Add “Prison Reform” to your Climate Activist To-Do List. Yes, really.

Racial Injustice in the time of COVID-19 

As we’ve seen so often during the coronavirus crisis, we know that COVID-19 does not impact all people equally. In the United States, we have seen the virus expose the dark divisions in health and income disparities between white Americans and Black and Latinx Americans. Moreover, the ongoing protests surrounding the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and countless others at the hands of police have revealed the systemic racism that keeps populations in our society unequal. Activists and educators have pointed to the statistics that show even more severe inconsistencies between Black and white Americans in the level of services accessible in the form of access to jobs, healthcare, affordable housing, and education. However, out of all populations that COVID-19 is hitting the hardest, Americans in prison are dying at a disproportionate rates and spreading COVID-19 faster than outside populations, due to the intersections of of racial injustice, poor health outcomes, and lack of basic medical care that is lacking in our prisons and jails. 

These disparities should cause alarm for anyone wishing for America to move towards a more just and equal society. For us as climate activists, we already know the data shows us that communities of color bear the brunt of fossil fuel pollution and climate impacts. We should examine how to help every community in our society have a higher chance of survival against the virus, so that we can begin to create the truly green and safe future that we strive towards. 

How does the legacy of white supremacy impact the current criminal justice system? 

In the United States, 70 percent of American prisoners are non-white – part of this has been fueled by decades of mandatory minimum sentencing for crimes that fall under the categories targeted by the “War on Drugs” or “broken windows” policing strategies. Legal scholar Michelle Alexander in her award-winning book “The New Jim Crow” argues that the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a system that upholds racism, even as it formally adheres to the principle of colorblindness. “People of color are being incarcerated at far higher rates than their counterparts, while neighborhoods that are economically or politically disenfranchised will also have an accumulation” said Barun Mathema, an epidemiologist at Columbia University. A 2016 study by the Sentencing Project found that Black Americans are incarcerated in state prisons across the country at more than five times the rate of whites, and at least ten times the rate in five states.

What does this mean during COVID-19? During the COVID-19 crisis, these inequalities are even more magnified. People in prisons are often at heightened risk of contracting COVID-19 due to close proximity, inability to practice social distancing, lack of adequate sanitation and hygiene, high incidence of underlying medical conditions, and lack of adequate medical care in prisons and jails. Even in non-pandemic times, prisons and jails fail at providing the most basic of physical and mental healthcare. And noting the earlier statistics on which groups make up the majority of prisons (Black and Brown people of color), we see that the intersections of race and COVID-19 are a death sentence for the most vulnerable populations in our country. This needs to change. 

Connecting the Dots: COVID-19, Climate, Injustice

Some of you might be asking now: Why should we work to make reforms now to the criminal justice system during COVID-19? Racial injustice has fueled this crisis in America’s prisons, and just as with calls to reform police departments because of brutality, we should also seek to reform this system for the better overall public health and sustainability of our communities. 

If it weren’t enough that prisons are pushed to extremes during a pandemic, we face the duality of knowing that climate change impacts are hitting us already, and the more extreme impacts that we know will come if fossil fuel pollution is left unchecked. If we recognize that people of color are the ones most often on the frontlines of climate change, we must also recognize that prison populations are also on the front lines of climate change. Organizer Jay Ware notes that imprisoned people also suffer from climate catastrophes, “whether this is families fleeing climate change in the Global South being detained and separated into immigrant detention facilities or other black, brown, and poor white prisoners from typically toxic neighborhoods ecologically who are held in toxic prisons.” Not only are the climate impacts experienced prior to incarceration by families and communities, but for people currently living in prison, climate impacts of intense heat, extreme cold, and flooding inflict both physical and psychological suffering: 

“Every time a large-scale hurricane approaches a coastal stretch of the United States, gruesome stories surface concerning prison officials who refuse to evacuate their prisons. The consequences of this malign neglect can be devastating, and sometimes fatal. During Hurricane Katrina, thousands of prisoners were left to rot in waist-high water; in 2017, Hurricane Harvey saw 3,000 prisoners in Texas stranded without food or water for days; in 2018, prisoners within the evacuation zone on Florida’s coast were left to fend for themselves when Hurricane Michael hit; and when Hurricane Florence rolled through South Carolina, the state declined to evacuate more than a thousand people across multiple prisons.” – Kim Kelly, “The Climate Disaster Inside America’s Prisons” 

Furthermore, with the threads of mass incarceration, health inequality, and the climate crisis seemingly intertwined – some officials look to prisons for help in fighting climate change. In California, during the unprecedented fire season in 2018 and onwards, prison labor has been used to fight wildfires. Prisoners in California’s Conservation Camp program were fighting the fires alongside civilian employees, earning just $1.45 a day for their work, significantly less than minimum wage that their counterparts earn, but carrying all of the dangerous risks that fighting fires entail. If you do not see the issues with labor exploitation during a climate crisis, the ACLU makes it clear: “We should use incarceration as a last resort to protect public safety — not to create or maintain a pool of cheap labor for the government.” 

Next Steps on Criminal Justice Reform 

So where do we go from here? What would reform look like? An immediate next step that all climate activists must take is to dedicate some of your time as activists to guarantee that the human rights of all Americans are being protected, now during the COVID-19 crisis and into the future when we know that climate impacts will arrive in our cities and communities. 

