The push for the Keystone XL pipeline puzzles me. Society is foolishly increasing its dependence on oil by investing more and more in this diminishing dirty resource. Meanwhile, many of the clean and renewable alternatives that our future requires already exist and continue to improve in both efficiency and cost.

The fact of the matter is that we must begin to reorient our entire energy system away from fossil fuels. To that end, there is very exciting news about five new advances coming out of MIT that look to utilize solar energy just about everywhere. In other news there was a great breakthrough in transportation; for the first time a German engineered electric vehicle traveled 1000 miles on a single charge!

While there may be some doubt about current energy conversion rates with solar energy, wind is quite the proven technology for replacing fossil fuels in a very big way. For example, Denmark currently gets about 20% of its total electrical need from wind alone, generating jobs and reducing green house gas emissions all along the way. In the bigger picture, Europe is producing 5.5% of its electricity from wind as of 2010, but has plans for massive investment. According to the European Wind Energy Association, strong EU regulatory framework is guiding 194 billion Euros of investment with the goal of tripling wind energy production to over 15% by 2020.

And here we sit investing in expanding an oil pipeline that already exists. To put it in a wider perspective, the general estimate for the Keystone XL pipeline rings in at around 7 billion. Instead, we should invest that money installing clean, renewable sources of power right near major coastal populations where it is needed most. Or, we can continue to delay the inevitable and invest in a dwindling dirty fuel while ignoring its litany of

Click below to check out this new infographic from our friends at 350.org for a simple answer to this question.

The Virginia General Assembly session just wrapped up and your legislators have headed back to their districts. Here's a run down on what happened in the last 46 days:

The Good
These bills had our full support and passed this session:
HB 2191 and SB 975 Patroned by Delegate Adam Ebbin and Senator Mary Margaret Whipple:
You have heard from us frequently throughout session about this legislation, which establishes a voluntary solar resource development fund. Through this fund, Virginia homeowners can apply for low-interest loans to put solar PV or solar thermal on their rooftops. This fund will help homeowners with the upfront costs associated with these installations while creating jobs in the clean energy sector in the Commonwealth. Anyone can contribute to this fund once the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy creates it later this year.

HB 1686 Patroned by Delegate David Toscano:
This legislation will promote distributed solar generation by setting up a pilot program for utility-owned facilities. It also allows utilities to create a tariff to encourage citizens to own distributed solar generation.

HB 2389 Patroned by Delegate Albert Pollard:
The Virginia Resource Authority (VRA) provides cost-effective financing to Virginia municipalities for various projects. HB 2389 allows the VRA to add more renewable energy projects to its list of projects it can already finance for municipalities.

In December, when President Obama announced that he would cancel lease plans for offshore oil drilling in the Atlantic Ocean from 2012 - 2017, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief. This was a major victory for both ocean protection and our efforts to put an end to offshore oil drilling, was it not?

Not exactly. CCAN remains troubled that the Department of the Interior (DOI) plans to proceed with plans to conduct seismic testing in the mid and south Atlantic, which is unnecessary and can be dangerous for marine life. That's why last week, several members of our staff attended a public hearing about this proposal, delivering 5,000 comments submitted by supporters like you who DO NOT support any oil exploration in the Atlantic Ocean whatsoever. We made it clear that our members don't support oil drilling, now or in the future. But what does seismic testing have to do with all of this, and why is the DOI taking comments? Find some answers below.

[caption id="attachment_4283" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Seismic testing area"][/caption]

What is seismic testing?

Seismic testing is an exploration technique used by oil and gas companies to explore the ocean for oil and gas sediments. In order to measure these sediments, large ships fire high-intensity air guns deep into the ocean. These "air cannons" produce a high intensity, low frequency noise and are dragged behind boats for thousands of miles in a systematic procedure to map an entire area.

Why should I care?

