Category: Press Releases

Poll: Md. Voters Support a Ban on Fracking By 2-to-1 Margin, Including in At-Risk Garrett County

Results show high voter intensity for a ban, widespread concern about water pollution and harm to health

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — With the clock winding down on Maryland’s two-year moratorium on fracking, a statewide poll of Maryland voters released today shows broad public support for permanently banning the risky drilling practice. In Garrett County, a prime target area for the oil and gas industry, voters oppose fracking by an even stronger margin.
The poll, conducted by the nonpartisan firm OpinionWorks, found that Maryland voters support a ban on fracking by a 2-to-1 margin, with a 56% majority supporting the ban and only 28% opposed. This poll follows on the heels of a recent Washington Post poll finding that a similarly strong majority of Marylanders opposes fracking.
The OpinionWorks poll provides additional insights for state legislators who will weigh legislation to ban fracking in the 2017 Maryland General Assembly. Key additional findings include:

• In Garrett County, the margin of support for a fracking ban is more than 2-to-1, with 57% in support of a ban and only 27% opposed. (This result is based on statistically significant “oversampling” of voters in Garrett County, a likely ground zero for fracking in Maryland.)
• By a 3-to-1 margin, voters say they are more likely to vote for a legislator who supports a fracking ban, with 40% more likely and only 13% less likely.
• Voter intensity is significantly higher on the pro-ban side: 25% of voters are much more likely to support a pro-ban legislator, compared to only 7% who are much less likely.

“This new poll makes it clear that Maryland voters strongly support a ban on fracking,” said Senator Bobby Zirkin, D-Baltimore County, a longtime supporter of banning the practice, “strengthening the case that it is time for the Maryland General Assembly to act.”
Delegate Kumar Barve, D-Montgomery County, and chair of the House Environment and Transportation Committee added, “In 2015, my committee passed a two-year moratorium on fracking so that we could understand the science and all of the policy implications of hydraulic fracturing. This year we will take decisive action based on science and in the interest of all of the people of Maryland.”
The poll also found that Marylanders have a wide variety of concerns about the significant risks of fracking. Contamination of water was the top concern cited — with one-third of voters worried about the risks — while harm to human and animal health was the second-biggest concern. Only 6% of voters statewide did not express concern about the risks of fracking.
“Western Marylanders recognize, as the poll shows, that most of our friends and neighbors don’t want fracking,” said Paul Roberts, president of Citizen Shale and a small business owner in Garrett County. “That is a message difficult to convey in Annapolis when our own representatives fail to speak up for us. So, now is the time for Maryland to move ahead, with legislative leaders committed to securing a healthy and sustainable future for our community and families.”
More than 100 organizations have endorsed the Don’t Frack Maryland campaign and are working to pass a ban on fracking in the upcoming General Assembly session. Unless state legislators take action, Governor Larry Hogan’s administration could allow industrial drilling operations to begin in Maryland soon after October 2017, when the state’s moratorium will expire.
“The movement to ban fracking in Maryland is only growing, and these poll numbers reflect that,” said James McGarry, Maryland policy director at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “By banning fracking, Maryland legislators will not only be following the science, they’ll be following the wishes of voters statewide.”
In 2016, the town of Friendsville in Garrett County and Prince George’s County both passed local ordinances banning fracking, joining the town of Mountain Lake Park and Montgomery County. Members of the Anne Arundel County Council also recently wrote a letter urging their state legislative delegation to pass a fracking ban. Last week, nearly 200 citizens rallied in Frostburg and won a commitment from their City Council to advance a municipal ban on fracking.
“Governor Hogan has sought to keep a low profile on this issue, but the draft regulations released by his administration clearly indicate his intentions to frack our state,” said Mitch Jones, senior policy advocate at Food & Water Watch. “We know most Marylanders oppose fracking, so we’re urging state legislators to stand with the people, and stand up for a ban on fracking now.”
“It has been clear for several years that there is no safe way to regulate fracking,” said Josh Tulkin, director of the Maryland Sierra Club. “Health and environmental hazards are pervasive in every state that permits fracking. The only foolproof way to protect Marylanders from fracking is to keep it out of Maryland.”
ABOUT THE POLL: The OpinionWorks poll was commissioned by groups within the Don’t Frack Maryland coalition. For the statewide poll results, OpinionWorks surveyed 802 randomly selected registered voters across Maryland from August 18-30, 2016. The statewide poll has a potential sampling error of no more than + 3.5% at a 95% confidence level. In addition to the statewide sample, 1,250 additional interviews were distributed across five selected legislative districts and Garrett County. The additional oversample interviews were conducted from September 1-28, 2016.
VIEW THE POLLING MEMO AT:
http://www.dontfrackmd.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Maryland-Fracking-Ban-Poll-Memo-102516.pdf
VIEW THE NEWS RELEASE ONLINE AT: http://www.dontfrackmd.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/ReleaseforOpinionWorksFrackingPoll10.26.16-2.pdf
CONTACT:
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