Since it has been noted that one of the main causes of COVID-19 spreading quickly throughout the prison system is due to prison overcrowding – one solution proposed is to reduce the overall number of people in prison – something that health experts and criminal justice reform advocates now agree on. Activists have been calling for this for many years, because we already know prisons are stacked with more and more individuals serving extremely long sentences for nonviolent offenses.  

Human Rights Watch, a global nonprofit organization dedicated to human rights issues, recommends releasing: 

  • those held for minor offenses
  • those nearing the end of their sentence
  • those jailed for technical violations of probation or parole
  • incarcerated children, older, and otherwise medically vulnerable people, and people who are caregivers to vulnerable people
  • detainees who have not been charged
  • detainees held in pretrial detention, unless they pose a serious and concrete risk to others

in order to best stop the rampant spread of COVID-19 and other health ailments. 

Research released in April by the ACLU found that if prison reform measures were taken, the U.S. could “save as many as 23,000 people in jail and 76,000 in the broader community if we stop arrests for all but the most serious offenses and double the rate of release for those already detained.” 

And it’s not just activists sounding the alarm on this issue either – our government must take notice and take action towards reform. On April 6, Attorney General William Barr sent a memo to federal prosecutors urging them to consider Covid-19 risks when making bail decisions. The memo cited the risk of in increasing jail populations during the pandemic, as well as concerns about risks to individuals. The memo still instructs prosecutors to detain people who pose a public safety threat, despite concerns about the virus. If the Trump Administration recognizes this as a problem, it’s clearly even more serious than they let on. 

Concluding Thoughts 

Finding solutions for all of the intersecting systems of climate justice, racial justice, and mass incarceration can feel overwhelming. But we can draw some conclusions from analyzing all of this information: The same systems that result in a fossil fuel-burning power plant located closer to a Black neighborhood is the same system that resulted in higher incarceration rates for Black Americans and ultimately higher rates of transmission of COVID-19. If we want to fix one of these problems, we actually need to solve both, because climate justice is inherently linked to rectifying racial injustice. 

If we want to create a more sustainable future with clean energy, access to family-supporting jobs, and homes safe from climate impacts of extreme heat, storms, and rising seas, we first need to work to improve the systems that keep us unequal: the unequal access to affordable healthcare and safe homes. For a truly just transition, there can be no one left behind. 

Here are some organizations that are working on this issue in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia region that I would encourage you to learn more from and support: 

If you’re confused or have more questions, I would love to talk with you more about this issue, please feel free to email me at stacy[at]chesapeakeclimate.org 

Resources for Further Reading: 

References

Groups Sue Trump’s EPA Over Rollback of Toxic Emissions Standards

Under the cover of Covid, EPA is putting thousands of lives at risk 

For Immediate Release – June 19, 2020

Contacts: 
Siham Zniber, Press Secretary, | szniber@earthjustice.org
Neil Gormley, Earthjustice attorney, | ngormley@earthjustice.org | 202.797.5239
James Pew, Earthjustice attorney, | jpew@earthjustice.org  | 202.745.5214
Brian Willis, Sierra Club, Brian.Willis@sierraclub.org
Lisa Caruso, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, lcaruso@cbf.org | 202.746.2504
Katie Edwards, Clean Air Council kedwards@cleanair.org

Washington, D.C. – Today, civil rights and environmental organizations represented by Earthjustice sued Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency for gutting the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), which regulate toxic emissions from coal- and oil-burning power plants. Since MATS took effect in 2015, it has reduced mercury and other air pollutants, which are linked to brain poisoning, breathing illnesses, heart disease, and cancer, among other health impacts that particularly affect children and communities of color. MATS is estimated to save as many as 11,000 lives each year. 

Despite unusually widespread opposition, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler – a former coal lobbyist – reversed the legal finding that it is “appropriate and necessary” to regulate power plants’ hazardous emissions, based on a new cost benefit analysis that economists say has “deep flaws.” The move weakened the rule’s legal foundation and invited court challenges from industry groups hostile to these protections. Coal company Westmoreland Mining Holdings quickly took the opportunity that Wheeler handed to them and went after MATS in court last month. Earthjustice clients are also intervening in Westmoreland’s lawsuit to stop coal barons in their tracks.

 “Wheeler deceitfully created a bogus excuse for coal companies to challenge the MATS rule in court even though he knows the rule saves thousands of lives every year,” said Earthjustice attorney Neil Gormley. “If Wheeler’s giveaway to his former clients is successful, our children will be poisoned while we’re preoccupied with the pandemic. This corrupt attack on our communities is immoral and must be stopped.”

EPA’s own analysis underscores the public health benefits of air pollution regulations. Thanks to MATS mercury pollution has decreased by more than 81 percent.  

“It’s just common sense to protect the most vulnerable populations from the highly toxic air pollution emitted by coal-fired power plants. The technology to keep people safe is being used today and it is affordable. Eliminating these basic protections is simply unconscionable,” said Anne Hedges, Deputy Director of the Montana Environmental Information Center.

“The Trump administration is needlessly jeopardizing standards that have advanced Bay cleanup efforts and protected the region’s most vulnerable children for years. We cannot allow this cynical move to undermine critical health and environmental protections that power plants are already meeting. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is proud to return to court with partners we’ve fought alongside since 2005 to make sure that does not happen,”said Chesapeake Bay Foundation Staff Attorney Ariel Solaski.

