LTE: One step forward, two steps back for Bay project

The following letter to the editor, written by CCAN fellow Justin Klecha, was printed in the Culpeper Star-Exponent on June 30th. Read more about CCAN’s summer fellows in our June-July newsletter (written right before Justin began). Congrats, Justin!

One step forward, two steps back for Bay project
Justin Klecha, Fredericksburg
June 30, 2010

Culpeper, along with other municipalities across our state, has or is implementing cleaner wastewater technologies in an effort to reduce pollution. The June 25 article, “Cleaner Wastewater,” laid out the details of the improved treatment facilities in Culpeper, stating that the town has “modernized and sanitized its wastewater treatment process for the sake of the health of the Chesapeake Bay.”

One step forward!

While at the same time REC’s parent electric cooperative is proposing a $6 billion dollar coal plant just 35 miles from the Chesapeake Bay.

If built it would be the largest coal plant in Virginia producing massive amounts of pollutants, such as mercury, lead and carbon-dioxide, which would undermine projects like the one in Culpeper.

Two steps back Continue reading

Judge Refuses to Jail Climate Activist

In a victory for both the climate and basic decency, a federal judge today refused to put a global warming organizer in jail for simply hanging activist banners in a U.S. Senate office building.

Judge Frederick H. Weisberg rejected a request from U.S. attorneys to sentence Ted Glick to 40 days in jail for two misdemeanors related to peaceful civil disobedience. Last September, Glick, Policy Director at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, unfurled two large banners in the Hart Senate Office Building saying, “Green Jobs Now” and “Get to Work.”

After receiving hundreds of letters from concerned citizens ranging from NASA’s Dr. James Hansen to actor Danny Glover, Weisberg told an overflowing courtroom audience in D.C. Superior Court that he saw “no useful purpose served by incarceration.” He sentenced Glick instead to a week of community service and a year of probation, plus a $1,000 fine.

The audience cheered and applauded when Weisberg announced his decision.

At the start of the hearing, Glick read a brief statement explaining why he unfurled the banners last September 8th. “Faced with a planetary emergency,” he said, “and as citizens of a democracy, we must nonviolently urge, in the best ways we know how, our elected representatives to do the right thing. That is what I did on September 8th of last year.”

Glick has only two previous convictions related to peaceful acts of civil disobedience.

Weisberg acknowledged the great tradition of nonviolent struggle in America from Thoreau to King. He finally made clear, however, that — by law — it wasn’t the message of global warming that was being sentenced, it was the delivery of that message.

“But on the great scale of things, I don’t think a meaningful punishment would include incarceration here,” Weisberg said.

CCAN director Mike Tidwell said he was very pleased with the decision.

“We’re still not sure why the U.S. Attorney’s office wanted to

What happens when a priest, a rabbi, and an imam ask their senators to get serious?

Over one hundred Virginia clergy have united to send a message to Senators Webb and Warner that climate change is moral issue and their action is required. They delivered their letters to the senators’ offices and got some great press hits. See below for Greater Washington Interfaith Power and Light’s release on the letter’s delivery:

RICHMOND, Va. — As the US Senate prepares to take up climate and energy legislation, over 100 religious

leaders from across Virginia delivered letters to Senators Webb and Warner today, making a moral case for comprehensive

climate legislation that includes strong emission reductions, international adaptation assistance, and protections for low-income families.

The letters were delivered in person to senate staff during meetings in Richmond today by a representative group of signers. Numerous others are calling the Senators’ DC offices to deliver their message. Transcending the intense lobbying from special interest groups, the faith community is calling on lawmakers to honor the values of caring both for our neighbors and for God’s creation.

Continue reading

Why the CLEAR Act is Fair

The following is an article written by Meg Power, Senior Advisor to the National Community Action Foundation (NCAF). NCAF is the Washington, DC representative of the nation’s 1100 local Community Action Agencies, which deliver many services and investments in all the nation’s low-income communities including Low-Income Home Energy Assistance and the federal Weatherization Assistance Program. NCAF has endorsed the CLEAR Act.

