Biden’s TPS extension falls short of protecting climate migrants

Biden’s TPS extension falls short of protecting climate migrants

Written by Nina Brown

Climate change could displace more than a billion people around the world by 2050. As global warming persists, CCAN has recently teamed up with other activist organizations to urge the White House to guarantee the United States as a safe haven for climate migrants to reconstruct their lives. Together, we sponsored a nationwide petition that received over 15,100 signatures nationwide in just a few days, urging the Biden Administration to redesignate temporary protected status (TPS) for El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua and designate TPS for Pakistan. 

Climate change migration is commonly associated with the future submergence of coastal cities like New Orleans. However, the truth is, people are already being forced to abandon their homes due to climate change – factors such as landslides and the destructive consequences of drought on crop production are driving individuals to seek refuge elsewhere.  Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua are all located in what has become known as the ‘Dry Corridor’, an area especially vulnerable to droughts.The intensification of droughts has resulted in crop failure, heightened food insecurity, and urgent migration in pursuit of improved opportunities. Similarly in Nepal, flash floods caused by the warming of the Himalayas have forced entire villages to migrate. These are some of the hardest hit nations by climate change and many people turned to the U.S. in hopes to rebuild their lives. 

What’s Being Done

TPS offers crucial safeguarding to climate change migrants by providing them with temporary legal status. Recognizing the need for urgent action, CCAN worked with other activist groups to mobilize support for redesignating TPS with a petition and rally led by CASA outside the White House. We thank our petition signers for affirming that these people must be protected from deportation, family separation and further environmental disasters. 

The Biden Administration seems to be listening! They just responded by extending TPS for certain immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua—just a few of the countries disproportionately bearing the brunt of climate change-induced disasters despite contributing the least to global warming—to stay in the United States until 2025.  

What Needs to be Done

While this recent move will let 337,000 climate migrant families continue living in the U.S., it only applies to those who arrived in the U.S. by 2018, ignoring those who fled recent climate disasters.

Additionally, it did not extend TPS to the thousands of Pakistani migrants displaced by recent deadly floods that left a third of the country underwater and nearly half a million people displaced. These individuals fled to the U.S. in hopes of the chance to rebuild their lives and deserve protection from future climate disasters. In fact, a NASA study recently found that along with flooding, heatwaves will make parts of Pakistan soon uninhabitable. That’s why CCAN is still calling for further TPS designation for Pakistan.

What You Can Do

While the Biden Administration has taken a step forward by extending Temporary Protected Status for select immigrants from climate-affected nations, it is imperative to recognize that more action is required. As we approach a potentially unprecedented refugee crisis, it is crucial to safeguard all climate migrant families in the United States: sign our petition here to protect climate change migrants.

Sign the petition today!

NextEra to Drop Methane Gas Assets, Signaling Critical Threat to Mountain Valley Pipeline

CCAN says: “MVP’s other investors would be wise to come to the same conclusion”

Richmond, VA — On Tuesday, NextEra Energy, Inc. announced that it will drop all of its methane gas assets by 2025 and focus exclusively on renewable energy investments. NextEra is currently a major investor in the long-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline, a proposed 303-mile fracked gas pipeline through Virginia and West Virginia that would contribute the equivalent of 26 coal plants’ worth of carbon emissions.

The news comes a year after NextEra took an $800 million impairment charge for its stake in the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) in West Virginia. These losses are not unique to NextEra. Equitrans Midstream, MVP’s largest investor, recorded a $329 million net loss in 2022 and a whopping $1.5 billion net loss in 2021, all attributable to impairment charges associated with MVP. NextEra has a 31% interest in the MVP project. 

NextEra executives pointed to recently passed federal incentives for renewable energy through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act as motivation for this change in their investment portfolio. While they announced their intentions to sell existing pipelines, it is unclear what the impact may be for their investment in the incomplete and wildly over-budget MVP. 