“Given Andrew Wheeler’s long history as a coal lobbyist, it’s no surprise  that his intent was to weaken the mercury standards and practically invite a coal company to then sue in court challenging the now-compromised rule,” said Mary Anne Hitt, Director of Campaigns at the Sierra Club. “ We will continue to defend these life-saving standards and defeat Wheeler’s continuing attempts to fudge numbers in order to justify throwing out other clean air and water safeguards.”

“The Trump Administration’s efforts to gut clean air protections during a crisis of public health and justice is unconscionable,” said Anne Havemann, General Counsel at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “This is an issue of environmental justice. Communities with higher air pollution rates face higher death rates from COVID-19, and Black and brown residents of this country are dying from the virus at three times the rate of white Americans. Now is the time to increase protections, not gut them.”

“Pennsylvania’s coal plants are uniformly located in areas where at least 20% of the population lives below the poverty line, as seen here, qualifying them as Environmental Justice Areas. This completely unnecessary and dangerous rollback of public health standards would directly harm our most vulnerable populations,” said Joseph Otis Minott, Executive Director and Chief Counsel of Clean Air Council.

Earthjustice filed this lawsuit on behalf of Air Alliance Houston, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Clean Air Council, Downwinders at Risk, Montana Environmental Information Center, and NAACP.

Read this Earthjustice report for more on the history and benefits of MATS. 

A copy of the filing can be found here.

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We support “Defund the Police.” Here’s why, and what’s next

We are at a crucial point in history for racial justice. There are no neutral actors here: Silence itself is a dangerous act. 

That’s why we at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network are raising our voices for a world where Black Lives Matter. Not just because Black and Latinx Americans care most on average about climate change. Not just because the climate fight would be nothing without a diverse movement. Not just because we need every community to join us in our fight for climate solutions for it to succeed. Not just because we need to be able to protest without entire populations fearing for their lives. 

But because the fight for a safe climate future is a fight to save lives. And millions of Americans are fighting for their lives right now.

At this critical moment, we are following the lead of Black-led organizations at the forefront of this struggle. We are signing on in support of the broad movement to reduce funding for police and reinvest in communities under the banner of “Defund the Police.”

On Tuesday night, CCAN Board of Directors voted unanimously in favor of a resolution to support this movement. Click HERE to see the resolution. 

In practical terms, here’s what that means for us at CCAN: 

  • We will support efforts spearheaded by Black-led organizations to pressure our legislators to meaningfully divest from police programs that directly or indirectly give rise to brutality, and invest in public services and other public safety measures that don’t involve police force or incarceration. This means weighing in on state and local budget hearings, and encouraging our supporters to do the same. More on that below. 
  • We pledge to not pay for police services at CCAN events — like protests and conferences — unless absolutely necessary. Often, police departments require activists to pay for police presence at public marches and rallies. Our refusal to pay such fees will force us to make sure we’re asking the right questions up front and will help us to choose venues and vendors that share our values. We expect to formalize this new policy in the coming weeks.
  • We will connect our supporters with anti-racism trainings and resources and maximize trainings for staff to ensure that racial justice is a centerpiece of our climate campaigns.
  • We will invest in voter education campaigns to help protect vulnerable communities from voter suppression efforts — and encourage all voters to support leaders who advocate for meaningfully divesting from police to better fund social programs instead. 

You may be wondering, what do we mean by “Defund the Police?” It doesn’t mean getting rid of all police overnight — or necessarily ever — and it won’t mean the same thing in every city, town, or locality. It means redistributing the hundreds of millions of dollars we spend on policing back into essential public services that have been gutted over the last few decades as police budgets ballooned. It means mental health professionals answering calls about mental health crises, and addiction experts answering calls about opioid abuse, instead of armed officers. It means tackling our social problems with tools that could help solve them rather than resorting to violence and criminalization, a system that was borne out of racism and has intentionally disrupted and devastated Black, Brown, Indigenous and poor communities since its inception centuries ago.

This effort draws parallels to the fossil fuel divestment campaign as well. We’re not proposing eliminating all forms of energy, just the dirty ones; we still need to keep the lights on and the internet flowing, now more than ever in the era of coronavirus. Similarly, we still need systems to keep our communities safe. We’re just opening our minds to what those systems look like. And we’re taking our cues from the groups, communities, and thought-leaders most impacted by the current broken system.

If you’re still skeptical, click HERE to watch a video with CCAN Board Members Terence Ellen and Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr. discussing what “Defund the Police” means for CCAN and why it’s important for climate activists to support it.

Here at CCAN, we know that the fight for climate justice and racial justice are one in the same. People of color disproportionately bear the impacts of climate change, from extreme storms to flooding from sea level rise to heat waves to air pollution. It’s also no coincidence that fossil-fueled power plants and refineries are disproportionately located in black neighborhoods, leading to poor air quality and putting people at higher risk for coronavirus. The forces behind the climate crisis are the same forces behind racial inequality. As Eric Holthaus put it, climate change is “what happens when the lives of marginalised people and non-human species are viewed as expendable.” We have to work together for permanent and durable solutions that protect every single person of every single race — particularly the most vulnerable — now and in the future. 

That’s why we will continue to shine light on police brutality and work for solutions everywhere to this ongoing tragedy. And we ask you to do the same. Please do what you can to use your voice to demand justice. 

Here’s where to start:

The fight for justice becomes more crucial every day. We’re glad to be fighting with you. 