Why the CLEAR Act is Fair to Low- and Moderate-Income Households
By Meg Power

About one-third of US households have incomes lower than 60% of the median income of their state and qualify for the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Their average annual residential usage is just 87% of the average for the other 2/3 of consumers. The gasoline consumption of the lowest income drivers is less than half that of median income households. Their houses are smaller, albeit more inefficient per square foot; they own fewer appliances, buy few finished goods and drive fewer cars. Their carbon footprint is far lighter than that of middle income consumers.

However, these Americans are extremely vulnerable to increases in energy costs; on average they spend from 18% to more than 23% percent of an entire year’s income directly on energy, including home fuels and gasoline, depending on the fuel prices in a given year. This percentage is known as the Continue reading

Prison time for activist over green jobs banner. No kidding.

Despite the Gulf disaster, no one from BP has been arrested and sent to jail. Despite safety violations at coal mines, no one from Massey Energy has been handcuffed. But today I write to inform you that one of America’s best global warming activists is probably facing several months of jail. He’s been convicted by a D.C. jury, and now he awaits sentencing on July 6th. Why? Because he peacefully dropped two banners on Capitol Hill that said: “GREEN JOBS NOW” and “GET TO WORK.”

I’m not joking. Ted Glick of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network was convicted by a jury May 13th of peacefully dropping the banners inside the U.S. Senate Hart Office Building last September. The D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office clearly has decided to make an “example” of Ted because of his previous two — count ’em, two — convictions related to peaceful acts of climate civil disobedience. Can you believe it? You can see a three-minute video of Ted’s September “crime” below. He’s the guy towards the end simply lowering the banners.

Now Ted is facing up to three years in jail. Based on the judge’s comments last week, it really does appear that he will be incarcerated for at least a month or two.

What can you do? Help spread the word about this fight to keep a morally innocent staff member out of jail during this time of great global crisis.

Wind not Oil!

As the Gulf Coast oil catastrophe quickly grows into one of the largest environmental disasters in United States history, Hampton Roads residents rallied in Virginia Beach today to call for a permanent moratorium on offshore drilling and a renewed focus on developing wind farms off Virginia’s coasts instead.

The Gulf Coast oil spill disaster is a tragic reminder that the price of offshore oil drilling is far too high. A similar spill off Virginia Beach could reach as far south as Cape May and reach into the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay.

Virginia is on track to become the first state on the East Coast to open its shores to offshore oil drilling following Bush-era roll back of moratoriums protecting Atlantic drilling. To demonstrate the risk posed by offshore oil drilling, we staged a mock “oil slick” at Virginia Beach’s oceanfront.

In light of the tremendous safety concerns raised by the Gulf Coast oil spill, the Obama Administration announced Thursday it was suspending hearings on a proposed oil lease sale off Virginia’s coastline. While we are encouraged by this announcement, we urge the Administration to replace the permanent moratorium on offshore oil drilling while re-doubling efforts to develop wind farms off Virginia’s coast instead.

Today’s gathering in Virginia Beach was part of a massive grassroots movement taking place around the country, of communities calling for an end to offshore drilling and the need to move towards a clean energy future. Over 50 protests nationwide are expected this week.

Tidwell Talks Oil Spill on the Diane Rehm Show

Coastal Louisiana author and CCAN director Mike Tidwell spoke to Diane Rehm this morning about the oil spill and its impact on the already vulnerable Louisiana coasts. Tidwell’s 2003 best-selling book “Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana’s Cajun Coast” catalogued how the Louisiana wetlands are vulnerable to oil drilling activity as well as the related consequences of climate change.

Mike has reported extensively from the drilling fields of the Gulf of Mexico and can speak directly to the enormous scale and scope of the drilling operation there.

The show also features Jackie Savitz, Pollution Campaign Director and Senior Scientist for Oceana, Stephen Power, reporter for the Wall Street Journal, and Rayola Dougher, senior economic adviser for the American Petroleum Institute.

Listen now!