Today, Virginia students and parents sent an Earth Day message to Dominion Power: It’s time to move beyond token green efforts and start taking meaningful climate action for the sake of our future. They delivered nearly a thousand petition signatures collected this month, photos and artwork created by children to Dominion’s Richmond office and called on the company to invest in energy efficiency, wind and solar power instead of a huge new natural gas-fired power plant.
April 2013 Virginia
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April | Issue #64 FROM DIRECTOR MIKE TIDWELL
Earth Day is just around the corner and here’s something you can do to help protect our precious planet: Sign CCAN’s petition demanding that Dominion Power stop poisoning the atmosphere. The state’s largest utility – an addict of dirty carbon fuels – wants to build yet another fossil fuel-based power plant to create electricity. This one, in Brunswick County, Virginia, would release as much climate pollution as half a million cars. Honor Earth Day by telling Dominion you oppose the Brunswick plant. Tell Dominion to promote efficiency and wind power instead. Speaking of wind, sometime this spring the US Department of the Interior (DOI) is expected to move forward with the next step in offshore wind development off the Virginia coastline. Introducing Project Planet Throughout April, parents, faith communities, and other concerned Virginians across the commonwealth are working together to demand a new direction from Dominion for the sake of those with the most at stake: our children, grandchildren and future generations. By collecting petitions to Dominion, submitting letters to the editor of local newspapers, and working with kids and youth on creative projects, we are telling Dominion to take serious action to address climate change. Sign the petition, and then sign up to get more involved here. Hybrid tax moves forward. Next step: Repeal Getting ready for Power Shift 2013 Click here to pre-register with CCAN today. Then, join the Power Shift 2013 Facebook page, and stay tuned for more information on registration and coordinating travel from your campus. Virginia’s campus climate leaders come together Help clean up D.C.’s top renewable energy law One million comments to stop Keystone XL Victory: We won on offshore wind! MD Activist Call: Get the inside scoop from Annapolis
Meet our Maryland Campus Organizer, Shilpa Joshi Your age: 25 Where you live: Washington, DC Your work background: Before joining CCAN this February, I was an educator for the Alliance for Climate Education, where I taught high school students about climate change and solutions. I also had a stint with a performing arts non-profit called Capital Fringe. Why are you a CCAN employee? I want to inspire young climate activists as I was once inspired by a CCAN organizer. When I was What has inspired you most working for CCAN so far? Although I started after the bulk of the work was finished on the campaign, our offshore wind bill victory was incredibly empowering. What have you contributed to bringing about a clean energy revolution that you are most proud of? Fighting to offset 100% of American University’s energy use with wind power credits (to great success)! Who would you high five? Hillary Clinton. |
–VIRGINIA– Earth Day Festival at VCU Richmond Earth Day Festival Green Festival at NVCC Annandale Charlottesville Eco Fair Environmental Justice & Sustainability Panel at Hampton U. Old Dominion U. Go Green Fair –DC– Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference FERC Doesn’t Work Day of Action I <3 Arctic Human Banner Photo
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April 2013 D.C. and National
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April | Issue #64 FROM DIRECTOR MIKE TIDWELL
First the good news: It’s official. As of today, hanging on the CCAN office wall, is a pen from Governor Martin O’Malley’s bill-signing ceremony for the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2013! I was personally gratified to represent the entire Chesapeake Region – including DC – at the signing ceremony on April 9th. Thanks to the Maryland bill, our region is now on track to incentivize hundreds of megawatts of wind power off the coast of Ocean City in the next few years. And this is just the start of what I believe will be a huge offshore wind industry from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras that will one day provide most of the East Coast’s electricity, while playing a key role in solving climate change. But for right now, it’s DC’s turn to take a concrete step away from pollution and toward more wind power. How? Well, by banning a substance called “black liquor” that is actually preventing greater wind power development from happening in our region. Help clean up D.C.’s top renewable energy law One million comments to stop Keystone XL Victory: We won on offshore wind! MD Activist Call: Get the inside scoop from Annapolis Getting ready for Power Shift 2013 Click here to pre-register with CCAN today. Then, join the Power Shift 2013 Facebook page, and stay tuned for more information on registration and coordinating travel from your campus. Virginia’s campus climate leaders come together Introducing Project Planet Throughout April, parents, faith communities, and other concerned Virginians across the commonwealth are working together to demand a new direction from Dominion for the sake of those with the most at stake: our children, grandchildren and future generations. By collecting petitions to Dominion, submitting letters to the editor of local newspapers, and working with kids and youth on creative projects, we are telling Dominion to take serious action to address climate change. Sign the petition, and then sign up to get more involved here. Hybrid tax moves forward. Next step: Repeal
Meet our Maryland Campus Organizer, Shilpa Joshi Your age: 25 Where you live: Washington, DC Your work background: Before joining CCAN this February, I was an educator for the Alliance for Climate Education, where I taught high school students about climate change and solutions. I also had a stint with a performing arts non-profit called Capital Fringe. Why are you a CCAN employee? I want to inspire young climate activists as I was once inspired by a CCAN What has inspired you most working for CCAN so far? Although I started after the bulk of the work was finished on the campaign, our offshore wind bill victory was incredibly empowering. What have you contributed to bringing about a clean energy revolution that you are most proud of? Fighting to offset 100% of American University’s energy use with wind power credits (to great success)! Who would you high five? Hillary Clinton. |
–DC– Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference FERC Doesn’t Work Day of Action I <3 Arctic Human Banner Photo –MARYLAND– MD Activist Call: Inside scoop on the 2013 session & next steps FREE screening of BIDDER 70 “The Fracking of Rachel Carson” author talk w/ Sandra Steingraber –VIRGINIA– Richmond Earth Day Festival Green Festival at NVCC Annandale Charlottesville Eco Fair Environmental Justice & Sustainability Panel at Hampton U.