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The Don’t Frack Maryland coalition unites more than 100 business, public interest, community, faith, food and climate groups committed to passing a permanent, statewide ban on fracking in Maryland. For more information on the statewide campaign, go to http://www.dontfrackmd.org.

For Immediate Release
October 5, 2016
Contact:
Kelly Trout, 717-439-0346 (cell), kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838 (cell), mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org
23 Committed Citizens Block Gate to Va. Governor’s Mansion with Message to McAuliffe: ‘Yes, you can protect us from pipelines, coal ash and climate change’
–Act of civil disobedience is first-ever over climate change at the Virginia Governor’s mansion, inspired by the movements to stop the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines
–‘Protectors’ arrested include grandmothers, landowners, a pastor, an Army veteran, a student, and coastal residents facing flood danger
RICHMOND, Va. — Twenty-three committed citizens were peacefully arrested this afternoon after blocking the gate to the Virginia Governor’s mansion, engaging in civil disobedience to send the message to Governor Terry McAuliffe that his legacy — and the welfare of Virginians — depends on rejecting reckless pipeline and coal ash permits, and championing 100% renewable energy solutions.
The action was the first-ever act of civil disobedience over climate change and fossil fuel pollution at the Virginia Governor’s mansion. The citizens who were arrested are facing misdemeanor trespassing charges and received a court summons.
Participants ranged in age from 20 to 83 and include citizens of Giles County, Nelson County, Norfolk, Richmond, Shenandoah County, Buckingham County, and Leesburg. The group included grandmothers, an Army veteran, a nurse, faith activists, a student, and people living on the front lines of sea-level rise. Potomac Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks and Pastor Paul Wilson, who ministers to two churches in Buckingham County in the impact zone of Dominion’s proposed pipeline compressor station, also took part.
Today’s action comes as Virginia faces unprecedented pollution threats driven by corporations like Dominion Resources. The latest math shows that any new investments in fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure — including pipelines for fracked gas — could lock in runaway climate change, including the permanent flooding of Virginia’s coastline. Meanwhile, utility company plans to bury toxic coal ash waste next to major rivers could lock in the contamination of waterways and drinking water sources for decades to come.
In response to Governor McAuliffe’s recent remarks that he’s powerless over these issues, citizens are saying clearly and loudly, “Yes, you can act, and the time is now,” using the administration’s documented regulatory authority under the law and powerful political microphone.
“My wife and I draw our drinking water from a spring that could be disrupted or drained completely by the sort of trenching and blasting required by the Mountain Valley Pipeline,” said Russell Chisholm, a landowner in Newport, Virginia, in Giles County and a US Army veteran who served in Desert Storm. “Governor McAuliffe and his administration have the power to protect our clean water. It’s not a question of means but of the political will to do the right thing.”
“I’m getting arrested today because the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, under Governor McAuliffe, has failed to protect public health when it comes to the proper disposal of millions of tons of toxic coal ash in the state,” said Dean Naujoks, the Potomac Riverkeeper. “There are drinking wells, next to coal ash sites in Virginia right now, that are confirmed to be contaminated and yet the state still won’t tell citizens whether the wells are safe to drink or not. In the meantime, the Governor has the full power, on his own, to order DEQ to follow the much stronger and safer coal ash standards of North and South Carolina and Georgia. He should do that today.”
“The temperatures are rising, and the coastal city in which I live and raise my children increasingly floods even on sunny days,” said Kim Williams, a mother of two living in Norfolk. “Building new gas pipelines will only speed up and intensify the flooding. We need Governor McAuliffe to show courageous leadership, not buy into business as usual with fossil fuels.”
These “protectors” are taking action in solidarity with people across Virginia who face direct harm from fracked-gas pipelines that would bisect their land, from toxins polluting their drinking water, and from rising tides increasingly flooding their streets and homes.
“The Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s route comes within five miles of my home, and I’m ‘lucky,’” said Deborah Kushner of Nelson County. “I know people whose land is in the direct path of this pipeline. We must stop our dependence on fossil fuels that are heating our atmosphere, destroying mountains, raising sea levels and clogging and polluting waterways. If it takes marching, picketing and getting arrested, so be it. We are fighting for our survival.”
The action in front of Governor McAuliffe’s house echoes the demands of dozens of citizens who joined three days of picketing outside the Governor’s offices this week. Six hundred people marched through 99-degree heat to the Governor’s mansion in July, and more than 60 landowner, social justice, faith, student, riverkeeper, and climate groups sent an open letter to the Governor in June, outlining how he can champion energy and climate justice. Polling released in September indicates that Virginia voters oppose Governor McAuliffe’s current support for fracked-gas pipelines and for Dominion’s “cap in place” coal ash plans by significant, bipartisan margins.

