Category: Blog

Fracking protest kicks off Assembly

By Tim Wheeler

Environmentalists concerned about shale gas drilling in Maryland returned to Annapolis Wednesday to try again for a legislative moratorium on “fracking,” as the controversial technique of hydraulic fracturing is called.

Waving signs and chanting “Protect us from fracking,” activists huddled in Lawyers Mall in front of the State House just before the opening of the 90-day session of the General Assembly. Speaker after speaker called for lawmakers to block any drilling in Maryland until studies determine if it can be done safely.

Weekly Climate Insider: Climate talks, wind energy, and a recap of CCAN's busy November!

We had a busy November here at CCAN! Your Weekly Climate Insider has taken a hiatus as we’ve been traveling around Maryland and Virginia for some big fall events! The Maryland Crossroads Tour and Safe Coast Virginia Conference were great successes!
After a disappointing (albeit unsurprising) lack of progress at the Warsaw climate talks, Activists and grassroots organizers from around the world protested the talks. Greenpeace Germany’s Martin Kaiser believes “”The climate conference in Warsaw was a waste of energy.”
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Baltimore Sun editorial urges strongest review for Cove Point

Dominion had better take its plan off autopilot. The statewide campaign to stop the company’s proposed Cove Point facility that would export fracked gas has taken hold. One need look no further than the Baltimore Sun’s recent editorial to know that Chesapeake Climate Action Network and its broad coalition have been successful in raising serious questions about a disastrous project that was considered a done deal several months ago. (Read the full editorial here.)
The “stakes are high” but the “ramifications are great,” the Sun says in its editorial. It says the project would create demand for more fracking and require a new power plant just to liquefy the gas, as well as more pipelines and compressor stations across the state. It then urges federal regulators to require an Environmental Impact Statement, the most stringent type of review, rather than the paler Environmental Assessment:

[W]herever one stands on the project — excited about the jobs or fearful of what it may mean for global warming — everyone should agree that the proposal should be thoroughly examined and vetted to understand the potential impact and trade-offs involved. … Would it slow down the application process? Almost certainly. … But that seems like a small price to pay. … FERC owes that much to the people of Maryland, and frankly, given the potential impact on global warming, the rest of the country, too.

The Sun even referred to Cove Point as Gov. Martin O’Malley’s Keystone XL pipeline, because of the controversy it has created.
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Anti-fracking activists protest gas plants at Hood

The Frederick News-Post

By Rachel S. Karas

Local and state environmental activists joined around 150 area residents at Hood College on Nov. 18 to protest natural gas projects in Frederick County and on the Eastern Shore.

The Chesapeake Climate Action Network, a grassroots nonprofit organization working against global warming in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, visited the school with one message in mind: “Clean energy, not Cove Point.”

The group traveled to nine cities across Maryland to oppose Virginia-based Dominion Resources’ plan to build a liquefied natural gas export facility on the Chesapeake Bay. They claim the Cove Point project is tied to a Dominion subsidiary project to build a gas compressor station in Myersville, which could feed gas to Cove Point to be shipped overseas.

Rally rejects fracking, gas export terminal

Cumberland Times-News

By Matthew Bieniek

CUMBERLAND — Speakers during the local stop in a statewide series of town hall meetings against a planned $3.8 billion gas export terminal in Cove Point said the project will bring further pressure to develop natural gas in Western Maryland. Speakers also said the planned natural gas terminal would move state policy away from a current emphasis on clean energy.

Cumberland’s stop for the meetings was Wednesday at the New Embassy Theatre, where about 50 people showed up.

Cove Point is in Calvert County on the Chesapeake Bay. The Cove Point project was linked to fracking by speakers and by informational material distributed to participants.

“If approved, the Cove Point export facility would provide a strong economic incentive for companies to expand fracking across our region, including in Maryland, where no drilling has yet occurred. In other states, the expansion of fracking has caused drinking water contamination, air pollution, illnesses and even earthquakes,” according to the informational material.

Safe Coast Conference Launches Bigger, Bolder Coastal Climate Movement

On Saturday, November 16th, more than 120 Virginians came together in Norfolk to launch the next phase of grassroots action to protect Virginia’s coastal communities from climate change. The science is clear: rising sea levels and more powerful storms – driven by our burning of fossil fuels – are already causing frequent flooding and disrupting lives, business and critical civilian and naval infrastructure up and down the coast.
As DeLevay Miner, a local resident featured in the documentary premiered at the conference, Sea of Change, said, “You cannot depend on the history before because everything is changing.”
If this urgent reality was what motivated so many to spend their Saturday at the “Safe Coast Virginia” conference (see pictures here), the question of what we can and must DO about it was the theme that charged the day.
Here are three big takeaways from the conference that will galvanize our action moving forward:
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climate change Virginia

Cove Point residents would feel brunt of Dominion’s scheme

For starters, Cove Point will need a new name. Rising seas from fossil-fueled climate change will eventually submerge the jut of land that gives this area its name.
But that’s only one longer-term consequence of Dominion’s scheme to liquefy fracked gas in Calvert County and ship it around the globe. The company’s planned $3.8 billion facility would change the historic and rural Cove Point area in ways we are only beginning to measure. This project would increase fracking, compressor stations and pipelines, jeopardizing towns all over the Marcellus Shale and wrecking our climate faster. But it would also industrialize the community of Lusby on the Chesapeake Bay.
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Hybrid Tax Repeal Campaign Takes First Step Forward

On July 1st 2013, one of the worst ideas of the year became law in Virginia: the state began taxing climate-conscious owners of hybrid vehicles $64 per year. In response to this absurdity, Democratic Delegate Scott Surovell and Senator Adam Ebbin joined me to protest the tax and announced their intention to introduce a bill repealing it during the 2014 General Assembly session. Yesterday, on the first day to pre-file bills for the upcoming session, the two legislators kept true to their word.
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Maryland Crossroads Tour Draws Largest Crowd Yet

By Arielle Conti, Grassroots Organizing Intern
An eager and energetic crowd packed into The Brown Center’s Falvey Hall on Tuesday for the Baltimore Tour Stop of the Maryland Crossroads Tour. After great turnouts in Annapolis, St. Mary’s and Silver Spring, Baltimore was the 4th and largest stop of the tour. The turnout proved Marylanders do not want to take the “radical detour” of exporting fracked gas from Cove Point and instead want to continue to see clean energy grow in our state.
The evening began with the soothing, rooted sounds of Artie and the Vipers and kicked off with Mike Tidwell, CCANs Founder and Director, recognizing and rewarding local Baltimore Climate Heroes. Thanks again to Maryland Environmental Health Network, Free Your Voice, and Nina Beth Cardin for all you do to help fight climate change in your city.
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Food Safety Modernization Act: Bad for Farmers, Bad for Consumers

As part of our Maryland Crossroads Tour, CCAN is presenting Climate Hero awards to local leaders who have made a difference in the climate movements in their communities and across the state.
Last Thursday when accepting his Climate Hero award, Mike Tabor, local sustainable farmer and environmental activist, raised the issue of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Mr. Tabor shared how FSMA will radically change our food system and limit our food choices if it is funded.
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