Category: Press Releases

ANNAPOLIS—The Maryland House of Delegates voted 102-34 on Friday afternoon to give final approval to a bill (HB 449) that would prohibit fracking for natural gas in the state through October 1, 2017. The bill now heads to the desk of Governor Larry Hogan.
Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, had the following statement in response:
“Thousands of people from every corner of Maryland have called on their legislators to protect our state from dangerous fracking. Lawmakers have now followed the will of state voters by sending a fracking moratorium bill to the governor’s desk. The bill will guarantee that no gas company can drill into Maryland soil for at least two and a half years. It will give legislators important time to evaluate mounting evidence that fracking would pose unacceptable risks to our health, environment, and tourism economy.
“It’s now up to Governor Hogan to sign the moratorium bill into law, and it should be an easy choice. The General Assembly passed this bill with overwhelming, bipartisan support, and polling shows that a clear majority of Marylanders oppose fracking.
“Ultimately, the General Assembly’s landmark passage of fracking moratorium legislation is a testament to a strong and growing grassroots movement in Maryland. For five years, Marylanders have been fighting to protect our beautiful state from potentially irreversible harm at the hands of the gas industry. A fracking moratorium bill now sits on Governor Hogan’s desk. This much is certain: our movement will keep growing and not let up until Maryland communities are fully protected from the serious risks of fracking.”
Contact:
Shilpa Joshi, 503-998-8630, shilpa@chesapeakeclimate.org
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

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The Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the biggest and oldest grassroots organization dedicated to fighting climate change in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. We’re building a powerful movement to shift our region away from climate-harming fossil fuels and to clean energy solutions.

Activists bring a 40-foot ‘pipeline’ to the governor’s offices in Richmond to dramatize the risks Dominion is forcing on Virginia communities

RICHMOND—Citizens in the path of Dominion Resources’ proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline joined with environmental advocates in Richmond today to deliver over 5,000 messages to Governor Terry McAuliffe demanding that he rescind his support for the massive fracked gas project. Activists brought their own 40-foot inflatable “pipeline” prop emblazoned with the words “No New Pipelines!” to the Patrick Henry Building for a noon press conference, and then hand-delivered the petitions.
View photos from the press conference, including the pipeline prop, at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chesapeakeclimate/sets/72157651811591031/
Speaking ahead of the delivery, landowners called on Gov. McAuliffe to stand with them in defending the safety, natural resources, and economic security of Virginia communities—instead of paving the way for Dominion’s private gain. Environmental advocates stressed further that the proposed pipeline flies in the face of the governor’s commitment to tackling climate change, given studies showing gas extracted through the controversial practice of fracking disrupts the climate on par with coal.
“Our homes, farms and rural lifestyle should not be taken from us against our will to build an ‘energy superhighway’ for Dominion,” said Joanna Salidis, president, Friends of Nelson County. “Our confidence that the regulatory process, or our government itself, will protect the public, has been severely eroded, especially as we see how Dominion controls energy policy in Virginia. The interdependence between our government, at every level, and the fossil fuel industry is seriously compromising our rights to safety, health, and due process.”
Today’s petition delivery follows the March launch of pipeline opponents’ “All Pain, No Gain” advertising and online campaign, which refutes Dominion’s claims about the project’s benefits.
“For the people in western Virginia, this proposed pipeline has no up side,” said Nancy Sorrells, co-chair of the Augusta County Alliance. “Our property rights are ignored, our precious water resources are threatened, our public safety is compromised, our environmental and historic resources ravaged, and our farm and properties devalued. In return we get nothing! Are the precious headwaters of the James and Shenandoah Rivers worth the gamble? For those who depend on clean drinking water in the Shenandoah Valley, Washington, D.C., and Richmond, the answer should be no.”
“Why would our Governor support a project that threatens Virginia residents with eminent domain, property seizures, a decline in property values, known risks to human health and a complete disruption to our quality of life in Buckingham County?,” said Heather Nolen, chair of Friends of Buckingham County, where Dominion has proposed siting a gas compressor station along the pipeline route. “Buckingham citizens continue to operate in a vacuum of information, even as our research shows compressor stations are heavily polluting. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has enabled Dominion’s campaign of silence and furthered a process that continues to overlook one of the most impacted communities along the pipeline route. Who will stand up for our interests?”
The Augusta County Alliance, Friends of Nelson and Friends of Buckingham partnered with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Sierra Club, Virginia Chapter, and Environmental Action to gather and deliver the petitions.
“Governor McAuliffe can’t be a leader on climate while supporting Dominion’s multi-billion dollar investments in dirty and dangerous fracked gas,” said Lauren Goldman, Virginia Campaign Coordinator at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “Largely thanks to Dominion, Virginia ranks near the bottom regionally for energy efficiency and solar power, while having some of the highest average electric bills. Why endanger our farms, homes and natural resources with new gas pipelines when we could see greater economic gains, more stable prices, and less pollution through efficiency measures, solar and wind power?”
“Significant environmental damage would occur as a result of construction of the pipeline in karst topography, over mountainous terrain and through sensitive environmental areas including the George Washington and Monongahela National Forests, the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian Trail,” said Kirk Bowers, Pipeline Organizer, Virginia Sierra Club. “The Sierra Club is submitting petitions to the Secretariat of Natural Resources expressing our request for consideration of the serious environmental consequences of constructing large diameter pipelines in Virginia.”
“Environmental Action stands with Virginia property owners and concerned citizens from the shipyards of Norfolk to the mountains of Blacksburg,” said Anthony Rogers-Wright, Policy and Organizing Director, Environmental Action. “This is not a liberal or a conservative issue, it’s a case of right and wrong for our people and the planet we all depend on. Dominion primarily wants to maximize its profit, while we in Virginia get stuck with the contaminated drinking water, leaking pipelines, and inevitable damage.”
BACKGROUND:
In September, Governor Terry McAuliffe stood with Dominion CEO Thomas Farrell to endorse the company’s proposal to build a $5 billion, 550-mile, 42-inch high pressure pipeline to carry fracked natural gas from West Virginia, across central Virginia, to North Carolina. The project is one of three proposed pipelines to carry fracked natural gas across the state. While Gov. McAuliffe recently asserted he’s in “constant communication” with Dominion, he has yet to meet directly with Virginians concerned about the potential harm the pipeline and associated compressor stations could cause to local property values, human health, agricultural, cultural and water resources, and public lands that sustain local economies.
Landowners, farmers, business owners, students, environmentalists and other concerned residents have mobilized a strong and growing grassroots resistance to oppose pipeline construction. Concerned residents packed recent scoping meetings held by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. To counteract inflated claims about the project’s benefits, Friends of Nelson, the Augusta County Alliance, and Friends of Buckingham have also commissioned an independent impact study of the economic losses that the project could inflict.
CONTACT:
Nancy Sorrells, Augusta County Alliance, 540-292-4170, lotswife@comcast.net
Joanna Salidis, Friends of Nelson, 434-242-5859, josalidis@gmail.com
Monique Sullivan, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, 202-440-4318, monique@chesapeakeclimate.org

