Oppose New Fracked Gas Pipelines in Virginia!

In Virginia, the grassroots battle continues to ramp up against Dominion Resources’ proposed Atlantic Coast pipeline. This proposed 550-mile fracked gas pipeline would originate in Harrison County, West Virginia, cut southwest across Virginia to Greensville County and then head south to eastern North Carolina. A spur would also go into Chesapeake, Virginia.
People across Virginia are coming together to oppose this dirty fracked gas plan. CCAN is partnering with new and highly energized local groups that have formed along the route of the pipeline, including the Augusta County Alliance, Friends of Nelson County and the Allegheny Blue-Ridge Alliance. The Richmond Times-Dispatch documented this growing “mountain of opposition” to the pipeline in January. Together we are building power throughout the state to challenge Dominion’s pipeline and eminent domain laws that are letting Dominion trample over the rights of local landowners.
Here are the latest updates:

  • In December, news broke that Dominion is suing over 40 landowners who have refused to let surveyors for the pipeline come onto their property.
  • Landowners are fighting back. On February 5th, a federal judge heard arguments in a suit brought by landowners to challenge the constitutionality of a state law that gives natural gas companies the right to survey land over the owners’ objections.
  • During the General Assembly session, landowners joined environmental advocates to rally against the pipeline at the State Capitol in Richmond. Unfortunately, legislators failed to advance a bill that would have revoked the 2004 law that Dominion is using to survey landowners’ property.
  • In January, students with the Virginia Student Environmental Coalition delivered over 170 handwritten letters to Governor McAuliffe’s offices in Richmond, calling on him to renounce his support for the pipeline.

Pipeline fighters have also launched local canvasses to inform residents along the route of the pipeline of the risks involved, and are pushing back against Dominion’s overblown claims about the project’s benefits. Friends of Nelson County released a press statement on February 11th to counter a report released by Dominion about the benefits of the pipeline. Friends of Nelson president Joanna Salidis explains why pipeline opponents are developing their own “pipeline impact” study, to be released in May 2015:

The economy of Nelson County is based on tourism, agriculture, recreation and the scenic beauty of the Rockfish Valley. These and so much more are threatened by the proposed pipeline. It makes me sick to my stomach to hear Dominion crow about economic benefits when the truth is their pipeline is nothing more than the large scale transfer of wealth from counties like ours on the route to their shareholders’ pockets. Our Pipeline Impact Study will give us numbers of our own.

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline isn’t the only new natural gas pipeline proposed in Virginia. The Mountain Valley Pipeline is another proposed fracked gas pipeline in the development phase. Residents along the route of the MVP are rallying in Blacksburg on Saturday, March 21st in opposition.

How can you take action?

CCAN is collecting petitions to urge Governor McAuliffe to withdraw his support of the Atlantic Coast pipeline. We need your help! We need Governor McAuliffe to know that Virginians don’t want dangerous new natural gas pipelines criss-crossing our forests and farmlands, and taking us backward in fighting global warming. Working with groups along the proposed route of the pipeline, we’ve collected over 2,500 petitions to the governor so far. Our goal is to collect 5,000 before we deliver them right to his office in April. Click here to sign up to collect petitions in your community, and I’ll follow up with you to give you the materials you need to take action.
CCAN and allied groups are meeting in Virginia in early March to plan the next phase of this campaign. Want to get involved? Email me at Lauren@chesapeakeclimate.org.

Video and thanks: Our 10th plunge was the biggest ever!

