Category: Blog

Finally, Dominion Resources is admitting the truth: Its massive gas export facility in southern Maryland could indeed blow up and threaten innocent nearby neighbors. In fact, Dominion is now planning to build an emergency evacuation road to help some – but not all – of the potentially trapped victims.
For the last couple years, Dominion has sworn up and down on its stack of documents that its Cove Point fracked-gas export plant in southern Maryland would pose zero threat to families nearby. In fact, in a brazen open letter to the community, Dominion wrote: “As the federal safety review found, in the unlikely event of an emergency at the terminal, it would pose no threat to those outside the facility’s boundaries.”
Now, however, just a week after federal regulators signed off on this titanic project September 29th (with court challenges to come), Dominion has announced an “enhancement” to its plans: a new escape road that the company would build for some of the vulnerable nearby residents of Lusby, Maryland. Totally voluntarily, of course. Just to be good neighbors.
This little road is a de facto Dominion admission that the vapor-cloud-fireball accident that can’t possibly happen could happen after all. In addition, a few days later, Dominion submitted a Cove Point evacuation plan, listing emergencies “with the potential for offsite impact” and “that could require an evacuation of the surrounding areas.” Those emergencies include an uncontrolled leak, fire involving natural gas product, and rupture of a gas pipeline.

VIDEO: Learn why Lusby residents fear for their safety

The company has been deceiving residents since Day 1 about the safety of this facility. Because, of course, Dominion can’t possibly provide assurances to residents living nearby. It can’t guarantee that an accident will stay behind the 60-foot-high wall that will go up around much of the plant. It refuses to conduct a full safety study requested by neighbors and it certainly can’t defy the laws of physics and contain leaking and billowing gases in search of a spark.
Not that this little road will create safe passage for those living southeast of the plant, as it is still within a half-mile of Dominion’s front gate. A 2006 study done for an expansion at the existing import plant found that a flash fire could incinerate people nearly a mile away. Dominion’s behind-the-scenes purchase on Sept. 19 of a $319,000 house to create a bypass south of the plant offers only false security while simultaneously confirming the very hazard the company denies.
Lusby residents have been right all along. They have turned their lives over to research. They have pleaded for protection from elected and appointed officials. They have pointed out that Dominion documents overlook 39,732 residents living in the area, including 8,000 within 2 miles of the company gates. For their efforts, they have received only platitudes about safety. With Dominion’s revelations about this road, residents know their fears for their lives and their homes are justified.
And shame on elected officials, including Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Rep. Steny Hoyer, U.S. Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin, for backing this Virginia energy company instead of Maryland residents. This little road shows that officials should have stood on the side of safety and of their citizens, just as many did in 2009. Then, Gov. O’Malley, Sen. Mikulski and Sen. Cardin were key to blocking a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import plant at Sparrows Point in Baltimore. They rebuked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for rubberstamping AES Corp.’s plans. Residents and officials alike were concerned about the risk of explosions, terrorist threats and harm to the Chesapeake Bay. AES dropped the project in 2013, just as Lusby residents were learning of Dominion’s plans for their community.
Lusby residents can be forgiven for their cynicism and sense of betrayal.
At this point, the most appropriate next step is a thorough investigation and analysis of all risks involved, something residents have long called for and FERC has so far refused to authorize. Otherwise, we will never know why Dominion, just days after FERC’s approval, is suddenly offering a limited bypass road — a gesture both distracting and utterly inadequate for an “offsite impact” from uncontrolled leaks, fires, and gas line ruptures.
Short of that, the only humane and ethical path forward is for Dominion to buy all homes within at least a mile of the plant — a solution that has precedent. Last year, Freeport LNG in Texas offered to buy, at market rate plus $25,000, all 73 homes in Quintana, a small beach town where escape is blocked by yet another FERC-approved export plant.
The Cove Point export plant is a disaster for the economy, the climate, the Chesapeake Bay, and communities in the way of fracking, pipelines and compressor stations. But the most immediate danger is to Lusby residents. This little road proves that residents have been correct and Dominion has been misleading all along.