 Victoria Higgins, Virginia Director for Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), stated:  

“The fossil-fuel chickens have come home to roost for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Global, federal, and state level policy in our region all point to the same truth: the methane gas industry is not long for this world. MVP’s other investors would be wise to come to the same conclusion as NextEra and abandon their investment in a soon-to-be obsolete market for the good of their business as well as our people and planet.”

Chesapeake Climate Action Network has been involved in the fight to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline since 2015 through organizing and legal action. With our partners, CCAN successfully defeated attempts to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Chickahominy Gas Plant and Pipeline in Virginia, as well as numerous other fossil fuel infrastructure projects.

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The Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the oldest and largest grassroots organization dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in the Chesapeake Bay region. For more than 20 years, CCAN has been at the center of the fight for clean energy and wise climate policy in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

Environmental and Justice Groups March on Biden’s EPA, Demanding an End to Delays on Power Plant Rules

“EPA: Please Stop Smoking!” rally demands that the agency break its bad habit of missing industry pollution rule deadlines, endangering our health and climate.

LIVESTREAM HERE (Photos Below)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, for the first time under the Biden Administration, over 150 environmental and justice advocates protested loudly outside the office of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington, D.C. to demand faster action on clean-up of deadly fossil fuel power plants. A broad coalition of environmental and justice speakers insisted that EPA quit delaying rules to curb harmful pollution that kills thousands of Americans every year. They said that the EPA has recently taken steps in the right direction, proving that progress is possible, but now the agency needs to move faster and further.

Recent media reports – and this groundbreaking new report from Evergreen Collaborative – confirm that the EPA has missed key deadlines on carbon emissions and other power plant pollutants. EPA has made important progress recently by releasing its Good Neighbor Plan to cut smog and approving the California Clean Trucks Rule to set the pace for nationwide vehicle pollution standards, as well as being poised to publicly release a stronger mercury and air toxics standard proposal in the next few days. Yet, EPA is still lagging behind badly on other critical power plant rules that address a range of issues from carbon pollution and coal ash to implementation of cumulative impact analysis in permitting.

“For the sake of good health, justice, and the climate, we need action NOW from the EPA,” said
Quentin Scott, Federal Policy Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), the group that took the lead in organizing the rally. ”Any further delays by the agency will put lives in danger and create the risk of a future hostile administration arriving in time to reverse everything. We’re gratified that EPA has been listening over the past few months, since we started this campaign. We’re here today with our allies to urge the EPA to build on recent momentum and break the bad habit of delaying industry pollution rules.”

See a complete list of the protesters’ demands.

Dr. Lois Wessel, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, said: “Over 100,000 Americans die of air pollution every year. EPA’s habit of delaying rules for dirty-energy power plants means that those plants are continuing business as usual – so people are getting sick, especially in poor communities, and the planet keeps warming. EPA was scheduled to release their carbon pollution rules in June 2022 and then in March 2023 but they punted both times. Now the EPA needs to fulfill that promise and issue those rules before the end of April. Our lungs and planet can’t wait!”

Russell Armstrong, Climate Policy Director, Hip Hop Caucus, said: “The EPA has a legal and moral responsibility to ensure our air and water is clean, which requires protecting frontline communities from the adverse health impacts and toxic pollution from coal and gas plants. The Biden administration claimed to make environmental justice and climate action top priorities yet has repeatedly failed to deliver on its own self-imposed deadlines. EPA finalizing these power plant rules is a vital step in fulfilling campaign promises to help vulnerable Americans and set our nation on the path to a cleaner, greener, and more equitable future.”

Over a dozen groups joined CCAN as cosponsors of this protest action including: Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Integrity Project, Food & Water Watch, Green New Deal for DC, Hip Hop Caucus, Interfaith Power & Light, Labor Network for Sustainability, Loudoun Climate Project, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Piedmont Environmental Council, Rachel Carson Council, Third Act, and 350.org Montgomery County.

If you would like to interview one of today’s speakers for additional comments, please contact KC Chartrand at kc@chesapeakeclimate.org or 240-620-7144.

Below are photos from the event, including speakers, banners, and more. 