On Saturday, January 24th over 200 of us braved the elements to make the 10th annual “Keep Winter Cold” Polar Bear Plunge our biggest yet. Neither the rain nor an incredibly high tide could stop us from jumping, wading and even diving into the Potomac River! Plungers were as young as nine and as old as 85, including students, community activists and Franciscan priests.
Together, we raised over $85,000 to support CCAN’s work to move our region off of dirty fossil fuels and to clean energy! We’re truly fortunate to be working side-by-side with so many dedicated activists to fight climate change. Thanks to everyone who plunged with us or sponsored a plunger!
You can find great photos from the day here. Watch this video recap of our 10th annual plunge:

Having now taken part in all ten “Keep Winter Cold” plunges, I had some particularly special highlights from Saturday:

  • A high tide can’t stop us! We’ve never had a plunge at high tide at National Harbor, let alone following significant rainfall. The obstacles we overcame Saturday (like a submerged beach!) reminded me of why we plunge: the seas are rising, and so must we!
  • Rev. Yearwood has never fired me up more. With the words, “One day this generation will say we are fossil free at last!” echoing across the plaza, who wouldn’t be ready to jump into freezing water?
  • Our teams raised more money than ever before. SIXTEEN teams each raised over $1,000, with 350 Montgomery County and Franciscan Action Network leading the pack! Big thanks go to our team captains and everyone who pitched in.
  • Our prize winners really took it to a new level! April Moore, our top fundraiser, won the Green Commuter bike by raising a stunning $4,287. Our second top fundraiser, Lori Hill, won dinner with Mike Tidwell and Rev. Yearwood by recruiting 54 individual donors.

Together, we all made this year’s 10th annual plunge a big success. Once again, many thanks, and let’s keep building a strong climate movement in the Chesapeake region and across the nation.
A big thank you to all of our sponsors for donating generous prizes and keeping us caffeinated and fed:

 

Letter from the Director: A paradigm is shaking

Let’s be honest. It’s easy to get discouraged if you’re fighting global warming in America. I’ve been a full-time climate activist since 2001 and I can’t remember ever fighting so many defensive campaigns all at once. We’re fighting Keystone XL and coal exports. We’re fighting fracking everywhere and the Cove Point export plant in Maryland and the Atlantic Coast pipeline in Virginia. And now, as if that weren’t enough, we’re fighting a proposed anti-environmental merger between electric utilities Pepco and Exelon in Maryland and DC.
So it’s easy to get discouraged. Unless, of course, you realize that all of this defensive action might mean we’re actually gaining ground! I’m serious. I believe the reason climate activists have never been busier is because the entire 20th century energy system is spinning out of control before our eyes. The old energy paradigm is shaking and shuddering on its way to the grave.
Think about it. All the easy oil and gas has run out, so the industry is moving toward the extreme extraction and transport of fracked oil and gas. That’s sparked a backlash. Meanwhile, our society has turned increasingly against coal, prompting companies to try to export it overseas to stay in business. More backlash. And wind and solar prices have simultaneously fallen so dramatically that – in concert with unconventional gas – they are putting nuclear energy on the ropes. Which is why Exelon – owner of the biggest nuclear fleet in America – wants to merge with Pepco in the DC area and increase the number of ratepayers who can prop up its aging nuclear plants. More backlash.
But again all of this is proof that the old energy system is on the way out – much quicker than we thought – while a new energy system is rushing in.
You can see all of this in the extraordinary array of campaigns CCAN is engaged in right now. We’re working with Virginia farmers and landowners and students to fight back against Dominion’s ridiculous proposal to build a 550-mile fracked-gas pipeline in Virginia (a.k.a the Atlantic Coast pipeline). And we’re fighting for an outright moratorium on fracking in Maryland while we also work to stop plans to ship North Dakota crude oil out of Baltimore.
But, because the energy paradigm is changing rapidly, we’re also making dramatic new progress on OFFENSE in both Virginia and Maryland. Our Virginia Coastal Protection Act – with bipartisan support – fell just one vote short of getting out of a Senate committee. The bill would implement a statewide cap on carbon pollution from power plants and use hundreds of millions of dollars in proceeds to protect coastal Virginians from the increasing flooding from sea level rise. We’ll be back next year to pass this bill.
In Maryland, we’re making great progress with a bill that would double the state’s commitment to wind and solar power. Specifically, the bill would require that a whopping 40% of the state’s electricity come from renewable sources. We’re building an incredible coalition to pass this legislation through both houses, and then we’ll demand that the governor sign it.
So here we are in February 2015, fighting defensive battles left and right but making more progress on big carbon-reduction bills in our state capitols than we thought possible just a year ago.
The paradigm is shaking. The times are changing. We’re building up the good as we push out the bad. Stay involved and help us go even further.
Onward!
mike-tidwell
Mike Tidwell

