Northern Virginians stood with Appalachians and activists across the commonwealth today by visiting Senator Warner and Webb's district offices and calling for an end to mountaintop removal coal mining. Representing a wide array of interests and constituencies, they all came with one message: oppose any efforts to block the EPA's ability to protect our waterways from mountaintop removal mining and pollution from burning fossil fuels.



The lead pastor of Accotink Unitarian Universalist Church in Burke spoke about the moral obligation to protect the earth from damage due to climate change and the entire life cycle of coal. He made the point that climate and the environment is a rare issue that so many faiths can come together on

It's no use crying over spilled milk.

Yesterday I joined with friends from Environment Virginia at Monroe Park next to Virginia Commonwealth University to celebrate CarnivOIL, a traveling carnival for the oil industry where everything's free (because the oil industry never has to pay!) The tongue-in-cheek event highlights the cozy relationship between the oil industry and Congress- particularly the Senate that has failed to act on climate change. The lively event attracted many VCU students who stopped to play games like "Tar the Goldfish" where you tossed tar balls into fish habitats and the "Spill-O-Rama" which measured how strong you are by how much oil you can get away with spilling. In the boxing ring, a crab battled an oil executive. A fair fight, until the referee made the crab remove his gloves so the oil exec could clobber him. A great, fun event but it highlights a sad reality. Luckily, CarnivOIL-goers know it's time to put a stop to the fun and games and get serious. At CarnivOIL, they signed a petition calling on Senator Warner to take action and pledge to take action themselves by signing the Power Vote pledge.

More pictures after the jump.

Yesterday morning, I went to a press conference hosted by Clean Energy Works. I knew there would a variety of speakers but I didn't expect was to be blown away by the words of two young women, both in high school at the Maggie L. Walker Governor's School. I should have expected it.

As Callie Guy, a senior, pointed out to the crowd, "For my generation, the controversy over global climate change simply doesn't exist. We know what the price of inaction is, and it will fall on me and my friends unless we act now. It is time for my generation to declare their independence from the fossil fuels of the past and lead our country on a clean energy revolution. "

Callie's right. My generation has moved past deciding if global warming exists to deciding how to solve it. We refuse to listen to false solutions such as clean coal and nuclear. My generation will Define Our Decade with 100% truly clean, safe, green energy.

Maggie Chambers, a junior, closed the press conference with these words which I want to share with all of you.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident that not all energy sources are created equal, that all people are endowed with the undeniable rights to clean air, liberation from foreign oil, and the pursuit of permanent clean energy jobs- That to secure these rights, Government should follow the path of pursuing strong clean energy and climate legislation

This is cross-posted from huffington post.

While the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works is charged with protecting "the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the products we consume have a direct impact on the health of our families," some of its staffers apparently feel it should also serve as a front for the devastating pollution of Big Coal.

As hundreds of citizens from ravaged coalfield areas in Appalachia and around the nation fill the corridors of Congress this week, calling on the House and Senate to pass the Clean Water Protection Act/Appalachian Restoration Act to stop the illegal dumping of toxic coal waste into our American waterways, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) and his staff on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee are reportedly providing free window space for Big Coal ads in our taxpayer financed federal buildings.

Check out this photo of the Senate minority leader's office window at the E/PW Committee, sent by concerned coalfield residents from West Virginia, who have repeatedly asked the staffers to take down the offensive T-shirt on government property:

While Sen. James Inhofe's comments on climate change are legendary, his prairie land and plains state support for flattening Appalachia through devastating mountaintop removal mining is dangerously uniformed. Last spring, Inhofe sent a letter to EPA chief Lisa Jackson, charging her agency for delay in issuing Clean Water Act permits. Inhofe erroneously claimed:

"As you know, mountaintop mining is a vitally important economic activity. It provides a significant portion of the coal that contributes nearly 50 percent of the nation's electricity. It also provides well-paying jobs and revenues for some of the neediest regions."

Significant portion of coal?