EPA Do Your Job! – Freedom Plaza

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Marching on Pennsylvania Avenue

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Quentin Scott, Federal Policy Director of CCAN

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Russell Armstrong, Climate Policy Director, Hip Hop Caucus

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Dr. Lois Wessel, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments


Bringing Our Message to EPA Headquarters

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Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the first grassroots organization dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in the Chesapeake Bay region. Founded in 2002, CCAN has been at the center of the fight for clean energy and wise climate policy in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, DC.

Maryland County of One Million People Moves to Eliminate Fossil Fuel Use in New Buildings by 2026

Maryland County of One Million People Moves to Eliminate Fossil Fuel Use in New Buildings by 2026

ROCKVILLE, MD – In a vote with national implications for climate policy, the Montgomery County Council in suburban DC voted 9-0 on Tuesday to exclude the use of fossil fuels in almost all newly constructed buildings by 2026. The massive county of 1.1 million people will now join DC, New York City, and other pioneering jurisdictions in codifying a policy to “electrify everything,” moving away from the combustion of methane gas and other building fuels that warm the planet and damage human health.

The “Comprehensive Building Decarbonization” legislation – Bill 13-22 – will ensure that all-electric building standards become part of the County’s building code no later than the end of 2026, with limited exceptions for hospitals and other facilities needing emergency backup systems or high-energy industrial or commercial cooking facilities. In a state – Maryland – committed to a carbon-free electrical grid in coming years, the Montgomery County bill guarantees that almost all new buildings will be equipped with electric hot water systems and heat pumps for space heating and cooling, creating a zero-greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions future. Typically for an urban jurisdiction, buildings account for more than 50% of Montgomery County’s total carbon emissions.

“We’ve taken a giant step toward cleaner buildings and a better climate today,” said Councilmember and bill lead-sponsor Hans Riemer (D-At Large). “We are confident that other Maryland counties will now follow our lead – and the state General Assembly will follow with its own mandate for fossil-free new construction in just a couple of years.”

Said fellow Councilmember and bill co-sponsor Will Jawando (D-At Large): “A fully electric new home or business is cheaper to build, operate, and better for our kids and our environment.”

Added Mike Tidwell, executive director of CCAN Action Fund: “Hats off to every member of the Montgomery County Council. They have taken global climate science and translated it into sound local policy that benefits everyone. We know our newly elected Maryland governor and leaders nationwide will be inspired by this progress.”

The electrification bill passed despite the robust opposition of the fossil fuel industry and several trade associations and business groups. A coalition of nearly two dozen local and state citizens groups representing thousands of Montgomery County residents encouraged today’s action with rallies, petitions, letters, phone calls, meetings with legislators, and “Electrify MoCo” signs placed in yards throughout the county. In addition to the bill’s climate benefits, advocates focused on electrification’s lower ongoing fuel costs for homeowners and tenants. A recent study from the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel shows how capital spending by the state’s top three utilities to replace and expand the gas system will cost ratepayers upwards of $35 billion over the next 80 years.
Monica O’Connor, one of the organizers of the citizens’ actions, said “The passage of this critical bill would not have have been possible without committed partners such as the Sierra Club, CASA, Interfaith Power and Light, 350 MoCo, The Climate Mobilization Montgomery County, the Montgomery County Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions, Climate Reality MoCo, the Elders Climate Action Maryland, the Takoma Park Mobilization Environment Committee and many others. We are so grateful to our many partners and allies for their climate leadership and advocacy.”

Advocates also focused arguments on the health impacts of fossil fuels. A growing body of peer-reviewed science shows that the fossil gas piped into many of America’s homes can create significant childhood asthma and other respiratory problems during combustion, as well as constantly leaking cancer-related chemical compounds. Both the American Medical Association and the American Public Health Association have recently warned consumers about the dangers of using fossil gas. Damaging and often fatal gas explosions are also a too-frequent result of gas use in homes and buildings.

Montgomery County has been at the forefront of local climate leadership for several years. Today’s action builds on a Climate Action Plan that anticipates county-wide carbon neutrality by 2035 and recently adopted Building Energy Performance Standards for existing commercial buildings.

