Weekly Climate Insider: Chinese Smog, Powershift, and Fracking in Virginia

Bad news from Huffington Post: The Canadian Arctic has reached the highest temperatures in at least 44,000 years. Gifford Miller, a researcher at the University of Colorado, Boulder, says, “This study really says the warming we are seeing is outside any kind of known natural variability, and it has to be due to increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.” This study reaffirms that global temperatures are rising at an unprecedented rate: we’ve seen a warming trend for the past century, but the process has been accelerating significantly since the 1970s and has skyrocketed in the last twenty years. Miller didn’t end on a happy note. “We expect all of the ice caps to eventually disappear, even if there is no additional warming.
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Weekly Climate Insider: Green Business, VA Hybrid Tax and Power Shift!

Welcome back to the Weekly Climate Insider!
In Maryland, fracking and the results of the Environment America study posted in last week’s Climate Insider are still making headlines. As a recap, the report found that our water supply is put at risk by the billions of gallons of dirty wastewater produced by fracking. See the coverage from Capital News Service.

This week, we’re profiling two Maryland businesses that are environmentally newsworthy.
A Maryland construction company called Hobbitat builds small houses made out of reclaimed materials. The 250 square foot houses, called “hobs,” are made almost exclusively from from salvaged or repurposed materials, nearly eliminating the adverse effects of new construction. In energy terms, “The hobs’ square footage is about 11 percent of the median U.S. house size, so much less energy is required to heat and cool them.” Check out some photos of these gorgeous little hobs!

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On offshore wind, Congress is kingmaker

If congressional action is the proposed method to solve policy issues on climate and taxes, my usual advice is to draft a Plan B. In this realm, Congress is like that annoying friend who’s always a day late and a dollar short – reliably unreliable. Unfortunately, when it comes to the future of offshore wind in America there is no Plan B. Congress holds the cards.
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Presenting: The Weekly Climate Insider

In the fight against climate change and dirty energy polluters, there’s a lot going on. Some of it is good — take the global boom in solar power and its increasing affordability. Some of it just encourages us to push harder and faster. But whether the news is encouraging or frustrating, local or global, knowledge is power. That’s why we’re bringing you a new recurring blog post from CCAN: The Weekly Climate Insider.
Every week, we’ll keep you in the loop with important climate stories impacting Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C. and beyond. We’ll touch on big issues in our campaigns, like the threat of fracking and sea level rise, and we’ll also bring you broader climate news.
Let’s get started.
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Dominion Virginia Power won’t build offshore wind farm on tract it leased unless cost drops

The Washington Post

By Robert McCartney

Dominion Virginia Power drew a lot of favorable publicity this month by leasing a patch of the Atlantic Ocean off Virginia Beach to construct an offshore wind farm hailed as a clean-energy milestone for the state.

Too bad there’s good reason to believe Dominion will never build it.

Even as Dominion executives publicly stressed wind power’s potential, their statements and company documents showed they have no intention of building anything larger than a small, two-turbine offshore test project unless the costs come down.

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Offshore Wind is Off the Auction Block in Virginia, But How Long Will Dominion Sit On its Hands?

Beth Kemler, Virginia State Director at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, had the following response to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s announcement that Dominion Resources has won today’s auction for the rights to develop Virginia’s 112,800-acre offshore wind energy area:

“We’re excited to see that offshore wind power is inching closer and closer to being a reality off Virginia’s coast. We’re anxious to see this massive resource start powering Virginia homes and businesses with clean energy.

“While Dominion came out on top today, that unfortunately doesn’t guarantee that the company will actually erect a single turbine. The company could rent the wind energy area for years without moving forward with any development, preventing a more eager company from doing so. In fact, Dominion Virginia Power’s recently released long-range energy plan prioritizes new fossil fuel projects over offshore wind power development, rejecting offshore wind power even as a back-up plan. This doesn’t leave us with high hopes for Dominion’s speedy development of this clean energy resource.

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Investing in Efficiency, Wind and Solar Would Be Cheaper, Safer for Virginians than Dominion’s Plan, Report Finds

Clean Energy Coalition Launches Statewide Campaign

RICHMOND — Within ten years, energy efficiency, solar and wind could power about a million Virginia homes—likely at a lower cost than building new fossil fuel-fired power plants—according to a detailed analysis released today. Bringing new clean energy sources online would cost between $633 million and $1.78 billion less than Dominion Virginia Power’s current plan to build two large natural gas-fired power plants, the report found. Further, clean energy investments by Dominion would yield additional benefits for all Virginians, including cleaner air as well as reduced carbon pollution, which contributes to rising sea levels and stronger storms.

A coalition of environmental groups released the 30-page analysis in advance of Dominion’s 2013 long-range plan, which the company is required to file by September 1. When the “Integrated Resource Plan” goes before the State Corporation Commission for approval, the groups will encourage policymakers and the public to evaluate Dominion’s plan through the lens of this analysis. Dominion is the state’s largest electric utility, providing power to about two-thirds of Virginians.

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Climate Documentary Inspires Local Activists

When it comes to fighting climate change, people power is our greatest weapon. This is the message I took with me from CCAN’s screening of the documentary Chasing Ice in Richmond. Last Thursday night at the Camel, I was able to see what comes of weeks of planning, stress, and seemingly endless phone calls and emails. The result was a room full of people who were motivated and ready to take action against climate change.
 
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Suit objects to loan that helps region's coal exports

The Virginian-Pilot

By Robert McCabe

Environmental groups on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit challenging the U.S. government’s backing of a loan that facilitates the export of some Appalachian coal through the ports of Hampton Roads and Baltimore.

The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco, alleges that the U.S. Export-Import Bank broke federal law by approving a $90 million loan guarantee in support of Latrobe, Pa.-based coal broker Xcoal Energy & Resources LLC without first preparing an “environmental impact statement.”

The taxpayer-backed financing, approved on May 24, 2012, will help leverage $1 billion in coal exports from Appalachia to markets in Japan, South Korea, China and Italy through coal terminals in Hampton Roads and Baltimore, the groups said.

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