My name is Nikia Johnson and I have served as the Virginia Grassroots Fellow for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. Growing up in Norfolk, Virginia, I was able to observe the direct impacts that climate change has had on Hampton Roads and the surrounding areas. Sea levels rising has led to constant flooding in the area, which is only becoming worse over time. If climate change continues at its current rate, significant portions of Hampton Roads are expected to be underwater as soon as in the next 10-15 years. This is initially what sparked my interest in the position.
Throughout this fellowship, I have been presented with incredible opportunities to learn more about climate change, the impact it is having on the entire state of Virginia, as well as solutions that are being implemented. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the bulk of the work I was able to do was virtual. However, through attending both CCAN and other grassroot events (such as SAVE Coalition VA), I was able to meet with people with specific expertise surrounding climate climate change, as well as concerned citizens. This allowed me to understand the issues at hand from multiple different perspectives and form my own opinions regarding possible solutions.
Prior to working for CCAN, I had little experience working behind the scenes in environmental justice movements. I often saw well organized events and protests, but I neglected to consider all the work that happens behind the scenes. For example, my first time phone banking, I was nervous about the way I would be perceived and whether people would want to listen to me. However, the more calls I made, the more confident I felt. This fellowship also provided me with the opportunity to develop my research skills. Since I did not have an extensive background in climate change, it was necessary for me to research various laws and policies being implemented right now and the negative impacts they may be having on the environment. By utilizing these skills, the members of CCAN and I have been able to help organize and facilitate events, as well as connect local residents to these issues through understanding and education.
One particular experience that stood out to me was attending the Virginia Mobility for all Launch. While I knew that car transportation in large volumes is not good for the environment, I was unaware that transportation alone accounts for almost 50% of greenhouse gas emission in Virginia. At this event, several different mobility options were discussed and solutions were proposed to cut down on gas emissions. Some of these solutions included the electrification of cars and incorporating more bus stops/routes.
This event led me to seriously consider why Virginians rely so heavily on their cars. The short answers are convenience and reliability. While taking the bus to your destination in Virginia is certainly doable, it is not necessarily the easiest option. Hampton Roads has the Tidewater Transit, but it doesn’t include very many stops and is not heavily used. I believe that Virginia would benefit from incentivizing public transportation more as well as an increased funding for modes of transportation such as buses and the transit. I plan to use the knowledge I gained from this event as well as the skills I acquired through this fellowship to continue to educate others about this issue and fight for change.
Working with CCAN has also shown me the impact that leadership, determinism, and passion for change can have on the community. I connected with CCAN because of their ability to shine a light on important issues and make them personable. The CCAN team very involved in their work and are dedicated to listening to the community and putting forth the change people would like to see in any way they are able.
Overall, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to be the CCAN Virginia Grassroots Fellow. I plan to continue being involved with CCAN, and use the knowledge I gained to continue fighting for environmental justice in my own community and at my own school. It has truly been an honor and privilege to work with CCAN and I look forward to seeing the accomplishments that will continue to be made in Virginia and across the nation.
I founded Chesapeake Climate Action Network nearly 20 years ago with the hope that one day, if we worked hard enough, the US Congress would enact a truly transformative climate bill. In mid-November, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act that invests $550 billion in climate solutions. But, as you’ve probably heard, Senator Joe Manchin now says he cannot vote for the bill as currently written.
It is up to all of us to change his mind. In the days and weeks ahead, CCAN will use its on-the-ground organizing in Manchin’s home state of West Virginia to make it happen.
We can’t let Build Back Better die because we need it for a livable future. We need BBB investments to fuel the clean power sector, increase access to electric vehicles, and support communities most severely impacted by changing climate. We need BBB to create over 300,000 good jobs in a new Civilian Climate Corps and 150,000 in clean manufacturing. We need BBB to install 500,000 EV charging stations across the country as well as convert more than 60,000 diesel school buses to clean electric buses. And that’s just the beginning.
CCAN is already making plans to renew the battle for climate sanity in 2022 and beyond. We’ll do whatever it takes to get the White House and Congress to deliver bold climate action when they reconvene. And after the Build Back Better Act is enacted, we will continue to press ahead because there is more work to be done. .
Modeling shows that, while the Build Back Better Act gets us close, it doesn’t achieve the full 50 percent reductions in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say we need by 2030. But don’t worry. Individual states can and will make up the difference. Our teams in Maryland, Virginia, and DC are going to keep pushing for state-level reductions. We’ll join other states nationwide to mandate that all new buildings are powered by electricity, not gas. We’ll push for pedestrian-friendly communities while fighting new fossil fuel infrastructure projects. And we’ll make sure all new federal climate spending — tens of billions of dollars in our region — is invested wisely.
Our sister organization, CCAN Action Fund (CCAN AF), worked tirelessly and in close collaboration with allies across the country over the past year to help pass this plan. A half dozen Democrats in the House initially refused to vote for the bill! So, the coalition of activists went to work and our targeted, coordinated advocacy helped get those holdouts to vote YES.
Today, this legislation still needs to pass the Senate. CCAN Action Fund has been working all year to communicate to Senator Joe Manchin why the people of West Virginia support the Build Back Better Act. We‘ve recruited hundreds of constituents to call his office, projected images of climate disasters onto his local office, convinced community organizations to sign resolutions, and so much more. And now we will redouble our efforts in order to achieve success in early 2022.