In solidarity, 

The entire team at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and CCAN Action Fund

Environmental Groups Take Legal Action Over Air Pollution from Industrial Flares

Allies Send EPA a Notice of Intent to Sue over Agency’s Failure to Update Inadequate 34-Year-Old Standards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, June 11, 2020

Media contact: Tom Pelton, Environmental Integrity Project (443) 510-2574 or tpelton@environmentalintegrity.org

Washington, D.C. – A coalition of ten environmental organizations today sent the Trump Administration EPA a notice of intent to sue the agency over its failure to reduce toxic air pollution from the flares on petrochemical plants, gas processing facilities, and other industrial sites.

Across the country, thousands of industrial flares burn excess waste gases and release smog-forming volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carcinogenic benzene, and other pollutants that threaten the health of people living nearby, often minorities and communities with moderate incomes.

EPA has not updated the air pollution control standards for industrial flares in 34 years, even though the federal Clean Air Act requires that agency review them at least once every eight years to make sure they adequately protect the public and incorporate improvements in technology, according to the notice.

“At this time when people are more vulnerable to pneumonia from COVID-19 when they are exposed to air pollution, it is unconscionable that the Trump EPA has not done its job and updated these weak and antiquated standards,” said Adam Kron, Senior Attorney for the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP).

Joseph Otis Minott, Esq., Executive Director and Chief Counsel of Clean Air Council, said: “The outdated technology EPA is allowing polluters to use to reduce emissions is endangering our communities. Thirty-four years of inaction is unacceptable; EPA needs to do its job and update its regulations.”

The organizations that sent the notice – the first required step in a federal lawsuit – are EIP, Clean Air Council, Air Alliance Houston, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Earthworks, Environment America, Environment Texas, Hoosier Environmental Council, PennEnvironment, and Texas Campaign for the Environment. 

Industrial facilities, like chemical manufacturers and natural gas processing plants, use flares as pollution control devices to burn and destroy dangerous organic compounds like benzene in waste gases. However, the flares are only effective as pollution control devices if they are operated correctly.

For example, operators inject steam into flares to keep them from smoking (which releases soot or fine particle pollution). But they often add far more steam than is needed.  EPA and industry studies have shown that flares that are over-steamed do not burn well, releasing large amounts of benzene and other toxic or smog-forming compounds that should have been destroyed during the combustion process. 

The types of industrial flares that are the subject of the today’s notice do not include flares on drilling sites or oil refineries. The general industrial flares being targeted for the improvements in the notice include those on chemical factories, solid waste landfills, gasoline terminals, and natural gas processing plants.

More than three decades after EPA established requirements for these general industrial flares in 1986, these standards no longer reflect the “best system of emission reduction,” according to the notice filed by the 10 environmental organizations.

For example, the current standards’ minimum heating value requirements are not based on where the flare is actually burning (the “combustion zone”) and therefore miss if an operator is injecting too much steam or air into the flare, dramatically lowering its efficiency.  Additionally, the current standards let operators average their measurements over long, three-hour periods rather than a shorter time, allowing for spikes that depart from proper operation.  In fact, EPA has estimated that improperly operated flares may release five times or more the pollution as a properly operated flare.

Recently, EPA conducted a rulemaking that not only pointed out the shortcomings of the current flare standards but also set out specific revisions that could correct these problems. In March 2020, EPA finalized revisions to National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) standards for ethylene production facilities that included revised flare standards similar to what the groups have requested here.  For just the approximately 100 flares covered by the rule, EPA estimated that revised flare standards have the potential to reduce excess emissions by approximately 1,430 tons per year of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and 13,020 tons per year of VOCs. On a per-flare basis, that’s about 14 tons per year of hazardous pollutants and 130 tons per year of VOCs.

Quotes from Environmental Organizations:

Environment Texas: “In our Clean Air Act lawsuit against ExxonMobil, an expert on industrial flares testified at trial that illegal flaring emissions from the company’s Baytown petrochemical complex were probably three to four times higher than the amounts ExxonMobil reported — and that testimony went completely unrebutted,” said Luke Metzger, Executive Director of Environment Texas.  “These hidden impacts on surrounding communities are significant, as the reported violations alone already totaled 10 million pounds of harmful chemicals.”

In Texas, three of the top five largest unpermitted pollution releases from industrial flares in 2019 happened at the Exxon Mobil Chemical Baytown Olefins Plant east of Houston, which released 48 tons of air pollution from February 28 to March 12, 2019; 75 tons of air pollution from June 28 to July 13, 2019; and another 67 tons from August 1 to August 18, 2019, according to records of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Environment Texas sued Exxon Mobil over the plant’s air pollution.

PennEnvironment: “While many people may look back fondly and love the 80s, we’d all agree that technology and the things we know about air pollution have dramatically improved over the past three decades,” said PennEnvironment Executive Director David Masur. “Health based standards from the 80s are in no way acceptable for protecting public health, our communities and our environment today.”  

Chesapeake Climate Action Network: “For too long, fossil fuel companies have been allowed to emit dangerous levels of pollution at industrial facilities that are all too often located in minority communities,” said Anne Havemann, General Counsel at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “Virtually unchecked industrial flaring at these facilities harms the climate, health, and justice, and the EPA must fix its illegally outdated rules as soon as possible.”

Hoosier Environmental Council:  “With a ranking of 43rd in air quality, 40th in health outcomes, and 13th in COVID-19 deaths per capita, there is a great urgency in Indiana to strengthen air quality protections to reduce harm to an already vulnerable population,” said Jesse Kharbanda, Executive Director of the Hoosier Environmental Council. “We urge the EPA to revise the badly out-of-date flare standards; revisions would improve air quality in at least five of six regions of Indiana.”