For more information, see Electrify MoCo coverage on CCAN Action Fund.

 

In a First-of-Its-Kind Program, Volunteers Rescue 4,000 Trees From Killer Vines in Takoma Park, MD

Takoma Park rescues 4000 trees from invasive vines

After a novel survey of dying trees in 2021, volunteers systematically rescued huge swaths of urban forest plagued by English Ivy and other invasive vines. Results: More than 80% of dying trees saved, creating a model for cities nationwide.

TAKOMA PARK, MD – Using a first-of-its-kind system pioneered here in 2021, hundreds of volunteers in Takoma Park, Maryland have systematically rescued more than 4,000 trees previously identified as dying from invasive vines such as English ivy. Meeting on Saturday mornings for just over a year and equipped with simple garden clippers and pruning saws, the volunteers have now saved 80% of the infested trees in this city of 18,000 people, creating a blueprint for communities nationwide.

According to a report released today by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), the 4,000th tree – a 75-year-old red oak – was rescued by volunteers on June 30th. Now, in a city where dying trees were once a common sight on both public and private land, it is rare to see any trees choking from such killers as English ivy, Wintercreeper, Porcelainberry, Oriental bittersweet, Chinese wisteria, and others. 

“It’s not an exaggeration to say this city has been transformed,” said Mike Tidwell, CCAN executive director and a resident of Takoma Park. “We had dying trees everywhere – downtown, on playgrounds, around city hall. Now it’s hard to find such trees. That’s good for homeowners, for public health, for local ecosystems, and for the global climate.”

Two steps were key to this success, according to the report released today. First, CCAN commissioned a trained invasive plant specialist to walk and visually survey all 36 miles of streets and roads in the city during wintertime, when many evergreen vines are starkly visible. Five thousand mature trees – from age 20 to more than a century – were determined likely to die within 5-7 years without action. As a second step – using this data and the recorded tree locations – volunteers then set out block-by-block and park-by-park to safely cut, clip, and saw vines.

According to an extensive internet search, no baseline survey of dying trees like the one undertaken in Takoma Park had ever been done before in the United States. This simple walking survey, using a smartphone to record the location of every infested tree, gave volunteers a sense of the scale of the problem and gave them a way to chart progress. Just over a year later, only about 1,000 infested trees remain, mostly on private land where permission to access has not yet been granted. Efforts are ongoing to rescue these remaining trees.

For more information, visit the CCAN page on Invasive Plants and Climate Change. It includes links to the report itself and video of volunteers saving the 4,000th tree.

BACKGROUND

Trees are one of our best solutions for combating climate change by sequestering carbon dioxide. They also provide countless other benefits to people and wildlife, including helping to filter air and water, controlling stormwater, and providing wildlife habitat. They reduce noise and provide places to recreate while strengthening social cohesion, spurring community revitalization, and adding economic value to communities. Trees also add significant value for homeowners: mature trees can add 7 to 19 percent to a home’s value, and can reduce heating and cooling costs by up to 50%. Yet dead trees can cost thousands of dollars to remove. Non-native, invasive vines pose a significant threat to trees. 

With this in mind, in February 2021, CCAN commissioned what may be the first assessment of its kind in the nation. The startling results in a small city known to highly value its tree canopy likely signals that the scale of invasive vine destruction in similar towns nationwide is far beyond previous assumptions. The study also identified relatively low-resource, commonsense solutions to the problem. Many of the trees in the survey can be saved in 10-15 minutes by volunteers using common garden clippers and pruning saws.