The Build Back Better Act will get us into the ballpark of reducing our emissions 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. You can find a detailed projection of the plan at this link. Reaching the 50 percent reductions called for by 2030 will require further executive action and state legislation to close the gap, and our powerful community of advocates and grassroots members will help make sure that happens. That means we need you. Join us as a member for as little as $1 per year.
We’re suing the EPA
Represented by our friends at the Environmental Integrity Project, we announced on December 9th our intention to file suit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to properly regulate pollution from landfills, including potent greenhouse gas, methane. The EPA’s model for measuring emissions is based on a set of methods called “emission factors” which the EPA is required to consider updating every three years. These factors haven’t been updated since 1998. The underestimation of emissions results in landfills avoiding regulation and prevents regulators and the public from realizing the full extent of air pollution coming from landfills. We expect our lawsuit to result in the EPA updating these 1998 emission factors and better regulating landfills across the country. See our press release.
Join CCAN’s Annual Polar Bear Plunge to Celebrate the Climate Movement
Join us on February 12, 2022, for our annual Polar Bear Plunge (also our inaugural event to launch and celebrate CCAN’s 20th Anniversary)! We’re holding a “hybrid” Plunge this year, meaning you can join us from anywhere — in person at National Harbor, just outside of DC, or you can take the Plunge from your backyard or a water body of your choosing.
We passed the strongest climate bill in the country… in 2019. What’s next?
Though landmark renewable energy legislation was passed in 2019, we haven’t yet adequately addressed the two other top-emitting sectors — transportation and buildings. We’ve been working with a broad coalition since the summer, vetting policies and preparing for big wins in Annapolis in 2022.
This year, we’ll be working on policies to electrify our transportation sector and decarbonize buildings. We’ll also be working on crucial legislation to divest Maryland pension funds from fossil fuels and put the environmental human rights amendment to the Maryland Constitution on the 2022 ballot. Learn more about our Climate Platform Resolution and show your support.
In the last few weeks before the legislative session begins, our sister organization, CCAN Action Fund, will hold lobby trainings, legislative previews, and preparation and planning meetings with our partners and volunteers. We hope you can join us! Contact victoria@chesapeakeclimate.org to learn more, or sign up here to volunteer.
Virginia
Looking ahead at legislation
The transportation sector is the number one climate polluter in Virginia and nationally. Our “Mobility for All” campaign pushes for a comprehensive approach to decarbonizing transportation by rapidly electrifying as many vehicles as possible and providing folks with safe, reliable, and affordable alternatives to driving such as transit, biking, and walking. Our sister organization, CCAN Action Fund, had a number of key legislative victories on this front in the 2021 session and we plan to continue this work in the upcoming year.
The recent election results in Virginia mean CCAN Action Fund will likely have to defend a number of recent climate victories in the Commonwealth, like the Virginia Clean Economy Act of 2020. We’ll be working closely with partners to ensure that state senators and delegates understand the health and economic benefits of transitioning to a clean energy economy. If you want to help advocate for continued progress and protect the strides already made, please encourage your friends and family to join CCAN as a member. Members receive monthly updates on our legislative and political campaigns, have access to training and discussions, and learn how they can best plug in to our campaigns.
Keeping up the fight against the Mountain Valley Pipeline
On December 14th, the Virginia State Water Control Board sided with a polluter in approving a key water permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. This happened a few short days after hundreds of pipeline fighters got together for the “NO Mountain Valley Pipeline Violation Vigil,” which highlighted the more than 300 water violations — yes, 300 — that the pipeline company has already committed. The fight is not over. We will continue to fight, as we await decisions from our neighbors in West Virginia, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. We’re eyeling legal and other action — stay tuned. See CCAN’s statement.
Membership
Launching a new program to meet new challenges
The climate and political challenges today are even bigger and more complex than when CCAN was founded 20 years ago. Which means we have to adapt. In September we launched a new Membership program to build volunteer leadership capacity, which is critical to building a movement at the scale needed to solve today’s challenges. If you’ve made a gift to our work in the past year, you were automatically enrolled in our Membership program. If not, you can join for as little as $1 per year. Find more information on the Membership program at this link. Or contact mustafa@chesapeakeclimate.org to connect with a CCAN organizer.
Several members have already taken on new projects and leadership roles. Here are a few highlights:
Training up
Rob, longtime CCAN supporter (now member), designed a Letter to the Editor training we recently used to prepare dozens of volunteers in Maryland to write LTEs around our legislative priorities. Meanwhile, volunteers in Virginia wrote LTEs to encourage Virginia’s Water Control Board to deny a 401 permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
National action teams
Pamela and Christy are working together to develop Friends, Family and Neighbors Action Teams. These teams will offer a mechanism for members across the country to gain information, strategies, and general support on reaching out to and engaging friends, family, and neighbors (FFN) in the climate movement.
Thank you, Neighborhood Sun!
Thank you to our Polar Bear Plunge sponsor, Neighborhood Sun.
Neighborhood Sun is a community solar company and certified B Corp that works to bring clean, affordable, and local solar energy to thousands of residents and small businesses who can’t have or don’t want solar panels on their rooftops.
Anyone who pays an electric bill is eligible to subscribe to a solar project and receive a majority of their electricity from locally-generated solar energy! You can find the latest on their projects at neighborhoodsun.solar.