Texas Campaign for the Environment:  “Industrial flares light up the skies with toxic pollution near the homes, schools and workplaces of many Texans,” said Robin Schneider, Executive Director of Texas Campaign for the Environment. “People rightly fear for the health of their families and neighbors, particularly overburdened communities of color,” said Robin Schneider, Executive Director of Texas Campaign for the Environment.

For a copy of the notice, click here.

The Environmental Integrity Project is an 18-year-old nonprofit organization, based in Washington D.C. and Austin, Texas, that is dedicated to enforcing environmental laws and strengthening policy to protect public health.

Clean Air Council is a member-supported environmental organization dedicated to protecting and defending everyone’s right to a healthy environment.

Environment Texas is a non-profit advocate for clean air, clean water, and open space.

The Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) is the first grassroots, nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to fighting global warming in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

PennEnvironment is a statewide, citizen-based nonprofit environmental advocacy group working for clean air, clean water, tackling climate change and preserving Pennsylvania’s incredible outdoor places.

Texas Campaign for the Environment is a grassroots organization that empowers Texans to fight pollution through sustained grassroots organizing campaigns that shift corporate and governmental policy.

Environment America is a national network of 29 state environmental groups that work for clean air, clean water, clean energy, wildlife and open spaces, and a livable climate.

Air Alliance Houston is a non-profit advocacy organization working to reduce the public health impacts of air pollution and advance environmental justice.

The Hoosier Environmental is Indiana’s largest environmental public policy organization, working to address environmental justice, protect land and water, and advance a sustainable economy.

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Maryland Public Service Approves Dan’s Mountain Wind Farm in Western Maryland

CCAN applauds the 4-1 decision and calls on the PSC to do more to unlock offshore wind power and address a backlog of solar farm projects across Maryland

TAKOMA PARK, MD — The Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC)  today voted 4-1 to approve a long-delayed wind farm project on Dan’s Mountain in Allegany County. The 70-megawatt project will create hundreds of jobs and provide a million dollars per year in tax revenue for a county hit hard by the ongoing COVID-19 recession. 

Now the Commission must turn its attention to speeding up the approval process for a backlog of solar energy projects in the state and assisting state legislators in maximizing Maryland’s offshore wind power potential against threats from the Trump Administration. 

Statement from Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network: 

“The Maryland PSC did the right thing today in approving the Dan’s Mountain wind farm. The project is supported by the Western Building Trades Union and will create hundreds of good-paying jobs while cleaning up our air and reducing climate emissions. The irony of this 70-megawatt project sitting atop land formerly stripped-mined for coal is not lost on Marylanders, especially young people who can now better glimpse a clean energy future. 

“But now the PSC must further unlock that future. Annapolis legislators are asking the PSC to help advance 400 megawatts of offshore wind power with 2,000 new jobs at stake. Plus the PSC must act faster to unlock a backlog of delayed solar projects across the state, caused in large part by the slow action of a state entity called the Power Plant Research Project.

“As for the Dan’s Mountain wind farm, we believe the PSC struck the right balance in weighing the economic and environmental benefits of the project versus the legitimate concerns of some local residents who fought long and hard against the project. Some of those opponents have fought shoulder to shoulder with CCAN against fracked-gas pipelines in Western Maryland and in favor of a fracking ban. We respect those opponents and their concerns about wind power. But we are convinced that, in the fight against fossil fuels and for the long-term preservation of our Appalachian Mountains, land-based wind farms have a role to play when properly sited and carefully regulated. Again, we believe the Maryland Public Service Commission struck the right balance today and should be applauded.”

Background: 

Solar Delay: The PSC and the Power Plant Research Project are dragging their feet on acting on more than 40 “shovel-ready” solar projects. It now takes 1.5 years on average to get a solar farm approved in the state. The wait is longer than in most states and is undoubtedly discouraging new companies from coming here. 

Threats to Offshore Wind: in December 2019, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved a plan to subject certain energy generation technologies to a high and arbitrary Minimum Offer Price Rule (MOPR) requirements in their bids in the PJM capacity market, of which Maryland is a member. As a result, technologies like offshore wind could be entirely excluded from this market. A group of 62 Maryland State Delegates have asked the PSC to move as quickly as possible to adjust the guidance on the open offshore wind-bidding process, to request that bidders submit contingency bids outlining one proposal without capacity payments and a second with capacity payments.

CONTACT:
Denise Robbins, Communications Director, 240-630-1889, denise@chesapeakeclimate.org
Mike Tidwell, Director, 240-460-5838, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org 

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The Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the first grassroots organization dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in the Chesapeake Bay region. For 17 years, CCAN has been at the center of the fight for clean energy and wise climate policy in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. 

CCAN Commends “Historic” Change to Major Virginia Regulatory Body With Appointment of First Black SCC Commissioner

Governor Northam Appoints First Black Person to Serve on Virginia State Corporation Commission

RICHMOND, VA — Today, Governor Northam appointed Jehmal Hudson to serve as the next judge on the Virginia State Corporation Commission – the first Black person to hold a position on this regulatory body since its inception in 1902.