Fact sheet – The McAuliffe administration’s permit authority over fracked-gas pipelines: http://chesapeakeclimate.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McAuliffe-Gas-Pipeline-Authority-Fact-Sheet-Oct-2016.pdf
Fact sheet – Three ways Gov. McAuliffe can act now to protect Virginians from pipelines, coal ash and rising sea levels: http://chesapeakeclimate.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/McAuliffe-Yes-You-Can-Fact-Sheet-Oct-2016.pdf

Citizens Launch Three-Day Picket Line Outside of Gov. McAuliffe’s Richmond Offices, Chanting ‘Yes, You Can Stop the Pipelines!’

Military veterans, students, faith activists and landowners join growing confrontation over fossil fuels

RICHMOND, Va.—Fifty Virginians opposed to proposed fracked-gas pipelines launched a three-day picket line outside of Governor Terry McAuliffe’s Richmond offices this morning, calling on the Governor to take action to protect the state’s precious clean water resources from harm.
Over three days of picketing, citizens will highlight three ways Governor McAuliffe’s administration must stop denying—and start using—its executive authority and political leadership to protect Virginians from three urgent fossil fuel threats: pipelines, toxic coal ash, and rising sea levels driven by global warming.
The first day of picketing kicked off this morning with a press conference on the Capitol Grounds featuring Virginians from Giles County to Buckingham County who are being directly affected by the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline and Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
“We need Governor McAuliffe on the side of the citizens to keep our water clean,” said Don Jones, who stood next to his 86-year-old father George Jones, a Korean War veteran whose 10th-generation Virginia family farm would be bisected by the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Giles County. “We need water to survive, the gas we don’t, and Governor McAuliffe has the power to help us.”
In recent interviews, Governor McAuliffe has repeatedly called the pipelines a “federal issue” and inaccurately dismissed the state’s direct authority to approve or deny the 401 Water Quality Certificate each project needs under the Clean Water Act.
Legal experts today released a fact sheet outlining the case for state intervention. Picketers carried a blown up replica of a letter from New York State to prove the point. It shows the administration of Governor Andrew Cuomo in April denied a 401 water quality permit for a proposed 124-mile fracked-gas pipeline in New York.
“For many months, Governor McAuliffe has denied that he has authority to protect Virginians from the damages these pipelines would cause if built,” said David Sligh, Regulatory Systems Investigator with the Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition. “The law clearly contradicts his assertions, a fact that may explain why the Governor’s office and top environmental officials refuse to respond to the detailed information we’ve sent them or answer the specific questions we’ve asked regarding this issue.”
“How many communities must be destroyed before Governor McAuliffe and our political leaders decide enough is enough?,” asked Pastor Paul Wilson, minister to the Union Hill and Union Grove Missionary Baptist Churches, who will join the picket line on Wednesday. His churches are within a half-mile of Dominion’s proposed 53,000-horsepower compressor station for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. “The 200 people I serve stand to lose their health, property values, and quality of life, while Dominion stands to profit. It’s not too late for Governor McAuliffe to get on the right side of history and to tell Dominion ‘no,’” added Wilson.