CCAN ignites passion among its core volunteers during a potluck in Norfolk.
As legislators gear up for the Virginia General Assembly to begin in January, CCAN is ensuring that residents of Hampton Roads are prepared as well. Through action and upcoming events, we are working to equip volunteers and community leaders with the knowledge, skills, and resources to ensure that Virginia coastlines are protected. The time is now to begin conversations about what we want to see happen during the next legislative session. We are so thankful to everyone who continues to spearhead the important conversations about coastal protection in Hampton Roads.
On September 28th, we were able to show our appreciation for the great people of Norfolk during a Potluck event. It was a powerful evening, meeting and talking about real issues with volunteers in the Norfolk community. After moving from Baltimore, I was reminded why I decided to return to Hampton Roads and continue to fight for coastal protection…people like YOU! We had a special guest at our dinner, CCAN’s executive director, Mike Tidwell, to discuss the importance of taking action and protecting this extremely vulnerable region of Virginia. Mike is a phenomenal speaker and shared unique insight on what it will take to ensure the safety of residents, reduce fossil fuel emissions and generate funding for coastal adaptation.
CCAN is always looking for ways to impart knowledge and develop the skills it takes to make an impact in frontline communities.
What’s Next? Join the conversation.
Our next event is on Wednesday, October 15th. We will have a happy hour and training on how to tell effective stories about the impacts we deal with in Hampton Roads. Finding the best ways to articulate our personal stories will help us better communicate with others in the community as well as legislators. Can’t wait to see you there!
Here are the details:
Who: CCAN and climate activists from Hampton Roads.
What: Storytelling training and happy hour.
When: Wednesday, October 15th, 7PM.
Where: Pasha Mezze, 340 W 22nd St. Norfolk, VA 23517.

On Saturday September 13th, folks from all around NoVA joined neighbors and local legislators for the first ever Solar Home Tour in NoVA.  We visited a handful of Loudoun County homes with both PV and thermal solar, educating local elected officials along the way.
After the tour, we sat down with Natalie Pien, who worked to organize the tour, and hear why using resident clean energy is important to her as a climate activist.
Q: Why did you want to organize a solar tour?
A: The tour was not my idea, but it was a great one that Phil Hostetter (a CCAN activist) came up with during CCAN’s activist conference call last Spring.  It is important to promote solar energy in Loudoun. I wanted to showcase homeowners who feel so passionately about using clean, renewable sources of energy that they have installed solar despite the lack of financial incentives.  These people understand the problem with using fossil fuels as an energy source and want to do whatever they can to reduce their carbon footprint.
Q: How have you used solar and retrofitting to reduce your home fuel use?
A: The solar panels on our roof is only one part of our home designed to lower our carbon footprint.  We installed the panels when there was limited funding from VA when it received federal funds to stimulate the state economy.  The Governor decided to designate the funds for solar installations.  Without that funding, we probably would not have been able to afford the installation.
Our home has other energy efficiency/lowering carbon footprint features, including:

• passive solar design;
• 2 X 6 framing to allow extra insulation on exterior walls;
• thermal mass in the form of water tubes and tiled, concrete floor;
• ductless, mini-split heat pumps, providing true zone controlled air conditioning.
• high energy washing machine
• energy efficient refrigerator
• practice composting in the kitchen and the yard
• vegetable garden
• hybrid car
• occasional commuting by bike

Q: What did you hope to accomplish with this tour? And, did you accomplish those goals?
A: The tour was a success!  We had elected officials from state government and town of Leesburg government.  These officials were able to learn what their constituents have encountered with installing solar under current conditions.  Each home was different, showing that any style home can use solar panels.  Also, each homeowner had different information and experiences to share. Tour attendees gained a new level of comfort they did not have before.  They also got a sneak peak to Solarize Leesburg, a program that will make it even easier to go solar.
Q: What was your highlight of the day?
A: I really enjoyed the last stop on our tour at Sunset Hills Vineyard. Owner Mike Canney gave a really powerful speech about his solar powered vineyard that was interesting and inspiring.  It is wonderful to have small business so passionate about solar.
To see more photos from the tour, check our Facebook album here.
Interested in getting involved in our solar work at CCAN? Click here to check out our new solar campaign!
 

