January 22, 2013

 

Beth Kemler, 804-335-0915, beth@chesapeakeclimate.org

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

 

 

RICHMOND—Polling data released today shows that a strong majority of Virginians—67 percent—want the General Assembly to maintain the state’s clean electricity standard, in contrast to only a quarter of respondents who would back a repeal. The results, advocates said, should signal to state lawmakers that legislation backed by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and Dominion Power to effectively repeal the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) law is at odds with the wishes of Virginians. (View the poll results.)

 

“The poll results affirm that Cuccinelli and Dominion are out of step with Virginians in waging this attack on our clean energy law,” said Beth Kemler, Virginia State Director at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “Members of the General Assembly should heed the broad public support for clean energy in Virginia, and work to fix the law, not nix it.”

 

The House Commerce and Labor Committee is scheduled to begin debating the Cuccinelli-Dominion backed bill (HB2261/SB1339) this afternoon. Yesterday, dozens of Virginia students travelled to the capitol to urge legislators to move forwards, not backwards, on clean energy, donning bright green “Fix the RPS – Wind and Solar Now!” t-shirts and holding a “wake-up call” flash mob outside the General Assembly building.

 

The poll, conducted January 17 by We Ask America and commissioned by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, also indicates that Virginians want their elected officials to do more to address climate change. A clear majority of respondents—58 percent—supported more climate action, which advocates describe as one of the key benefits, along with healthier families and much-needed new jobs, that Virginians would reap from a stronger clean electricity standard.

 

Instead of aiding efforts to ensure the state’s only broad clean energy law delivers the benefits lawmakers intended when they passed it in 2007, Attorney General Cuccinelli and Dominion last week announced a deal struck behind closed doors that would effectively repeal the law. Their plan, reflected in HB2261/SB1339, would eliminate the performance incentives that are the law’s only mechanism to motivate utilities to meet their voluntary renewable energy goals, thus rendering the law essentially meaningless.

 

The poll is only the latest indication that Virginians support clean energy laws—and want to see them strengthened, not repealed, advocates said. Over the past year, thousands of Virginians have urged legislators to strengthen the RPS by creating minimum standards for Virginia-made wind and solar power. Throngs of concerned citizens dressed in bright green t-shirts that read “Fix the RPS – Solar and Wind Now!” joined days of action to bring this message to the General Assembly over the past week, and groups of activists have sat-in weekly at House Commerce and Labor Committee meetings to carry their message to the committee that will first debate the de facto repeal legislation. In October, more than 100 people joined a week-long picket at Dominion’s downtown Richmond offices to call out the company for accepting $77 million in performance incentives under the RPS without building a single new wind or solar farm in Virginia. 

 

Legislation introduced by Senator Donald McEachin (SB1269) and Delegate Alfonso Lopez (HB1946) would tighten the weak standards exploited by Dominion by requiring utilities to meet 40 percent of their clean energy goals with wind and solar power generated in Virginia.

 

“Virginians are already paying the costs of climate change—from rising seas to superstorms like Sandy to record heat—and want more action to address these threats,” said Dawone Robinson, Virginia Policy Coordinator at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “It’s not surprising to see an Attorney General who denies the reality of climate change and a utility company that is the state’s top climate polluter team up to block urgently needed progress. It’s not surprising, but it’s not acceptable.”

 

“Virginians will keep pushing legislators to strengthen, not repeal, our clean energy law because of the high stakes for our climate, our health and our economy,” said Robinson.

 

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