People are converging on Richmond this week from every region of the state—from southwest Virginia to Nelson County to Northern Virginia to Norfolk. Each day citizens will parade past the Governor’s mansion with signs like, “Yes, You Can, Protect Our Water” and chants like “Fracked-gas pipelines flood our coastlines,” before forming a picket line on the sidewalk in front of the Governor’s offices in the Patrick Henry Building.
Tomorrow, Dan Marrow, a father from Dumfries, plans to bring a bottle of contaminated water from his family’s drinking well, and ask the Governor to sample it. The “Dominion Water” will list on the bottle the concentrations of toxins found in his family’s well, which is a short distance from a coal ash waste pond operated by Dominion Virginia Power.
On Tuesday—“Day 2” of the picket—citizens will tell Governor McAuliffe, “Yes, you can protect our water from coal ash,” by requiring Dominion to move the toxic waste away from rivers to modern, lined landfills, just as the Carolinas and Georgia are requiring utilities to do. Dominion is currently seeking sign off to bury its coal ash in place—a “pollute in place” plan that could contaminate rivers and drinking water sources for decades to come.
On Wednesday—“Day 3” of the picket—coastal Hampton Roads residents will come to Richmond to demand that Governor McAuliffe champion 100% clean energy and state-based adaptation solutions to protect their homes from growing flooding.
“Governor McAuliffe has shown a stunning lack of political courage when it comes to climate change—and my generation will pay the price,” said Izzy Pezzulo, a junior at the University of Richmond and member of the Virginia Student Environmental Coalition. “We’re at the point where half-measures are unacceptable. Climate leadership means keeping fossil fuels in the ground, and that means saying ‘no’ to pipelines.”
An alarming new report shows that investments in new fossil fuels, including new fracking wells and pipelines, must stop now in order to avoid catastrophic climate impacts — like the permanent flooding of Virginia’s coastal communities and military bases.
Polling released in September indicates that Virginia voters largely back the demands of the picket. Seventy-one percent of those polled believe Governor McAuliffe should follow the approach of other southern states on coal ash disposal. Additionally, only 28% of Virginia voters said they support Governor McAuliffe’s efforts to build fracked-gas pipelines, with 55% opposed.

Contact:
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org
Citizens announce a three-day picket outside of Governor McAuliffe’s Richmond offices in early October to demand protection from fossil fuel harm
RICHMOND, Va. — Statewide poll results released today show that, on the hot-button issues of fracked-gas pipelines and coal ash disposal, Virginia voters disagree with the approach being taken by Governor Terry McAuliffe by significant, bipartisan margins.
The results of the poll, conducted by the nonpartisan firm The Cromer Group, indicate that:

• Only 28% of Virginia voters support Governor McAuliffe’s efforts to build two major fracked-gas pipelines, while 55% oppose the Governor’s efforts, a nearly 2-to-1 margin of opposition.
• Opposition to Governor McAuliffe on pipelines was especially strong in rural Virginia, among Independents, and among women.
• An overwhelming majority of voters — 71% — believe Governor McAuliffe should follow the approach of other southern states on coal ash disposal, requiring removal of the ash to modern landfills instead of allowing Dominion to bury it in place by rivers.
• The coal ash results show a 5-to-1 margin against Dominion’s approach and in favor of the approach of other southern states — including a majority across every party, regional, and demographic group surveyed.

