For Immediate Release

November 30, 2012

 

Contact:

Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org

 

RICHMOND – Chesapeake Climate Action Network Director Mike Tidwell had the following statement in response to the Obama administration’s announcement that it is moving forward with offshore wind lease sales off the coasts of Virginia, Massachusetts and Rhode Island:

 

“Today, Virginia is one step closer to harnessing clean, offshore wind power, and we applaud the Obama administration for taking this step forward. At the same time, the decision to lease the waters off Virginia as a single block is cause for concern.

 

“Leasing Virginia’s offshore wind resource to a single bidder sets up Dominion Power, the state’s largest utility and biggest polluter, to potentially control and even suppress the offshore wind market. Dominion’s latest 15-year energy plan shows that the utility has almost zero interest in seriously developing wind power in Virginia. Time and again, Dominion has shown that it’s in a race to monopolize power sources in Virginia, but at a snail’s pace when it comes to actually developing the state’s clean energy potential.

 

“Virginians, who already face serious coastal impacts from climate change, cannot afford to see Dominion win these leases, and then sit on them idly for several years or more, as some observers speculate they might. We’ll be watching the lease process closely to ensure that the intended purpose is accomplished — the speedy development of an offshore wind industry in Virginia.

 

“Today’s announcement is also one more incentive for state lawmakers to strengthen Virginia’s renewable energy standard in the coming legislative session. The Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard law must be fixed so that it requires utilities like Dominion to invest in new wind and solar power in order to qualify for profit rewards. Strengthening our renewable energy law is one more way to ensure these leases translate into actual turbines powering Virginians’ homes with clean energy as soon as possible.”

 

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The Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the first grassroots, nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to fighting global warming in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. Our mission is to build and mobilize a powerful grassroots movement to call for state, national and international policies that will put us on a path to climate stability. Learn more at www.chesapeakeclimate.org.