presidential candidates will come to Farmville to hold their only debate. As the national media spotlight descends on Virginia, we’ll shine a spotlight on the radical impacts of Governor McAuliffe’s support for fossil fuels.
Why focus this action on the Governor? Because he has the ability, using his executive powers, to make a difference on all three major issues of concern. During the picketing, we’ll be asking him to: 1) Reject state water permits for fracked-gas pipelines; 2) Require Dominion and other utilities to permanently protect our waterways from toxic coal ash; and 3) Commit to serious clean energy and adaptation solutions to keep our coastal communities above water.
This idea is already taking off. Many proud Virginians are already planning to take a stand with us in October. They’re people like the 86-year-old Korean War veteran whose land in Giles County, Virginia, would be substantially clear cut by the Mountain Valley Pipeline for fracked gas (supported by McAuliffe). And the Baptist pastor in Buckingham County whose church community would be polluted by an industrial compressor station for fracked gas (supported by McAuliffe). And a northern Virginia homeowner whose drinking water well has been contaminated next to a Dominion coal ash dump (that McAuliffe says is safe). And a senior citizen in Newport News who’s facing expensive flood insurance on a fixed income due to unprecedented sea-level rise.
These Virginians are locked into fights against energy companies and state policies that threaten their lives, drinking water, and land. In solidarity with them – and brave citizens nationwide fighting for safe farms, shorelines, and neighborhoods – won’t you join them?
Please come to Richmond at least once between October 3-5 for a lunchtime citizens’ “picket line” against pipelines, coal ash, and coastal flooding. We’ll be picketing outside the Governor’s office the same week the whole nation turns to Virginia during the vice presidential debate.
Since last spring, as you know, an alliance of groups has been working to get the Governor’s attention on these dirty energy issues. My friend Bill McKibben and I wrote an op-ed challenging the Governor last February. Then CCAN joined several groups in releasing an energy-and-climate “report card” for the Governor in April, giving him a D plus. (We thanked him for his support of minor solar power and efficiency projects but dinged him for the massive support of fossil fuels). Then more than 60 groups statewide issued an open letter in June asking the Governor again to abandon his 19th-century energy vision of drill it, pipe it, and burn it. Finally, on July 23rd, more than 600 people came to Richmond for the “March on the Mansion” to ask the Governor to put people’s welfare above polluters’ profits.
But remarkably, the Governor has not changed at all. He’s still not listening. He’s announced his support for a couple of inspiring Virginia solar farms that, when built, will reduce carbon pollution in Virginia by the equivalent of taking about 10,000 cars off the road. But he still supports new oil and gas drilling in Virginia and West Virginia that would be the equivalent of adding tens of millions of new cars to our roads!
So I hope you’ll join us for one, two or all three of the days we’ll be picketing at the Governor’s office. If you live in Richmond, just pop over during your lunch break and help make history in this fight. If you’re across the state, take off half a day if you can and come be with us.
Finally, there’s the issue of peaceful civil disobedience. Have you ever thought of adding your name to the long list of proud Americans who, at some point in our nation’s history, have engaged in this powerful tactic for a worthy cause? Is now the right time for you? With oceans rising worldwide and indigenous struggles peaking in the Dakotas and radical pipelines bearing down on Virginia, is it time to exercise your reasonable right to stand up against the polluters who would radically alter our world? If so:
A second group of citizens is planning a civil disobedience action on the final day of this 3-day protest, on October 5th. It will be separate from the picketing action. It will involve people from all over the state. It will be peaceful and inspiring.
Hope to see you in Richmond on October 3rd, 4th, or 5th. I can’t wait to take the next steps of this movement with you.
Onward,
Mike Tidwell