Meet the newest members of our CCAN Virginia team

We are so lucky to have had three new organizers recently join our staff to build power in Virginia! Lauren Goldman and Charlie Spatz are new CCAN organizers working out of our Richmond office, alongside Virginia Policy Director Dawone Robinson and Virginia Campus Organizer Drew Gallagher. Harrison Wallace is our new organizer based in Hampton Roads.
Read on to learn more about our newest Virginia team members.
Your age:
Charlie Spatz, Virginia Statewide Organizer: 23
Harrison Wallace, Hampton Roads Organizer: 25
Lauren Goldman, Virginia Campaign Coordinator: 28
Where you live:
Charlie: Richmond, Virginia
Harrison: Virginia Beach, Virginia
Lauren: Richmond, Virginia
Why are you a CCAN employee?
Charlie: I joined CCAN for the opportunity to work on the front lines of climate change here in Virginia. While coal mining continues in the western half of the state, the tidewater area of Virginia is already experiencing sea level rise. In fact, coastal Virginia is the 2nd most vulnerable coast in the nation to sea level rise. This presents an opportunity for a Southern state to take bold steps forward on climate change and hopefully lead others in its direction. I’m excited to be working on our Safe Coast Campaign to make this a reality.
Harrison: I grew up in the commonwealth, I went to college here, and my family has long-standing roots here. I love Virginia because it has the best of both worlds: a beautiful coastline and breathtaking mountains. So, I joined CCAN to do my part to make sure that our wonderful natural resources will be here for my future children and grandchildren. We are at a crossroads in history and I will work tirelessly to make sure that Virginia ends up going in the right direction.
Lauren: I’m a CCAN employee because I care about conservation of fragile ecosystems, and I love solar energy! Also, I lived in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and my house flooded in Hurricane Sandy in Greenpoint, Brooklyn so I am concerned about extreme weather.
What has inspired you most working for CCAN so far?
Charlie: The incredible activists that I get to work with every day. Day in and day out, they are committed to fighting for climate solutions.
Harrison: Listening to Reverend Yearwood’s speech and joining over 100 activists in running into freezing water for our annual polar plunge.
Lauren: I’ve been inspired by the willingness of volunteers to engage with their elected officials through lobbying and call-ins during this 2015 legislative session. I think engaging with elected officials on a regular basis and holding them accountable for their decisions on key issues is something we all need to do more of.
What have you contributed to bringing about a clean energy revolution that you are most proud of?
Charlie: Before joining CCAN, I worked on the People’s Climate March as an organizer for Greenpeace USA. It was an incredible opportunity to work on a team with some of the best organizers from around the country on what became the largest climate change march in history. The People’s Climate March flooded New York City streets with over 400,000 people in September of 2014.
Harrison: Organizing over 40 coastal residents to travel to Richmond and lobby their representatives in the General Assembly. We made sure our voices were heard in the legislature and within the McAuliffe Administration via a great meeting with Chief Resilience Officer Brian Moran.
Lauren: I’ve organized a series of solar phone banks and call-ins during this legislative session, and CCAN supporters across Virginia have been eager and willing to talk to their representatives about legislation that takes away barriers to solar energy in Virginia.
Who would you high five?
Charlie: Famed labor and environmental organizer Chico Mendes, who worked to save the Brazilian Amazon.
Harrison: President Obama.
Lauren: A polar bear (with proper protection) and Yoko Ono for her work against fracking.