Harrison Wallace, Virginia Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, stated in response: 

“Now that a 100 percent clean energy future is a codified goal of the Commonwealth, it is more important than ever that we have SCC commissioners who understand the benefits of clean energy to both the ratepayers and our climate. Just as importantly, we also need commissioners who can relate to the experience of Black and Brown communities that have been disproportionately harmed by Virginia’s energy monopolies, something the body has lacked for all of its 118 year history. 

“We applaud Governor Northam for choosing Jehmal Hudson as SCC commissioner, where he can begin the long-needed shift towards a clean energy future that we all can be proud of. This historic shift to Virginia’s regulatory body is good news for climate and justice in Virginia.”

CONTACT:
Denise Robbins, Communications Director, 240-630-1889, denise@chesapeakeclimate.org
Harrison Wallace, Virginia Director, harrison@chesapeakeclimate.org 

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The Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the first grassroots organization dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in the Chesapeake Bay region. For 17 years, CCAN has been at the center of the fight for clean energy and wise climate policy in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

New Poll: Both Republicans and Democrats Want Maryland Public Service Commission to Move Faster On Wind and Solar Jobs During COVID-19 Recession

Hogan-appointed commission can legally speed up approval of clean energy projects, creating thousands of jobs. Voters in poll conducted by Patrick Gonzales support faster action. Biggest support comes from Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore.

TAKOMA PARK, MD – With over half a million Marylanders newly out of work due to COVID-19, a new poll shows that voters want the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC) to move faster in approving solar farms and wind farms. Over 40 solar projects are currently held up on regulatory wait lists — as are three wind farms on either end of the state. A new Gonzales Poll shows the public wants a change, with nearly two-thirds of both Democrats and Republicans saying the PSC should move faster.

The poll arrives at a pivotal moment for the PSC. Its five commissioners, appointed by Republican Governor Larry Hogan, reopened hearings last week related to two offshore wind farms. The commission will also vote on Wednesday of this week on a long-delayed wind farm in Allegany County in Western Maryland. Meanwhile, 40 solar projects proposed for the state are in various stages of “shovel readiness” but are tied up in PSC red tape with help from another government agency called the Power Plant Research Project.

“In an era marked by political division, this new poll shows incredible bipartisan consensus that the Maryland PSC should act faster for workers and clean air,” said Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the group that commissioned the survey. “Perhaps never in Maryland’s history have government regulators been in a better position to help so many suffering families while protecting the planet.”

In the Gonzales poll, 64% percent of Maryland voters surveyed said the PSC should move faster in approving wind and solar generation projects in the state. The numbers were highest in Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore, the two majority-Republican parts of the state where many of the largest wind and solar projects are being proposed. In Western Maryland, 70%of voters say the PSC should act faster. On the Eastern Shore/Southern Maryland, the number was 73%. Clearly Republican voters are eager to see faster economic development and jobs from wind and solar power. Statewide, 63% of Republican voters said the PSC should move faster. Sixty-five percent of Democrats said the same as did 66% of independents.

For more background on the PSC’s slowness in approving clean energy projects, read Mike Tidwell’s oped in the Washington Post from June 5.

Here is the Gonzales poll question: “450,000 Marylanders have filed for unemployment benefits with the Covid-19 shutdown. Meanwhile, over 40 solar energy farms have been proposed for construction in Maryland but are tied up in bureaucratic delays. It now takes one and half years to get a solar farm approved. Similar delays could affect a proposed land-based wind farm and two offshore projects. The Maryland Public Service Commission, which regulates these projects, can by law speed up this process and create thousands of jobs.  With the recession, do you think the Public Service Commission should act faster, or not?”

The Gonzales Research & Media Services firm surveyed 810 registered voters in Maryland between May 19 and May 23, 2020. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5%.

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The Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the first and largest grassroots organization dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in the Chesapeake Bay region. For 17 years, CCAN has been at the center of the fight for clean energy and wise climate policy in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.chesapeakeclimate.org.

CONTACT:
Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838, mtidwell@chespapeakeclimate.org
Denise Robbins, 608-320-6582, denise@chesapeakeclimate.org

CCAN-Report-May-2020

SCC Must Extend Moratorium on Utility Disconnections; Legislative Action Next Step

Environmental groups unite behind call for extension and data release from utilities

June 5, 2020

Charlottesville — Eleven environmental and marginalized community advocacy organizations today joined statewide calls for the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) to extend its moratorium on utility disconnections during the COVID-19 pandemic. A joint comment submitted by the organizations questions the SCC’s assumption that a moratorium extension will harm ratepayers given the lack of available and relevant data from regulated public utilities including how many Virginia customers have unpaid utility bills, the reserves of each utility, and the amount utilities have overcharged customers in previous years.

The comment includes:

  • A request for the SCC to extend the mandatory moratorium on utility service disconnections until at least the end of the summer.
  • A request for the SCC to obtain weekly data from all regulated public utilities including how many customers have unpaid utility bills, the number of customers disconnected in the current year, and information regarding the financial strength and debt reserves of each utility.
  • A request for the SCC to solicit proposals from all affected utilities on steps those utilities can take to restart their energy efficiency programs or develop alternative programs that reduce consumption while protecting the health of all involved.

Virginia’s largest electricity provider Dominion Energy has declined to comment on how many residential and non-residential customers have unpaid bills or were disconnected in the current year. Dominion has overcharged its customers by $1.3 billion since 2015.

The SCC’s state order suspending disconnections is set to expire on June 15, 2020. Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Clean Virginia, Climate Action Alliance of the Valley, League of Conservation Voters Virginia, New Virginia Majority, Piedmont Environmental Council, Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection, Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, Southern Environmental Law Center, Virginia Conservation Network, and Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy signed the joint comment to the SCC, due today.