Everyone has a few quirks. A big one of mine is to travel each year to a place I’ve never been and do a 100-mile bike ride. Since 1996, I’ve travelled across the US to a new spot each year to do a bicycle “century” ride. At first, I did them for the adventure and to stay in shape. But they morphed into something bigger along the way and became pieces of a puzzle showing how geology and climate change have impacted our country. I rode the “Hotter Than Hell 100” in Wichita Falls, TX in 2013, which lived up to its name with an air temperature of 102 degrees. The natural waterfall that gave the town its name was no longer- having been taken out by a flood in the 1800’s. In 2015, the “Cycle Greater Yellowstone” ride passed trilobite fossils embedded in Wyoming cliffs from the Eocene epoch (34 to 56 million years ago) when a vast, shallow sea covered the state. This year, I went to the heart of Cajun country in Louisiana for a Bayou Century Ride.
Central Louisiana prospered in the 1700’s when French Canadians (known as Acadians) were lured to the area from Nova Scotia with the promise of a better future. The Acadians created the Cajun culture by combining their French traditions with their new bayou homes. They hunted, fished, trapped and raised cotton. Cotton was replaced by rice and sugarcane fields after the Civil War and through the 1800’s. Next up was the oil industry, which drilled its first well in a rice field near Jennings, LA in 1901. Today, over 205,000 oil wells exist in the state. Climate concerns and the need for a cleaner environment are making oil a tenuous business, and Louisiana suffers some of the harshest climate impacts of any state. Louisiana’s Gulf Coast region accounts for nearly half of the US mainland’s coastal wetlands. Yet since the early 20th century, the commercial ventures of oil exploration and logging, along with hurricane damage, have led to the destruction of almost 2,000 square miles of wetlands. Louisiana has been hit with 28 hurricanes since the year 2000. The strongest was Hurricane Katrina in 2005, causing over 1,800 deaths and $100 billion in damages. The second-strongest, Hurricane Ida, occurred on August 29, 2021 (ironically, the 16th anniversary of Katrina), rendering the entire state a FEMA “Disaster” area.
FEMA Disaster Declaration for Louisiana, 10/19/21 (Image Credit: FEMA)
According to a 2020 ProPublica study, an estimated 4 million US residents will become “climate refugees” between 2040-2060. They will move to the north and midwest as the southern and coastal regions of the US become too difficult to live in. When we hear the term “climate refugees” we tend to think of people in countries thousands of miles away. We think of heat waves in India causing residents to move to cooler locations or of sea level rise in Indonesia that is forcing the entire city of Jakarta to move to higher ground in Borneo. In reality, climate refugees are all around us and their numbers are on the rise. As the ProPublica study shows, the need for habitable land, freshwater and safety will be driving millions of Americans to flee sea level rise, wildfires, extreme heat and drought in the coming decades. No federal agency has authority to lead national assistance on climate migration efforts. This is a problem that needs to be solved- quickly.
St. Martin Parish, Louisiana is ranked number 3 on the “most at-risk counties” due to climate change (behind Beaufort County, SC and Pinal County, AZ). My Bayou Bike Ride was centered in St. Martin Parish, starting in the town of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. The self-proclaimed “Crawfish Capital of the World”, Breaux Bridge could have been the original movie set for “A River Runs Through It”, as the Mississippi River cascaded directly through the area 5,500 years ago. Like any river, the Mississippi is always in search of the path of least resistance, and it shifted eastward over millennia, carving out new channels as it went.
Over thousands of years, the Mississippi River has meandered like an unattended garden hose as it approached the Gulf of Mexico. (IMAGE CREDIT: Army Corps of Engineers)
Ever-changing outlets and inlets formed Louisiana’s bayous. A bayou is technically a slow-moving stream. It differs from a “swamp” because swamps are stagnant water bodies with no flow-through, although their waters may rise and fall seasonally. Louisiana’s coastal bayous contain a mixture of saltwater and freshwater, known as brackish water. Vast cypress forests thrive here, as do alligators and over 200 species of birds. The shifting path of the Mississippi created healthy swamps and bayous, but caused irreparable damage to communities displaced by the whims of the River. In Breaux Bridge, it left behind a channel that now holds Bayou Teche. The town of Breaux Bridge was inundated with 25’ of water in 1929 when the Mississippi River flooded. To prevent this from happening again, the US Army Corps of Engineering developed the Atchafalaya Basin Project, a series of levees and locks that contain an 833,000-acre floodway to catch Mississippi River floodwaters. Breaux Bridge is protected by a levee to the east of the town, a 30-foot tall earthen mound that runs for many miles and has become the social scene. Airboat swamp tours and restaurants dot both sides of the levee, with bayous on one side and the floodway and swamps on the other. I booked an Atchafalaya Basin Airboat Swamp Tour, joining a group of 7 others as we glided through 500-year old cypress trees. The swamp was alive with wildlife, and we watched herons, egrets, owls, nutria, and a dozen or so alligators go about their day.
Photos by Janet Redman
My Bayou Bike Ride took place on November 6, 2021, while much of the state was still recovering from Ida. The scheduled “sunrise” start of 7:33A was delayed for 30 minutes by a heavy fog. About 125 riders took off, covering anywhere from 15-100 miles on a variety of routes. The 100- mile route followed Bayou Teche north from Breaux Bridge, looped through St. Landry Parish and returned south on the levee. Along the way, four rest stops refueled riders with Gatorade (naturally), bananas and gouda-and-pimento sandwiches. The ride began and ended at Tante Marie, a Cajun restaurant that welcomed riders home with gumbo, jambalaya and local beer from Bayou Teche Brewery. Although the route was fairly flat, it was challenging due to the wind and the need to pedal constantly.