Victory for clean energy in DC

December 2014 marked the end of a nearly two-year campaign effort to dramatically increase the use of wind- and solar-powered electricity in the District by closing a major loophole in DC’s most important clean energy law. Following a unanimous DC Council vote in December, Mayor Muriel Bowser signed the “Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard Amendment Act of 2014” into law on January 26th, 2015.
The law will make sure that D.C. ratepayers no longer subsidize the burning of dirty “black liquor” and inefficient wood waste – energy sources that pollute on par with coal – under D.C.’s Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) law. As a result, we’ll reduce carbon pollution by the equivalent of taking 142,000 cars off the road every year — and incentivize the equivalent of about four new utility-scale wind farms throughout our region!
Since July of 2013, with your support, CCAN has been working together with the DC Environmental Network, the Sierra Club DC Chapter, DC Divest, and others to get this bill passed.
This victory puts DC on the path to reducing huge amounts of climate pollution, and incentivizing huge amounts of new clean energy investment across our region. As the world’s top scientists warn that swift action is necessary – at all levels and right now – to avoid irreversible climate impacts, the District is a BIG step closer to doing its part.
We enthusiastically thank the DC Council for voting to support a future with more solar and wind power! Their actions are helping build the infrastructure to create new industries that can employ District residents with good, meaningful jobs.