In April, the giant utility company Exelon announced plans to buy Pepco, the electricity utility that serves customers in Maryland and Washington, D.C. Exelon would become the biggest power distributor in Maryland and in the United States — should the deal go through. But for that to happen, the Public Service Commissions in the District of Columbia and Maryland must approve it, and find that the deal serves the “public interest.”
As an environmental group, we are strongly opposed to the proposed merger between Exelon and Pepco. In Maryland, we know this project is certainly not in the public interest.  Not only would it give Exelon a near-monopoly over our state’s utility market, but also it would severely restrict Maryland’s ability to transition to the clean, affordable, and efficient electricity grid we need. Furthermore, given Exelon’s track record, which includes opposition to many renewable energy policies, we are concerned that there is no way forward for this merger that would produce the key reforms and positive elements that Maryland’s electricity grid requires.
Today, CCAN joined together with twenty consumer, student, environmental, business and faith groups to announce our staunch and united opposition to this merger. The Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) must sign off on the merger before it can proceed, and we are standing together to say: Stop the Merger! No Exelon Monopoly in Maryland.
Sign-on letter opposing the merger:
Click here to view a PDF copy of the open letter signed by 20 groups opposing the Merger.
Press release:
Click here to view our press Release-Maryland Leaders Oppose Exelon-Pepco Merger.
Resources:
“Delaware Panel Sets Hearings on Exelon, Pepco Merger.” Delaware News Journal. 7/10/2014.
“Exelon and Pepco File for Merger in Maryland.” Exelon. 8/19/2014.
“Exelon merger in New Jersey blocked.” State of New Jersey.” 4/26/2006.
“Exelon Tops Maryland Lobbying Spending. RTO Insider.” 7/2/2014.
“Utility Exelon Trying to Kill Wind and Solar Subsidies While Keeping Nukes.” Greentech Media. 4/1/2014.
“Why DC Should Oppose the Exelon-Pepco Merger.” Washington Post. 8/1/2014.

On Monday, at 7:40 p.m., the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced its final order approving this radical, fracked-gas export facility proposed along the Chesapeake Bay in southern Maryland.
Despite mounds of testimony and scientific data showing this $3.8 billion facility would incentivize harmful fracking throughout our region and bring unconscionable safety risks to nearby communities, FERC refused to even conduct an environmental impact statement for the project. Despite a study from the U.S. Department of Energy showing that gas exports are likely worse than coal for global warming over the next 20 years, FERC didn’t even try to quantify the project’s climate impacts before lending its rubber stamp.
In other words, the FERC decision on Cove Point is a giant lie — and we will challenge it. In the same way that TransCanada lies about the harms of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, FERC lies about Cove Point. In the same way that Peabody Coal lies about the harms of mountaintop removal mining, FERC lies about Cove Point. The secretive, truth-hiding collaboration between FERC and its gas-industry partner Dominion Resources (the energy bully and would-be builder of Cove Point), is an affront to every child, parent, and grandparent on this planet.
Which is why we are NOT going to stop fighting against Cove Point — from the streets to the courts. We’re just moving to the legal phase now. And we’ll move to the next phase and the next after that. And how could we stop fighting anyway?
There were 400,000 people in New York City just ten days ago, with a roar and a mass so big I’m sure satellites picked it up in outer space. The People’s Climate March, with babies wearing windmill crowns and senior citizens wearing “Stop Fracking” buttons, signaled that a new day is dawning in America. We’re the movement we’ve always been waiting for! We’re here. We’re big. And we’re going to win. Which means we have no time for a worse-than-coal export facility for fracked gas in Maryland. The FERC approval is a momentary setback. It’s just a prelude to the legal battle just ahead. CCAN and our partners will likely sue soon, demanding a proper and thorough environmental impact statement as our right by law.
What can you do right away to keep fighting? Here’s what:
1. Join the rapid response demonstration that CCAN and our allies are planning outside the FERC headquarters in Washington, DC this Friday.
Or, if you’re a Southern Marylander, join a solidarity demonstration Friday outside the Dominion Cove Point site in Lusby.
And if you live in Maryland:
2. Mark your calendar and join a statewide conference call on Wednesday, October 8th at 7 p.m. We’ll plot next steps on Cove Point, including how to stop all gas exports by flooding our state – and soon the planet – with solar panels and wind turbines. Join the call October 8th and learn more.
Meanwhile, at a moment like this, it’s important to thank your friends and hold your opponents accountable. The FERC decision on Monday is a setback. There’s no hiding that. It’s a massive failure of federal regulatory responsibility. And it’s a failure of political leadership. That failure starts with President Obama who, despite a world hurdling past 400 parts per million carbon in the atmosphere, has embraced a ludicrous energy policy of “all of the bove.” That explicitly includes fracking and fracked-gas exports despite the science showing such gas dooms his own children. Are the gas-industry donations to Democratic Party campaigns really worth that?
The failure continues with Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. Despite the pleas of Calvert County Maryand residents near Cove Point, the Governor never ordered a comprehensive safety study to protect local citizens from accidental explosions at Cove Point. In fact, O’Malley literally fell asleep during a hearing on safety with citizen witnesses testifying just 30 feet across from him. Shame.
The failure continues with southern Maryland congressman Steny Hoyer and US Senators Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski. All three refused to publicly oppose this economically and environmentally harmful project. Indeed, none of them even called publicly for an environmental impact statement despite the pleas of voters and newspapers like The Baltimore Sun. Shame.
But as much bad behavior as there’s been in this Cove Point fight, there has been good behavior from citizen angels all across this region. Among others, many thanks to: Citizen Shale, Sierra Club, Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility, Calvert Citizens for a Healthy Community, Waterkeepers everywhere, Food and Water Watch, Maryland Environmental Health Network, Maryland League of Women Voters, 350.org, Labor Network for Sustainability, Environmental Action, Burks Gas Truth, and many, many, many more groups and individuals.
I can’t wait to work with you in the coming days and months to keep fighting for clean energy — not Dominion’s disaster at Cove Point — and to keep the spirit of the 400,000-stong New York City climate march alive and growing!
On we go,
Mike Tidwell
Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Click here to read our joint press statement in response to FERC’s decision.