“This poll shows that Governor McAuliffe’s cheerleading for fracked-gas pipelines is not only dangerous for communities and the climate, but decidedly unpopular in Virginia,” said Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “The Governor likes to dismiss both the pipelines and coal ash as ‘federal issues’ beyond his influence, but that’s untrue. He has direct executive power to act on behalf of Virginians facing direct harm now. Governor McAuliffe has the means and the moral responsibility to reject the pipelines and to reform coal ash disposal, and his legacy depends on it.”
The poll results were released by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and Virginia Organizing during a tele-briefing this morning, which also included Virginia citizens who are being directly affected by the proposed Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines and by water contamination linked to coal ash.
“Governor Terry McAuliffe was elected on promises to protect our environment, and that’s what Virginia voters clearly still expect him to do,” said Janice “Jay” Johnson, a Newport News resident and State Governing Board member of Virginia Organizing. “By putting the welfare of people over polluters, Governor McAuliffe can gain the support and trust of a growing grassroots movement. He can protect me and my neighbors in Hampton Roads who live in daily fear of flooding and extreme weather, wondering when ‘the big one’ will hit us.”
Citizens on the call announced plans for a first-of-its-kind, three-day picket outside of Governor McAuliffe’s Richmond offices during the first week of October. The picket line will unite dozens of Virginians across the state in bringing this message to the Governor: “Yes, you can, and yes, you must, protect our welfare from pipelines, coal ash, and rising seas.”
“I’ll be bringing drinking water from my family’s well near Possum Point to Governor McAuliffe’s offices to ask him directly, ‘Would you let your kids drink this?,’” said Dan Marrow, a father from Dumfries whose family lives within 1,000 feet of a Dominion coal ash waste pond and whose drinking water recently tested positive for several toxic heavy metals. “If Governor McAuliffe lets Dominion continue with its ‘cap in place’ plan, more families like mine will face contaminated water and unknown health risks. Polling shows the public understands this threat and expects Governor McAuliffe to follow the safer approach of neighboring states.”
“My father and I will travel from Southwest Virginia to Richmond to appeal to the Governor to protect our 10th-generation family land, our water, and our heritage,” said Don Jones, the son of 86-year-old Korean War veteran George Jones, who owns property that would be bisected by the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Giles County. “Instead of doing the bidding of gas companies, it’s time for Governor McAuliffe to stand with citizens, and help stop these pipelines.”
“Our churches and seventy-five percent of our membership make up the ground-zero zone of the proposed compressor station for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline,” said Pastor Paul Wilson, who ministers to the Union Hill and Union Grove Baptist churches in Buckingham County. “Dominion’s message to us has been that 200-plus lives don’t matter, so we’re asking, does Governor McAuliffe agree? If the Governor believes in environmental justice, then he must commit to using his state authority to reject the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The Buckingham County Board of Supervisors must also reject Dominion’s permit request.”
During the three-day protest in October, citizens will press Governor McAuliffe to make a positive difference on three major pollution threats facing Virginia, specifically by:

• Rejecting permits for the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast Pipelines for fracked gas, using state authority under the Clean Water Act, as Governor Andrew Cuomo has done in New York State.
• Requiring Dominion and other utilities to permanently protect Virginia waterways from toxic coal ash, as state authorities in the Carolinas and Georgia are doing.
• Committing to serious clean energy and adaptation solutions to keep coastal communities above water, including a dedicated state funding stream for flood protection.

The Cromer Group poll, commissioned by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, surveyed 732 randomly-selected Virginia registered voters in an automated phone survey. The survey carries a margin of error of + 4.0 percent at 95 percent level of confidence.
View a PDF summary of the poll results and methodology at: http://chesapeakeclimate.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Gov-McAuliffe-Survey-Results-Sep-16.pdf
Listen to a recording of this morning’s tele-briefing on the poll results at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0k8OB0-Dp5ReFU3T3l4SDZqcnc/view
Download a copy of the poll results graphic at: http://chesapeakeclimate.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/VA-2016-Poll-Results-Graphic.png

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The Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the biggest and oldest grassroots organization dedicated to fighting climate change in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC. CCAN is building a powerful movement to shift our region away from climate-harming fossil fuels and to clean energy solutions: www.chesapeakeclimate.org.