Crossover 2015: 29 Days of Progress

It wouldn’t be a Virginia General Assembly session without high-stakes drama, last-minute surprises, and a host of political maneuvering. True to form, the first 29 days of the 45 day 2015 General Assembly session have produced more twists and turns than a Hollywood thriller. Thankfully, I can confidently say CCAN’s climate agenda has withstood a bevy of attacks and we’re on pace to seal a very successful legislative session.
Today is officially “crossover,” or the legislative midway point. As of today, all legislation that passed in the House or Senate must officially “cross over” into the other chamber and proceed through the same committee and floor voting process.
At this midway point, here’s a recap of CCAN’s top priorities with an eye of what’s to come in the future.
The Virginia Coastal Protection Act
Richmond-area Democrat Sen. Donald McEachin and Virginia Beach Republican Ron Villanueva championed the most important and aggressive piece of climate legislation we’ve ever introduced. SB 1428 and HB 2205, called the Virginia Coastal Protection Act, would join Virginia into a highly successful multi-state carbon emissions reduction program called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The legislation would generate millions of dollars to protect residents in Tidewater Virginia from sea level rise and invest in other important climate measures like solar and energy efficiency.
This effort was the top priority of our Safe Coast Virginia report released last July. Numerous organizations, from the conservation community to low-income housing partners to the Virginia Chapter of the American Association of Pediatrics, supported this bipartisan campaign. The bill was supported by Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms, the city of Portsmouth, and the city of Norfolk, which was quick to pass a city council resolution in support of the bill and whose mayor personally lobbied for its passage. The Virginian-Pilot editorial board fully endorsed our Virginia Coastal Protection Act and even the Washington Post editorial board called joining RGGI the smart way to reduce emissions.
In short, CCAN’s Virginia Coastal Protection Act quickly became THE most positively embraced environmental legislative initiative we’ve seen in some time. It’s a no-brainer: providing funds to fight flooding while also meeting our carbon reduction goals in a cost-effective manner is a win-win for the state.
However, the bill failed to pass out of a key House subcommittee and came within one vote of passage in the full Senate committee. Delegate Villanueva and Senator McEachin deserve credit for their passion and leadership on this issue. Our supporters also deserve a tremendous amount of credit for helping to put this issue on the radar for so many people. Even though the legislation failed to pass in its first year, we have all the momentum we need to build off this year’s success and come right back next year to pass this urgently needed solution for our coast. Stay tuned for the next steps of this campaign.
Increasing Solar Development
CCAN worked with Sen. Rosalyn Dance and Del. Jennifer McClellan to introduce SB 1395 and HB 1950, which doubles the maximum size of a solar project that businesses can install on their property to help offset their energy usage. Virginia notoriously lags far behind its neighbors in solar development, so this legislation is an important step forward.
Building off the success we made last year when we worked with Sen. Hanger, Sen. Wagner, and Del. Hugo to exempt solar equipment from punishing local taxes, this year’s effort from Sen. Dance and Del. McClellan will continue to advance the state towards a clean energy future. Thanks to our patrons, friends in the solar industry, and the utilities and co-ops who have worked on this legislation, the bill has passed both the full House and full Senate, positioning us for a victory.
Withstanding the Attacks on the Clean Power Plan
Heading into session, we were on full-blown defense in fighting off attacks of President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which mandates that Virginia cut its carbon pollution by 38% by 2030. The program is much needed and long overdue. Of course that didn’t stop big business, big coal, and its defenders in the legislature from pulling out all stops to delay Virginia’s implementation of policies to help us meet our emissions goals.
In all, there were several bills in each chamber designed to delay or prevent us from meeting our goals. Thankfully, due to your protests, calls, emails, letters to the editor, and many other actions, all of these bills have been killed in the first 29 days. The only surviving piece of legislation, SB 1365 from Sen. Watkins, merely requires the state to consult with the General Assembly and others instead of deferring action to the General Assembly so that lawmakers can press pause on implementing the plan. Chalk this up as an enormous win for the climate and a giant blow to opponents of the Clean Power Plan.
What About Dominion?
If you’re following the news on the Virginia legislative session, you’re probably plenty familiar with Sen. Wagner’s SB 1349, legislation that some consumer advocates are calling a massive ratepayer boondoggle. I’m only writing about this bill because Dominion cleverly decided to use the Clean Power Plan as a boogeyman to scare legislators into voting for it.
For more information on this bill and for some insight regarding how some of our friends feel about the jist of this legislation, see this Richmond Times-Dispatch op-ed from Sierra Club Virginia Chapter Director Glen Besa.
The most important aspect of this very complicated bill and series of events is to note that Dominion, whose power and influence is unrivaled in Virginia, was boxed into a corner by the combination of the fierce, negative public reaction of this bill, the strong, growing momentum of the environmental community, and the leadership of climate champions in the Senate who demanded more clean energy from the utility giant.
SB 1349, which seeks to establish a freeze on base rates and prevent the State Corporation Commission from reviewing whether utilities made too much profit, was recently amended – for the better of the climate community. Although final details are still being worked out, the changes would secure more than 400 MW of new utility-scale solar in Virginia in addition to the creation of new energy efficiency programs from both utilities.
In years past, this controversial bill would’ve likely sailed through the legislature without the need to amend it to appeal to the environmental community. As we continue to build power on climate and clean energy in Virginia, we can secure more positive legislative breakthroughs.
That’s all for now. I’ll have more when the 2015 legislative session officially concludes.

How you can get involved with Global Divestment Day

Global Divestment Day is coming!  What’s that, you ask? 
Global Divestment Day is February 13-14, at locations all around the world. It’s a chance for divestment campaigns to celebrate divestment victories, to educate their community about divestment, and to turn up the heat on divestment opponents.
There is a lot happening in DC, Maryland, and Virginia for Global Divestment Day, and we want you to know about it all!
Click here to find an action near you!
On Friday, February 13th, join DC Divest, 350 MoCo and divestment campaigns from around the DC-metro area for the biggest public mobilization yet — we’re going to show this city that we are ready to make fossil fuels history. Getting our cities and universities to stop investing in fossil fuel companies doesn’t just protect our money against risk from the “carbon bubble,” it sends a clear message: bankrolling climate destruction is immoral. It’s time to invest in clean energy!
Click here to RSVP for the DC-area Global Divestment Day action this Friday at 5:30 p.m. in Dupont Circle.
350MoCo is also planning their own “event” – something a little different – in which each of us will tell the world why we care about divestment. The more “voices,” the greater the impact.
464942_45034af5a8274854b3fe9975949624b8.jpg_srz_p_239_318_75_22_0.50_1.20_0Here’s what to do:

