Just because you read it in the paper doesn’t mean it’s true.  I’m tired of the papers pretending to represent the views of all Virginians when, in fact, they’re filled with global warming skepticism and a drill-baby-drill mentality. That is why I’m happy to introduce CCAN’s newest feature, “Virginia Climate Clips,” bringing you recent climate news compiled from papers all across Virginia. I’m contacting concerned climate activists weekly to get our voices heard! There’s a big hole in the news right now. Every day I read about how how climate change isn’t real, wind farms are the next Armageddon and, if you picked up today’s paper, EVEN President Obama’s misguided decision to open up our shores to offshore drilling sounds like a good idea
 
These papers aren’t reporting the whole story and it’s time to get our voices heard.  I will send out “Climate Clips” every Thursday, which will include tips, a sample letter, and articles to respond to.  Hopefully these stories will inspire you to submit a letter to the editor reacting to any of the articles I’ve pasted in these emails. 

Feel free to circulate this far and wide.

If you are interested in not getting these emails please just reply and I will remove you from this hand selected list of Climate Activists.  If you are receiving this as a forward and would like to subscribe please email Lauren@chesapeakeclimate.org with Climate Clips in the subject.

PS- If you want an extra set of eyes to look over your letter please don’t hesitate to call me (804) 335-0915  or send it my way.  Also if you could forward me any letters you do submit so I can keep track that would be great!

CLIMATE CLIPS: Issue 1: April 1, 2010
1. Tips on Submitting Letters
2. Sample Letter
3. This week’s “Climate Clips”

1. TIPS ON SUBMITTING LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
 
 Letters are likely to get published if:
 
1. It’s your local paper (I’ve pulled clips from all over the state) I don’t have any NOVA specific papers but if you’re from NOVA feel free to respond to the Richmond Times Dispatch or if something ran in your local connection and I missed it that’s great too! **include your name, city, phone # and email (so they can follow up with you!)**
2. You reference the article your responding to
3. It’s timely— you are responding to a recent article
 
Bonus tip: Give call to the editor after you submit it and ask the editor if it’s going to run.  I’ve included the phone #s and email addresses for submissions next to the clips.
 
Here’s a sample Letter from Anne our Communications Director at CCAN— feel free to edit this a little bit to make it fit what YOU want to say, but don’t feel like you need to use it at all, it’s just a sample get your started.   Submitting letters is an easy way to get our views in the news!
 
2. SAMPLE LETTER TO THE EDITOR
 
Regarding the March 17 Metro article: “Virginia Leaders Express Interest In Offshore Drilling”:
 
While I wholeheartedly agree that Virginia must tap into alternative energy sources, the state’s eagerness to drill offshore is misguided. It’s highly uncertain how much oil actually exists off the state’s coast. It’s also unclear how many jobs the industry will bring to the state. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, it takes about 10 years to bring new leases into production and another 10 years for them to achieve peak production. So the 2030s could be a good decade for oil (if we set aside the environmental costs) but can we really wait that long?
 
Thankfully, offshore oil drilling is not Virginia’s only choice. There are clean energy sources that are available now, including wind, solar and, perhaps most significantly, energy efficiency. A moderate investment in energy efficient technology would cut Virginia’s total energy use, save families money on their electric bills and create thousands of new jobs.  On top of efficiency improvements, Virginia has enormous offshore wind potential and a growing market for solar energy.
 
Clean energy is America’s future and Virginia has a chance to lead the way.  Governor McDonnell and other Virginia leaders should pursue alternative sources of energy that are clean and available now.
 
Anne Havemann
Communication Director-Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Washington, DC

3. This Week’s Clips

(VA) The Roanoke Times  SUBMIT: Letters@roanoke.com  Phone #: (540) 981-3257
Op-Ed: Turbines on Poor Mountain would have large impact
By Karen Scott
March 29, 2010
http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary/wb/241503

You may have seen wind turbines in America, but few are as massive as the industrial-sized giant wind turbines (432 feet, 2.5 megawatts) proposed for Roanoke’s highest peak — Poor Mountain. At first, listening to a wind-turbine salesman, this sounds like a green energy initiative, like ethanol did. But look at the costs to the environment.