Image Credit: Janet Redman
I spoke to Glenn Monte, a volunteer on the century ride and the owner of a construction business that builds metal houses, primarily in St. Martin Parish. He has more business than he can handle right now, thanks to Hurricane Ida, and estimated that his company was building 18-20 homes in the town of Houma alone. His metal homes can withstand winds of up to 200 mph, an appealing trait in a battered state. I asked him about the resilience of the communities. How many times can someone rebuild, after all? He replied that the area “is simply home” to many people, and moving elsewhere is a hard concept to grasp. Having lived in LA for 55 years himself, Glenn has seen coastal degradation of his favorite hunting and fishing spots. The environmental crisis spawned a new word in the early 2000’s. “Solastalgia” is a term formed by the combination of the Latin words sōlācium (comfort) and the Greek root -algia (pain, suffering, grief). It describes a form of emotional or existential distress caused by environmental change, such as living through a storm that devastates one’s home or community. The feeling of safety that someone once had in that home is gone forever.
One of the first examples of “climate refugees” in the US is found in Louisiana, where a relocation program is underway. Isle de Jean Charles is a narrow island in Terrebonne Parish that is home to indigenous tribes (the Bilox, Chitimacha and Choctaw). The island once encompassed 22,000 acres, but erosion and subsidence have slashed that to just 320 acres. The road to the mainland- Island Road, built in 1953- is often impassable due to storm surge, sea level rise, tides and high winds.
Island Road in Isle de Jean Charles, 2021 (IMAGE CREDIT: Julie Dermansky, weather.com)
In 2016, Louisiana was given a $48.3 million dollar Community Development Block Grant to work with Isle de Jean Charles residents to retreat and resettle into a safer community about 40 miles north. Plans call for all homes to be built 3 feet above the 500-year flood plain and the first residents are scheduled to move in by the end of 2021.
Closer to home, Tangier Island, a small Virginia fishing town that 400 people call home, is sinking quickly and predicted to be uninhabitable wetlands by 2051. To relocate the townspeople to the mainland is pegged at $150 million; to bulk up the island and protect its shoreline would cost $350 million. It is a victim of both sea level rise and ground subsidence and over 67% of its land mass has disappeared since 1850.
My bike rides have revealed climate secrets over the years, showing how wind has carved mesas and buttes in Albuquerque, New Mexico and flowing water has created canyons in Moab, Utah. In Louisiana, I learned that the dual destructive forces of climate change and humans are strong enough to drive long-standing communities to safer ground. And I don’t see a finish line in sight.
REFERENCES
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). (October 19, 2021). Areas of assistance, FEMA map. dec_4611.pdf (fema.gov).
Photos of “The Awakening” in National Harbor, Maryland, during Halloween weekend, 2021. Photos courtesy of Dean Najouks, Potomac Riverkeeper Network.
Halloween weekend always produces some startling sights, but in 2021, the most frightening image of all wasn’t a ghoul or ghost, but a very real picture of an iconic statue slipping below climate change-driven flooding.
“The Awakening” is an aluminum statue located in National Harbor, MD, just a few feet away from the tidal Potomac River. The statue was originally created in 1980 by the late Seward Johnson and located on Hains Point in Washington, D.C. before being moved to its current location in 2008.
In normal conditions, the statue depicts a giant grasping at the air, struggling to emerge from the earth. However, after the Mid-Atlantic experienced some of the region’s worst tidal flooding in years this weekend, the sandy space where the statue sits was inundated with unusually high floodwaters. Instead of emerging from the dry ground as the artist intended, the giant appeared to be drowning as water filled its open mouth and rose several feet to nearly eclipse one of its massive hands.
What The Awakening statue in Maryland looks like normally, and what it looks like today pic.twitter.com/UdS3JsCBYP
Unfortunately, this image is one that we will see with increasing frequency as climate change causes more precipitation and severe storms along the East Coast, including in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. According to a 2018 NOAA report, the average incidence of high-tide flooding in the Mid-Atlantic doubled between 2000 and 2015, from three to six days a year. National Harbor wasn’t the only local area affected by the flooding over the weekend—the mayor of Annapolis paddled through his city’s streets to assess flood damage, waves lapped at storefronts in Alexandria’s Old Town, and the Tidal Basin overflowed in downtown D.C. In Annapolis, early data shows this weekend’s flood was the fourth-highest in the city’s recorded history.
What is especially concerning about this weekend’s flooding is, as anyone who was in the area can attest, there wasn’t a deluge of rainfall that caused the Potomac River to flood D.C. and surrounding areas. Instead, as Dean Najouks of the Potomac Riverkeeper Network pointed out, distant storms drove water up the river from the Atlantic, meaning the flooding was the “direct result” of sea-level rise and climate change. Although hurricanes and large rainstorms will also pose increasingly dire threats, it’s clear that it doesn’t take a direct hit from a storm anymore to cause significant flood damage in the region.
Although the viral photos of “The Awakening” this weekend provide a dramatic snapshot of the effects of climate change, the more haunting fact is that these impacts are constantly occurring whether we get a striking picture of them or not. To preserve our region’s health, safety, economic-well being and overall quality of life, it is imperative that we take steps now to immediately reduce our climate-disrupting emissions.
It’s hot. Really hot. But instead of listing the new nightmarish impacts and scenarios, I’d like to share some hope and updates on the solutions our team has been fighting for over the past few months.