  • Download and print this 8 ½  x 11 sign that asks, “Why invest fossil free?” There’s a large empty space under the question for you to write your own answer. (Keep it short, clear, and legible — and, if it feels right, make it personal.)
  • Get someone to take a photo of you holding up your sign with your answer. (There’s an example photo attached.)
  • Email the photo to GDD350moco@gmail.com (the sooner, the better, but any time up until Feb. 13th is okay)
  • We want lots of photos, so if you can, forward this email to friends, family, co-workers, students, religious communities, and anyone else you can think of to make one as well and ask them to join us!

If you want to make your own sign, that’s fine too – as long as it has all the same text as our GDD sign (in roughly the same places). You can find more detailed instructions — and more copies of our sign – by going to our website.
It’s time to invest from fossil fuel destruction, take action with 350 MoCo today!
Click here to download 350 MoCo GDD sign and instructions.
 

Banned from FERC?

Like the vast majority of people in this country, I knew nothing about the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission until maybe 2-3 years ago. Since then, through my CCAN work fighting the plans for the Cove Point LNG export terminal at Cove Point, Md., through my work in New Jersey fighting a compressor station and pipeline going through the county where I live, and through my work in the mushrooming movement in the Marcellus Shale region and elsewhere against fracked gas infrastructure and exports, I have unfortunately learned a great deal about FERC.
FERC is, quite simply, a rubber stamp for the gas industry. Yes, gas industry proposals to FERC take time to work through their internal process, and there are sometimes conditions attached to the FERC approvals, but approve is what FERC almost always does, at least for the last several years.
That is why I have been so pleased to see and be part of the development of Beyond Extreme Energy, which over the past five months has had a big impact. Our week of actions in early November, literally disrupting FERC’s operations through determined nonviolent direct action, every morning, was one of the best actions I’ve ever helped to organize. And it has been great that BXE activists have gone to every monthly FERC Commissioners’ meeting since then, keeping the pressure on. I was one of the participants at the January 22 meeting where FERC Chair Cheryl LaFleur adjourned the meeting and cleared the room because of our vocal presence.
Five days later, speaking at the National Press Club, this is what LaFleur said about our movement:

“These groups are active in every FERC docket… as well as in my email inbox seven days a week, in my Twitter feed, at our open meetings demanding to be heard, and literally at our door closing down First Street so FERC won’t be able to work. We’ve got a situation here.”

But I wasn’t expecting what happened this morning when I went to FERC.
A few weeks ago I was invited by Green America to be part of a meeting they had set up with FERC Commissioner Philip Moeller. It was at 10 AM today, February 4th. There were two people from GA and me. We got through front door security OK, I was given a badge to wear, and a security cop took us up to the 11th floor and a conference room there. He went to get Moeller and whoever else was coming with him, and about a minute later he comes back into the room and says I need to leave. I push back, ask him why, he says I “am banned from the building.” So I go back down the elevator with him and go to the front entrance security desk, where a top FERC security guy—I recognized him from our past actions—was standing there, and he started to leave as I arrived. I stopped him, asked him directly why I was being removed, he said something like, after I pressed him, “we are looking into what we can do legally to deal with people who do not follow FERC procedures,” something like that. He made it clear that it wasn’t just me that they don’t want in their building.
Note that I’ve never been arrested at FERC (though I’ve helped others do so).
So we’ve gotten FERC’s attention. As someone wrote to me after hearing about what happened this morning, quoting Gandhi, “’first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win…’
I think we’re at Stage 3 now for sure!
 