(VA) Lynchburg News & Advance  Submit to Logan Anderson (Opinions Editor): Landerson@newsadvance.com, Phone # 434-385-5549
EDITORIAL: Goodlatte, Energy and Drilling Off the Coast
March 28, 2010
http://www2.newsadvance.com/lna/news/opinion/editorials/article/goodlatte_energy_and_drilling_off_the_coast/25491/

There is no question, none at all, that America needs more sources of energy and must work to become more self-sufficient in supplying its own fuel and power.
 
What continues to astound us to this day, close to five years after energy costs began rising to record levels in the United States and across the globe, is why we’re still arguing about the self-sufficiency part of the equation.
 
Virginia could be front and center of the drive for energy independence in the 21st century, with a vast supply of oil and natural gas off its coast.

(VA) Richmond Times Dispatch  Submit: Letters@timesdispatch.com, phone: 804-644-4181
Drilling popular among Va. politicians
By Tyler Whitley and Olympia Meola
April 1, 2010
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/DRIL01S1_20100331-221811/334348/

The Republican governor, whose refrain is that he wants to make Virginia “the energy capital of the East Coast,” said Congress and the administration need to work out the next steps before drilling can begin. Still, he said, the announcement puts Virginia first in line among East Coast states to begin selling oil and natural-gas leases.
 
(VA) Richmond Times Dispatch Submit: Letters@timesdispatch.com, phone: 804-644-4181
EDITORIAL: Energy: The Drill
April 1, 2010
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-DRIL01_20100331-180604/334188/

Yesterday President Barack Obama lifted a federal moratorium on drilling off Virginia’s shores. The move came as part of a package regarding petroleum exploration and production. Obama left the moratorium in place in certain regions but relaxed it in others. For Virginia the news is good.
 
 (VA) Culpeper Start Exponent  submit here
Webb, Cantor support Obama’s drilling policy
By Allison Brophy Champion
April 1, 2010
http://www2.starexponent.com/cse/news/local/article/webb_cantor_support_obamas_drilling_policy/54933/

Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat, and Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Richmond, both issued statements Wednesday backing President Barack Obama’s expansive energy policy that would allow new oil drilling off Virginia’s shoreline though their support was to varying degrees.
 
While Webb “welcomed” the news of the White House’s approval to advance gas and oil exploration in
Virginia, Cantor was “encouraged” about it but did not think the policy went far enough.

(VA) Martinsville Bulletin  submit to info@martinsvillebulletin.com, phone: 276-638-8801
Several area lawmakers see benefits to drilling change
By Bulletin Staff Reports
April 1, 2010
http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=23109

Area lawmakers reacted favorably overall to President Barack Obama’s decision Wednesday to expand exploration for oil and natural gas off Virginia’s shoreline.
 
“I think it’s a great thing for Virginia,” said Del. Don Merricks, R-Pittsylvania County. “That’s what we’ve been trying to push for. … This is how (the nation is) going to start the process of becoming energy independent.”

VA) Fredericksburg Free Lance Star  Submit: letters@freelancestar.com  Phone #: 540/374-5000
EDITORIAL: Baby’s gonna drill
April 1, 2010
http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2010/042010/04012010/538266

GOV. MCDONNELL’S aim to make Virginia a national energy leader is gaining momentum, at least on the offshore oil- and gas-drilling front. Yesterday, the Obama administration announced that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had blessed the government’s sale of leases for exploration and drilling in an area 50 miles off the Virginia coast, while opening vast new areas in the Mid- and South Atlantic United States for ocean-drilling consideration.
 
A “green alert” is premature. Any new leasing arrangements will await completion of yearlong environmental and national security reviews. And beach-bound Virginians needn’t worry about oil rigs blemishing their ocean views: Fifty miles is way beyond the horizon.
 
(VA) Hampton Roads Virginian Pilot   Submit: letters@Pilotonline.com  phone #: (757) 446-2000
Reaction swift as Obama clears way for drilling off Va. coast
By Julian Walker and Scott Harper
March 31, 2010
http://hamptonroads.com/2010/03/reaction-swift-obama-clears-way-drilling-va-coast

Business groups cheered. Environmentalists booed. And the governor and many Virginia lawmakers smiled, if cautiously.