Youth question Governor McDonnell's offshore views

Last night Governor McDonnell addressed a crowd of almost-entirely-not college students at the University of Mary Washington. It wasn’t the students fault for not being there- it was only their second day on campus, so the Governor’s town hall was under the radar. Despite that, there was a group from the Mary Washington environmental club that was excited to ask the Governor about his stance on offshore drilling and wind development.

Power Vote Team at McDonnell's Town Hall

Here is Abbie Rogers, a Winchester native and sophomore in anthropology and environmental studies, asking Governor McDonnell why he continues to support offshore drilling.

Governor McDonnell spoke at length about his support for offshore drilling- and for offshore wind- but failed to answer Abbie’s concerns. While the Governor is correct that currently Virginia and the US depend on oil and other fossil fuels for our energy use, he did not address Abbie’s questions about why he continues to support offshore drilling. He claims we need domestic offshore oil to avoid relying on ‘unfriendly’ foreign nations, but the Navy and NASA have voiced concerns about drilling off Virginia’s coasts. Beyond that, solving the foreign oil problem with a domestic oil problem is only shifting the problem, not providing a solution. In a followup question to Abbie’s, the Governor was asked about his plan to keep Virginia competitive in offshore wind development. He again spoke favorably about wind, but focused more on his concerns about regulatory burdens, such as permitting timelines, than his plans to bring wind development to Virginia’s coasts. Offshore wind is part of a true solution, one that may time to implement but that other countries- and states- have started and Virginia is being left behind.

Below the jump, the transcript of Abbie and Governor McDonnell, since the video quality was poor.
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Blue Virginia: Offshore Oil Drilling Poses "unacceptable risk to naval forces in Hampton Roads"

This is a cross post from Blue Virginia.

I just got off a conference call on the dangers of offshore oil drilling in Virginia and lessons learned from the Gulf of Mexico disaster. Speakers included Chesapeake Climate Action Network Executive Director Mike Tidwell, Virginia Sierra Club Assistant Director J.R. Tolbert, and retired Navy captain/former Delegate Joe Bouchard. I’ll get to Tolbert’s and Tidwell’s comments in a minute, but first I want to highlight what Joe Bouchard had to say, because it was very strong.

First, according to Bouchard, there’s a long record of offshore oil and gas activities interfering with Defense Department training ranges. The industry likes to claim that they have a “great working relationship with the military,” but “you can’t believe that for a minute.” In fact, Bouchard says, “interference with training ranges is well documented,” and claims to the contrary by the oil industry are “disingenuous if not outright untrue.” Continue reading

Governor McDonnell Buys Bottled Water At School Kids' Expense

Cross post:
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (R.) is in hot water. Make that hot bottled water. It seems the man loves bottled water so much that he’s willing to sacrifice a state low-income school breakfast program to drink it.

Here’s what happened: This week, McDonnell reversed an existing directive to phase-out state spending on bottled water. The goal was put in place by his predecessor and was set to save Virginia about $34,000 this year and also further the state’s “greening” goals. But then the state’s bottled water industry stepped in and, luckily, they had McDonnell’s ear, as the group Corporate Accountability International notes.

Chris Saxman, board member of the International Bottled Water Association and employee of a major water bottler in Virginia, supported McDonnell’s move. His company, the Shenandoah Valley Water Company, was, “far and away the single largest recipient of government spending on bottled water.” Last fiscal year, the company were paid more than $100,000 from Virginia government agencies for their water fix.
What’s more, the spending increase on bottled water comes during a tight budget squeeze. In these tough times, the governor has proposed a budget that would cut millions in education funding and eliminate a school breakfast program for low-income children, Corporate Accountability International says.

So let’s get this straight: the Governor wants to end a program that would this year save $34,000 on bottled water — money that could buy, I don’t know, let’s say hundreds of low-income children some breakfast? Ironically, but maybe not coincidentally, bottled water company executive Saxman also served as an education adviser to McDonnell in the past, according to The Washington Post. Sounds like good education advice to me.

“His actions today seem to suggest he is more interested in protecting cushy state contracts for the bottled water industry than protecting the environment or prioritizing state funding for vital public services,” said Leslie Samuelrich with Corporate Accountability International, in a press release.

Virginia’s governor is swimming against a turning tide. Many states, cities and businesses, including Illinois, New York, Colorado and San Francisco, are trying to save money and save the environment by reducing bottled water use. In 2007, San Francisco’s government found that it was spending almost a half-million dollars a year on bottled water. In addition, plastic water bottles are terrible for the environment — most end up incinerated, buried in landfills or discarded as litter. And despite what water companies may claim, the supposedly “pure” water is usually no better for public health than tap water.

Sign Corporate Accountability International’s petition here to tell Gov. McDonnell what you think of his decision to pour his state’s tax dollars down the drain at the expense of the environment.

Inspiring Va. Awards Celebration last night

Last night CCAN held its first annual Virginia Climate Champions Ceremony at the beautiful St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Old Town Alexandria. We were honored to present “Virginia Climate Leadership Awards” to Congressman Jim Moran; State Senator Patsy Ticer; Supervisor Andrea McGimsey, Loudoun County; Heidi Binko, Associate Director of Special Climate Initiatives at the Rockefeller Family Fund; and Burke resident Edward Jaffee.


From left to right: Supervisor Andrea McGimsey, Grassroots
Leader Ed Jaffee, Congressman Jim Moran, Senator Patsy Ticer.

The speeches were inspiring, the music (by EcoVoce) was great, and the food (courtesy of Restaurant Eve) was delicious. Unfortunately, Heidi Binko fell ill at the last minute and was unable to come. We’ve mailed her her richly deserved award.

Here’s what Congressman Moran had to say:

“Sadly, in the wake of the BP oil spill, the mantra

Windmills NOT Oil Spills!

On Saturday, the nation joined hands to show our leaders that we choose clean energy over dirty, dangerous and outdated energy sources. The gathering in Virginia Beach was especially important because Virginia is poised to become one of the first

Transparency…What is that?

In our recent efforts to educate member-owners and ratepayers of the Rappahannock Electric Cooperative through phone calls and door-to-door visits, I have realized that this campaign goes so far beyond stopping a coal plant. Of course at an estimated 110,000+ pounds daily of toxic emissions daily, this would be one big smokestack of doom for the Chesapeake watershed. But this is not simply an environmental issue disguised as a transparency/accountability issue to involve co-op members that are not necessarily eco-minded.

Our educating co-op members really is empowering people.

Canvassing yesterday I heard from several member-owners that they

$6 Billion Coal Plant?!

This blog post is written by Stephanie, a CCAN fellow reporting from Fredericksburg, where CCAN has just opened a new office to educate local electric co-op members that they have a say in whether the $6 billion coal plant that’s been proposed for the Hampton Roads area of VA goes forward. Throughout the summer, our fellows will be writing posts on our progress.

Since starting two weeks ago I have learned a lot about the proposed coal plant and all of the devastation it would cause to the sensitive Chesapeake Bay ecosystems, many of them already struggling. As well as the more immediate effects it would have on the people of the electric co-ops who would necessarily see an increase in rates, one that as I have heard could break some of these families or older couples already experiencing tough times in this economy. What’s more, even if they are not in such dire financial straits, they are going to be paying for this $6 billion plant whether they support it or not and most of them have never even heard of it! One of the most motivating things about the campaign (in addition to the purely environmental) is finding out and then changing the fact that almost none of the co-op member-owners seem to have any clue about what kind of dirty energy their money is being invested in!

The most fun thing I’ve done on the job with CCAN is in