Upon release of the assessment, CCAN began hosting volunteer events on Saturday mornings. Since April of 2021, CCAN has engaged 334 volunteers, including 191 unique volunteers. The majority of events were group activities where volunteers would remove invasive vines in predetermined areas, primarily local parks and public areas. Volunteers also visited 571 of the 840 (68%) homes where threatened trees had been identified. Contact was made with a resident at 262 (46% of 571) homes and of the homes where contact was made, 194 of those (75% of 262) agreed to let volunteers and staff remove invasive vines. When homeowners weren’t home, volunteers left an informational flier with contact information. For those homeowners who then reached out to CCAN, a core group of dedicated volunteers then made follow-up house calls to remove vines from trees. This seemingly high response rate indicates that homeowners are willing to take action when made aware of the threat to their trees. Most of the trees saved (2342 or 46%) were on public property, the majority of which was parks. The remainder (1671 or 33%) was on private property, the major part of which was single-family homes. CCAN worked closely with Montgomery Parks’ Weed Warrior program to reach 4000 trees saved. The Weed Warrior program helped direct volunteers to CCAN-led events and provided trained – and trainee – Weed Warriors who provided assistance during events. Of the trees freed in Takoma Park, 1706 were on Montgomery Parks’ property. 

The Takoma Tree Saver program has clearly inspired people both within Takoma Park and around the region. In Takoma Park, it appears to have struck a chord with the public. The work of CCAN’s volunteers is obvious around town, as evidenced by dying vines, and appears to be catching on – there are signs that people are undertaking vine cutting on their own outside of the program. 

The program has received numerous inquiries from people and organizations wanting to adopt CCAN’s model or simply learn from its experiences. CCAN staff have presented to multiple organizations and consulted with various groups throughout the region. Staff are currently preparing to train at least two community groups in nearby jurisdictions. 

It is obvious that people’s participation in this relatively simple climate action energizes and empowers them, and they are transferring this enthusiasm to others. It appears to be successful because, primarily, it is a tangible climate action that people can take relatively simply. People can see the results of their labor, it is tactile, and it engages people in saving their beloved urban forest. 

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Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the first grassroots organization dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in the Chesapeake Bay region. Founded in 2002, CCAN has been at the center of the fight for clean energy and wise climate policy in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC. For more information, visit www.chesapeakeclimate.org

Virginians March BACKWARDS to Protest Youngkin’s Backward Climate Policies

Unusual backwards march around the State Capitol demonstrates opposition to Governor’s plan to withdraw from RGGI program that reduces carbon emissions while funding coastal resilience and energy efficiency

Richmond, VA – At 12 noon on Friday, July 1, Virginians will march BACKWARDS around the state capitol to protest Governor Glen Youngkin’s scheme to withdraw Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). This first-ever march of its kind in Richmond will be led by brass musicians and protesters chanting – while walking backwards – that Youngkin must stop moving the state backwards on climate change.

Friday’s march coincides with Youngkin’s scheduled completion of the process of stacking the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board with hand-picked members and using it to undermine the General Assembly. After only three days of public notice, this board could use an “emergency declaration” to march Virginia backwards – out of the popular RGGI cap-and-trade program,which provides essential funding for progress on climate solutions and clean energy. 

Since Virginia joined RGGI, industrial carbon polluters have paid over $300 million in fees. Those funds are used to insulate the homes of low-income Virginians and cover the cost of infrastructure improvements to minimize the impacts of sea-level rise and flooding associated with climate change. 

Youngkin’s plan to withdraw from RGGI ignores the desire of more than two-thirds of Virginians, who support the program, and directly conflicts with recent legislative votes and proposed budget amendments from the General Assembly. Youngkin has also declined to join 11 other East Coast states to partner more closely with the Federal government on offshore wind development. 

On Friday, Virginians from the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Third Act Virginia, Appalachian Voices and Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions will demonstrate against the Governor’s efforts to withdraw from RGGI. Live music and refreshments will be provided at Friday’s visually engaging event, where marchers will physically march backwards in protest. 

WHO:   Community members, environmental advocates

WHAT:   Demonstration with featured speakers, march

WHEN:  Friday, July 1 from 12 PM to 1 PM

WHERE:  The event begins on the Capitol Grounds at the Bell Tower with several speakers and is followed by a March Backward, starting on the sidewalk at 9th and Franklin Streets.   

