Category: Blog

Travelers Insurance: Extreme Weather Has Come to Main Street

I want the major candidates – Obama, Romney, Kaine, Allen – to explain my homeowners insurance mailing last month. Travelers – that friendly red umbrella company – sent me a terrifying color flier with my bill. It depicted an all-American home (two stories, garage) with ominous storm clouds bearing down on it and a full-blown tornado roaring toward a direct strike. Millions of customers like me got this you-could-be-Dorothy-in-Kansas-soon image under this headline: “How the Property Insurance Marketplace is Evolving.”

Evolving? How? Well, next to the twister about to hit the house, Travelers lists some raw stats on the flier: Federal natural disaster declarations set a record in 2011. Thunderstorms alone cost $25 billion, doubling the previous annual mark. And winter storm losses have almost doubled since the 1980s.

Standing up to Dominion's Rip-Off, in October and beyond

What could have prepared Dominion executives for the tremendous showing of customer outrage and dissatisfaction unleashed the week of October 1st! Without our dedicated climate warriors who participated and supported the Week of Action, Dominion would continue to quietly, and legally, get away with setting up a $76 million bonus for themselves while playing keep-away with Virginia’s clean energy future. Since the Week of Action, the clean air advocates and climate protectors of Virginia got control of the ball, and for a change Dominion representatives have had to respond to some hard questions from reporters.

The Stand Up to Dominion Week of Action was so successful because of the participation of clean energy supporters from all around Virginia, and it was especially uplifting to have everyone sharing their reasons for taking action.

Day 5: The story of #76million and our activism gets out

DeLevay Miner holds her picket sign at Dominion

A sinking feeling usually creeps into my gut on the eve of a big new action or media event. Organizers have put in hours of phone calls, emails and logistics-scrambling to turn out dozens or more activists. Activists are taking time off work and traveling for an hour or more to take part. But have I, as “the communications person” done all I can? Will that critical reporter show up? Will the story of the hour (or week) get told in the end?

By Monday afternoon this week, I was breathing a big sigh of relief. That’s because, in the case of our week-long action to Stand Up to Dominion’s $76 Million Rip-Off and demand Virginia-made solar and wind power, the story is indeed making its way into newspaper front pages and radio airwaves. This week, Dominion has not only faced picketers on its doorstep every day at noon, but also been forced to answer questions from journalists about how it can justify a $76 million bonus in the name of renewable energy while bringing absolutely zero solar or wind power online in Virginia.

Read on for a round-up of some of the best news coverage from the week.

Dominion Virginia Power media renewable energy solar energy Virginia wind energy

“It's time to stop lighting things on fire” – The MD Energy Forum

This post was written by Emily Saari, an organizer with CCAN

Over 75 friends and neighbors from Frederick, Poolesville, and the surrounding areas came together Wednesday night to discuss the future of energy production in their communities. They were joined by expert panelists Paul Roberts (Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative Advisory Commission), Eric Shaeffer (Environmental Integrity Project), Dan Andrews (Sierra Club – Catoctin Group), and Mike Tidwell (CCAN). A member of Frederick County’s Board of Commissioners was also in attendance, Commissioner Paul Smith. A representative of John Delaney’s campaign for Congress also gave a short position statement.

Day 4: residents of Hampton Roads join action at Dominion!

What an excellent fourth day of the Week of Action at Dominion! Several Hampton Roads residents came out today, from as far as Chesapeake and Norfolk, Hampton and Newport News, to help shine a spotlight on Dominion’s $76 Million Rip-Off and all the consequences that the company’s continued dependence on eastern Virginia, including driving climate change and sea level rise. Check out the picture below of our mock-submerged Virginia landmarks, the Tangier Island water tower and the Neptune Statue, among the icons of Virginia at risk due to climate change.

clean energy Dominion Virginia Power Hampton Roads renewable energy solar Virginia wind energy

A $76 million bonus for business as usual?

Richmond Times-Dispatch
By Beth Kemler
Picture this. You tell your mechanic that your car needs a new steering wheel. The car runs OK but this critical piece of equipment is broken. In turn, the mechanic hems and haws — a brand new steering wheel might be challenging to find. So you offer him a bonus — you’ll pay triple his normal rate to find the wheel you want. You sign the contract with the bonus included and shake hands. A week later, you come back and pay your bill only to discover that, instead of installing a new steering wheel, he slapped a new coat of paint on your old one. Turns out the contract you signed said that any part with paint applied in the current year counts as “new.”
Virginians face a similar quandary when it comes to the state’s electric utilities and renewable energy.
Continue reading

Day 2 of the #76Million week of action a success!

For the second day of the week-long action to Stand Up to Dominion’s $76 Million Rip-Off, we drew attention to the extreme weather Virginians are facing – worsened by our planet’s rising temperatures – while Dominion drags its feet on Virginia-made renewable energy. Undeterred by the threat of thunderstorms, supporters turned out to picket outside Dominion’s office and call for the company to earn the $76 million bonus it is receiving in the name of renewable energy.

Virginia

It has begun! Our week of action against Dominion's #76Million rip-off

Today in Richmond we kicked off our week-long picket at Dominion Virginia Power’s offices.

Haven’t heard about it? Well, not only is Dominion contributing to climate change via its heavy reliance on coal and natural gas, but it is also receiving bonus money for doing so – $76 million of it. How is this possible you may ask? Virginia’s incredibly weak Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) allows utilities (including our good friend Dominion) to receive a renewable energy bonus even though they aren’t producing our buying any Virginia made solar and wind! Sound ridiculous? We think so too. So today we launched a week of action against Dominion’s $76 million rip-off. We’re off to a great start!

Virginia

Climate-denying ostrich greets U.S. Senate candidates Tim Kaine and George Allen

Climate ostrich and animal keeper news interview

This is a guest post from CCAN fall intern Norah Berk. Check out all the pictures from the ostrich action on CCAN’s flickr account.

Starting at around 9 a.m. today, demonstrators began to line Dolly Madison Blvd across the street from the Capitol One Center in McLean in anticipation of the debate between the two candidates that would take place just a few hours later. Amidst others holding signs for their favored candidate, CCAN staff and volunteers proudly stood holding the “STOP climate change” banner that Obama once set eyes on. At 10 a.m. special guest Cleopatra, The Queen of Denial (an 8-feet tall climate-change denying ostrich), appeared. Her presence called attention to both candidates’ denial of the urgent need for renewable energy in Virginia over dirty, yet so-called “clean”, fossil fuel options.

climate change Senate Virginia

Marylanders: Renewable Home Heating Rebate Program

By Melissa Bollman (Cross-Posted from Alliance for Green Heat)

On September 7, 2012 the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) launched a pilot rebate program for some of the cleanest wood and pellet stoves available, marking the first time that a state has integrated wood and pellet stoves into a renewable energy rebate program.

The pilot program offers a $400 rebate for wood stoves and $600 for pellet stoves. Wood stoves must emit less than half the particulates that are allowed by the EPA to be eligible.

“We are thrilled that Governor O’Malley and Malcolm Wolff, the Director of the Maryland Energy Administration, extended the renewable energy grant program to appliances that low and middle-income families can afford,” said John Ackerly, the President of the Alliance for Green Heat.

climate Maryland renewable energy