Michelle Cook, Norfolk
Ms. Michelle Cook is a long-time resident of Norfolk, Virginia. She lives with the disastrous effects of flooding in her city right now. One flood was so extreme that it took the city a week for the water to be cleared.
Here’s her story.
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) will provide hundreds of millions of dollars to help protect the coasts of cities like Norfolk.
Dr. Samantha Ahdoot, Richmond
Dr. Samantha Ahdoot is a pediatrician with Associates of Alexandria. She sees the harms of air pollution and heat illness in her office every day.
There are two million reasons to join RGGI in Virginia, and that’s the two million children who live in the state. Dr. Ahdoot has patients as young as two years old with asthma, and she’s seeing more of it as the planet warms.
Here’s her story.
Joining RGGI would have tremendous positive effects on the public health of citizens. Less heat waves would mean less heat-related illnesses. And states who have already joined RGGI have prevented over 8,000 asthma attacks.
Karla Loeb, Charlottesville
Karla Loeb is an employee of Sigora Solar, a company based in Charlottesville, Virginia. She comes from Louisiana, a state with one of the largest petrochemical industries in the world. The effects of this speak for itself, as it overlaps with a cancer belt.
That’s why she moved to Virginia, where she’s working to bring energy efficiency to everyone. This effort is sorely needed in Virginia. Dominion is ranked second worst in the country for energy efficiency programs. As Karla explains, Dominion has a financial incentive to NOT support energy efficiency.
Here’s Karla’s story.
As Karla explains, joining RGGI benefit all Virginians by providing millions of dollars of funding for energy efficiency projects, creating jobs and lowering bills.
Dan Marrow, Dumfries
Dan Marrow lives on Possum Point Road, just down the road from a coal power station operated by Dominion Energy.
He was alarmed to discover that Dominion had been dumping millions of gallons of toxic water into nearby Beaver Pond, which is connected to his drinking water well. He soon found that his water was filled with dangerous chemicals and toxins, which have caused severe health problems over the years for Dan and his daughters.
Here’s Dan’s story.
Dan’s case is still in court, but Dominion continues to push for dangerous, polluting practices. His story confirms that we cannot trust Dominion to spend the revenue raised by RGGI wisely.
Now, Virginia has the opportunity to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, (RGGI), which will hold polluters like Dominion accountable for their pollution. This will help countless residents such as Marrow, who suffer under the conditions Dominion has created.