BALTIMORE – This morning, 12 concerned Baltimore residents wearing red shirts bearing the message “Hear the Oil Trains Bill” attended a City Council hearing to protest nine months of inaction on a common-sense bill to address the health and safety dangers of explosive oil trains that travel through Baltimore. At the start of the hearing, Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Kraft informed the community activists that he had just scheduled a committee hearing for this bill on November 1, 2016.
Clean Water Action and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network issued the following statement in response:
“We applaud Councilman Jim Kraft for listening to the concerns of his constituents and the greater Baltimore community and taking this simple, yet important step toward action on the public health and safety risks of oil trains. We look forward to working with him to ensure that Council Bill 16-0621 passes successfully so that Baltimoreans will be better informed of, and the City will be better prepared for, the dangers of explosive crude oil trains.”
Council Bill 16-0621 was introduced on January 26, 2016 by City Council President Jack Young and co-sponsored by an overwhelming majority of the City Council. The bill would require the first-ever city study of the health and safety impacts of oil trains in Baltimore, where more than 165,000 people live within the one-mile potential impact zone of a derailment and explosion.
The bill was assigned to the Judiciary and Legislative Investigations Committee where it languished for nine months with no action. Today’s announcement that a hearing has been scheduled marks an important step before the bill goes before the full Council. The Committee also requested reports on the bill from the City Solicitor, the Health Department, and the Department of Finance. These reports have not yet been received by the Committee.
Contact:
Jamshid Bakhtiari, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, jamshid@chesapeakeclimate.org, 443-826-9784
Jennifer Kunze, Clean Water Action, jkunze@cleanwater.org, 410-235-8808

For Immediate Release: Saturday, July 23, 2016
Contact:
Kelly Trout, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, 717-439-0346 (cell), kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Amanda Pohl, Virginia Organizing, 804-337-1912, amanda@virginia-organizing.org
Sharon Ponton, Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, 434-420-1874, ponton913@msn.com

Six Hundred Virginians Join ‘March on the Mansion’ to Tell Gov. McAuliffe: Put People Over Polluters on Pipelines, Coal Ash, and Climate Action

As record warm temperatures strike the U.S., Virginians call for clean energy instead of fracked-gas pipelines, polluted water, and flooded homes

First-of-its-kind climate justice rally in Va. unites people on the front lines of fossil fuel harm and social justice, faith, landowner, student, conservation, and climate movements

RICHMOND, Va.—As record warm temperatures strike the U.S., 600 activists marched to Governor Terry McAuliffe’s house on Saturday to demand that he put the welfare of people ahead of the interests of polluters. Waving banners that included “McAuliffe: Climate Justice Can’t Wait,” the protesters demanded that the Governor become a full-time champion of renewable energy solutions, and stop supporting fossil fuels that harm communities and worsen global warming.
The “March on the Mansion” brought together people from Norfolk to Northern Virginia to the New River Valley who face first-hand effects from dirty energy policies that Gov. McAuliffe supports. Farmers whose land is threatened by the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline marched shoulder-to-shoulder with Virginians whose drinking water is polluted by coal ash and coastal residents whose homes are being flooded by rising seas.
With colorful signs, chants, songs, and a 40-foot-long mock pipeline, rally-goers paraded from Brown’s Island Park along the James River to Capitol Square, calling on the Governor to listen to their voices and stand up to polluters like Dominion Resources and EQT/NextEra.
Rally speakers included Pastor Paul Williams, a minister in a primarily African American community in Buckingham County, the proposed site of a massive compressor station for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline; Carolyn Reilly, whose family farm in Franklin County would be divided by the Mountain Valley Pipeline; and Dan Marrow, whose family lives near Dominion’s Possum Point coal ash ponds and is forced to drink bottled water due to trace contaminants in his well water.
Nebraskan Jane Kleeb, a key leader of the “Cowboy and Indian Alliance” that defeated the Keystone XL pipeline, also joined Saturday’s rally in solidarity. The event came on the heels of a new report showing that the surge of fracked-gas pipelines proposed in Virginia and across the Appalachian basin are incompatible with a safe climate future, and fail the “climate test” applied to Keystone XL.
More than 60 landowner, social justice, faith, student, riverkeeper, and climate groups organized and endorsed the rally, demonstrating the growing movement across Virginia calling for swift and serious action to transition to sustainable and just energy. The groups will continue working together to challenge the stranglehold that polluting companies have over energy policy in Richmond.
In an open letter to Gov. McAuliffe in June, the groups laid out a vision for affordable, clean energy development that matches the scale of the climate crisis, gives local communities a voice, and advances social, racial and environmental justice. To put Virginia on a path to tackle climate change and protect community health, the organizing groups Saturday called on Governor McAuliffe to:

