By Mike Tidwell
So you’re a lawmaker in Annapolis, with November’s election safely behind you. But the voices of working families and struggling consumers are still ringing in your ears: “We need help!” What’s a leader to do?
Julia 'Judy' Bonds, 58, dies; outspoken foe of mountaintop strip mining
It with great reverence and sadness that we share with you the loss of Judy Bonds, one of the great leaders of the mountaintop removal coal mining movement. Judy was a well-respected and much-loved member of our community, and she will be missed. Judy always said, “Fight harder!” and fight we will, in her memory.
Here is her obituary from Tuesday’s Washington Post. – Jamie
By Emma Brown
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Julia “Judy” Bonds, the spitfire daughter of a West Virginia coal miner who worked as a Pizza Hut waitress before she became, in midlife, a leading voice of the grass-roots resistance to mountaintop strip mining, died Jan. 3 of cancer at a hospital in Charleston, W.Va. She was 58.
Ms. Bonds was one of the most visible and outspoken activists against what is sometimes called “mountaintop removal,” a mining practice peculiar to Appalachia in which peaks are sheared off with explosives to expose the coal seams below.
A coalfields native who scraped by working in restaurants and convenience stores, Ms. Bonds was equivocal about the risks of mining until the 1990s, when the A.T. Massey Coal Co. arrived in Marfork hollow, one of the narrow, green valleys that wind through the Appalachian Mountains in southern West Virginia.
Ms. Bonds lived most of her life in that hollow, as did generations of her family before her. In childhood, she had come to know its fishing spots and swimming holes; later, as a young single mother, she had raised her daughter in Marfork.
“There is nothing like being in the hollows,” she once told the Los Angeles Times. “You feel snuggled. You feel safe. It seems like God has his arms around you.”
Continue reading
The Facts: Offshore Wind = Clean Power
Recently, a few individuals have published questions about offshore wind power. Some of their main concerns were:
1) Does it really reduce emissions?
2) Will it help us achieve a future zero-carbon grid?
3) Will it be affordable for ratepayers?
Thankfully, ample scientific evidence and real-world experience provide answers to these questions. Indeed, wind power can and will continue to reduce emissions by displacing fossil fuels, wind power can be part of a future zero-carbon grid, and other states have found long-term offshore wind power contracts to be affordable for their rate payers. Offshore wind power in particular is one of the greatest answers for Maryland and the world’s energy future.
The following post provides answers to these questions based on reliable data and studies. More information about offshore wind can be found on the Marylanders for Offshore Wind website.
What is the 1000 Megawatt Challenge?
What can clean energy activists learn from the world of physics?
For starters, they might consider a well known precept called the law of the conservation of energy. Simply put, it states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it’s forever undergoing conversion from one state to another. For instance, for much of the past 200 years we’ve been converting the chemical energy in fossil fuels into the mechanical and electrical energy we need to power our cars and homes.
Of course, by now we know that CO2 pollution from these energy conversions has started to result in the conversion of the sun’s energy into some not so useful forms like hurricanes and wildfires. In addition to electricity, we’ve generated climate change and to make things right we need to quickly accelerate a different type of conversion: the switch from a dirty energy economy to one powered by clean sources like wind and solar. Continue reading
Where facts still matter…
In a post Citizens United v. FECworld, where industry can pay Continue reading
Giving the gift of wind
Today we gathered in front of the Governor’s Mansion to bring Governor McDonnell an early Christmas present- $400 in renewable energy credits (RECs) to power the mansion through 2011.
Back in October, I met with the governor’s energy advisor, Deputy Secretary of Natural Resources, Maureen Matsen, to discuss what the McDonnell administration had been doing to promote offshore wind. During that conversation, I asked her if the Governor would make a symbolic gesture of his commitment to renewables by purchasing the RECs himself. Ultimately, he refused to make this commitment, so our members made it for him. CCAN supporters in Virginia chipped in $10 or more to purchase the RECs to demonstrate their support for clean energy sources like offshore wind.
As CCAN Executive Director Mike Tidwell, stated during his speech at the Governor’s mansion, “It’s time for Governor McDonell to take concrete action to bring offshore wind to Virginia.” The Governor should take unequivocal action of supporting a mandatory renewable portfolio standard (RPS). If he does not act quickly, Virginia could be left behind as other states prepare to move ahead with offshore wind.
Maureen Matsen was on hand for the delivery and you can see her back and forth with Mike here.
MTR-like surface mining increases in Western Maryland
We all know that Maryland gets almost 60% of its electricity from coal, but what many people don’t know is that lots of that coal is being extracted from western Maryland and that in the past decade the amount of environmentally destructive surface (or strip) mining has increased significantly. Continue reading
WIND VISION 2010: An Informative Success
This post was written by Ben Rivers, Freshman environmental science and policy major at the University of Maryland.
I came to Wind Vision 2010 to learn about wind power and Maryland’s wind industry. To my delight, everything from why Maryland should install offshore wind to the political battles being fought was presented, and consequently I feel as if I can speak knowledgeably about how this renewable source will be utilized.
The best speakers not only informed the audience, but also channeled the room’s considerable energy; Senator Paul Pinsky’s speech was motivational and Lester Brown’s closing remarks heartfelt. Together, their presentations called audience members to action and gave working to advance renewable energies a new validity. Mike Tidwell’s and Robert Mitchell’s remarks were possibly the most valuable, as they helped me understand basic information about the Mid-Atlantic Bight and Maryland’s wind resources. Continue reading
Renewable Energy and the Tax Cut Battle
As the Senate, the House, the White House, the Republicans and the Democrats hash it out over what to do about the expiring tax cuts, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, co-author of the CLEAR Act, is leading an effort to extend an also-expiring program that has played an important role over the last couple of years to build the renewable energy industry.
Unfortunately, in the compromise framework for a deal between the White House and Republicans, this program was not included. It should be, in whatever is finally voted on.
Senator Cantwell’s initiative is supported by Maryland Senator Ben Cardin and 25 other Senators. It has to do with the extension of the “Section 1603 Treasury Grant Program.” See the link here for more info: http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=328729
This program will expire at the end of this year. If it is not extended, it will be a “hit” on the renewable energy industry. In the words of a statement signed by the 26 U.S. Senators in support of extending this program, “Absent an extension of the TGP, the anticipated total financing available for renewables is expected to decrease by 56 percent in 2011.”
I’ve heard that Harry Reid has indicated support for trying to make this happen.
If you agree that this as an important issue, a possible win during the lame duck session, please reach out to U.S. Senators about this, as soon as you can.
What is the Call to Action on Climate?
For Marylanders it is for offshore wind power! Continue reading