This afternoon, the Virginia Senate Commerce and Labor Committee voted to kill the Clean Energy Future Act. This ambitious bill (SB446), introduced by Senator Chap Petersen, would have put Virginia on course to become a leader in clean energy, efficiency, and conservation – protecting the environmental, generating jobs, and saving people money. Yeah, I know, what a crazy idea!

The public support for the bill was overwhelming! Over 40 organizations joined the fight. Environmental and energy businesses worked side by side with faith leaders and hundreds of students from schools across Virginia. Thousands of citizens wrote letters, made calls, and turned out for lobby day! And we have a lot to show for it. The bill had 18 co-patrons in the house and Senate, with many joining on their own after hearing support from their districts. The vision of a clean energy future was contagious, and though it was a long shot, this issue catalyzed support across the commonwealth. We owe our thanks to Senator Petersen and other champions for leading the way on this issue.

But we still have more work to do if we want to get Virginia on track. We earned the votes of Senator Edwards, Herring and Miller in the committee, as well as the other 17 co-patrons. But the bill still lost, and not by a small margin. (The full vote has not been posted online yet but you can track the bill here and stay tuned to this blog as we’ll be featuring members of the committee, how they voted and where they get their money from for the rest of the week).

So who’s to blame? 1) Dominion and the utilities, who opposed the bill from the start. 2) Republicans on the committee (not one voted for). But neither of those are surprising. And in previous years, that would have been enough. But with a new democratic majority in the Senate, things could have been different. But they weren’t. And the ultimate blame lies with the democratic leadership, who despite taking control of the senate, failed to take control of this important issue.

Here are the facts. Dominion and the other energy companies still hold some serious sway and certainly donate some serious money. And if we wanna compete, we need to do more. We need to be stronger and louder. And we need to be pissed at every single member who votes against clean energy – and to let them know it! Personally, I am most disappointed in Senator Dick Saslaw and the rest of the of the Democratic leadership that ran on a platform of change but ended up voting the same old way — with the special interests. And we’ve got to say “enough is enough.”

SO WHAT NOW?

Step One – Hold Our Officials Accountable (aka the “thank and spank“). Many members of this committee pledged concern about the environment while campaigning, then turned their backs during this vote. They need to hear from their constituents. Throughout this week we’ll be doing features on members of this committee – their contributions, their positions, and their votes, to shine some light on why they might have voted NO to a clean energy future. But don’t forget to thank our champions. Find the co-patrons and supporters of the bill here. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper thanking them for the vote! A little love goes a long way.

Step 2 – Keep fighting the stop the Wise County Power Plant. Dominion may have slowed down our progress in the G.A., we still have them on the run on the Wise County power plant. Let’s keep up the public education, keep up the public comments to the DEQ, and keep telling the Governor “no new coal in Virginia!”

Step 3 – Get Ready for Next Year – The bill may have died, but we’re hardly giving up. With federal legislation coming down the pipeline and campaign season starting, this is a great chance to re-create our platform and starting making demands for 2009 the second the 2008 session ends.