How clean energy policy is bringing steel back to Baltimore
by victoria venable
Baltimore was built on steel, and Baltimore was devastated by steel. But now, thanks to Maryland’s strong clean energy policies, Baltimore has the opportunity to become a steel hub once more — and a lynchpin for a healthy, sustainable economy.
At one point, Sparrows Point on the Port of Baltimore was home to the world’s largest steel mill. The mill brought tens of thousands of jobs to the area and helped shape the city. Steelworkers still call it “hallowed ground” for steel. But history was not enough to protect Baltimore from the steel industry’s decline — far from it, Baltimore faced particular economic devastation partly due to the steel industry’s demise.
That’s why this month’s announcement of a new steel mill in Baltimore County feels particularly huge. US Wind announced a new offshore wind project called Momentum Wind, major labor agreements with the Baltimore-D.C. Building & Construction trades union and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to provide union labor to support US Wind’s first major offshore wind project for Maryland, a $77 million investment in a new 90-acre port facility to service offshore wind development in Maryland, and a proposal for a new steel fabrication facility in Baltimore County at the Tradepoint Atlantic site, now called Sparrows Point Steel.
These projects will create hundreds of union jobs building offshore wind turbines right here in Maryland, to bring offshore wind to the electric grid in Maryland, helping ease us off the dirty energy sources that have polluted areas like Baltimore for so long.
I feel a particular attachment to this news because I know firsthand how it’s the result of grassroots advocacy and legislative achievements.
Delegate Brooks at a rally supporting the Clean Energy Jobs Act
While I was studying Political Science and Economics at Washington College, I watched the movement of the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act closely — and its passage inspired me to work in state energy politics. Shortly after graduating, I took my first full-time position with Del. Ben Brooks, a key player in public utilities, where I worked with him to pass the historic Clean Energy Jobs Act. Now, five years later, as the new Maryland Director of Chesapeake Climate Action Network, I’ve had an eye on new renewable energy deployment all summer, waiting for the US Wind announcement.
Reading over the details of this momentous step forward for offshore wind in Maryland – 82 additional turbines, 3500 new construction jobs, more than 500 local, permanent jobs, a new steel fabrication facility in Baltimore County – I couldn’t help but think back to the hundreds of meetings I’d sat in on with Delegate Brooks and various stakeholders in the fight for increased clean energy projects between 2016 and 2019.
During the time I worked for Delegate Ben Brooks, who represents parts of Baltimore County, between 2016 and 2019, he not only sat on the Economic Matters Committee but also served as the Public Utilities Subcommittee Chair. Some of my first meetings on his staff were with folks from US Wind and Ørsted, hearing promises that expanding Maryland’s Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) and adding 1,200 MW of offshore wind would bring jobs and economic growth to Maryland by making it a leader in the offshore wind industry. It was the focus on manufacturing jobs, union involvement, and bringing the supply chain for OSW to Maryland that stuck with me as I continued to work on this legislation with Delegate Brooks. Where so many could see challenges in the energy transition, we couldn’t help but see great opportunity, and maybe even redemption.
While much of the Clean Energy Jobs Act focused on the energy transition as a way to mitigate climate change, Delegate Brooks and I were excited to work with the renewable energy industry to address another change we saw in his district, in Baltimore, and throughout Maryland: the loss of manufacturing and unionized jobs.
Now, true to its name, the Clean Energy Jobs Act is creating good-paying and unionized clean energy jobs by bringing steel back to Baltimore with Momentum Wind and Sparrows Point Steel. Only two weeks into my new role as the Maryland Director at Chesapeake Climate Action Network and my work has come full circle to where I started as a staffer for Del. Ben Brooks in Annapolis. Seeing clean energy policy bring projects like this to fruition is the poetic capstone of one stage of my career and the exciting commencement of this next phase.
With the legislative session around the corner, federal funding on its way, and the midterm elections next year, it’s time to ride the momentum of this great example of just transition and job creation to continue our work to decarbonize Maryland’s energy sector and reduce emissions across the economy. I’m excited to be back in Annapolis this January, this time representing CCAN and our coalition of climate-focused Marylanders. With the consequences of climate change more pronounced than ever, we will need bold policy and a mobilized base – I hope you will join me!
The slogan for D.C. Tap Water is “water is life,” and that rings true for all of Earth. Water is at the core of everything we know; cultures and religions have been formed around it and wars have been fought over it, and our civilization formed around the ancient waterways. The unfortunate reality of human development is that as we have expanded, so has our impact on our environment. Due to geography and our historical dependence on water, our water is often the first element in the natural world to be impacted by our environmental degradation. This destruction often stems from outdated and deteriorating infrastructure that cannot support our development.
It is clear that decades of rapid development have negatively affected the planet, specifically our waterways. Due to the importance of water to survival, the majority of major cities have been built either within proximity to the ocean or another waterway. Washington D.C. is a key example of this, lying on the banks of both the Potomac and Anacostia River. The city’s proximity to both of these rivers have left them polluted as D.C. has used them as a dumping ground for raw sewage, trash, and other debris for more than a century.
The History of the Anacostia
The Anacostia River, often called the forgotten river of D.C., flows through Prince George’s County in Maryland and empties into the Potomac. It was once the pride of DC, a clean and pristine river, yet decades (possibly even centuries) of abuse from the city has left it polluted and unsafe. 2018 was the first year that the River watershed Society scored the river above an “F” for cleanliness.