Air cannons are designed to be extremely loud - reaching up to 270 decibels (for reference, a nuclear explosion can be about 300-310 decibels underwater) and have been recorded by scientists from locations over 1,800 miles away. While there are many natural ocean noises, the excessive noise generated by air cannons masks those natural sounds, which are used by marine animals to hunt, navigate, feed and find mates.

Yesterday was (supposed) to be a big day for energy bills in the Senate but many of the bills were "passed by" for the day, which means they have been postponed until next week's committee hearing. However, one of CCAN's priority bills, SB 814, which would have stopped the potential for offshore drilling in its tracts, died a valiant death. This was no surprise to us; the purpose of the bill this year was to educate our legislators on the threat of offshore drilling. While not immediate, this threat is still very real. Suffice it to say, we accomplished our goal big time. There was a tremendous, healthy debate centered around our bill that lasted more than 20 minutes whereas most of the other bills in committee were quickly discussed and voted upon. I was able to point out to the committee members that drilling can and will most likely begin after 2017 when the federal government revisits opening our coast to offshore drilling. We must continue to keep the pressure on our state and federal legislators about this threat.

Today though, we are reversing gears a little bit by working hard to promote our renewable energy bill that is on today's committee docket. This bill would establish a voluntary solar fund for Virginia homeowners to apply for. By all early indications, this bill has a good shot today. Stay tuned for details!

Last night Governor McDonnell addressed a crowd of almost-entirely-not college students at the University of Mary Washington. It wasn't the students fault for not being there- it was only their second day on campus, so the Governor's town hall was under the radar. Despite that, there was a group from the Mary Washington environmental club that was excited to ask the Governor about his stance on offshore drilling and wind development.



Here is Abbie Rogers, a Winchester native and sophomore in anthropology and environmental studies, asking Governor McDonnell why he continues to support offshore drilling.



Governor McDonnell spoke at length about his support for offshore drilling- and for offshore wind- but failed to answer Abbie's concerns. While the Governor is correct that currently Virginia and the US depend on oil and other fossil fuels for our energy use, he did not address Abbie's questions about why he continues to support offshore drilling. He claims we need domestic offshore oil to avoid relying on 'unfriendly' foreign nations, but the Navy and NASA have voiced concerns about drilling off Virginia's coasts. Beyond that, solving the foreign oil problem with a domestic oil problem is only shifting the problem, not providing a solution. In a followup question to Abbie's, the Governor was asked about his plan to keep Virginia competitive in offshore wind development. He again spoke favorably about wind, but focused more on his concerns about regulatory burdens, such as permitting timelines, than his plans to bring wind development to Virginia's coasts. Offshore wind is part of a true solution, one that may time to implement but that other countries- and states- have started and Virginia is being left behind.

Below the jump, the transcript of Abbie and Governor McDonnell, since the video quality was poor.

This is a cross post from Blue Virginia.

I just got off a conference call on the dangers of offshore oil drilling in Virginia and lessons learned from the Gulf of Mexico disaster. Speakers included Chesapeake Climate Action Network Executive Director Mike Tidwell, Virginia Sierra Club Assistant Director J.R. Tolbert, and retired Navy captain/former Delegate Joe Bouchard. I'll get to Tolbert's and Tidwell's comments in a minute, but first I want to highlight what Joe Bouchard had to say, because it was very strong.

First, according to Bouchard, there's a long record of offshore oil and gas activities interfering with Defense Department training ranges. The industry likes to claim that they have a "great working relationship with the military," but "you can't believe that for a minute." In fact, Bouchard says, "interference with training ranges is well documented," and claims to the contrary by the oil industry are "disingenuous if not outright untrue."

We've all heard that we're addicted to oil. But in the wake of the BP spill we might do well to take the oil-as-a-drug metaphor a little more seriously. For starters we need to understand that deepwater oil is the really bad stuff, the petrochemical heroin

On Saturday, the nation joined hands to show our leaders that we choose clean energy over dirty, dangerous and outdated energy sources. The gathering in Virginia Beach was especially important because Virginia is poised to become one of the first