On July 1st, the DC City Council voted unanimously to pass the Clean and Affordable Energy Act out of first reading! In practical terms, this means that the bill is not yet a law - it still has to get voted through the council twice more, and then signed by Mayor Fenty.

More info can be found in this press release from Friends of the Earth. (this also includes links to the legislation itself, for all the policy wonks out there)

The City Council broadcasts its meetings live, so I managed to catch the tail-end of the debate on the bill. The “debate” I saw consisted of Councilmember Jim Graham holding up petition signatures he had received in support of the bill - a petition that someone with the Mt Pleasant Solar Coop had left on their own front porch, and had their neighbors come over to sign at their leisure. He was particularly impressed with the fact that people had exerted the extra effort of walking to visit a neighbor to show support for the legislation - so major props to grassroots climate action taking hold in DC!

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Wow, on the very same day Dominion announces it has begun construction on its freshly approved coal-fired power plant in Wise County, Virginia, a Georgia Court strikes down an air pollution permit for a 1200mw coal plant Early County, Georgia, effectively halting construction. When you look at the rationale for the ruling you can’t help but sense a bit of dramatic foreshadowing.

Chief among several administrative grounds for the Court’s reversal was the fact that the Georgia permit failed to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, which, according to the Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, is an air pollutant to be regulated. Dominion should be fine then, no? Their CO2 emissions are regulated, right? Oh wait.

The Virginia Air Board’s permit for the Wise County plant doesn’t even address the plant’s 5.4 million tons of CO2 emissions per year (the equivalent of 1 million new cars on the road). While it’s possible that the judge from Georgia could turn out to be a kook (pretty unlikely), this ruling looks like it might be the ghost of litigation future for Dominion.

There’s more.

The Georgia court also found that the plant did not meet the standards for a “major emitting facility” mandated by the Clean Air Act in that the proposed plant did not use the best available control technology, which in this case was integrated gasification combined cycle technology (IGCC). Guess what other coal-fired power plant doesn’t utilize IGCC technology? Ouch. Seriously, Dominion must have read this decision and doubled the size of their legal department.

It may turn out that because Dominion is burning refuse coal and some biomass that the Virginia court will find that their technology is the best available. It’s also possible that the court will take a long look at IGCC technology and say to Dominion “Um, this is better than what you were going to build. You need new permits. See you in 5 years.”

And even if the Virginia court finds that Dominion is using OK technology, the unregulated CO2 emissions are a serious hitch. Massachuestts v. EPA is pretty unambiguous in classifying CO2 as a pollutant meriting regulation. This ain’t over, Dominion.

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The Earthwatch Institute is teaming up with HSBC to put on a series of professional development workshops - and there are some happening right here in Maryland this fall! This specially designed workshop is part of a much larger program called the HSBC Climate Partnership, a five-year global partnership between HSBC (the world’s largest bank), The Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute, The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and WWF to reduce the impacts of climate change for people, forests, water, and cities. Earthwatch is focusing its climate partnership efforts on forest research and employee engagement at sites established in five unique forest ecosystems across the globe—the one in Maryland is one of the first!

Here are the details:

This fellowship is for you if you are a member of the local Annapolis/ Baltimore/DC community and would like to:    

• learn more about climate change by participating in hands-on climate research near the Chesapeake Bay
• embed sustainable practices into your business or organization
• and feel empowered to inspire others in your office, home, and community to engage in environment-friendly practices.  

No prior field research or training experience is necessary, and you don’t have to work for or be affiliated with an environmental organization; climate change affects all of us, and we all need to be a part of the solution.  

By the end of the unique Earthwatch program, expect to be an integral part of a local community action team and fully equipped with the knowledge and support you need to play an active role in championing climate change-related issues within your organization, business, or government sector. 

This is a awesome opportunity for those who are interested in really delving into studying climate change, and then developing an action plan to combat global warming in your community/workplace/church/school/anywhere else.

When: There will be two workshops offered, from October 27-31 and November 3-7, 2008

Where: North America Regional Climate Center in Edgewater, Maryland

Cost: None!  All program costs, including accommodations and meals, will be provided.  All you have to do is get there!  

A limited number of fellowships are available.  Applications must be received by August 18, 2008. For more information and/or an application, please contact Rebecca Wadler Lase at  narcc@earthwatch.org.