Before the development of DC the Anacostia was a bearer of life–home to thousands of species of animals and providing drinking water and fishing to the indigenous people of the area. The Nacotchtank people had called the watershed home for over 10,000 years. They sustainably lived off the river as prosperous hunters, gathers, and traders. Within only two centuries that had completely changed.
The bank of the Anacostia River.
Now, half a billion gallons of raw sewage are dumped into the river each year due to deteriorating combined sewage overflow, this released sewage contains bacteria that is a thousand times more toxic than is permitted by public health standards. In addition to sewage, the river is also littered with debris, trash, oil, grease, and other toxic chemicals.
The DC government has declared it illegal for any persons to swim or fish in the river due to its high bacteria levels. In many areas not only does the river visibly look dirty, but it also releases a foul odor into surrounding neighborhoods. The Anacostia is now considered one of the dirtiest rivers in America, but the D.C. government and many nonprofits are hoping to change that.
Cleaning up the Anacostia
The D.C. government has recently focused its efforts on cleaning the Anacostia’s surrounding wetlands, as they help filter the river’s water. In addition to this, DC has passed several anti-pollution laws such as the five cent plastic bag charge and the installation of trash traps that capture debris from the river. These efforts have made a great deal of progress in removing trash from the river.
The District has also committed to spending over $35 million removing and burying dangerous sediments that make the river so toxic. This process traps pollutants under sediment so they no longer move throughout water ways. The cleaning project will reduce the Anacostia’s danger to humans by 90%, reigniting hope that one day the Anacostia will once again be safe to swim in and fish from.
While these clean up projects have done a great deal for the health of the river, without an emphasis on infrastructure that prevents future pollution, not just cleaning past pollution, D.C.’s efforts are futile. In the process of cleaning a major waterway, proactive legislation and infrastructure are essential to both cleaning our planet and protecting it from further damage.
Currently, the Anacostia’s biggest causes of pollution are storm runoff and leaks from the city’s sewage infrastructure. D.C. uses a combined sewer system, collecting both sewer and storm water, when there is an excess of either of these, the system overflows. Without the advancement of these two sectors any attempts to clean the river will be forlorn. As D.C. continues to experience more day-time flooding and unpredictable weather as a result of climate change the city’s infrastructure cannot keep up with water runoff, leaving it seeping into the Anacostia.
Finding a solution
While cleaning the Anacostia seems like an impossible task, with the proper infrastructure investments it is feasible for the D.C. government to achieve. To combat the issue of runoff, investments in infrastructure that absorbs runoffs are needed. Parking lots built with natural absorbent materials and porous spaces, gardens of native plants, rain barrels, and green roofs are effective tools.
Still, runoff is just one factor contributing to the worsening health of the Anacostia. D.C.’s sewage system is more than a century old and in desperate need of an update. Failing sewer systems coupled with outdated flood control systems allow billions of gallons of raw sewage and storm water to flow into the river. Without first solving this problem any other action taken to save the Anacostia will be futile.
Rebuilding D.C.’s water infrastructure will be expensive, yet it must be done. The Environmental Protection Agency has already passed new regulations, aimed to limit the amount of pollutants flowing into the District’s waterways. Along with this the Biden administration has also introduced a groundbreaking infrastructure bill that will work to revitalize our nation’s water systems, starting in our Capital. Biden’s American Jobs Plan specifically calls for the modernization of our waste and storm water systems, a goal that will be supported by $56 billion in grants and loans to communities in need of updated water infrastructure.
Clean running water.
While cleaning the Anacostia seems like an insurmountable task, our current administration is focused on ensuring that our waterways are safe and thriving for years to come. Life cannot sustain itself without clean and accessible water, D.C. must continue to invest in the health of its waterways.
Despite sustained and widespread community opposition, the Jail Authority of Middle River Regional Jail (MRRJ) in the Shenandoah Valley approved a 14.5 million dollar renovation proposal to expand the jail. This regional jail reproduces many of the racial and class inequalities we see throughout America’s national systems of policing and incarceration — but at a higher rate.
Community members and local advocacyorganizations have been fighting back against these injustices. Residents have shown up at city council meetings, jail authority hearings and protests since the expansion was proposed–including a rally specifically to call for better COVID-19 protections when MRRJ was allowed to become a statewide hotspot.
Before proposing this current 14.5 million dollar budget, the MRRJ Authority drafted plans for a 40 million dollar renovation package that relied heavily on expanding bed space. While receiving pressure from residents, Harrisonburg and Waynesboro City Councils publicly stated they would not support adding beds to MRRJ. Desires to support racial equity and reduce incarceration, as well as some focus on fiscal responsibility, motivated this diverse opposition.
“If we’re going to be putting money into something, we need to be putting money into our community,” Harrisonburg Mayor Deanna Reed said, “so that we’re not overcrowding the jails, because we are investing in existing programs for criminal justice reform here in Harrisonburg.”
By getting two of the five local jurisdictions to oppose the proposal, activists forced the jail authority back to the drawing board. Each budget must be approved and funded by four out of five.
However, after the jail authority heard this opposition, they had closed door planning sessions and proposed a 14.5 million dollar renovation package. While this year’s budget does not include new beds, it lays the groundwork for future expansion–literally. It proposes a footprint expansion that includes increases in storage.
Recklessly, this “renovation” proposes to solve overcrowding without a complete understanding of how incarceration rates rose so high or an acknowledgement that reducing incarceration is a legitimate strategy. Earlier this year, MRRJ reduced its numbers significantly and during covid jails across the United States reduced their populations by an average of thirty percent. Activists across the valley have called for an independent analysis of MRRJ’s incarceration rates and possible solutions to overcrowding before allocating millions of dollars to the Jail Authority’s plan.