If you live in Southern Maryland or Baltimore, you might have met Healthy Communities Organizer Jon Kenney testifying to stop Dominion’s gas export facility at Cove Point, marching against a dirty trash incinerator in Curtis Bay, or organizing a community meeting to pass oil train legislation through City Hall.
After nearly three years at CCAN, Jon moved on to attend grad school in DC this month, but not before he had a chance to welcome and train Jamshid Bakhtiari, our new Healthy Communities Campaign Coordinator, to carry on the fight!
Jamshid will be leading our efforts to curb oil trains in Baltimore and bring the benefits of community solar to Maryland communities:
Your age: 25
Where you live: Baltimore, Maryland
Your work background: I have previous experience organizing around a host of different issues – most notably I’ve worked with the VCU Living Wage Campaign, the National Lawyers Guild, the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice, and Equality, and the Richmond Peace Education Center.
Why are you a CCAN employee?
I am a CCAN employee because of our commitment to broadening the scope of the environmental justice movement to include a broad range of human struggles.
What has inspired you most working for CCAN so far?
So far I have been most inspired by all of the great organizers and activists that I have had the privilege to learn from and work alongside. In addition to the depth of organizing experience and knowledge that CCAN has on staff, I am constantly meeting partners and supporters in Baltimore who are bringing their unique skills to the table to build a sustainable climate movement in the region.
What have you contributed to bringing about a clean energy revolution that you are most proud of?
Every time I contribute to someone feeling empowered to take action – no matter how small that might be. For instance, after our last community meeting on oil trains, members of the community really took ownership of the issue and started planning a campaign strategy to win. Being able to facilitate this process of community empowerment is always both energizing and humbling.
What do you like to do when you’re not fighting climate change?
When I am not on the campaign, I enjoy trying new vegetarian recipes, exploring new and exciting music, and trying to maintain an active lifestyle.
Who would you high five? Who WOULDN’T I high five? Special props to anyone willing to take time out of their day to work against injustice.

This post is from DC Summer Organizing Fellow Joanna Wolfgram.
My name is Joanna, and I’m an organizing fellow with CCAN on the DC Carbon Fee and Rebate campaign. I wanted to take a moment to share a snapshot of our work with you, and why I am so passionate about this cause.
With water levels predicted to rise onto the National Mall and asthma rates in D.C. rising high above the national average, taking action to protect the residents of Washington D.C. is of the utmost importance. On August 4th, a group of 25 dedicated climate enthusiasts gathered in a Sierra Club meeting room to discuss taking real action in the fight for cleaner air, healthier families, and greater income equality for all of D.C.
All the chairs were filled and attendees had their notebooks at the ready. Together, we delved into how exactly a “Carbon Fee and Dividend” will fix pollution problems in D.C. while putting money into the pockets of local families. By charging big polluters a fee for every ton of carbon pollution they dump into our air, and returning all the money collected equally to each and every D.C. resident, it became clear to us all that a  “Carbon Fee and Rebate” is the solution we have all been waiting for.
Buzzing with excitement over the sheer potential of the Carbon Rebate policy, the new question quickly became: “How can we get this policy passed?” The answer was, of course, by the support of the people! So after warming up our favorite waving arms and practicing our most charming smiles, we learned how to petition, so that we can earn the support of our neighbors, our friends, our family, our fellow people of faith, our fellow students, and the list goes on and on!
To finish off our meeting, we each shared an adjective to describe how we were feeling about this campaign. There were quite a few “excited”s, a handful of “optimistic”s, and if my memory serves me right, someone even uttered an “awed.” Not too shabby.
I hope to see you at the next gathering on Thursday, September 8th, at a social get-together at the Penn Quarter Teaism co-hosted by our friends at Interfaith Power and Light. Get the details and be sure to RSVP here on Facebook.

Read about the DC Carbon Rebate campaign from our fantastic student Organizing Fellows this summer! 

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Asthma and My Childhood in DC

Maia Berlow

As a kid growing up in DC, I remember, fairly regularly, friends collapsing during PE class and struggling to breath because the air pollution was triggering their asthma. It was terrifying for me to see my friends like that, but it was so much scarier for them. I remember many days where we could not go outside for recess or PE because the air quality was too bad. The low air quality was bad for our lungs, made it hard to breath and was even worse for people with asthma. 10.4 percent of DC’s residents have asthma as compared to the 9.1 percent nationally (DOH 71). Everyday, 11 people in the United States die from asthma (Asthma MD).  Luckily, my friends had access to medicine and good medical care, but not everyone in Washington, DC is so lucky.