Yesterday, we started changing everything because of everyone who showed up in the streets of New York City. The People’s Climate March was huge — with the final crowd count of 400,000 people toppling the record books and making this the biggest climate demonstration in history.
The mass numbers were apparent if, like CCAN staff and supporters, you had lined up toward the back of the 20-block-long assembly area. Standing with the Anti-Fracking Allies, who came from all over New York and Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Maryland, and beyond, and just in front of the “Debate is Over” scientists’ contingent replete with a “chalkboard” lesson on climate science, we waited until well after 2:00 p.m. to start marching. In front of us and behind us was a sea of people, and a beautiful sea it was.
But it wasn’t just the numbers that were inspiring and change-making, it was who showed up to create them. They really did include just about everyone.
Indigenous communities and communities of color — who, as the banner they held stated, are on the “Frontlines of Crisis, Forefront of Change” — led the march.

New Yorkers flooded out during Hurricane Sandy and other folks displaced from their homes and homelands by rising tides carried symbolic life preservers and tents.

A raucous, dancing and chanting youth contingent of 50,000 filled ten city blocks and united students from 400 campuses.

Immigrants marched. Teamsters marched. Healthcare workers marched. So so many children marched — as well as grandparents. Muslim marchers stood shoulder to shoulder with Christians and Jews and Buddhists. LGBTQ folks like myself were part of every contingent.
In just the immediate few blocks where CCANers set off, we were surrounded by people resisting tar sands pipelines in the Midwest, oil drilling in the Arctic, fracking wells in the Catskills, and the Cove Point liquefied natural gas export terminal along the Chesapeake Bay in Southern Maryland.

To me, the most inspiring part of seeing so many people come together is knowing that so many people understand that we are all connected in this fight. And that is power.
Our record numbers made a bold and decisive statement about the urgency for action. And the diversity therein made a bold and decisive statement about the kind of movement we must build to win it. The solution is clear — switching from fossil fuels to clean energy. So is the biggest obstacle — an economic and political system most often run by and for big corporations, corporations that make money and maintain power by perpetuating injustice, dividing our communities and, ultimately, wrecking the planet.
Creating the change we need on climate will require transforming those systems to serve people and to protect the planet. That transformation won’t be easy, or quick, and it will take a lot more organizing on scales both bigger and smaller than the march on Sunday. But if everyone who marched on Sunday, and everyone who was there in spirit, keeps taking action — and keeps building connections between our movements — we might just have the power to build a better future for everyone.

I pulled into camp after 70 miles of riding my bike today, and the first thing I did was to call people who I knew were at the big march in New York City. It was so great to hear how big — how really big — a success this was.
It felt a little strange to be peddling my bike literally away from New York City this morning, going west into Pennsylvania from New Jersey. But that is the route of this year’s Climate Ride from New York to DC, and I am on it for the third year in a row.
I decided to honor my commitment to do this ride, and to raise the money to do it, even after I heard of the conflict between the People’s Climate March and this climate ride, and I don’t regret it. There are over 100 serious people doing this bike ride or helping to make it happen, and there is no question some of these people are in, and others will be in, the leadership of the climate movement for many years to come. It is good to be here making connections with them and telling them about the work of CCAN, along with my three other CCAN team members pictured with me above.
The climate ride also has a message to those marching today, a message just in the nature of what the ride is: 5 days riding 300 miles to support groups acting on climate and as a show of commitment to this critical civilizational struggle.
We have 185 miles to go over the next three days, arriving in a city — Washington, DC — that’s essentially in denial about the seriousness of this crisis and the need for consistent, across-the-board action to get off of fossil fuels as quickly as possible. It’s time for the people to make this happen using whatever means that we have in our nonviolent arsenal.
You can chip in to support my ride and all of the work CCAN does by clicking here.