This renovation is an unfounded and unproven expansion in disguise. It is not good for people, justice or the climate.
Why does CCAN oppose this regional jail expansion?
‘Climate justice is racial justice’ is more than a protest sign. It is a recognition that because systems of oppression are layered, our resistance to them and efforts to build a better world must also be layered. We do not have to sequentially address racism, poverty and the climate crisis as separate issues. Their causes are tightly interwoven. Environmental racism, capitalism and government (in)actions have sited polluting and policing infrastructure near poor and BIPOC communities. Incarcerated persons suffer climate impacts early and severely.
Climate justice means reversing the trend of disproportionate environmental harm and benefits. But it doesn’t stop there. It means dismantling the systems that allocated those harms and benefits in the first place.
The Middle River Regional Jail is part of these systems of oppression, policing and capitalism that uphold inequities in America and the world. Investing millions of dollars in incarceration will only further entrench the harmful systems we need to reshape and reimagine.
Residents in the Shenandoah Valley already experience this. When Harrisonburg entered into an agreement with MRRJ in 2015 the Jail Authority estimated that expenses would be 22 million dollars over 10 years. Just six years later, maintaining the jail has cost millions of dollars more than estimated. During this time incarceration rates have remained above the national average.
What comes next?
Broadly, we tell a new story about ourselves. One based on cooperation and community care, not competition and individualism. This is part of how we beat climate change and reverse generations of structural inequalities–together.
Specifically, CCANers can tell city council members in Waynesboro and Staunton that this renovation is expansion and they should reject this 14.5 million dollar budget. More details and talking points are outlined in the linked petition. Harrisonburg members can thank their city council for not endorsing the proposal. All jurisdictions should publicly reject this proposal and any new funding for MRRJ.
CCANers everywhere can join local and regional movements to defund the police, divest from incarceration and invest in community programs. Help us bring a more equitable and sustainable future one step closer.
Valley Proteins, a chicken rendering plant in Dorchester County, is flooding the Chesapeake Bay with the byproducts of its operations, which feature harmful nutrients like ammonia, nitrates and nitrogen. The company’s water pollution permit expired years ago, but it continues to operate and discharge waste.
Even under the expired permit’s guidelines, Valley Proteins operates in negligence. According to the EPA’s enforcement and compliance database, the company habitually fails to report wastewater discharge information. When the information does get reported, it often indicates gross disregard of the legal limits.
The state, the company and various environmental organizations all recognize that this stripe of behavior can’t last. The good news: change is finally here, in a planned wholesale upgrade of Valley Proteins’ water treatment facilities. The bad news: we’re (read: the taxpayers are) paying for it.
For most of this year, Valley Proteins was slated to receive over $13 million dollars to bolster its wastewater treatment capacities. The funds come from the Bay Restoration Fund, a state-owned pot of money dedicated to upgrading Maryland’s wastewater treatment plants. Individual and industrial users of wastewater treatment plants contribute to the fund via a yearly tax, which amounts to over $100 million annually. Although publicly owned treatment plants have priority access to the money, Maryland legislators are technically permitted to consider private facilities on a case-by-case basis. Valley Proteins would be the first such case in the fund’s 17-year history.
Waste water exhaust pipe
The proposal to supply Valley Proteins with public assistance to manage its pollution was met with outrage by some lawmakers. For some, the move just didn’t sit right. One Democratic state senator said it didn’t “pass the smell test.” Others objected that private companies shouldn’t be permitted to receive money from the Bay Restoration Fund, although the action is, at the time of writing, admissible under the bill. The Maryland State Senate recently approved a budget plan that reduces the amount of the grant. It’s still too much.
Lawmakers are right to be concerned. The decision to provide Valley Proteins with taxpayer money lands squarely in the nationwide debate over how we should proceed with a green economy, with implications beyond the fate of this particular company. It’s a local case study in the role of government in the green market, one that diverges from traditional discussion of renewable energy.
Although limits on nutrient pollution are distinct from energy standards, both fall under the umbrella of pollution emission restrictions. The role of government in each is complicated, but arguably much simpler in the former.
In both cases, the government is free, indeed, encouraged to, set limits on bad behavior like dumping nitrates into Chesapeake tributaries or burning coal. These pollution ceilings already exist for Valley Proteins. This grant is essentially a government subsidy to help the company meet their limits. In this sense, it’s very similar to federal subsidies for renewable energy.
Those energy subsidies are meant to encourage environmentally beneficial behaviors that have significant impediments. The solar industry, for example, must overcome vast regulatory frameworks that skew towards existing energy producers like the coal and oil industries. The barriers for entry are enormous.
Solar panels in field
This Valley Proteins grant will also, at its core, support an environmentally conscious action: mitigating nutrient pollution. However, in this case, the barriers are much smaller. In fact, the only true obstacle is cost. The renewable sector can’t control many of the prohibitive institutions that make it difficult for them to gain a foothold in the economy — cost is only one of many hurdles for them. Valley Proteins can and should control its own waste disposal and the attendant financial burden. If it can’t, it’s simply not a competitive company.
For these reasons, it’s particularly odd to me that Democrats lawmakers seem to be more vocal in their criticism of the Valley Proteins grant than Republicans. The move does not align with the free market approach inherent in conservative beliefs. The conservative value of smaller government should, theoretically, mean opposition to what amounts to unnecessary intervention by the state.