1. Oppose gas and oil projects that hurt Virginians and our economy, including using state authority to deny Clean Water Act permits for proposed fracked-gas pipelines. The proposed Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines, related compressor stations and gas plants, and offshore oil rigs will worsen the climate crisis and create racial, rural, and economic sacrifice zones when affordable clean energy alternatives are available.
2. Stop supporting reckless coal ash disposal plans that pollute rivers and drinking water. The Governor and the Department of Environmental Quality must reject utility company plans to dump millions more gallons of coal ash wastewater (containing toxic heavy metals) into our rivers and to bury the ash in unlined pits. Coal ash must be properly isolated and stored in a way that permanently protects our water.
3. Explicitly commit to reducing total climate pollution from Virginia power plants through federal and state clean power rules. The Governor must reject Dominion’s plan to increase climate pollution from power plants. Instead, take positive action to protect public health and natural resources, and ensure a transition to renewable energy.

Speakers on Saturday echoed this call for clean energy and polluter-free politics:
Janice “Jay” Johnson, Newport News resident and board member of Virginia Organizing: “Our grassroots environmental movement is about putting the people of Virginia over the polluters destroying our environment, which is what the governor was elected to do. The problems caused by climate change are literally coming to our back yards in floods, potential fracked-gas pipelines, and the erosion of our land, air, and water quality — we’re taking these problems to Governor McAuliffe’s back yard so he will finally pay attention.”
Pastor Paul Wilson, who ministers to the Union Hill and Union Grove Baptist churches in Buckingham County: “Our churches and seventy-five percent of our membership make up the ground-zero zone of the proposed compressor station for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Dominion’s real message to us is that 200-plus lives don’t matter.”
Lewis Freeman, Chair and Executive Director of the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance, a coalition of 50 organizations in Virginia and West Virginia that oppose the Atlantic Coast Pipeline: “We call on Governor McAuliffe to live up to the promise of his own words and insist that his Administration do its job to assure that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline or any other similar major project meets the environmental standards Virginians have every right to expect will be enforced.”
Carolyn Reilly, Franklin County farmer whose land would be crossed by the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Virginia Community Organizer with the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League: “Throughout this tough and messy pipeline fight, one of the key lessons I’ve learned is this: your voice matters. My voice matters. Our kids’ voices matters. And it is for our children and grandchildren that we press forward in perseverance to protect our homes, our land, and our communities. We, the People, must unite our voices and demand that the Governor take heed and listen.”
Mike Tidwell, Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network: “During this extreme heat wave, it is increasingly shocking that Governor McAuliffe supports more extreme fossil fuels. Virginians marched in record numbers to the Governor’s house to demand change. Affordable, clean energy is wholly within our grasp if our leaders stand up to Dominion and short-sighted polluters.”
Dan Marrow, resident of Quantico, Virginia, whose family lives near Dominion’s Possum Point coal ash ponds and now drinks bottled water: “Water is life. Dominion and McAuliffe should clean up their coal ash!”
The Rev. Weston Mathews, Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Virginia: “Remembering the account we must one day give, may we be faithful stewards of God’s creation, for it does not belong to us. Climate justice is what love looks like in public.”
Heidi Cochran, a Nelson County landowner who has been a leading voice in the fight against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline: “Our constitutional rights to our private property and our rights to a clean and safe environment for our children’s future are being threatened by the fossil fuel industry. It is time for our Governor to become informed and live up to his promises to protect Virginians and our environment from the impacts of climate change.”
Rick Shingles, direct action coordinator for Protect Our Water, Heritage, and Rights (POWHR), a group that opposes the Mountain Valley Pipeline: “Governor McAuliffe has misled the public, claiming Virginia will be dependent on ‘natural’ gas for the foreseeable future. Not True! He’s simply promoting an unnecessary and undesirable monopoly on the part of Dominion Resources.”
Lauren Malhotra, a student organizer with the Virginia Student Environmental Coalition: “All other liberation struggles are tied into this one. Climate change is the global threat multiplier of our time and will exacerbate the problems of inequality, conflict, and suffering that already seem too great to solve. Climate justice means striving for a fair future that supports all communities.”