Setting aside the reality that mountaintop removal's irreversible destruction has eliminated over 500 mountains and nearly 1.2 million acres of hardwood forests in the carbon sink of America, led to the largest forced removal of American citizens since the 19th century, and jammed an estimated 2,000 miles of headwater streams and waterways with toxic coal waste, Inhofe's distortion of the true cost of coal and his window dressing for Big Coal overlooks four main points:

1) As everyone else on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee does know--or should know-- mountaintop removal mining provides less than 8 percent of all national coal production.

2) Mountaintop removal has bled the Appalachian economy and job market. As the recent study, "The Decline of Central Appalachian Coal and the Need for Economic Diversification," makes clear:

Despite these economic benefits, coal-producing counties in Central Appalachia continue to have some of the highest poverty and unemployment rates in the region, and due to the dependence on coal for economic development, any changes in coal production will have significant impacts on local economies.

Specifically, a study last year by West Virginia University reseachers found:

The coal industry generates a little more than $8 billion a year in economic benefits for the Appalachian region. But, they put the value of premature deaths attributable to the mining industry across the Appalachian coalfields at -- by a most conservative estimate -- $42 billion.

And check out West Virginia blogger Clem Guttata's analysis of the economics of mountaintop removal on the heels of Inhofe's misinformed comments.

3) Even the most pro-coal legislators in Appalachia and on Capitol Hill recognize that Appalachian coalfields and across the country are facing a clock of peak coal, and need to shift toward a just transition for clean energy jobs and economic development.

4) Sorry Sen. Inhofe: Coal-fired plants provided only 45% of our electricity last year, and it's declining.

You can let Sen. Inhofe and the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, as well as all members of Congress, know what you think about public financing for Big Coal and misinformation here.

You may have heard that our very own Ted Glick is going on trial on February 24th in D.C. Superior Court for hanging a "Get to Work; Green Jobs Now" banner in the Hart Senate Office Building the day the Senate returned from its summer recess. The prosecution has said it wants to make an example of him and send him to jail for at least 30 days, possibly more, for this deed. If you want to support him and the cause by coming to the trial, you can sign up here.

With the Senate climate fight really kicking off this week with a round of hearings in the EPW Committee our Senators need to hear from us more than ever. That's why I arranged a little meeting between Maryland Senator Cardin (who sits on the committee) and Maryland climate activist MA Sheehan. To remind the Senator what hard core climate activists many of his constituents are, MA gave him copies of some photos from our big October 24th climate march through the driving rain to the White House. She also handed over a few dozen handwritten letters from constituents, to add to the 1000 that we delivered to the Senator over the summer.

The mere fact that the Senator took the time to meet with (and pose for the lovely picture shown here) speaks volumes about the impact all the grassroots love we've showered upon him has had. An even better indicator is the statement Cardin made at the start of the EPW hearings on Monday. In it he talked about the plight of his constituents on Smith Island, the economic benefits of clean energy, and his excitement over the increased transportation funding and consumer protections "polluter pays" principles built into the Kerry Boxer bill. All of this

This past week, on the heels of "Climate Week" and attendant Copenhagen preliminaries in New York, Elizabeth Kolbert wrote a nice article in the New Yorker in which she mused over what it would actually take for the US to show real leadership on climate change.

None of the suggestions Kolbert offered at all resembled the Senate climate bill Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry unveiled Wednesday. While an improvement over the Waxman Markey bill, overall the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act falls far short of the high bar of climate leadership the US needs to clear and reminds us that the question we should be asking right now is not what US leadership should really look like. I think we already know the answer to that. No, the question we really have to address is, what is holding US leadership back, and how do we overcome it.

In a word, I think the answer is capital. Oil and coal have deep pockets and they use them well to finance the crippling of federal climate efforts. They've been outspending us in the climate fight. And the truth is the only way we're going to win is by beating them at their own game. Simply put, if we want a stronger climate bill, we've got to "buy" it.

This is a guest post from University of Mary Washington student and UMW Ecology Club activist, Tori Wong.

Green hardhats, American flags, congressional petitions and an endless supply of energetic optimism filled the lawn of Hurkamp park in downtown Fredericksburg Thursday night as University of Mary Washington students and community organizers joined together to show support for clean energy and to take action to make it happen.



