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.”

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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.
 

Here's why the Virginia Coastal Protection Act is gaining more and more support

 
Major legislation to move Virginia forward in addressing climate change is before the Virginia General Assembly this week and next in Richmond. In recent days, a diverse and growing set of voices — from pediatricians to scientists to student leaders to low-income housing advocates — have urged legislators to pass this bill, called the Virginia Coastal Protection Act.
This powerful bipartisan bill is the biggest way our state can take action on climate in this General Assembly session. The bill will cut carbon pollution while raising critical funds to protect our coast from rising seas and support climate solutions statewide.

Here’s what our supporters are saying:

American Association of Pediatrics

“Global warming is a major threat to the health, safety and security of children in Virginia.  As global temperatures rise, many other major changes are occurring, including melting glaciers, worsening storms and rising sea levels. These fundamental changes ultimately impact human health, and children are at particularly high risk.
Climate change presents other significant health risks to children.  These include increased heat illness, worsening respiratory and allergic disease due to impacts on air quality and plant pollen production, and changes in patterns of climate sensitive infections.”

Norfolk City Council Resolution in support of Virginia Coastal Protection Act.

“Localities in the Hampton Roads region recognize the need for increased resources to implement local adaptation plans and acknowledge that coordination throughout all levels of government is required to provide adequate solutions to the region’s growing flooding risks.”

Union of Concerned Scientists

“Virginia is already experiencing coastal impacts, including an increase in the frequency and severity of tidal flooding. Scientists in Virginia and around the nation have documented how the problem of rising sea level, which is largely the result of our changing climate, will continue to get worse.
Only one of the bills the committee is taking up offers a common sense solution to cut the carbon pollution that fuels climate change and decrease its devastating impacts on the state. Unfortunately, the remaining three bills would leave Virginia on a trajectory that exacerbates their existing dilemma. Efforts to block the carbon pollution rules that promise greater coastal protections, cleaner air and a safer climate seem shortsighted and ill-advised.”

Virginia Housing Coalition

“This bill would directly aid our main constituency, low and moderate income renters and homeowners. At least half of the 30% that would go towards energy efficiency and clean energy programs under this bill would go towards energy efficiency improvements for the low and moderate residential sectors. This arrangement would have the dual benefit of aiding Virginia in reaching its energy use and carbon reduction goals while helping Virginians that struggle with the cost of their housing save money and live more comfortably.”

Virginia Student Environmental Coalition

“The stakes of inaction are not limited to fluctuations in electricity prices. Failure to address carbon emissions within our state is a gamble with the future of the youth generation today and with the viability of this planet to house your grandchildren. I implore you to stand up for future generations by supporting this common sense legislation. I ask you to be responsible for your children and myself. Leave us a planet that allows us to aspire for greatness.”

The Washington Post Editorial Board

“Starting next year, the EPA will demand that every state’s power sector meet specific emissions targets, with the goal of cutting the electricity industry’s national carbon footprint by 30 percent of 2005 levels by 2030. But states have flexibility about how they comply with the EPA’s mandate. They can choose traditional, command-and-control regulation that imposes changes on power plants, promotes renewables or cuts electricity waste. Or they can take a more efficient, market-based approach that would cost less money, require less hassle and raise revenue for the state. Del. Ronald A. Villanueva (R-Virginia Beach) has a bill that would do the latter.”

Update: The Senate version Virginia Coastal Protection Act (SB1428) fell one vote short of passing the Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee.  The house version of the Virginia Coastal Protection Act (HB2205) will continue on through House Commerce and Labor Subcommittee on Energy, Tuesday, February 3rd.

Read the full letters and articles here:

American Association of Pediatrics Senate Letter.
American Association of Pediatrics House Letter.
“Hampton Roads Mayors Bring Concerns to Richmond.” 1/29/2015. The Virginian-Pilot.
Norfolk City Council Resolution in support of VA Coastal Protection Act.
Union of Concerned Scientists Letter Supporting VA CPA.
Virginia Housing Coalition Support Letter SB 1428. 
VSEC Letter of Support for VA Coastal Protection Act.
“Virginia’s move to cut emissions the smart way.” 1/25/2015. The Washington Post.
 
 

Advance Solar in Virginia – Join the Day of Action!