Research has shown that air pollution can worsen asthma symptoms (Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America). Air pollution as defined by the EPA is “any visible or invisible particle or gas found in the air that is not part of the natural composition of air.” But DC seems like a fairly clean city; we do not see a lot of smog and we have beautifully clear days. So where is this pollution that is irritating people’s asthma? Like the EPA says, air pollution can be invisible. When we burn fossil fuels to create our energy, nitrogen oxides are added to the air, creating ozone which is then quickly destroyed. This creation and destruction of ozone is part of a natural cycle, but when hydrocarbons — vapors from fossil fuels– are added to the mix, it adds to the creation of ozone and stops the destruction of it, creating unhealthy levels of ozone, increasing air pollution, and increasing asthma.

I want to stop the air pollution in this city that I have grown up in, and this one of the many reasons that I am excited to be working on the DC Carbon Rebate campaign with CCAN. This campaign strives to make polluters pay for the real cost of their actions on climate and health. Right now, fossil fuels are cheaper than renewables for utility companies because they do not reflect the real cost of fossil fuels on people’s well-being and our environment. If you are going to be doing something that harms people, you should be paying for it. The carbon rebate places a fee on each ton of carbon that the utility companies emit, making fossil fuels more expensive, renewables more realistic, and sending a signal that renewables have no extra health costs. Beyond incentivizing utility companies to make good choices for the people they serve, the money from the fee would go directly back to DC residents: the people suffering from utility companies’ wrongful choices. Research shows that low-income residents would benefit the most from this program– a small step towards shrinking the inequalities in this city (Citizens’ Climate Lobby).

Each day that I am out working on this campaign I encounter mothers who say that their three-year-old has asthma and that the medicine is too expensive. I encounter grandmothers who are incapacitated on hot days because the pollution in the air is so bad. And I encounter hundreds of people, ready to say that they have had enough and that it is not alright to pollute this city for free.

To take action today, and let Mayor Bowser know that you will not stand for pollution that harms this city and contributes to climate change worldwide, sign this petition.

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Movement-Building with CCAN or, The Awkward Tan Lines Are Worth It

Joanna Wolfgram

For many years, I thought that climate change was an issue that only affected the world on an environmental level. I envisioned in the coming years polluted water sources, dead coral reefs, species extinction, and melting ice. As I grew up, I was taught different ways for individuals to do their part to stop these environmental problems. In sixth grade I was taught about the importance of recycling and composting. In my high school biology class I learned about choosing organic produce. Although all of these lessons were very important, none of them felt particularly extraordinary. Recycling a can did not feel like saving the world, composting seemed like too much trouble, and as a student living at home with my family, which zucchini to buy was a matter I felt better left to my parents.
Then, one day in my freshman year of college, I was avoiding starting a paper in a fashion truly representative of my government and politics major (aka scrolling through world news articles on CNN). Suddenly, a particular article caught my attention. The article discussed how climate change had resulted in a record drought in the middle east, which in turn caused the migration of Syrian farmers into cities to find work as their crops failed. The influx of the farmers worsened political tensions within Syrian cities and, in time, the Syrian Civil War, a war that according to the article has cost 250,000 people their lives, began. Before this moment, I had never considered the possible role climate change could play and already is playing in international and local relations, as well as national security.
Abruptly, I could imagine all the ways climate change could result in more conflict and strife all over the world in the near and distant future. As nonrenewable resources dwindle, the measures countries take to obtain or protect their supplies could become more desperate. Changing landscapes from droughts and rising sea levels could cause more mass migrations of people who have lost their homes and livelihoods. Changing weather patterns could result in food shortages and famines. These are only a few possible scenarios, some of which have already begun to take root in our present day society. With all of these looming possibilities for the future, I decided I wanted to look for organizations trying to make a difference now, to protect the people of the world in the years to come.
Eventually, I stumbled upon a listing for an internship at CCAN. After reading about their many different campaigns, from stopping oil trains in Baltimore to calling for a carbon fee and rebate in Washington D.C., I could tell that this was organization not only committed to stopping global warming, but to protecting people who are vulnerable to the adverse affects of climate change. I sent in my application, and when I was told I had been accepted for the DC Carbon Rebate campaign, I was thrilled. I knew that working to pass this revenue neutral policy would be working towards a renewable energy based economy without leaving low- and middle-income families behind. I was excited to help DC set a national and potentially global precedent by working to get this policy passed. I began my internship wanting to feel like more than just an individual putting a can in a blue bin; I wanted to feel like a part of a movement.
Funny enough, my work at CCAN has made me realize that it takes the combined small actions of individuals to create any kind of movement. Every petition I collect is like adding a new ally to the brigade of those calling for change. Each person who checks the little “I want to volunteer!” box adds to the resources of the campaign, even if they have only a small amount of time to give. And it is these individuals, whose desire to see improvement in the world by supporting a DC carbon Rebate, that make every single awkward tan-line I get while petitioning totally and completely worth it.

