Virginians rally at Sen. Warner's office ahead of Keystone XL vote

For Immediate Release
March 18, 2013

Contact:
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org; Molly Haigh, 907-750-1999

Dozens of Students, CCAN, 350.org, EAC join forces to demand Warner oppose toxic pipeline

RICHMOND, VA—With a vote on the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline looming in the US Senate, dozens of concerned Virginians rallied outside Sen. Mark Warner’s office today to demand that he vote against the project. While the senator has been vocal about his concern for climate change in the past, constituents wanted a guarantee that he stands with them in opposing a toxic pipeline top climate scientists have referred to as “game over for the climate.”

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Ken Cuccinelli Gets a Science Lesson

If VA Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was featured on the TV show, Are you smarter than a 5th grader, he would have been out before the first commercial.

In his new book, “The Last Line of Defense,” Cuccinelli has a chapter called “Weird Science” dedicated to his qualms with climate science and his use of taxpayer dollars for lawsuits to fight it. As highlighted in Beth’s blog post last week, among other things, the chapter quips that perhaps 97% of the world’s climate scientists are confusing the ‘supposedly dangerous’ greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, with the deadly household gas, carbon monoxide.

Feel free to check out the book yourself for a play by play of his losing lawsuit against the EPA, but for now, it’ll suffice to say that on a basic level, our Attorney General doesn’t understand why carbon dioxide is so dangerous–after all, it’s in our soda!

So what did I do about it? Last Friday during his book signing in Fredericksburg, I gave our Attorney General a 2nd grade science lesson to catch him up with the majority of elementary school students who understand the Carbon Cycle.

And thanks to stretchy yoga pants and my cell phone, I was able to catch the action on film.

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Charlottesville climate activists tell Sec. Kerry: No KXL!

Virginia climate activists aren’t letting up on Keystone XL after Sunday’s hugely successful climate rally in DC. John Kerry came to the University of Virginia today to deliver his first official speech as the Secretary of State, and UVA students with CCAN and Central Virginia 350 turned out to urge him to oppose the dirty oil pipeline.

Armed with a huge banner and chanting “No tar sands pipeline!” the group drew attention from passersby and Secretary Kerry himself, who walked by with a wave to acknowledge our message. During his speech, Kerry came out swinging on climate change. He made the economic case for climate action, tying rising seas and higher temperatures to greater costs from extreme weather and other climate impacts. 

Secretary Kerry is right – we need to see climate action and we need to see it now. He and President Obama have a great opportunity, a great responsibility, to match their words with action.

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Destroying a clean-energy law

The Virginian-Pilot
By Beth Kemler
Sneak attack, dirty trick, underhanded. Those are some of the terms used to describe Senate Republicans’ move to exploit the absence of one Democrat to pass an off-year redistricting bill – a story that became one of the hottest of this year’s Virginia General Assembly session.
Those terms also apply to one of the least covered stories of the session – a move by climate change-denying Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and electric utilities, including Dominion Power, to effectively repeal one of the state’s core clean energy laws.
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CCAN Statement: General Assembly turns its back on Virginia clean energy

For Immediate Release
February 1, 2013

Contact:
Beth Kemler, 804-335-0915, beth@chesapeakeclimate.org
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

Cuccinelli-backed legislation to effectively nix Virginia’s clean electricity standard passes; new mandatory law is now imperative, advocates say

RICHMOND—The Virginia Senate today passed a far-reaching and controversial electric utility bill (SB1339) backed by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli that includes provisions to dismantle the state’s only broad clean electricity standard, the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). The bill passed today will render the law practically meaningless by repealing the performance incentive for utilities to meet their clean energy goals, which were already voluntary.

Recognizing that the RPS law was not living up to its intent to bring new clean energy to the commonwealth, state environmental and health advocates had joined thousands of Virginians over the past year in calling on lawmakers to strengthen the law’s standards, for instance by requiring utility companies to earn the performance incentives with Virginia-generated wind and solar power.

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Hybrid owners and activists protest clean-cars tax and other attacks on climate solutions in Richmond

For Immediate Release
January 31, 2013

Contact:
Beth Kemler, 804-335-0915, beth@chesapeakeclimate.org
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

Hybrid car owners lead parade around Capitol to oppose series of irresponsible, anti-environment proposals—including new hybrid car tax, repeal of gas tax, and rollback of clean energy law

RICHMOND—Owners of hybrid and electric vehicles from across the state converged at the Capitol on Thursday to protest transportation and energy legislation before the General Assembly that would penalize Virginians driving cleaner cars, while rolling back other policies meant to promote clean electricity and reduce planet-warming pollution.

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