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April 2013 Maryland
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April | Issue #64 FROM DIRECTOR MIKE TIDWELL
It’s official. As of today, hanging on the CCAN office wall, is a pen from Governor Martin O’Malley’s bill-signing ceremony for the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2013. Thanks to you and a statewide coalition that was broader and bigger than anything I’ve seen in CCAN’s ten years, we won! Let me say that again: We won! This is the start of what can be a huge offshore wind industry from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras that will one day provide most of the East Coast’s electricity, while playing a key role in solving climate change. Thank you for all your hard work! Now our work goes on — and there’s lot’s more to do. On the defensive front, we were less successful during the just-ended Maryland General Assembly. In fact, we lost two critical bills by just one vote — on a fracking moratorium and something called “black liquor.” Victory: We won on offshore wind! MD Activist Call: Get the inside scoop from Annapolis Help clean up D.C.’s top renewable energy law One million comments to stop Keystone XL Introducing Project Planet Throughout April, parents, faith communities, and other concerned Virginians across the commonwealth are working together to demand a new direction from Dominion for the sake of those with the most at stake: our children, grandchildren and future generations. By collecting petitions to Dominion, submitting letters to the editor of local newspapers, and working with kids and youth on creative projects, we are telling Dominion to take serious action to address climate change. Sign the petition, and then sign up to get more involved here. Hybrid tax moves forward. Next step: Repeal Getting ready for Power Shift 2013 Click here to pre-register with CCAN today. Then, join the Power Shift 2013 Facebook page, and stay tuned for more information on registration and coordinating travel from your campus. Virginia’s campus climate leaders come together
Meet our Maryland Campus Organizer, Shilpa Joshi Your age: 25 Where you live: Washington, DC Your work background: Before joining CCAN this February, I was an educator for the Alliance for Climate Education, where I taught high school students about climate change and solutions. I also had a stint with a performing arts non-profit called Capital Fringe. Why are you a CCAN employee? I want to inspire young climate activists as I was once inspired by a CCAN organizer. When I was a student at American University, former CCAN-e What has inspired you most working for CCAN so far? Although I started after the bulk of the work was finished on the campaign, our offshore wind bill victory was incredibly empowering. What have you contributed to bringing about a clean energy revolution that you are most proud of? Fighting to offset 100% of American University’s energy use with wind power credits (to great success)! Who would you high five? Hillary Clinton. |
–MARYLAND– MD Activist Call: Inside scoop on the 2013 session & next steps Defending Dissent: A Public Forum Historic Homes & Energy Efficiency Info Session FREE screening of BIDDER 70 Baltimore Green Week “The Fracking of Rachel Carson” author talk w/ Sandra Steingraber Russet’s 6th Annual Green Day Celebration –DC– Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference FERC Doesn’t Work Day of Action I <3 Arctic Human Banner Photo
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Student leaders build long-term vision for Virginia's youth climate movement
Crossposted from WeArePowerShift.org
On April 5-7, the Virginia Alliance for a Cleaner Environment (VACE) and CCAN hosted a leadership summit in Richmond for students from around the state to gather and develop a long-term vision for what a unified climate movement across our campuses looks like in Virginia.
Local Business People Call On Del. Clagett To Reconsider 'Black Liquor' Bill Vote
environment instead of out-of-state polluters,” the letter reads. It was signed by Tim Reardon of Pitcrew, Inc., Boe Walker of Boe’s Strings, Mary Jean Clark of Voila in Frederick, Cindy Weingarten of Cafe Nola, Soren Dodge of The Record Exchange, April Reardon of Velvet Lounge and Pat Latkovski of Alicia L’s.
Dominion to go carbon neutral by planting trees!…April Fools
Dominion Power made a startling announcement this morning. In honor of Earth Month 2013, the company will plant enough trees to go carbon neutral through its program, “Project Plant It!” This is a major breakthrough for climate action in Virginia. Until today, the utility had no plans to change course. To have the commonwealth’s top emitter of climate-disrupting pollution plant 4 billion trees is simply astounding.
Black liquor measure fails in Md. House panel
By Steven Mufson
A measure before the Maryland legislature to roll back payments to paper companies burning a pulping residue known as “black liquor” failed by one vote in a state House committee Friday.
The bill, which passed the Maryland Senate by a bipartisan 33 to 13 vote, fell short of the 12 votes needed in the Economic Matters Committee — even after the bill’s sponsors agreed to guarantee continuing subsidies for Luke Mill, the one Maryland paper mill that was receiving the black-liquor payments.
'Black liquor' phase-out clears Senate
By Tim Wheeler
Amended bill continues renewable energy subsidy for Luke Md mill
A phase-out of renewable energy subsidies for paper mills has cleared the Maryland Senate, though with a provision that guarantees the state’s only paper plant in Allegany County would continue to receive payments underwritten by taxpayers.
Environmentalists hailed the 33-13 vote Thursday for SB684, which they said would close what they considered a major loophole in Maryland’s renewable energy law. Currently, mostly out-of-state paper mills receive millions of dollars annually for powering their operations by burning “black liquor,” a tarry byproduct of the pulping process, and other wood waste.
Student activists protest pipeline
By IJ Chan
JMU students and Harrisonburg residents are joining the national fight against the Keystone XL pipeline.
The 2,147 mile long Keystone XL pipeline currently brings crude oil from Canada to the U.S. Midwest. A 1,700-mile long extension would carry the oil through to Texas. Many people nationwide are concerned that the installation of the pipeline would bring devastation to the environment by severely polluting the air, water and soil with excessive carbon emissions.