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ROCKVILLE—Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, had the following statement in response to the Montgomery County Council’s passage of a resolution this morning finding that a proposed county settlement on the Exelon-Pepco merger falls short of protecting the public interest:
“Today, the Montgomery County Council joined a growing list of opponents – including the Maryland Attorney General – in criticizing the major inadequacies of the proposed merger between energy companies Exelon and Pepco. The Council rightly pointed out, with leadership from Councilmember Roger Berliner, that Exelon has not offered the Montgomery County government and the rest of the state nearly enough clean energy to serve the ‘public interest.’ CCAN could not agree more.
“In an era of rapid climate change – with Antarctic ice vanishing and extreme weather affecting all Marylanders – the public interest can only be met if Exelon commits to becoming a national leader in wind and solar power development as well as energy efficiency. Instead, Exelon clearly intends to prop up its aging and unprofitable nuclear energy fleet by expanding its base of paying customers to include the entire Pepco service territory. This is not good for the economy, ratepayers, or the environment.
“We commend the Montgomery County Council for demanding that Exelon do more as part of this proposed merger. To its credit, Exelon has pledged to significantly increase service reliability in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties. Now the company must go further and make Maryland a reliable national leader in cleaning our air and developing climate-friendly wind and solar power on a large scale. We agree with the County Council that, without such a commitment, this merger is not in the public interest of the county or the state.”
The background text to the resolution passed today warns that the county settlement “does not adequately address the overarching issues that have led the State, the Office of People’s Counsel, the environmental community, and other public interest organizations to maintain that the merger is contrary to the public interest.”
The resolution states: “The Montgomery County Council urges the Maryland Public Service Commission to mitigate the serious risks to the public interest by insisting, at a minimum, on very strong, verifiable, and financially accountable commitments by Exelon (a) to holding down costs to ratepayers and (b) to national leadership in clean, renewable, distributed energy and energy efficiency, with a commitment to a renewable energy standard that is in line with top-performing states.”
View a copy of the full resolution text at: http://chesapeakeclimate.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Montgomery-County-Resolution-on-Pepco-Exelon-Settlement.pdf
Contact:
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org

