Virginia
The climate crisis is here, and it’s hurting every community in Virginia. Flooding from sea level rise has become one of the most challenging public policy issues ever to face coastal Virginia. Intense storms are devastating agriculture across the state. Dangerous heat waves are causing asthma hospitalizations, heart attacks, and more. Residents of coastal neighborhoods in Norfolk deal with water lapping at their front doors from rising seas. More severe and intense storms are damaging property across the commonwealth.
CCAN and its supporters have achieved significant steps forward to promote clean energy and shut down some of the state’s dirtiest coal-fired power plants in recent years. But Virginia’s vast potential for clean energy and energy efficiency solutions still remains largely untapped because fossil fuel interests — led by Dominion Energy — continue to stand in the way of progress.
Learn how you can help set a new direction for Virginia’s energy future — one powered by clean energy, not Dominion’s planet-heating fossil fuels. Sign up for email updates!
The climate crisis is here, and it’s hurting every community in Virginia. Flooding from sea-level rise has become one of the most challenging public policy issues ever to face coastal Virginia. Intense storms are devastating agriculture across the state. Dangerous heat waves are causing asthma hospitalizations, heart attacks, and more. Yet Governor Glenn Youngkin is trying to drag Virginia backwards on climate. The Governor and his allies have attempted to dismantle Virginia’s clean energy wins through bad-faith budget amendments, direct attack legislation and regulatory tweaks. We’re working to protect Virginia’s core climate policies: the Virginia Clean Economy Act, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), and our Clean Car Standards. Join us to preserve Virginia’s role as a national climate leader so we can continue to protect our communities in 2023 and beyond.
Big Gas wants to build huge new fracked-gas pipelines – one through the Blue Ridge and Appalachian regions of Virginia and West Virginia called the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and the other through the heart of Central Virginia called the Chickahominy Pipeline. These pipelines are being built with a lifetime of 40 years and will lock us into dirty energy for decades, hinged on an untested reappropriation to hydrogen gas distribution. This is NOT the future we need and it flies in the face of the Commonwealth’s historic clean energy standards. From fueling toxic fracking, to destroying our shared waterways, to polluting majority Black neighborhoods, to leaking heat-trapping methane, this pipeline would harm our communities and our climate every step of the way. We just stopped the Atlantic Coast Pipeline – a HUGE victory – but the fight continues. Learn more >>
Dominion is proposing a massive new methane gas plant in Chesterfield near the James River, consisting of four new generators totaling 1000 MW of installed capacity. This would be the largest “peaker plant” in Virginia – that is, a plant that generally runs only when there is high demand. Learn more >>
The Virginia Reliability Project (VRP), what we’re calling the Virginia Ripoff project, is TC Energy’s proposed 49-mile pipeline expansion project between Central & South East VA from the SAME company who pushed the failed Keystone XL pipeline. Learn more >>
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) reduces carbon emissions and provides vital funding for coastal resilience and energy efficiency. Youngkin’s scheme to withdraw from RGGI will take Virginia in the wrong direction. Learn more >>
Transportation is vital. High-quality, reliable public transit service is essential for Virginians to access their jobs, schooling, healthcare, education, and shopping needs. Yet it’s often expensive and inaccessible in the places that need it most. And it’s Virginia’s biggest single source of greenhouse gases and other toxic pollutants. We believe that we can transform Virginia’s transit sector from a major cause of climate change to part of the solution, while improving social justice at the same time. It’s time to say YES to electric vehicles, especially large fleets. And it’s time to say YES to fostering communities where people can walk, ride free public transit and reduce the overall vehicle miles traveled. It’s time for Mobility for All. Learn more >
The climate crisis is at our doorstep, and fossil fuel pollution is to blame. Virginians know flooding has become one of the most challenging policy issues facing our state, especially on the coast. The rising of ocean waters due to climate change, combined with the area’s sinking land, will cause as much as 7.5 feet of sea level rise by century’s end, according to the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences. Bigger, climate-fueled, storms also will prove to be a huge burden for local communities across Virginia. Learn more>>
Past Campaigns:
We Brought Virginia to 100% Clean Energy
In March 2020, we passed the Virginia Clean Economy Act! This bill will bring a 100% carbon-free electricity grid to Virginia and eliminates utility fossil fuel emissions. This will benefit Virginians through lower monthly utility bills, tens of thousands of new clean energy jobs, and cleaner air while tackling the Commonwealth’s contribution to climate change. Learn more >>
Clean Transportation: Tackling Virginia’s Largest Polluter
The science is clear: climate change is a serious threat to our well-being and economy. In Virginia, transportation is the single largest polluter, so we need to act quickly to electrify our transportation. In 2021, our sister organization CCAN Action Fund passed a bill that will require Virginia to adopt Clean Car Standards, which will it much easier for Virginians to purchase electric vehicles, clean up transportation, and more. Learn more>>
We Beat The “Header Injustice Project”: Virginia’s Latest Fracked-Gas Threat
Virginia Natural Gas (VNG) called it their “Header Improvement Project” — a horribly misleading misnomer. CCAN called it the “Header Injustice Project,” and it was the next big pipeline fight in Virginia. The proposal was for three new gas pipelines, totaling 24 miles, and three new or expanded gas compressor stations from Northern Virginia, through the middle of the state, and to the shore in Hampton Roads. Learn more>>
We Joined The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
We need energy solutions and energy justice now. Virginians have the 10th highest electric bills in the nation and a higher electricity burden than the national average. Furthermore, Virginia communities need funding to protect our valuable coastal communities from sea level rise. But while the impacts of climate change are at our doorstep, so are the solutions. With the passage of the Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act, Virginia will join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, to access millions of dollars to save our coasts and lower electricity bills for everyone. Learn more>>
We Banned Offshore Drilling in Virginia
Offshore oil drilling would threaten Virginia’s coastal communities and fishing and tourism industries with devastating spills, while enabling more of the fossil fuel pollution causing climate change and rising sea levels. We want wind mills, not oil spills! After years of advocacy, in 2020, the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill banning offshore drilling off the coast of Virginia! Learn more>>