On September 16th, Climate Central released an updated version of its Surging Seas report, which maps out the impacts our coasts could face from storm-driven flooding as sea levels continue to rise.
The report shows that, in our region, Norfolk, Ocean City, Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, Annapolis and many communities along the Potomac are especially vulnerable.
As the Baltimore Sun reported, the Climate Central analysis estimates that sea level rise has already increased the likelihood of extreme floods by around 20 percent in areas in and around Baltimore and Annapolis. Looking ahead, more than $19.6 billion in property value in Maryland lies within five feet of the high tide line, putting it risk of storm-driven flooding under intermediate sea-level rise projections. As reported by the Washington Post, Washington, D.C. could be at risk of an 8-foot flood every ten years by 2100, when Atlantic Coast sea levels are projected to have risen by at least 2 to 4 feet. In that scenario, storm surges would put upwards of $7 billion in property at risk, including much of the National Mall and three military bases.
The report comes with an interactive map tool (see below), which you can use to see how different amounts of sea level rise and storm surges will impact coastal areas, on a neighborhood-level scale, matched with timelines of risk. This map also provides statistics of population, homes and land affected by sea level rise at the city, county and state level, plus links to fact sheets, data downloads, action plans, and more.

The same day that the Climate Central report was released, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, in conjunction with George Mason University and the Climate Communication Consortium of Maryland released a survey on Marylanders’ views of climate adaptation and sea level rise.
With the survey results, comes hope for action. Seventy-three percent of Marylanders want state and local governments to protect their communities from the impacts of climate change, and the majority said shielding coastal areas from sea-level rise should be a high or very high priority.
As lawmakers across the region debate fracking, the EPA’s proposed carbon rules, and other measures to shape our energy future, these reports should sway our decision-makers to make clean energy solutions a priority across the Mid-Atlantic. While we need to adapt to the sea level rise already locked in from the burning of fossil fuels, we also need a rapid transition to clean energy and energy efficiency technologies to prevent worst-case flooding scenarios.
Check out the reports here:
Climate Communications Consortium of Maryland: Adapting to Climate Change & Sea Level Rise
Climate Central: Surging Seas
For news coverage:
Washington Post: Flooding from storm surge would threaten D.C. infrastructure, report says
Baltimore Sun: Maryland faces worse climate-driven flooding, report warns

Less than 100 hours remain until the People’s Climate March — the biggest climate march in history.
Here’s what you need to know to join CCAN as we make history together in New York City:
1. CCAN Meet-Up: On Sunday, September 21st, marchers will assemble on Central Park West between 65th and 86th Streets. The march will be made up of contingents coming together around shared themes. CCAN will be marching with the Anti-Fracking group, within the “We Know Who Is Responsible” bloc.
Meet up with CCANers on the corner of 81st Street and Central Park West. We’ll be with the giant Stop Cove Point Pipeline!  Sign up here to march with CCAN, and we’ll send you any last-minute updates on the meet-up location. For a map of the line-up, closest subway stops and more, check out the march logistics page here.
2. Flow of the Day: The march begins at 11:30 AM — but we suggest showing up early, especially if you want to be in one of the specific contingents. CCAN staff will be at the corner of 81st Street and Central Park West beginning at 8:00AM, so come early to hang out and check out our new CCAN t-shirts for sale. (Again, sign up here for updates). The march will end on 11th Avenue, where there will be beautiful art, music, and a closing ceremony for all who can stick around.
3. Transportation: There are over 400 buses and trains heading to the march. Click here to find one from your region. Buses will be dropping off at 86th Street and Central Park West. Please check in with your bus captain about departure times and locations.
4. Housing is still available: New Yorkers, despite their reputation, are very nice, and are opening their homes and churches to folks like you coming to town for the march. Click here to find housing for the People’s Climate March.
5. All weekend long amazing events are happening: The Youth Convergence will be a space for students to come together and share campaign knowledge. Divestment groups are meeting up to compare strategies. On Monday, thousands will “flood” Wall Street for a major sit-in. There’s a lot you won’t want to miss, so check out all the events here.

This isn’t a moment to miss: With the major United Nations climate summit following just two days after our march, every major news outlet across the world will be watching. And if we make this march bigger than any climate mobilization ever before, we, the people demanding bold action will be in every single one of those stories.
Join CCAN at the People’s Climate March. It’s going to be amazing.