The summer of 2016 has set the groundwork for a frack-free future in Maryland. Hundreds of you drove to meetings to tell the Hogan Administration: we don’t want flawed regulations — we want a permanent ban on fracking. Dozens of you have petitioned at farmer’s markets, gone door-to-door, opened up your congregations to educate your communities on fracking, and so much more. From Western Marylanders bringing a literal “dog and pony show” (pictured above) to the Hogan administration’s public meeting in Oakland to 88 local residents in Rockville showing up to watch the fracking documentary Groundswell Rising — our movement is growing and we are determined to ensure Maryland’s future is built on clean energy, not fracking.
All of our organizing this summer is aimed at building an unstoppable groundswell of public support for passing a permanent, statewide ban on fracking in the 2017 Maryland General Assembly session — the final legislative session before our hard-won, two-year moratorium on fracking will expire.
The stakes were raised this summer. On June 22nd, Hogan administration officials released draft proposals for regulating fracking, the same day as the Maryland Department of the Environment’s first scheduled public meeting to discuss those draft rules in Cumberland. Residents in Western Maryland who are on the front lines of potential fracking had just a few hours to pore over dozens of pages of technical documents that could impact their water, their livelihood and the health of their communities.
During a series of three public meetings, Maryland legislators and concerned citizens made it clear — a permanent, statewide ban on fracking is the only rational option for Maryland. The Hogan’s administration’s proposals would roll back air and water monitoring requirements, slash safety precautions, and ultimately welcome fracking to Maryland starting in October 2017.
We didn’t take these rollbacks on our health, safety and well-being lying down.
In Baltimore, State Senator Bobby Zirkin told Hogan administration officials, “I am afraid you have it wrong on this one” and at an outdoor rally pledged to a crowd of over 100 people that he will introduce legislation to ban fracking in the upcoming legislative session.

Hours and hours of testimony were put forth in Baltimore City with over 70 people telling the Hogan administration to BAN FRACKING NOW. At the final stop in McHenry, Western Marylanders brought a dog and a pony to the rally to show exactly what they thought about these new regulations.
Meanwhile, before and after the release of the draft regulations, activists across Maryland moved full-steam ahead to ask local elected officials to take action to ban fracking. The town of Friendsville in Garrett County banned fracking. The town council in Greenbelt wrote a letter to their state delegation asking for a permanent ban on fracking. In Charles County, the county council adapted their comprehensive plan to restrict fracking and will be introducing a “no fracking” zoning ordinance this fall. County leaders in Prince George’s and Montgomery County,  which have already banned fracking in their counties, are encouraging other legislators to take up the charge. Prince George’s County Councilwoman Mary Lehman, sponsor of her county’s fracking ban, convened a meeting of local advocacy groups and legislators at the annual gathering of the Maryland Association of Counties to strategize on how we can ban fracking across our state.
Dozens of activists are working on the ground to pass ban ordinances and resolutions in their own towns, building a strong grassroots movement for a frack-free future.
Here’s how you can join our movement today and act locally in your own community to keep Maryland frack-free:

• Get your city to endorse a ban on fracking: Download the CCAN fracking activist toolkit for a step-by-step guide.
• Sign the petition: Add your name to the call for a permanent ban on fracking in Maryland!

Dear CCANers,
You may have noticed solar panels popping up in tons of places these days: on a neighbor’s roof, on a street-corner utility poll, on a farm field near you. The price of solar keeps falling, moving us closer to the community-based, resilient, distributed, and sustainable energy grid we all know we need to solve climate change.
And here’s what’s also popping up everywhere you turn: grassroots energy leaders. Wherever you look in our region, there are real-life, community-based, common-sense leaders taking on local fights against extreme fossil fuels. Whether it’s fighting for a fracking ban across Maryland or to stop proposed fracked-gas pipelines in Virginia; whether it’s stopping coal-ash dumping in the Potomac River south of DC or stopping explosive crude oil trains from rolling through Baltimore – these leaders are emerging everywhere, at the same time.
People power, like solar power, is spreading in our region – and the two are related. These citizens are part of the place-based and resilient leadership we’ll need to continue our fight to keep fossil fuels in the ground as we make the final switch to “energy democracy” based largely on distributed energy that is local and clean and abundant.