 
 

The fight for Fair Development in South Baltimore

By Jennifer Kunze, 2015 Healthy Communities Organizing Fellow, jenniferk@chesapeakeclimate.org.
 
When you hear the words “Fair Development,” what comes to mind? Good jobs at living wages? Affordable housing? Resident-driven decision-making? Local control of the local economy? Positive impacts on public health? Green infrastructure without pollution?
Saturday, January 17th, over one hundred people gathered in the South Baltimore neighborhood of Curtis Bay for the United Workers‘ Fair Development Strategic Dialogue. Housing, healthcare, and environmental advocates got to exchange news, share ideas, and learn more about possibilities for making Baltimore a more just, healthy, and sustainable city. Meeting at Benjamin Franklin High School, where students have been fighting for years to prevent the country’s second-largest trash incinerator from being built less than a mile away, gave the Dialogue a sense of urgency: decisions made about this facility in the next six months will impact the homes, health, and environment of Curtis Bay residents and people across Baltimore City.
Energy Answers International proposed to build a ‘waste-to-energy’ facility in the Fairfield section of Curtis Bay nearly five years ago. This trash incinerator, which would draw over 230 trash trucks per day, will emit pollutants such as mercury, NOx, lead, dioxins, and particulate matter, creating tremendous health risks for residents of Curtis Bay and all of Baltimore. When students at Benjamin Franklin High learned of the project a few years ago, they organized and began to fight, forming a group they named “Free Your Voice.”

1
Free Your Voice is working to get Baltimore City public institutions to divest from Energy Answers proposed trash burning incinerator in Curtis Bay. Share this image on your own Facebook page by clicking the sunflower!

Right now, Free Your Voice is working to get public institutions to cancel their contracts with Energy Answers, including Baltimore City Schools, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Walters Art Museum. Free Your Voice asked Dialogue attendees to share or send their “Pledge to Divest” logo, a sunflower, to the BMA and the Walters. To pledge your support, go here.
Free Your Voice holds the Fairfield Incinerator as an example of failed development: a project, planned without the consent or input of the affected communities, that will hurt, rather than help the surrounding neighborhoods. To learn more about Fair Development, I attended a discussion within the “Clean Air is a Human Right” track about alternative sources of energy and alternative uses of the Fairfield site. Residents of Curtis Bay are eager to pursue building a solar farm on the site instead, which could create good jobs for residents of the neighborhood, provide a positive example of brownfield development for other cities, and help Baltimore City reach its goal of 22 megawatts of green energy produced in the city by 2020. Within discussion about the practicalities and feasibility of the project, John Duda of Red Emma’s and the Democracy Collaborative spoke about infusing green development with just economic development. A solar farm designed, built, and maintained by existing out-of-state solar companies would address the pollution and energy injustices of the proposed incinerator, but would do little to address the disinvestment and lack of economic opportunity seen in Curtis Bay and throughout Baltimore. But if it integrated the green energy proposal with education, jobs training, and the development of democratic economic models, the solar farm proposal would be a part of fair development aimed at making South Baltimore a more just, sustainable, and healthy place.
Scheduled for the Saturday before Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, the Fair Development Strategic Dialogue was centered around a famous quote, part of a sermon given by Dr. King on the Sunday before his assassination while in Memphis to support the sanitation workers’ strike:

“A true revolution of values,” he said, “will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. [True compassion] comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”

The theme of the Dialogue stemmed from this MLK Quote.
The theme of the Strategic Dialogue stemmed from this great MLK Quote.

