Today in Richmond we kicked off our week-long picket at Dominion Virginia Power’s offices.
Haven’t heard about it? Well, not only is Dominion contributing to climate change via its heavy reliance on coal and natural gas, but it is also receiving bonus money for doing so – $76 million of it. How is this possible you may ask? Virginia’s incredibly weak Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) allows utilities (including our good friend Dominion) to receive a renewable energy bonus even though they aren’t producing our buying any Virginia made solar and wind! Sound ridiculous? We think so too. So today we launched a week of action against Dominion’s $76 million rip-off. We’re off to a great start!
What we’re asking for is more than reasonable. In fact, it’s approved by a majority of Virginians. In fact, just today CCAN released poll numbers that showed that 63% of Virginians said they would most like to see utilities use wind and solar power to comply with the RPS law, rather than other technologies like burning wood or trash.
So armed with the backing of public opinion and a few dozen faithful volunteers, CCAN picketed Dominion’s headquarters in downtown Richmond earlier this morning to demand that the utility EARN their bonus by investing in the types of technologies their ratepayers want.
We will picket Dominion every day this week to demand a cleaner energy future. Our activities will crescendo through Saturday when we hold a major rally in Richmond’s Kanawha Plaza. It was inspiring to see so many volunteers today joining in on the fight to stop the practices that’s dirtying up our air and contributing to climate change. To learn more about this week of action, .
Together through this sustained action we can change our policies for the better.
More Info:
- Learn more about the week of action and sign up to particpate
- Check out photos from today or throughout the whole week on flickr
- Read all the wonky details about the RPS law and Dominion’s rip-off