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Just two days after America’s top climate scientist warned that new coal-fired power plants would doom the global climate, the state of Virginia gave final approval to a massive new coal plant that will send dirty electricity to Northern Virginia. But the fight is far from over. We are headed to court where we believe the controversial $1.8 billion plant will be rejected — in part on global warming grounds.

Over a hundred people from all over Virginia came together in Wise County last week to show the Air Board that there is broad opposition to this plant, not just in southwest Virginia but throughout the Commonwealth. Despite massive efforts on the part of plant proponents, we far outnumbered the plant supporters at Tuesday’s public hearing.

In response to the outpouring of public opposition, the Air Board made a number of significant changes to the permits. These changes drastically curtail Dominion’s ability to emit mercury, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride and carbon monoxide.

But ultimately the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board awarded final permits for a new 585-megawatt coal-burning plant that has no technology whatsoever to capture greenhouse gases and still fails to meet federally required maximum controls for the neurotoxin mercury and 60 other hazardous air pollutants. Despite a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling (Massachussetts vs. EPA) that establishes carbon dioxide is a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, the state of Virginia has now approved a plant that radically departs from the nation’s new clean energy focus. Continue Reading »

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It’s been five days since the US Supreme Court decided to upstage Wal-Mart in the art of deep discounting and slash Exxon’s punitive damages in the Valdez disaster case from 2.5 billion down to 507 million.

Two billion dollars – that’s a deep discount indeed. Still, 500 million is a lot of money, right? As corporate apologists, conservative pundits, and soulless legal wonks the country over will be quick to tell you, 500 million dollars is about as much as any corporation has ever paid in punitive damages. By that standard, they will argue, Exxon has been correctly dealt with, the plaintiffs got what they deserved, and everyone should be happy.

The only problem is that that standard is absurdly inapplicable to the situation. For when you step into the outsized world of oil titan Exxon Mobil, the normal standards no longer apply.

Believe it or not, since the decision was handed down on Wednesday, Exxon has already earned back all the money they were ordered to pay. The math doesn’t lie. 500 million dollars is how much Exxon makes in a mere 4.5 days. 500 million dollars is nothing to Exxon Mobil. Nothing. Chump change.

Continue Reading »

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The Washington Nationals ballpark is the first stadium to be LEED Silver Certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Yet the Nationals continue to accept millions of advertising dollars from Exxon, by far one of the world’s biggest contributors to global warming.

Nationals executives need to hear: “Exxon = $4 gas + Global Warming. NOT baseball!”

Get involved at www.strikeoutexxon.org

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That’s right, there are still a few spots available for the Brita Climate Ride.

The ride is a fundraiser like none other – where you pedal strokes to fight global warming. From September 20th to 24th, 100 riders will bike from New York City to Washington, DC. Along the way, expert speakers will address the riders on global warming’s challenges and solutions. It’s a fundraiser and a climate conference on wheels, and a chance for you to make a difference.

Interested? Read more about the event here. There is still space, but there won’t be for long.

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This week I’m going to be in Wise County, where Dominion Power is planning to build a $1.8 billion coal-fired power plant. Members of the Sierra Club, Appalachian Voices, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards and CCAN are putting on events around the meeting of the Air Board on Tuesday.

Today was the final day of the Air Board Hearing concerning the Wise County coal plant. The room was full of hope after yesterday’s comment period, and the board acknowledged the powerful citizen outcry over the plant’s health and environmental impacts. But ultimately, they unanimously approved the plant. While they significantly strengthened the emissions regulations, they did nothing to address mountain top removal mining or CO2 emissions.

They went as far as they could, without doing more harm than good. Fearing litigation from Dominion, they made no strong statement about regulating CO2—without the regulatory framework from the EPA, the Board felt it wasn’t able to take a strong stand. “My hope is,” stated one Air Board member, “that strong, forceful legislation will come at a federal level and that Governor Kaine will take state-specific actions to address CO2.”

It was because of the “loud public clamor” that the Air Board decided to take up this permit and make it as strong as it is now. Dominion will have to make a considerable effort to meet these demands, including cleaning up their mercury emissions. Dominion walked in the door expecting that their permit would get rubber-stamped approved with a 72 lb mercury emissions regulation. The Air Board demanded that they reduce that to 4.45 lbs per year. That’s a 120% reduction, made possible only by the strong grassroots outcry about this plant.