READ the joint comment to the SCC.

Quotes From Participating Organizations:

Harrison Wallace, Chesapeake Climate Action Network – Virginia Director

“It’s the SCC’s job to protect consumers, not corporations. But Dominion is planning to give their shareholders fat dividends during a time of economic turmoil and also planning to give out targeted grants in the name of justice. If they can do that, they can help struggling families keep the lights on and cool their homes during the hottest season of the year.”

Brennan Gilmore, Clean Virginia – Executive Director

“Families should not face electricity disconnection while Dominion Energy unjustly transfers hundreds of millions in overcharges every year from Virginians to its top executives and shareholders. The State Corporation Commission should provide relief to struggling Virginia families and small businesses by extending the moratorium on utility disconnections and demanding transparency from utilities to better understand the scope of the problem.”

 Jo Anne St. Clair, Climate Action Alliance of the Valley – Chair

“The Climate Action Alliance of the Valley believes that the SCC must be mindful that calamities like the current pandemic, and like the consequences of our ongoing climate crisis, usually burden those who are least able to adapt and recover quickly. The pandemic is not over; its negative economic effects will be with us all, especially the many Virginians who chronically have a serious burden meeting their utility bills. The SCC must consider this reality.”

Michael Town, League of Conservation Voters Virginia – Executive Director

“We should not be debating whether or not to extend a moratorium on utility shut-offs in the midst of a global pandemic and economic depression that is especially devastating for low-income neighborhoods and communities of color,” said Michael Town, executive director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters. “The moratorium should remain in place until the pandemic is over and Virginia is able to implement just and fair utility reform to ensure our most vulnerable citizens are never put in this position again.”

Kenneth Gilliam, New Virginia Majority – Policy Director

“We are very much still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had greater economic and health effects, likely to be long-lasting, on low-income households and Latinx and Black communities in Virginia. The economic repercussions of the crisis are not equally distributed by race or income across the state; however, measures, such as the moratorium on utility disconnections, provides much needed fiscal relief to low-income customers who generally pay more for energy and are predicted to have greater loss of income throughout the rest of 2020, and well into 2021.”

Kate Addleson, Sierra Club Virginia Chapter – Director

“The COVID 19 pandemic has thrown Virginia into a serious economic downturn with many families across the commonwealth facing job loss and financial strain. With Virginia’s hottest months still ahead of us, the SCC must extend the moratorium on utility shut-offs at least through the summer to ensure families and businesses aren’t subject to life-threatening heat. The commission should take steps to offer utility bill assistance and extended repayment programs during this difficult time.”

Will Cleveland, Southern Environmental Law Center – Senior Attorney

“With the summer heat bearing down on us, we must do all we can to help people who, as a result of this pandemic, struggle to pay their utility bills. Expanded utility-sponsored energy efficiency programs, bill assistance and payment plans, and data collection are necessary to help all Virginians come through this difficult time.”

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CONTACT:

Cassady Craighill, Clean Virginia Communications Director

cassady@cleanvirginia.org, 828-817-3328

Why Climate Activists Need to Be Anti-Racist Activists

Whose apocalypse do you care about?

I was originally supposed to write this blog post about why we need the climate movement to get huge, and discuss Harvard researcher Erica Chenoweth’s discoveries about how relatively small proportions of the population are needed to overthrow tyrannical governments. This is all still true and important; I highly suggest you watch her TED talk here.*

However, today I have something even more pressing to discuss. I want to talk about why all climate activists should become anti-racist activists. If you are a white activist and recent events have stirred you to start down the path of anti-racist practice, welcome, this post is for you. 

For those of you who are people of color: Our hearts are breaking for you. If you have a story about what’s going on you’d like to share, we’d love to amplify your voice. Simply email info@chesapeakeclimate.org and we’ll work with you on this. 

I’d like to first acknowledge that I benefit from white privilege and it’s important to put my words here in that context. That isn’t to say I haven’t experienced challenges, and I have other parts of myself that are not fully liberated in this country (notably, I’m a woman, queer and neurodivergent). Many of my family members have experienced poverty for generations and still continue to experience it today. But yet even with all of that being true, I still very much benefit from a history of white supremacy. And *all* of the challenges I face are made easier for having white skin. This is a foundational principle of intersectionality (a term coined by a black woman): no struggle is faced in a vacuum That is why we will never truly win on a single issue that is “good for everyone” without specifically addressing how racism undermines our movements. We’ve seen this time and time again throughout history, from black suffragists excluded from the women’s movement, to 53% of white women voting for Trump in 2016.

Francis Elen Watkins Harper, an intellectual and poet who spoke out about exclusionary practices in the women’s suffrage movement

Anti-racist practice is the constant examination of the way that race interplays with every aspect of life, and at every stage demanding differently. Scholar Ibram Kendi compares racism to the cancer he lives with; unexamined, it metastasizes through the whole body. The treatment is to remove tumors (racist policies) and medicate the entire system (commit to anti-racist education). 

How do we move forward from here?

So if you are white, how do you go about educating yourself and others about race?

Step one: Always trust black and brown people’s authority on this subject first.