Who are these new leaders? They are people like 86-year-old George Jones, a Korean War veteran whose land in Giles County, Virginia, is being confiscated for a massive proposed fracked-gas pipeline called the Mountain Valley Pipeline. George is fighting back. Though wheelchair bound due to a recent stroke, he inspired Virginians statewide when he rolled nearly a mile through summer heat with 600 other people as part of the “March on the Mansion” demonstration July 23rd. The march ended at Governor Terry McAuliffe’s (D) house with a clear message: drop your support of fracked-gas pipelines in Virginia.
They are people like Vinny and Jamie DeMarco, a father and son duo who biked 370 miles across Maryland in August in support of state legislation to boldly expand wind and solar energy in the state. Governor Larry Hogan (R) recklessly vetoed this popular bill in May. The DeMarcos are encouraging the Maryland General Assembly to override the veto. So the cyclists organized the “Ride for the Override” that spawned inspiring news stories in the Washington Post and across the state. Thanks to this people-powered support from the DeMarcos and others, it looks like the General Assembly will give final approval to the law in January.
Who else are these new leaders? They are people like DC student (and former beloved CCAN staffer) Jon Kenney, who has been fighting to protect urban neighborhoods across our region from a rise in crude-oil rail tankers from North Dakota that now roll through our communities. These increasingly frequent oil trains are a threat not just to our climate, but to households and children due to potential derailments and explosions.
Like budding solar panels, these leaders are popping up everywhere – the mountains of western Maryland, the suburbs of Virginia Beach, the row houses of Washington, DC. This people-based grid of interconnected leaders and communities is widely distributed, spreading fast, and impossible to defeat because the roots are just too wide, too deep.
Of course the major polluters in our region – like Dominion Power – continue to push for energy that is based on the concentrated power of coal and gas plants. The polluters’ political power is equally concentrated, residing in the hands of a few executives who, with big political campaign contributions, influence politicians at the top, who then force dirty energy policies on the rest of us.
But now comes the unstoppable force of Virginians like George Jones and Marylanders like the DeMarcos. I think it’s fair to say the polluters have finally met their match, and we know who’s going to win. Stay tuned and stay active. To change everything, we need everybody. That means me. That means you.
On we go,

Mike Tidwell

Did you know that in Maryland the benefits of solar energy are about to become accessible to everyone, even if you rent or have a shady roof?
Thanks to statewide legislation championed by CCAN and our allies, Maryland is about to launch a cutting-edge “community solar” pilot program. The program will get started this fall, and the first projects could come on line as soon as winter.
Sign up here to get updates from CCAN on community solar projects in your neighborhood!
Here are three things that you need to know about the program:
1) What is Community Solar? Community solar allows customers who rent, have shady roofs, or are otherwise unable to install solar at their residences or business to buy or “subscribe” to a portion of a shared solar system. Your share of the electricity generated by the project is credited to your electricity bill, just as if the solar system were located at your home or business.
2) How Does it Work? Under the new Maryland law, you can subscribe to a small share of a larger solar project located within your community. The energy produced by this solar site is delivered directly into the grid and the local utility redistributes this energy among its customers. Your household would then receive a credit on your monthly utility bill for the amount of electricity your share of the system produced.
3) Who Can Sign Up? Anyone!
If you are interested in participating in a community solar project in your neighborhood, sign up here and we’ll update you as the program develops.
Right now CCAN is helping to lay the groundwork by forging partnerships between communities and subscriber organizations across Maryland to get projects off the ground.
Importantly, Maryland’s program sets aside 30 percent of the total project cap for solar installations that serve low- and moderate-income households. This commitment to making solar universally accessible is critical — right now working families account for only a small fraction of all residential solar installations. This makes Maryland’s community solar program a major step towards a more equitable clean energy economy.
P.S. Our partners at Neighborhood Sun are hosting a webinar this Thursday to explain the community solar program in greater depth and answer your questions. Sign up for updates and we’ll send you the details.