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RICHMOND—Dominion Resources, already the top emitter of planet-heating greenhouse gas pollution in Virginia, announced a proposal this morning to build a new 1,600-megawatt gas-fired power plant in Southside Virginia. If approved, the plant would be the largest gas-fired power plant in the state.
Kirsten Collings, deputy director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, had the following statement in response:
“You can’t solve the climate crisis by investing in more fossil fuels. A growing body of evidence shows that fracked gas could be worse for the climate than coal over the next 20 years because of leaks of heat-trapping methane. Governor McAuliffe has his facts wrong in endorsing this project as ‘clean,’ just as he did when endorsing Dominion’s massive Atlantic Coast pipeline for fracked gas.
“The reality is that Virginia simply doesn’t need and can’t afford new investments in fossil fuels. Dominion could more than offset the need to build a new gas-burning power plant by investing in modest energy-saving technologies that would reduce demand along with Virginians’ utility bills. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Virginians pay the 7th highest average electric bills in the nation, and our state ranks near the bottom on energy efficiency. Dominion should be investing in the commonwealth’s vast clean energy resources, which would create jobs, lower bills and reduce emissions of climate-disrupting pollution.”
Contact:
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

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Advocates applaud vote as a first step toward transparency, say much more is needed to protect public safety from the growing threat of crude oil trains

ANNAPOLIS — The Maryland House of Delegates voted 123 to 14 today to advance legislation (HB 1073) that would require state study of the risks of crude oil train accidents in Maryland. The bill, sponsored by Delegate Clarence Lam, also requires disclosure of the volume of crude oil being transported by trains in the state.
Since February, four crude oil trains have derailed and exploded across the U.S. and Canada, destroying one home, forcing evacuations, and causing fires that burned for days. Today’s vote comes as the oil industry targets the port of Baltimore as a new throughway for shipping highly flammable oil from the Bakken region of North Dakota to East Coast refineries.
“This bill is an important first step toward understanding the risks that so-called ‘bomb trains’ pose to the health and safety of Marylanders. We applaud Delegate Lam for his leadership, and the House of Delegate for voting overwhelmingly to pass this bill. It is time now for the Senate to follow suit,” said Jon Kenney, Maryland Community Organizer for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.
“At the same time, further action is needed,” continued Kenney. “Communities are still left in the dark when it comes to basic information. For instance, since the amended bill does not require companies to disclose where these oil trains are traveling, communities have no way of knowing if trains are running through their neighborhoods.”
In Baltimore, Texas-based Targa Resources is currently seeking approval to establish a crude oil shipping facility in the community of Curtis Bay. This plan would create a market for sending millions of gallons of crude oil daily on rail lines through Baltimore, bringing serious safety risks to South Baltimore and the city as a whole.
“In Baltimore, action must be taken on the city level. The City Council must require a full Health Impact Assessment (HIA) before crude oil trains are running through the center of the city on their way to Curtis Bay, and should make that study available to the public,” added Kenney. “This study would give communities that live near rail lines the opportunity to understand how to handle an emergency evacuation should a derailment and disaster occur.”
“If only one car was to derail and explode, at minimum a half-mile evacuation radius would be necessary to prevent loss of life, while simultaneously spilling toxic crude oil into our waterways and the Inner Harbor, causing potentially irreversible damage to our drinking water, economy and ecosystem,” said Will Fadely, Baltimore Program Organizer for Clean Water Action. “Is Baltimore really ready for such a devastating possibility?”
To date, Maryland remains one of the last states in the country that has not yet disclosed crude oil train routes. Meanwhile, rail companies CSX and Norfolk Southern are in the middle of a controversial lawsuit to prevent the state of Maryland from disclosing the amounts and routes of Bakken crude travelling throughout the state.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, a minimum of a half-mile evacuation radius would be necessary should one train car carrying explosive crude oil derail from the tracks.
Read a fact sheet about the threat of Crude by Rail through Baltimore here:
http://chesapeakeclimate.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/CCAN-Baltimore-Crude-Factsheet-1.pdf
Contact:
Jon Kenney, 301-385-4187, jon@chesapeakeclimate.org
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

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CCAN applauds resounding 93-45 House vote, calls on senators to act swiftly in turn