Between Curtis Bay and my home in West Baltimore is Middle Branch Park, a narrow stretch of deserted green space along the southern shore of the Patapsco River. Quiet and deserted, surrounded by marshes but with a view of the city skyline, this is one of my favorite parks in Baltimore, and so on my way home after the Dialogue, I stopped to take a walk. From one end of the path, the medical waste incinerator already built in Curtis Bay could be seen; from the other, the smokestack of Baltimore’s existing Wheelabrator trash incinerator rose next to M&T Bank Stadium.
Just as the Jericho Road must be transformed to end the dangers posed to its travelers, our economy must be transformed to end the dangers posed to the people living, working, and breathing in it. An energy edifice which forces health-endangering and climate-changing industries on areas like South Baltimore needs restructuring. To contribute to that change, share the Pledge to Divest with the Walters and the BMA on Facebook, and tune in to Free Your Voice and United Workers for more.
 

Coastal Residents Bring the Fight Against Sea Level Rise to Richmond

The residents of Virginia’s Hampton Roads and Tidewater areas are well aware of the dangers that climate change and sea level rise present to them and their communities. Not because they see it on TV or read about it in their local newspaper, but because they are living with the constant fear that their neighborhood could be underwater tomorrow.
A Norfolk resident and passionate CCAN volunteer, Bob Baxter, shared his fears with me just last week: “Twice in two years, I’ve had to help my neighbor clean out a flooded home… If the water rises seven more feet, as scientists say could happen in coming decades, then my house will be in danger as well. Something has to be done.”
Hampton Roads is the most populous region in the Commonwealth and home to the nation’s largest navy base. It’s also second only to New Orleans as the U.S. population center most at risk from rising sea levels. But there is currently no legislation on the books that goes beyond studying the issue of coastal flooding to implementing solutions. That is simply reckless and unacceptable.
On Monday, January 26th, over 40 residents of coastal Virginia (including myself) woke up at 6:00 AM to drive to Richmond and let their representatives know that there is no more time for procrastination: we need to act now! These amazing activists were participants in the Virginia Conservation Network’s (VCN) 2015 Conservation Lobby Day. We came from every major city near the coast to urge our representatives to support the Virginia Coastal Protection Act (HB 2205/SB 1428). This bipartisan bill will raise urgently needed funds for coastal flooding protection measures by joining Virginia into a nine-state regional system for capping carbon emissions._DSC0050
Even though we were met by dreary weather conditions in the morning, the event was an amazing success. We started the day with very constructive meetings with delegates and state senators from both parties. It was truly powerful to witness so many coastal residents explain to their representatives how coastal flooding is a real problem within their districts at this very moment. Our incredible volunteers were not only voicing their concerns, but also standing up for hundreds of thousands of coastal residents, and I truly believe that the General Assembly was forced to recognize that on Monday.
If the day had ended there, then I could already call it a success. But we still had more work to do in Richmond! After a whirlwind morning full of lobbying in the General Assembly office buildings, a few coastal residents joined Mike Tidwell (CCAN’s Executive Director) and I for a meeting with Virginia’s Chief Resilience Officer, Brian Moran, and a couple other members of Governor Terry McAuliffe’s administration.
This meeting allowed some of our most active volunteers a chance to share their stories with a representative of the executive branch. Mike also laid out the benefits of the policy for them and we had a positive discussion on the next steps. It was an added bonus that Secretary Moran is the Co-Chair of the Governor’s Climate Change and Resiliency Update Commission, so he understood the importance of taking immediate and swift action against climate change. So, by shortly after lunchtime, we had lobbied multiple coastal General Assembly members and an important member of the Governor’s administration: I’d say that’s well worth a couple hours on I-64!_DSC0061
The Conservation Lobby Day was a very important step in the movement towards commonsense legislation that will enable Virginia to meet the coming EPA Clean Power standards and provide substantial revenue for coastal flooding adaptation. However, we are still in the middle of a sprint towards the end of the General Assembly session and the passage of the Virginia Coastal Protection Act.
If you really want to see our legislators take this problem seriously, call your state delegate and let him or her know how important the Coastal Protection Act (HB 2205/SB 1428) is!
After that, it’s time to take the next step: e-mail me at harrison@chesapeakeclimate.org to find out how you can get more involved. After all, our future depends on it.