Huge environmental presence at Dominion's annual shareholder meeting

This morning, I was one of about a dozen environmental advocates to attend Dominion Resources Inc.’s annual shareholder meeting in Charlottesville, VA, while about 30 others rallied outside. Between shareholder proposals, comments and questions by shareholders and their proxies and the company’s own presentations, reducing the company’s impact on the environment was discussed at least as much as its financial performance. And the meeting left me hopeful that environmental advocates can work with Dominion to increase its investment in renewables, especially offshore wind power.

Just this Tuesday, we publicly launched our joint campaign with the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, Green Jobs Alliance and Virginia Interfaith Power & Light asking Dominion to work with us to invest in offshore wind power. So today I spoke at the shareholder meeting in support of a proposal for the company to set and pursue a goal of 20% renewable energy generation by 2024. Specifically, I spoke about the fact that while offshore wind power does require a greater investment up front, it carries fewer long-term financial risks than investing in fossil fuel power plants. The risks of building new fossil fuel generation include:

    –volatile prices for coal and natural gas that are set by an increasingly global market
    –the potential need for pollution control upgrades in order to comply with future environmental laws
    –and the risk of accidental releases, like the catastrophic spill of coal-ash that Tennessee Valley Authority had in 2008, which could cost millions in clean up expenses, not to mention the public relations fall-out.

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Dominion: It's Time for Virginia Offshore Wind

On Tuesday morning, CCAN’s Virginia team and members of the newly created VA4Wind coalition came together to formally announce our campaign to bring offshore wind energy to Virginia. Because Dominion Virginia Power is the commonwealth’s largest electric utility, the coalition is calling on the company to develop a large-scale offshore wind energy project off of Virginia’s coast. We hope to compel Dominion to include offshore wind in its September 2011 Integrated Resources Plan (IRP).

VA4Wind
VA4Wind

At the event, VA4Wind leaders touted the plentiful benefits of offshore wind energy and the opportunities it provides for the commonwealth, including the addition of thousands of new jobs and a new revenue source for Virginia’s economy, cleaner air and water, and stable long-term energy prices. With plentiful offshore winds, a deepwater port and a skilled and experienced labor force, Virginia could easily be the east coast capital for America’s new offshore wind industry.

In just a matter of weeks, VA4Wind has already collected more than 3,000 signatures from Virginians who want to see Dominion take concrete steps towards developing offshore wind power. In addition, more than 60 Virginia businesses and organizations have already pledged their support for offshore wind energy.

Sign the petition today, and if you own a business or non-profit, please add your business’ name to our platform sign-on letter here. Continue reading

Maryland to Sue Gas Company Over Fracking Spill

It seems the news just keeps getting worse these days for those in the Marcellus Shale gas-fracking business. First there was the damning new Cornell University study which revealed the worse-than-coal climate impacts of the natural gas drilling procedure. Then, the Chesapeake Energy Corporation experienced the mother of all bad press days when one of its Pennsylvania wells experienced a massive blowout, spewing thousands of gallons of frack fluid into a nearby stream. In a poetic touch, the blow-out occurred on the one-year anniversary of the gulf oil spill.

While nowhere near the scale of the BP blowout, the Chesapeake Energy frack-up certainly echoed the massive gulf disaster in terms of the outrageous incompetence and recklessness of the well’s owners.

According to a Pro-Publica article it took the company a full 13 hours to respond to the accident. The reason for the egregious delay: despite widespread fracking activity in the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale, the state did not have a single team of specially trained fracking accident responders, and instead had to fly in workers from Texas. In the end, thanks to the holdup, it took no less than two days from the time of the accident before workers managed to cap the spill. Continue reading

Supreme Court: Is global warming a public nuisance?

The United States Supreme Court is hearing oral argument today in the case of AEP, et al vs. Connecticut, et al. This case was brought three years ago by eight states, New York City and three different land trusts against five major power producers in the Midwest and East Coast. The claim was that by operating coal-fired power plants, and emitting dangerous greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, these companies were creating a public nuisance that states must address with state resources. Therefore, to remedy this public nuisance, these companies would have to comply with a court ordered mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from these facilities by certain percentages over the next 10 years. Effectively, a cap on carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants established by the courts, not Congress or EPA.

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals found for the states in this case. The power companies appealed to the US Supreme Court and the high court granted the appeal last summer. Because Justice Sotomayor was on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals when the case was heard, she has recused herself from the case. I don’t think that the high court will find for the states in this case, because they think that the EPA and/or Congress

Our time to Energize Virginia with wind power!

Coming up Saturday, June 4th is our chance to stand up and call for clean, homegrown energy for Virginia at the Energize Virginia: A Citizens’ Summit on Offshore Wind Power. Read more below, and register here.

Sponsored by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the Virginia Sierra Club, and Interfaith Power and Light, Energize Virginia is the first-ever grassroots gathering to promote development of an offshore wind farm in the area off Virginia’s coast. We expect attendees from as many perspectives as there are compelling reasons to bring wind to Virginia, from local clean energy jobs supporters, to environmentalists urging decreased dependence on coal, to families who want to see reliably low energy bills as fossil fuel prices climb.

Be there for an opportunity to learn, ask questions, and join the discussion about harnessing the winds off the coast. Details: Saturday, June 4th, 10 am to 3:30 pm, CenterStage, Richmond, VA.

We invite you to sign up now! Purchase a ticket, and you are entitled to a premium-quality lunch, a program featuring appearances by exciting speakers who will inspire action, and the opportunity to be a history-maker at a summit with a positive and lasting impact on Virginia’s energy future.

Hampton Roads Loves Mountains & the EPA

Last month, Virginia Beach residents visited Senator Webb’s district office defending the EPA. Now today, legislators will likely act on several measures attacking the agency’s authority. Group visiting Webb's office with bannerOver the past few weeks, citizens from across Virginia have shown their solidarity with communities where pollution hits folks hardest. We still have time to echo their powerful message to our legislators: oppose any efforts to block the EPA’s ability to protect our waterways pollution from fossil fuels.

This afternoon, the U.S Senate and House of Representatives are considering amendments that would gut the EPA. If you have not called your Senators, you can still help fight against these attacks on the Clean Air Act by asking your Senators to renew their commitment to protecting the EPA. Take action now– http://wiseenergyforvirginia.org/call/

NOVA Loved Mountains Today!

Northern Virginians stood with Appalachians and activists across the commonwealth today by visiting Senator Warner and Webb’s district offices and calling for an end to mountaintop removal coal mining. Representing a wide array of interests and constituencies, they all came with one message: oppose any efforts to block the EPA’s ability to protect our waterways from mountaintop removal mining and pollution from burning fossil fuels.

The lead pastor of Accotink Unitarian Universalist Church in Burke spoke about the moral obligation to protect the earth from damage due to climate change and the entire life cycle of coal. He made the point that climate and the environment is a rare issue that so many faiths can come together on

Pass the wind power bill

WAMU

Commentary by Mike Tidwell

As a boy, I remember sitting in my family’s Ford Pinto in a four-hour long gas line during the Arab oil embargo of 1973. My dad told me then, with complete confidence, that oil would be a bad memory when I grew up. Our cars would run on something, he said, but not on this black liquid from countries that don’t like us.

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