Continue Reading »

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A volunteer passed this Washington Post article on to me, and I thought it was scary enough to share. As if we didn’t have enough reasons to fight global warming, what with threats to the economy through sea level rise and the imminent extinction of the polar bears, it will also have significant effects on public health worldwide.

In the last quarter of the 20th century, the average atmospheric temperature rose by about 1 degree Fahrenheit. By 2000, that increase was responsible for the annual loss of about 160,000 lives and the loss of 5.5 million years of healthy life, according to estimates by the World Health Organization. The toll is expected to double to about 300,000 lives and 11 million years of healthy life by 2020.

Click here to read more.

The article is also summarized in picture form! (Pretty terrifying, isn’t it?)

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This week I’m going to be in Wise County, where Dominion Power is planning to build a $1.8 billion coal-fired power plant. Members of the Sierra Club, Appalachian Voices, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards and CCAN are putting on events around the meeting of the Air Board on Tuesday.

Today I attended the first day of the hearing of the Air Pollution Control Board. As appropriate to hearings, all the arguments were vetted today—some of them preposterous, but most were reasoned and impassioned arguments from the people who live here and who will be affected by the Air Board’s decision.

Jobs and economic necessity drove most of the arguments in favor of the plant. Many of these people believe that this plant will create 100s of jobs in this community. Dominion’s PR machine has really done a good job—someone actually said that it would create thousands of jobs, a number that even the best-bought politicians haven’t said. If not jobs, then supporters asked that the Air Board follow the rules, and insisted (as if to make true by repetition) “this plant will be the cleanest in the nation.” I thought I got the most honest answer when I asked a guy why he supported the plant, “I work for Dominion,” he said.

The “environmentalists” got attacked from all sides. I don’t want to indulge in all the negative attention, but these are some doozies:

“Environmentalists are filled with hatred for capitalism, industry and progress.”

“The opposition to this plant is lacking in compassion and is unpatriotic.”

Dominion has tried to create a false choice between the environment and jobs. When I talked to supporters and asked how they felt about mountain top removal mining, they basically said that it was a fact of life; it was just going to happen. When asked about climate change, they either diverted the question by blaming emissions from China and India, or just said climate change was unavoidable. There can be economic opportunity and clean energy, but Dominion’s PR power and the long history of King Coal is working against us.

Ultimately, this was a huge victory. We outnumbered them by nearly 2-1. In procedural decision, the Air Board inadvertently allowed us to show our strength in numbers. They decided to trade back and forth between opponents and proponents to avoid the appearance of bias. So that meant that from about 3 pm on, the floor was given exclusively to opponents. Dominion had exhausted its supply of supporters—supporters who had been almost exclusively white, male and often stood to benefit financially from the plant. Opponents were as diverse as mothers and fathers to doctors, lawyers, teachers, young, elderly, and more.

We had bigger numbers and our arguments were better. The mercury pollutants alone would put the plant in violation of the Clean Air Act. The permit had originally allowed for 72 lbs of mercury, a neurotoxin known to cause autism in children, when the Clean Air Act allows 1 lb. Because of the pressure from the grassroots, Dominion has lowered its mercury emissions limit several times, prompting one opponent to state, “Pretty soon ice cream is going to start coming out of those smoke stacks” (Pete Ramey, the awesome President of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards).

Biologists and ecologists explained the threat of pollution to biodiversity of the region. Mothers rose to make a plea for clean air and mountains for their children and grandchildren. Lawyers explained the intricacy of the legal problems with the plant. Many residents sounded the alarm for the environmental impacts—not just from the pollution from the plant, but from the destruction of the mountain top removal mining, the noise and pollution from the coal trucks and transport of the coal, and from the destruction of their rivers, streams and water supply.

These people are making a clarion call for investments in clean energy—“It’s time for some fresh air and sunshine. Let’s invest in some wind and solar” (Kathy Selvage, another awesome leader from the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards).

Dominion did have one advantage: while we were eating pizza, they had a catered meal that included ice cream and cheesecake. Thankfully, Susan, the caterer, didn’t demand that we switch sides to enjoy her food. Those of us who were willing to risk the bee’s nest of the Dominion lunch room were able to enjoy some great deserts. Thank you Susan!

Tomorrow we’re going to be back in the hearing room to listen to the Air Board’s decision. Stay tuned for more!

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