CCAN Summer Newsletter 2024
Letter from the Director
2024: The Most Important Election
I bet the only thing you can really think about right now is the upcoming November elections. I know that’s true for me.
So while I wish I could use this space to tell you about the Chesapeake Climate Action Network’s (CCAN) and CCAN Action Fund’s growing success in stopping outrageous polluters like Washington Gas in D.C. and Dominion Energy in Chesterfield County, Virginia and the anti-offshore wind crazies on Maryland’s coast – all I can think about is the upcoming November elections.
And while I’d like to tell you more about legislation passed in Maryland in April to bring more solar to the state and the bill passed in Washington D.C. in May to bring heat pumps to low-income residents, and the campaign in Virginia to promote electric vehicle charging stations in rural counties – all I can think about is the upcoming November elections.
So that’s what I’ll talk about here. I hope you’re registered to vote and you’ll bug all your friends and family to do the same. I hope you’ll create a plan to vote early and help others do the same. And I hope you’ll volunteer in whatever way makes a difference in the local, state, and national elections that matter to you.
We say it every four years, but this time it really, really is true: this is the most important election of our lifetime. Please do what you can. Give every hour you can. I know I will. And after the elections, we’ll be right back at it here at CCAN in December and throughout 2025 – passing clean energy legislation at the state level, implementing the Inflation Reduction Act across the country, and rescuing the climate for every person on the planet.
Thank you for everything you do. Thank you for everything you’re going to do. Here’s to our future.
Onward,
Mike Tidwell
Executive Director
Chesapeake Climate Action Network & CCAN Action Fund
Explore CCAN Updates
Federal
The LNG Export Fight Continues
Over the past decade we’ve seen the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) rubber stamp one new export facility after another for a dangerous and powerful fossil fuel known as liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Stopping the buildout of LNG export facilities has been a priority for our team since 2013. And over the winter we delivered more than 5,000 petition signatures and 100 handwritten letters to the DOE urging President Joe Biden and DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm to stop all new LNG permit approvals until they look at the impact of these facilities on our communities, the climate, and U.S. consumers. This was part of a broader effort with partners and together we sent almost 500,000 signatures and letters.
Success Tackling Power Plant Pollution
For years, we’ve been calling on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to step up their game tackling toxic pollution from fossil fuels. We’ve held rallies, sent petitions, made phone calls, submitted public comments, and testified at hearings. And this spring, they listened! The EPA finalized a historic package of standards to reduce mercury pollution, coal ash, and best of all, carbon pollution from new and existing power plants. Now, all coal and gas plants will need to cut or capture 90% of their carbon emissions — a huge step forward in the climate fight. We’re already seeing hostile attempts to use the authority in the Congressional Review Act to reverse these standards. But we’ve built a strong firewall to deny these attempts. Donate to support our national campaign >>
Washington, DC
Trailblazing Victory: Healthy Homes Act Passed!
This spring was HUGE for our team in the District of Columbia! After over a year of non-stop advocacy with partners, CCAN Action Fund was thrilled to celebrate the unanimous passage of the Healthy Homes Act by the D.C. Council!
Over the last year, our members joined rallies and advocacy days. They emailed, wrote and called their Councilmembers in support of this trailblazing legislation. The Healthy Homes Act will help speed up the District’s electrification efforts and put low-income households at the forefront of that transition.
In the coming months, we’ll be tracking the implementation of the Healthy Homes Act and helping income-qualified community members sign up for the free home-electrification program. Donate to support these efforts >>
Did We Just Stop “Project Pipes?”
When we embarked on the bold campaign to end Washington Gas’s Project Pipes, a $12 billion pollution plan that’s bleeding residents of cash in the name of unnecessary and unstrategic pipe replacements, there were many who thought our efforts were noble yet futile. But in early June, the D.C. Public Service Commission (PSC) unanimously rejected funding for the project’s Phase 3. On the same day, the PSC also approved a request for an investigation into Washington Gas’s leak management practices due to the concerning rates of hazardous leaks in the District’s gas system. These decisions bring us closer than ever to stopping this project once and for all.
Interested in getting involved in this work?
Join our volunteer-led D.C. Action Team to help us expand our work and dream up new campaign priorities.
Maryland
Make Buildings Green Again
Governor Wes Moore took his biggest step yet toward meeting Maryland’s climate goals when he directed the Maryland Department of the Environment to develop and implement a Zero-Emission Heating Equipment Standard. This new policy sounds wonky but is really quite simple: It will phase in pollution-free equipment such as heat pumps over time, kicking in when an existing fossil fuel-powered boiler or furnace gives out.