On an overcast day in January at 4pm, one month beyond the winter solstice, Chesapeake Climate Action Network supporter and Charlottesville resident Bob McAdams’ solar system has already generated 8.6kw of energy. His solar panels are newly installed and he’s excited to talk to me about why he installed them, and why he’s actively working to make it easier for others in Virginia to join him.
Join Bob and his neighbors for our Solar Call-In Day this Thursday, January 29th, from 6-8 pm. Our legislators need to hear from us – we want them to support solar! E-mail me at lauren@chesapeakeclimate.org for all of the details.
IMG_2527McAdams installed a solar home energy system at the beginning of January, and he tracks his savings on a spreadsheet, comparing his home energy usage and costs year-to-year. He calculated that on average, over the past three years he has used 26kw of energy per day.
“At this rate, during peak sunlight in the year I’ll be able to get over half of my daily usage from solar”, McAdams said.
The savings this represents are appealing to McAdams, but even more appealing are the impacts on Virginia’s climate. McAdams cares deeply about protecting the state’s environment and cutting carbon emissions.
“These are the things you don’t get with solar: no fuel. No pipeline. No long lines of coal cars. No coal ash heaps. No high level radioactive waste. No fracking. No mountaintop removal. And no carbon emissions.”
He first learned about the option to install solar from a program called Solarize Charlottesville (http://solarizecville.org/). He said that the installation process was easy and fast- it took 3 days.
“The system is simplicity itself,” he said.
I asked if any of his family or neighbors had installed solar yet, and he said that his brother is looking into installation for his house in Philadelphia. McAdams’ next door neighbor came by to ask for the Local Energy Alliance’s contact information to look into installation for her own home.
IMG_2516McAdams hopes to see his family, his neighbors and his fellow Virginians join him in reducing carbon emissions by switching to solar, and – even more importantly – by advocating for solar in the political process. He recently testified about the benefits of solar at a Richmond committee hearing in mid-January.
“If you don’t participate in the political process, you don’t get a government that serves you,” said McAdams.
As part of an ongoing campaign to take down the barriers to solar power in Virginia, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network has launched an effort to pass a bill this session that would support solar in Virginia by raising the net metering cap on non-residential solar power projects from 500 kW to a more competitive 2 MW. McAdams and his neighbors know this bill needs to pass if Virginia is going to play catch-up to neighboring states.
Join Bob and his neighbors for our Solar Call-In Day this Thursday, January 29th, from 6-8 pm. Our legislators need to hear from us – we want them to support solar! E-mail me at lauren@chesapeakeclimate.org to join the call-in day!

Watch: Maryland comes together to support DOUBLING wind and solar

In the past few months a strong group has come together to demand Maryland DOUBLE it’s commitment to clean electricity to 40% by 2025 by passing the Clean Energy Advancement Act.
Doubling our commitment to clean electricity is the right choice for Maryland. We know that climate change affects all of us, but in many different ways.  Here in Maryland, our coastal cities are already feeling the impacts of climate change, as flooding intensifies and marshland disappears.  More than 85 percent of Marylanders live in areas that fail to meet the nation’s clean air standards, and the state has the notorious distinction of being the worst in the eastern U.S. for ground-level ozone pollution. These health burdens harm low-income people and people of color disproportionately. More clean energy can reverse this trend.
Our new coalition reflects that, and mirrors what thousands of groups are doing throughout the nation, partnering with new allies and supporting a greater movement for justice.  There’s a new understanding growing that climate justice is part of a broader social movement, that we won’t be able to achieve a sustainable future without economic equality. That’s why for this campaign we’ve partnered with dozens of new groups across the economic justice, labor, health, and faith communities.
Click here to watch and share our new video!



Featured in the video are some of our strongest and newest partnerships:
Maryland Working Families is championing a Paid Sick Days campaign in Annapolis, so workers won’t need to choose between staying home and losing a day’s pay, and coming in and infecting their co-workers. They’ve joined our campaign because they support renewable energy and more job opportunities in safer and cleaner technologies and infrastructure.
We’ve joined up with Maryland and DC 1199 SEIU because healthcare workers see the effects of climate change everyday, in the form of asthma and air pollution.  Renewable energy means cleaner air, and a healthier environment, as well as billions saved in healthcare costs.
The Maryland faith community has joined us in pledging their support of doubling our clean electricity. Our faith traditions command us to be stewards of the earth and to take care of each other. Acting on climate is an extension of religious teachings, and we’re excited to have dozens of Maryland congregations behind this bill.
Click here to watch our new video, and get involved in the campaign to pass the Clean Energy Advancement Act!