Dear Virginian,

What a summer it’s been!

Thanks to you, in August, CCAN helped shut down a Virginia coal plant for the first time. And thanks to you, in August and September, Virginians came to the White House in droves to protest the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil mega pipeline from Canada (watch this great video). Thanks to you, too, we expect to have hundreds more people at the next tar sands protests in Washington on October 7th (you can register here) and even more at a White House protest on November 6th. And finally, thanks to you, we’re going to get Virginia moving even faster toward clean energy with exciting Moving Planet rallies on September 24th in Richmond, Virginia Beach and Alexandria.

Whew! Here’s more info:

Alexandria coal plant shut down: This 482-megawatt plant, owned by the GenOn company, is now scheduled for shut down within the next year. CCAN has been fighting to close the plant since 2004 and the victory is historic. But this is just the beginning. Working with our friends at the Beyond Coal campaign, we will continue to fight to close down other antiquated coal plants in the state and deny operating permits to new ones. We need clean energy like offshore wind power in Virginia, not filthy, planet-warming coal plants.

Tar sands pipeline: True heroes from all over Virginia came to the White House between August 20th and September 3rd to be peacefully arrested in the biggest US civil disobedience campaign in a generation. Again, watch this video and visit www.tarsandsaction.org to learn more. Four CCAN staffers – including me -- and four board members also participated in the civil disobedience.

Tar sands pipeline part II – October 7th protest at the Ronald Reagan Building in DC: We still need your help this fall to stop the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. President Obama has until December to decide whether to grant a presidential permit to the TransCanada Corporation. There will be a key hearing about the pipeline, sponsored by the State Department, and held in downtown DC on October 7th. Our goal is to have 1,000 people attend a morning rally to say “NO!” to the pipeline. We’ll give you more details in the coming days, but let us know if you can come by clicking here.

Tar sands pipeline part III – November 6th demonstration at the White House. This is the big one. Working with our friends at 350.org and the major national environmental groups, our goal is the have thousands and thousands of people form a circle – the O of hope – around the White House itself on November 6th. The date is a Sunday and it’s actually the one-year mark before the 2012 presidential election. Please mark the date on your calendar and plan to be at the White House that day. We’ll send more details in the coming weeks. You don’t want to miss this!

Moving Planet – September 24th rallies in Richmond, Alexandria, and Virginia Beach. Bring a bike, a skate board, a stroller – anything that rolls without pollution – and join the fun. Learn more and register here.

Thanks again for all you do.

Onward,

Mike Tidwell

P.S. One last thing. Come have a beer or a glass of wine and some great food at CCAN’s Toast to Chesapeake Climate Heroes awards night on October 13th. We’ll be honoring author Joe Romm, activist Tim DeChristopher, and many others. Celebrate with us.  Buy tickets here.