Tag: Virginia

On September 24th, WCAN (Williamsburg Climate Action Network) hosted the first in a series of CCAN events supporting the message of – No New Coal in Virginia! Invest in clean energy! The event was held on the campus of William and Mary and was attended by students, professors, and people in the community interested in learning how coal impacts their local environment.

Eric Blevins from Mountain Justice Summer presented a shocking slide show on mountaintop removal of coal and how it is devastating communities in Southwestern Virginia, particularly Wise County, Virginia.

Mike Tidwell talked about how coal is affecting climate change and the need for tougher legislative action NOW to shift to renewable energy sources. Continue reading

On Saturday, September 29th, over 200 people from all over the region attended the First Annual Fauquier Live Energy Festival. The lively crowd followed the sound of music and speakers down to the Warrenton Greenway to listen to experts denounce Dominion Power and demand clean energy for Virginia now!

Solace Sovay pumped up the crowd with their thoughtful and upbeat music, children had symbols of clean energy painted on their faces, and over 150 petition signatures were gathered in an effort to stop a new coal fired power plant from being built in Virginia. “I have never had more fun in my life,” said Troy Holland, Co-chair of the Fauquier Chapter, “the crowd was great, the speakers were amazing, the vendor displays were awesome, the music rocked, and the children’s activities kept my two daughters happy all afternoon. The renewable energy revolution for Fauquier started today with this amazing festival.”

Last week, the Governor ceremoniously unveiled Virginia’s Energy Plan — read the news release or the 180 page report — a plan that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30%… Great news, right? Well, I am not so sure… For a scathingly intelligent critique, please see what The Green Miles has to say; he hits the nail right on the head. And see here for CCAN’s press release.

Here is the good:

• The Governor is talking about climate change
• We are starting to create the link between social justice, environmentalism, and power production
• Emphasizes efficiency and conservation
• There are (weak) goals set to reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions.

Here is the bad:

• Expansion of coal, petroleum and nuclear power production in state. The plan does not challenge the wisdom behind building more fossil fuel and nuclear infrastructure.
• The greenhouse gas reduction targets proposed in the plan are amazingly weak, especially in comparison to what other states have committed to.
• The plan does not recommend mandatory renewable energy purchases or a clean cars type of bill.

If you want my quick synthesis, I can sum it up in four words: where are our priorities? If we, as a state, are committed to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, improving our energy efficiency as a state, and conserving energy; then why are we investing in old, dirty technology? The plan does not challenge or even ask for a review of the planned coal fired power plant in Wise Co. Virginia (a 500-600 MW facility that will severely compromise our states ability to make any reductions in greenhouse gas emissions). Why even talk about minimizing your global warming impact in one document if you are going to, in the same document, talk about the benefits of another conventional coal fired power plant? These two statements are not congruent in the least bit.

If we are serious about fighting global warming we need to be serious about renewable energy, conservation and efficiency. These need to be the priority energy actions for the state, not another coal fired power plant.

Environmental Groups March in Richmond to Protest Coal Development in Wise County

There is no doubt about it these days in Virginia: Dominion is the one and only name that matters in the electricity generation business and it’s not one to shy away from its power. The utility flexed its monopolistic might this legislative session and squashed any meaningful discussion of mandatory and widely-supported renewable energy requirements for the Commonwealth. The monopoly basically ensured that, for the near future at least, the ball will be in its court when it comes to making decisions about what sources of energy will be used to deal with Virginia’s rising energy demands.

And what is Dominion’s first choice for electricity? Coal, coal and more coal. Right now coal is the most plentiful and most cost-effective energy source out there. It is, however, the dirtiest of all options. The greenhouse gases and mercury pollution due to coal are well-documented, and Dominion feels no need to shift from the status quo because legally, they don’t have to.

Massey Energy, which is in the dirty business of coal extraction, is another another benefactor of Virginia’s continued reliance on coal. Massey Energy does a lot of business in the Appalachian Mountains and have been able to maintain and even increase their activities extracting coal due to the lack of legislation forcing renewable energy in the Commonwealth. Thus the devastating practice of mountaintop removal mining for coal does not look like it’s going away any time soon.

To protest this “cradle to the grave” stranglehold that Dominion and Massey have on our energy industry in Virginia, several environmental justice organizations including the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), Mountain Justice Summer, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, and the Sierra Club of Virginia participated in a march from Massey to Dominion Headquarters in Richmond on Monday June 25^th. Through effective signage, handouts, skits, and classic music from the mountains, we were able to effectively send a message that the idea of a new coal plant in Wise County, VA should be put to rest. Changing the status quo in Virginia starts with “no new coal plants” and subsequently replacing the energy that would have been supplied by coal with clean, renewable energy. It is the only sustainable way forward now that global warming, ecosystem loss, energy demand increases have combined to create a crisis-like scenario for humans and the planet we inhabit.

Protesters play classic mountain music in front of Dominion’s headquarters in
Richmond, Va. demanding that the huge utility stop its plans to build more
polluting coal-fired power plants in Wise County, Va.

There are plans in the works for another march through Richmond in the fall and it promises to be even bigger and better than what we saw on Monday.

Last Wednesday, Paul Burman, CCAN’s Northern Virginia Coordinator, led a successful town hall meeting at George Mason University in Fairfax Virginia. Over 150 energetic