Seriously, don’t just take my word for it. No matter how woke you get, or how much you are connected to black people in your personal life, if you are white you will not understand what it is to personally be subject to racism and wake up black every day (this poem by Candace Williams helped me to understand this emotionally). Black and brown people have been doing this work intergenerationally. Another analogy here – doing anti-racist work is like doing calculus in a burning building, where people of color are the experts and white people have not started learning basic addition. If you’re just coming into this understanding, there is a lot of learning and listening to do. This means frequently passing up the microphone, and committing deeply to self-work.

Now, important caveat here: You should absolutely read resources authored by people of color and listen when they are speaking, but do your best not to come with too many questions to individual people of color. A constant state of rehashing basic principles and convincing people of your humanity is exhausting. Research shows that this is the number one reason for burn out among anti-racist acitivists of color (more tips for avoiding this contained in the link).

This is one of many reasons step two is very important: White people need to talk to other white people about anti-racism.

To Kendi’s point, these ideas need to permeate the whole system. If you are a white person, you have access to white spaces and ears that black and brown people do not. Be that person and bring up this issue everywhere you go, from the policy table to the dinner table. As you progress on your journey, you will also learn how to speak to other white people at different levels of understanding (back to that calculus analogy – this is like forming a study group). You have the opportunity to leverage your relationships and position strategically. While big visible protests can be really important, we would not need them if we committed to doing this work full time. This is -really- hard. I’m certainly not an expert, but groups like Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) work on this effort constantly.

Whiteness in the climate movement

Now with all of that given, let’s talk for a moment about whiteness in the climate movement specifically. First, let’s establish that if you truly care about the principle of a stable climate, you should absolutely care about racial justice. Think of all the grief and post apocalyptic imagery that we understand so well in the climate movement. Do those images involve terror, conflict, lack of access to safe water and food? We have seen constantly in the news that many people in this country are already living that reality for being black. Native activists have also written about already living in a post-apocalyptic world. So the apocalypse is already here, it just might not have touched you yet. And climate change will absolutely make all of these problems worse for people already facing extreme living conditions. 

Meanwhile, the environmental movement has centered white voices and priorities for decades and is overwhelmingly white. A 2014 study conducted by environmental expert Dorceta Taylor examined the composition of environmental groups and found what we can see anecdotally; through and through white faces dominate at events and on staff. This research also examined some of the reason that might be the case, including a lack of funding dedicated to this cause and a lack of transparency about the state of diversity in our movement (here at CCAN we are working on understanding the composition of our own base; you can take a survey here). Not understanding this has significantly cost progress, and as we move into a “majority minority” composition in this country, we will suffer for it if we don’t quickly adapt. Even more disturbing is the fact that white supremacist groups have begun co-opting environmentalist messaging. Allowing this to sit unexamined will become a truly deadly cancer indeed. We need to make sure that at every turn we are denouncing racist practices, in our spheres of influence and especially in ourselves. This is why it is so important to listen to POC community leaders and incorporate their policy demands into our climate policy. 

We always have the opportunity to do differently. We can each decide to change our own mindset and start learning that calculus with urgency. In addition to the many resources I have linked throughout this post, I have also linked below a compilation of resources I have found helpful. The best time to start is now; the building truly is on fire. I would be happy to study with you. 

Resources

**(also, please note that while Chenoweth’s research shows that non-violent movements are ultimately easier to carry out and are often more effective in the long run, she does not condemn rioting when there are no other options left. Many black scholars, including Martin Luther King, have written about why rioting occurs and should be understood in context)

During coronavirus, Flint residents still do not have access to clean water. Photo by Karla Ann Cote/NurPhoto via Getty Images

George Floyd


The recent brutal murder in Minneapolis has forced all of us at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network to confront the injustice that runs rampant throughout our country. Our hearts and thoughts are with the families and communities of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and countless others.

Lives have been senselessly taken, and that can’t be undone. But we can work to shine a light on police brutality, and join justice advocacy organizations to find solutions to this ongoing tragedy. 

Systemic racism permeates nearly everything — from brutal police killings to COVID-19’s disproportionate mortality rate among African Americans to the fact that people of color are disproportionately affected by runaway climate change. We have to work together for permanent and durable solutions that protect every single person of every single race — particularly the most vulnerable — now and in the future.

As an immediate step, we encourage everyone to donate generously to organizations promoting racial justice and raising funds for those affected by this crisis. A few recommendations: 

We also condemn all statements that condone or incite violence against those who are exercising their First Amendment rights to protest this and other recent deaths of African Americans across our country.

The right to protest is a cornerstone of our democracy. We at CCAN have participated in dozens of demonstrations that have been essential for growing momentum for climate solutions. Yet, too often, African Americans are disproportionately targeted at these protests. When CCAN Board Member and frequent climate justice advocate Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr. participated in the March for Science, he was targeted and assaulted by the police. When we joined with the #ShutdownDC Coalition to temporarily block traffic around the nation’s capitol to draw attention to the climate crisis, our largely white group was able to block off several intersections without trouble from the police — while the Black Lives Matter blockade was immediately targeted for arrests during the protest and hassled afterwards. 

Everyone should have a right to protest without fearing being killed. Everyone should have a right to walk down a street or sleep in their own bed without fearing being killed. 

For those of you reading this who are white, we encourage you to take this opportunity to learn as much as you can about institutional racism and privilege: 

For those of you who are people of color: Our hearts are breaking for you. If you have a story about what’s going on you’d like to share, we’d love to amplify your voice. Simply respond to this email and we’ll work with you on this. 

There is no climate justice without racial justice. 

In solidarity forever, 

The entire team at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network