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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Global Heating Causes Earthquakes

Number of earthquakes worldwide in 1990: 16,590—-number in 2008: 31,777
-U.S. Geological Society National Earthquake Information

I have to say that when I first started hearing about this possible connection a couple of years ago, I was kind of a skeptic. Part of me reacted, “Hey, we’re already contending with head-in-the-sand people Continue reading

Retire coal in Alexandria

When thinking about coal in Virginia, one’s mind often goes to destructive mountaintop removal coal mining in the Appalachian mountains of southwest Virginia, Dominion’s coal plant under construction in Wise County, or the Hampton Roads coal plant proposed by the Old Dominion Electric Cooperative. In short, it is easiest to think of dirty energy projects in rural and southern parts of the state. Yet coal is in Northern Virginians’ backyards as well.

Monday night, over 60 local activists, community leaders and organizers came together to fight dirty coal in Alexandria. The coal-fired power plant on the bank of the Potomac is making local communities sick and contributing to climate change as one of the top sources of planet-warming carbon emissions in the DC area. The former “Mirant coal plant” is now owned by GenOn, a Houston-based corporate polluter keeping the 514 MW plant burning on standby for the sake of their own profits. Continue reading