Regardless of political affiliation, lawmakers should oppose Maryland supplying Valley Proteins with taxpayer money to revamp its wastewater system. In this case, all the government needs to do is set pollution limits. Let private companies meet them themselves. The state should continue to support pollution reduction, but not by throwing handouts at companies violating regulations.
A number of environmental organizations are currently planning to sue Valley Proteins for their transgressions. The point could potentially be moot if the company receives aid to upgrade its facilities. This would be a massive failure of our legal and political institutions. If the industry is in the wrong, we must hold it accountable. If you agree, write to your state senator urging them to prevent this grant.
Climate change is abstract. It can be difficult to reconcile information about changing weather patterns or large-scale biodiversity loss with your daily routine. You stagger out of bed, dump sugar in your coffee, and go to work. Your backyard isn’t being deforested. Your streets aren’t flooding. The vast majority of Americans don’t directly encounter obvious effects of climate change in their everyday lives. So, anecdotally, it can seem like our climate is just fine. This is far from the truth.
Stark examples of destruction wrought by climate change exist all around us. Maryland’s sea level rise offers some particularly poignant ones. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, Maryland has the second-highest number of communities vulnerable to sea level rise, behind only Louisiana. With over 3000 miles of coastline and an economy that leans on the Chesapeake Bay, any disruptions to water levels create serious ripples. Dozens of communities on the Bay have felt these ripples. Their heartbreaking stories provide clear counters to the sentiment that climate change is abstract. The first story brings us to the quaint town of Smith Island.
Smith Island, a small smear of land rising out of the Chesapeake Bay, has captured the heart of every Marylander for good reason. The Smith Island Cake — a 9-layer yellow cake with mouthwatering chocolate icing — is Maryland’s official dessert. The island has been inhabited for over 350 years and is embedded in Maryland’s culture and history. It’s also rapidly disappearing into the Chesapeake Bay.
Due to the unique geology and location of the Chesapeake Bay, sea levels there are rising twice as quickly as the global average. This sea level rise, combined with the indomitable force of erosion, threatens to put most of Smith Island underwater by 2100. In 2012, the Maryland government tried to buy out homes on the island in the hopes of avoiding future problems with flooding and relocation. Almost all Smith Islanders refused, instead choosing to cling to the hope that erosion controls will save their home. Other Chesapeake islands clung to the same hope, with fateful outcomes.
Just a century ago, Holland Island was the most populated landmass in the Chesapeake Bay. Now, it’s little more than a patchwork of marsh poking out of the swells. In 2010, the last house standing on Holland Island collapsed, setting the scene for one of the most poignant portraits of sea level rise to ever be captured (pictured to the right). In 2019, rising sea levels and erosion caused the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to close its educational facility on nearby Great Fox Island. Other landmasses, including an atoll called Tangier Island, are barreling towards similar futures.
Tangier Island is a tiny patch of land in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, famous for being the world’s leading supplier of soft-shell crab. Its 500-odd inhabitants are primarily crabbers — most of them can trace their ancestry back to one man who arrived on the island over 250 years ago. At an elevation of only about four feet, Tangier Island is being eaten alive by a deadly combination of erosion and sea-level rise. According to one study, Tangier Island could become completely uninhabitable within just a couple of decades, marking its residents among the first climate refugees in the continental United States. The island and its people are running out of time.
Despite the water inundating their home, most of Tangier Island, staunchly conservative, takes a dim view of climate change. Residents concede that their island is sinking, but they argue that it is due to erosion, not climate change. Scientists disagree, but findings do little to sway popular opinion on Tangier Island.
If Tangier Islanders don’t see climate change as a threat as their homes disappear under their feet due to sea level rise, it’s easy to see how those even further removed from its impacts brush it off so easily. Even Tangier Islanders, despite their conundrum, can see climate change as an abstract concept and their plight as an isolated incident. After all, erosion is a much more intuitive concept than invisible gases trapping heat in our atmosphere. But, like climate change, the cases I’ve mentioned above are not isolated, and climate change is far from abstract if you let yourself trust the science behind it.
Rising waters and erosion have swallowed hundreds of Chesapeake islands over the last several centuries. Because sea levels are rising faster in the Chesapeake Bay than anywhere else on the East Coast, the situation there is a good indication of what we can expect to see for coastal cities in years to come, as sea levels gradually catch up. The quandaries of the Chesapeake Bay islands are providing a glimpse into the future of the rest of the Atlantic Coast. It’s not promising.
Maryland is taking action to address climate change. Just last month, the Maryland Senate passed measures to combat climate change, including committing to more electric vehicle usage and mandating larger decreases of greenhouse gas emissions. Some officials, including Sen. Paul Pinsky, say the actions aren’t enough, specifically citing rising sea level rise and sinking islands as examples of clear and present danger.
Pinsky is right on the money: halfhearted government action simply isn’t enough — especially when citizens either don’t believe climate change is happening or feel untroubled by its impacts. It’s impossible to address the problem with that kind of public attitude; until we have a united front against climate change, governments and communities will continue to drag their feet.
To create a united front against climate change, people need to see it breaking others’ hearts. For confirmation of the real, painful destruction climate change is bringing to our states of Maryland and Virginia, turn your neighbor’s head to the sea. They may be able to catch a glimpse of a Chesapeake island, bursting with culture and life, before it slides beneath the waves.