When combined with the Building Energy Performance Standards passed in the Climate Solutions Now Act, these policies will help decarbonize the entire building sector in Maryland. CCAN and our partners campaigned for many years to achieve these victories, and more work will be required in the years ahead to ensure their effective implementation.
Make Polluters Pay
Equitably achieving our climate goals will require funding. Governor Moore’s Climate Pollution Reduction Plan means that Maryland must invest $1 billion a year between now and 2031 to reduce climate pollution swiftly. Our team is leading a campaign to make these necessary investments in climate mitigation and adaptation by making polluters pay for it.
Over the past year we have brought the Responding to Emergency Needs from Extreme Weather (RENEW) Act, which would do just that, from obscurity to the center of the debate in Annapolis. There is growing momentum here for this policy, and both Vermont and New York passed similar legislation this year. We’re throwing our full grassroots power behind passing the RENEW Act in the 2025 legislative session. To prepare for the upcoming year, our team will be focusing on building grassroots support and growing volunteer action teams.
Virginia
Fighting the Chesterfield Gas Plant
It’s only with strategic organizing and mass community resistance that we’re able to win against polluting mega-corporations. This strategy was highlighted in our recent work to stop the buildout of a new massive fracked-gas plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia. Through community organizing, we turned out over 100 people to a community meeting with lawmakers, and over 80 people to a Board of Supervisors meeting. After this showing, Dominion Energy decided it couldn’t win – and is now likely abandoning its effort to build the Chesterfield Gas Plant at its first-choice site.
But Dominion is up to its old tricks and is now exploring a backdoor way to get the plant approved without a vote from the Board or input from the frontline community. It’s looking to build the plant at an existing coal-fired power plant, the Chesterfield Power Station. By doing this, it may be able to avoid applying for new zoning approval. This decision would intentionally shut out community members from the approval process by preventing them from being able to put pressure on the Board to vote “no.” In response, we are now taking this fight statewide, and we’ll need help from every Virginian.
Wins for Clean Energy
While our team is working to keep the Chesterfield Gas Plant from being built, we’ve seen three major wins for clean energy in the state! First, on the solar energy front, CCAN Action Fund helped expand Dominion’s shared solar program (a.k.a. Community Solar). We also helped create a new shared solar program in the Appalachian Power service territory, and we were able to get the formerly exorbitant cost of the program re-evaluated by state regulators. These changes in the shared solar program mean that more people who are unable to have rooftop solar will now have access to cost-saving, clean energy for their homes.
Another solar win for the Commonwealth was that Virginia Energy was chosen – with support from CCAN – to receive federal funding through the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund “Solar for All” competition. Over $156 million will be invested through the program to increase access to solar energy and help cut energy bills for primarily low-income households in the state.
In addition, we’re seeing progress in offshore wind power in Virginia as we’re officially in the process of constructing the biggest offshore wind project in the country. The project will bring windpower to over 660,000 homes. However, it’s facing opposition from fossil fuel-funded disinformation groups. These groups are hard at work to stop the clean energy revolution. We’re seeing this through the filing of frivolous lawsuits under the guise of environmental protection. The notorious Heartland Institute is one of these groups behind this but they just suffered a major setback as a judge denied their request for a freeze on construction.
Richmond Area Action Team Launch
Exciting news from Richmond: We launched our newest CCAN Action Member team in July – called Richmond Community Climate Action (RCCA). The purpose of the team of CCAN Action Members is to focus on building Richmond’s climate resiliency by supporting existing community organizations and by connecting currently unengaged Richmond residents to opportunities for grassroots lobbying, outreach, education, advocacy, and activities by which people survive and thrive.
Meet Our Summer Fellows
Bria Andrews is our Diana Dascalu-Joffe Legal Fellow.
Bria has a B.S. in Physics from Hampton University and has a J.D. from the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. So far, Bria’s favorite project that she’s worked on with CCAN is learning about methane landfill fires and their effect on the climate. During the fellowship Bria has been developing her lawyering skills and refining her research skills all while learning about a new area of law.
Alyssa Fleming is our Northern Virginia Climate Justice Fellow.
Alyssa is pursuing a degree in Environmental and Sustainability Studies with a concentration in Climate Change and Society (and a minor in African and African American Studies) at George Mason University. While working with CCAN, she has been inspired by the amount of people who spend their time volunteering, signing petitions, and helping out anyway they can. |
SUPPORT CCAN
In this new climate era, we need to build a people-powered climate movement. Your tax-deductible donation to the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) promotes policies that keep fossil fuels in the ground and that advance clean energy in Maryland, Virginia, DC, and nationwide. Give today! DONATE TODAY!