ANNAPOLIS—Today the Maryland House of Delegates voted 93 to 45 to pass a three-year fracking moratorium—a resounding 2-to-1 margin that included bipartisan support. The bill, the Protect Our Health and Communities Act (HB 449), now moves on to the Senate.
Shilpa Joshi, Maryland Campaign Coordinator at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, had the following statement in response:
“The House made the right choice today to protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the natural resources that are the foundation of so many Maryland livelihoods. As more than 100 Western Maryland businesses, more than 100 Maryland health professionals, and thousands of individual citizens have warned, we have a whole lot to lose and little to gain by opening our state to dangerous fracking.
“Senators should now act swiftly in passing this three-year moratorium. Polling shows that Marylanders want this moratorium, and the emerging science shows that this is the only way to safeguard our health.”
Click here to read the full statement from the “Don’t Frack Maryland” coalition. See the excerpt recapping the widespread grassroots support for the moratorium:

Business owners in Western Maryland have expressed growing concern that fracking will negatively affect the booming tourism industry in that part of the state, where fracking would occur in the Marcellus Shale. Over 100 Western Maryland business owners have signed a letter to the leadership of the General Assembly in support of the fracking moratorium. The Don’t Frack Maryland campaign has also sent over 25,000 messages supporting a moratorium. Letters signed by more than 100 health professionals, and over 50 restaurant owners, chefs, winemakers and farmers from across the state have also been delivered to the General Assembly. And last night, the Friendsville Town Council, whose city is the center of a thriving white-water rafting industry in the state, sent a letter supporting a moratorium to President Miller, urging him to encourage a vote in the Senate.

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Over 50 food professionals warn lawmakers: ‘clean water and healthy soil’ is vital to business

ANNAPOLIS—Warning that clean water and healthy soil are vital to their economic success, 56 Maryland food business owners and professionals are delivering a letter to the General Assembly today urging lawmakers to pass a moratorium on fracking in the state.
“Our livelihoods depend on pure water, healthy soil, and clean air and would be irreversibly damaged by hydraulic fracturing,” the letter states on behalf of farmers, chefs, restaurant owners, brewers, winemakers, cheesemakers, retailers, cidermakers, and more.
“Agriculture, fishing, restaurants, tourism, and food and beverage production make up a vital economic network in our state, and we rely on clean water and healthy soil to cultivate our local bounty and succeed in our business … Be our leader and pass the Protect Our Health and Communities Act (SB 409/HB 449) for the state of Maryland,” the letter concludes.
The Protect Our Health and Communities Act, which would put a long-term hold on fracking permits in Maryland, is currently awaiting action by House and Senate committees following recent bill hearings.
The food professionals signing today’s letter join more than 100 Western Maryland business owners who appealed to lawmakers last week to pass the moratorium bill. That letter warned that the highly industrial, polluting process of fracking could have “sudden and dramatic” negative impacts on the tourism-dependent economy of Mountain Maryland.
Businesses represented on today’s letter span the state, from FireFly Farms in Garrett County to Distillery Lane Ciderworks near Frederick to Hawks Hill Creamery in Harford County to Baltimore’s Woodberry Kitchen.
“Fracking near any Maryland farm or vineyard will compromise the safety of both the crop and the grower,” said Nadine Grabania, co-owner of Deep Creek Cellars Winery in Friendsville. “Many have heard by now the well-known risks to air, water and public health associated with fracking. But fracking will also harm our food and our lungs with road dust and diesel particulates as quiet country roads are turned into industrial traffic jams near Maryland farms. We’re proud to stand with fellow Maryland food growers and professionals to ask for a moratorium on fracking until we know for sure that this heavy industrial activity will not harm our health, our local food, and our thriving farm-to-table economy.”
“From the oysters in the Chesapeake to our bountiful farms, Maryland has long been known for its natural abundance,” said Spike Gjerde, founder of Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore. “The purity of our food and farmland is unparalleled, and we have a strong community of local growers and food artisans dedicated to protecting our rich agricultural heritage from fracking.”
Fracking is a controversial natural gas drilling method that involves blasting millions of gallons of water, sand and toxic chemicals underground at extreme pressure to break up rock and release the gas. Maryland’s new governor, Larry Hogan, has said he wants to move forward with drilling—despite the growing evidence of its harm and the most recent polling, which shows a clear majority of Marylanders oppose the practice.
Last week, the “Don’t Frack Maryland” coalition, which includes more than 100 public interest organizations, businesses, health professionals and faith groups, delivered over 20,000 messages to lawmakers from residents across the state calling for a moratorium.
View the full text of the letter and all 56 signers at: http://chesapeakeclimate.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/MD-Farmers-Food-Professionals-Fracking-Moratorium-Letter.pdf
Contact:
Shilpa Joshi, 240-396-2029, shilpa@chesapeakeclimate.org
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

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