The event, which featured speakers from the Spotsylvania County government, local clean energy businesses, the Rapahanock branch of the Sierra Club, and the UMW Ecology Club, was one of six "Clean Energy, Bright Future" rallies planned in Virginia for the evening of September 17th. The goal of the rallies was to create public support and demand for a national climate policy as Congress considers legislation to cap global warming pollution and invest in education for a clean-energy economy. The Fredericksburg rally was coordinated in part by the Sierra Club and the University of Mary Washington's student-run environmental group, the Ecology Club.

At the rally, UMW students set up "action tables" where they encouraged all attendees to fill out postcards to Virginia Senators Warner and Webb. These postcards will be sent by the thousands to the senators' offices to show Virginia's, and especially Virginia college student's support for strong clean-energy legislation. They were also writing letters to the editors of all local newspapers, showing their enthusiasm for taking action towards clean energy.

University of Mary Washington senior, Nate Delano opened the rally with the well-known Mark Twain quote, "There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist," and was followed by Doris Whitfield, Chair of the Rappahannock Group of the Sierra Club, Bob Bennett, Founder of Energy and Environment, Inc. an international renewable energy company based in Spotsylvania County and Henry "Hap" Connors, Chancellor Supervisor for the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors. All speakers emphasized the importance of action and optimism, and applauded the wonderful turnout especially of young people and college students.

This morning, CCAN staff, volunteers and concerned Americans nationwide staged series of beach-themed rallies in around fifty cities across the country. Held in partnership with 1Sky, the festive gathering sought to urge our Senators to enact climate legislation that ensures a real cap on CO2, dictated by the EPA, as well as creating strong provisions for domestic renewable and clean energy development here at home.

We arrived in force at Senator Jim Webb's office (VA) at around noon, sporting swim trunks, floral leis, and signs reading, "Don't send clean energy out with the tide!" and "Clean energy jobs NOW!" as Richmonders downtown looked on during the lunchtime break. While volunteers passed the time, playing a makeshift game of beach volleyball, spirits were high and good times were certainly had. Glen, the inflatable dolphin, also made an appearance.

This is not to say, however, that today's participants were ignorant of the severe implications of a world climate crisis. Despite the relaxed attire and positive attitudes, all involved exuded deep concern and real frustration at the marginal progress that Congress has made so far in taking a strong approach to fixing the potentially fatal issue of global climate change.

The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACESA), in its current form, sucks. We have charged the United States Senate with rectifying the mistakes of its counterpart, the House of Representatives, in transforming this confusing and weak legislation into something that us as climate activists may be proud of. A weak renewable energy standard, coupled with an abysmal form of cap-and-trade that allows for the largest polluters to incur the smallest costs, has shown that politics as usual continues to dilute the debate over how we must transition as a nation into a cleaner, more efficient economy.

Virginia, as always, finds itself in an election year, spearheaded by two candidates whose environmental stances still leave a lot to be desired. Without significant action by our representatives in Washington, the Commonwealth will see little incentive to transform the way that we currently generate and consume our energy in Virginia. If the Senate falters on this legislation, our hopes for rapid progress will become quickly diminished.

We have not yet a reason, however, to lose hope. Senator Webb has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with the current state of ACESA, and as its Senatorial counterpart, ACELA, progresses through its infancy in committee, we can hope that he and Senator Warner will encourage significant improvements, including restoring the full oversight of the EPA in regulating carbon emissions, increasing requirements for the renewable portfolio standard, and placing a real cap on dirty fossil fuel and coal industries, who hold too great a sway in national and Virginia politics.

Webb, a veteran and military buff, understands the real dangers to national security posed by climate change, with sea-level rise playing a major role in Virginia's potential future. With the world's largest naval base in Norfolk, Virginia, the threat of rising tides will play a major role in Mr. Webb's future decisions regarding climate change and its impacts.

So, the beach theme found itself to be eerily appropriate. There may be, after all, a day when any average Richmond citizen will need only to walk a few short blocks before breaking out the surfboard. Let's hope not.