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Visit MarchontheMansion.org and follow the hashtag #ReachTerry for more information.

Decision by Texas-based Targa Terminals Reduces Dangerous Bakken Oil by Rail Through City

Baltimore, Md. – Environmental groups today applauded a decision by a Houston-based company to withdraw plans for a crude oil terminal in the Fairfield area of South Baltimore that could have shipped over 383 million gallons of crude by rail through the city and the Chesapeake Bay.
“It is great news for residents of South Baltimore living near rail lines that Targa Terminals has now withdrawn its application for a crude oil terminal permit,” said Leah Kelly, attorney for the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP).   “Bakken crude oil is volatile and potentially dangerous, and this permit would have allowed one 35-car train per day of Bakken crude to travel through South Baltimore neighborhoods to the terminal.”
Rail shipments of crude oil from the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota have been involved in several large explosions since 2013 following train derailments, including an explosion in the Canadian town of Lac-Megantic that killed 47 people and destroyed the downtown area. Last month, a crude oil train explosion and fire in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge resulted in an evacuation and cancelation of the last week of school in a nearby town.
Late on Friday, July 8, the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) informed EIP that Targa had withdrawn its request for a permit to ship crude oil through its existing terminal in the Fairfield area of South Baltimore.
“This is a victory for Baltimore communities and for the climate,” said Jon Kenney, Healthy Communities Organizer with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “Thanks to citizen and legal pressure, Targa has terminated its plan to ship more dangerous crude oil out of Baltimore, and bring a new surge of oil trains through our communities. However, we know there are still thousands of gallons of crude oil rolling through Baltimore every week, putting communities in danger. As a next step, the City Council must act on legislation requiring health and safety studies of oil trains.”
Targa Terminals applied in 2014 for a permit from MDE that would have allowed crude oil shipment and storage at its Fairfield terminal.  The company specifically requested approval to handle Bakken crude oil.
In May 2015, MDE put its review of Targa Terminals’ crude oil permit application on hold in response to legal comments filed by attorneys with EIP on behalf of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Sierra Club, and Chesapeake Bay Foundation. MDE said at the time it was not moving forward with any further review “until the department receives additional information from the company.”
On June 29, 2016, Targa Terminals withdrew that application rather than provide the information required by MDE.  In a responsive letter dated July 8, 2016, MDE advised the company that, until a crude oil permit is granted, the company is “prohibited from receiving, storing, and/or transferring crude oil at the Baltimore Terminal.”
“We’re happy and relieved that Targa Terminals has chosen not to pursue constructing a crude oil storage and loading facility in South Baltimore,” said Jennifer Kunze, Maryland State Organizer for Clean Water Action.  “If it had been constructed, this would have increased the air pollution in an already-overburdened area of Baltimore, where neighbors just won the fight to stop construction of the nation’s largest trash-burning incinerator.  It also would have meant more trains carrying volatile crude oil through South and Southwest Baltimore, neighborhoods where people’s homes, parks, churches, and businesses are just yards from the tracks – putting them at risk of an explosion if one of those train cars derailed.”
Contact:
Tom Pelton, Environmental Integrity Project, 443-510-2574 or tpelton@environmentalintegrity.org
Kelly Trout, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Jennifer Kunze, Clean Water Action, 410-235-8808.  jkunze@cleanwater.org

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