Each new General Assembly session is bound to bring its fair share of surprises. Chief among this year’s list was the truly shocking (and downright absurd) proposed $100 annual tax on hybrid and electric vehicles. I literally laughed out loud when I first heard of this proposal last November. The tax was heavily debated but ultimately became buried within an enormous transformation reform bill that narrowly passed both the House and Senate. The bill now sits on Gov. McDonnell’s desk. I, along with 1,136 of you, urge the governor to veto this poorly contrived component of the bill.
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.”
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.
Charlottesville climate activists tell Sec. Kerry: No KXL!
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.
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.
Continue reading
Hybrid car owners protest at the Virginia Capitol
By Kathy Adams
With signs, cardboard wind turbines and a parade of Priuses, hybrid car owners on Thursday afternoon sent a message to legislators meeting inside the Capitol: No hybrid tax.
The demonstration by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network was in protest of legislation that would tax hybrid car owners and repeal renewable-energy incentives for electricity companies.
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.
Protests Against Va. Hybrid Car Fee Proposal
By Julie Carey
Environmentally-conscious drivers and their supporters took to the streets to protest part of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation funding plan. News4 Northern Virginia Bureau Chief Julie Carey has more on the hybrid vehicle fee proposal.
Hybrid car owners protest Governor's transportation plan
By Joe Dashiell
Owners of hybrid cars drove around Capitol Square honking their horns Thursday afternoon. Other supporters carried signs and chanted, “No hybrid tax.” They were protesting proposed legislation, including an element of the Governor’s transportation plan that would impose a $100 fee on hybrid and electric cars.
Prius parade protests Gov. McDonnell’s proposed hybrid tax
By Errin Haines
A Prius parade descended on the Virginia Capitol on Thursday in protest of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell’s proposal to impose a $100 fee on alternative fuel vehicles as part of his legislative package on transportation funding.
Cars honked as they rolled past the Capitol as protesters holding signs shouted, “No hybrid tax!”