Below are statements from several of the event organizers:

“Governor Youngkin portrays himself as a business leader – but his pro-pollution agenda is hurting businesses and damaging the climate. It’s becoming a national embarrassment. Currently, Virginia is benefitting tremendously from a market-based initiative that reduces carbon pollution while investing in coastal flooding protection and energy efficiency. Youngkin’s goal of withdrawing Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative would harm families and reward polluters. It’s a giant step backwards. The Governor must be stopped.”
– Mike Tidwell, Chesapeake Climate Action Network  

“Gov. Youngkin’s plan to withdraw Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is short-sighted and dangerous.The report this administration uses for rationale has been falsely interpreted as bad for consumers. Third Act Virginia supports the science and expert opinions that show the Initiative works as intended. In our current climate catastrophe, we don’t have time for backwards measures and partisan divide. We want a future we can all live in, and urge the governor to prioritize the health and wellbeing of our citizens.” 
– Deborah Kushner, Third Act Virginia

“We are praying that Governor Youngkin has a change of heart on his opposition to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. This successful, bipartisan program is cutting planet-warming pollution, helping low income Virginians save money with energy efficiency, and protecting our communities from the ravages of increased flooding. It’s simply common sense to stay in RGGI.”

– Andrea McGimsey Executive Director, Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions

For more information, visit the organizers’ shared event registration page.

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Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the first grassroots organization dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in the Chesapeake Bay region. Founded in 2002, CCAN has been at the center of the fight for clean energy and wise climate policy in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC. For more information, visit www.chesapeakeclimate.org

More information: 

Virginia Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative: Youngkin is Dragging Virginia Backwards On Climate

REPORT: DAMAGING METHANE GAS PIPELINE LEAKS HAPPEN EVERY 40 HOURS IN THE U.S.

Frequent gas leaks are resulting in death, injury, and other damage to our health and environment
for Immediate Release
THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2022

Baltimore, MD – Methane gas – commonly referred to as “natural” gas – has been piped through our communities for heating and cooking for a century, and for just as long, has been subject to dangerous leaks. On Thursday, Maryland PIRG Foundation, Environment Maryland Research and Policy Center and Frontier Group released a new report that finds from 2010 through nearly the end of 2021, almost 2,600  gas pipeline incidents occurred in the United States that were serious enough to require reporting to the federal government. That’s the equivalent to one every 40 hours. 

“For as long as we have used gas to heat and cook, it has posed a risk both to people who use it in their homes and those who live in neighborhoods above gas pipes,” said Maryland PIRG Foundation Director Emily Scarr. “House explosions and leaking pipelines, like we have experienced in Baltimore and across the state, aren’t isolated incidents – they’re the result of an energy system that pipes dangerous, explosive gas through our neighborhoods. It’s time to move away from gas and toward safer, cleaner electrification and renewable energy.” 

In addition to the report, the groups also released a tip guide to provide guidance on what to do if you suspect a gas leak in your community. Of the nearly 2,600 pipeline incidents recorded between 2010 and 2021, 850 resulted in fires and 328 in an explosion. Those incidents killed 122 people and injured more than 600. The total costs to communities from things such as property damage, emergency services, and the value of intentionally and unintentionally released gas, totaled nearly $4 billion. These incidents also resulted in the leakage of 26.6 billion cubic feet of gas, equivalent in its effects on global warming to emissions from over 2.4 million passenger vehicles driven for a year. 

The serious pipeline incidents addressed in the report represent just a fraction of the leaks experienced in the production, transportation and burning of gas. Smaller gas leaks are rife in urban areas, like Baltimore and Montgomery County, while large methane leaks from oil and gas production threaten the climate. A study from 2018 found that leaks from gas lines over the previous two decades had nearly doubled the climate impact of gas. In addition, some serious gas explosions that have caused death or injury in Maryland are not included in the data as they did not occur in the pipeline system.

“Leaks, fires and explosions are reminders that transporting methane gas is dangerous business,” said Tony Dutzik, associate director and senior policy analyst at Frontier Group and lead author of the report. “The incidents included in this report were caused by a wide variety of factors, from operator errors to equipment failures, and excavation damage to natural causes. Fully protecting the public requires us to reduce our dependence on gas.”

The report recommends that the U.S. stop relying on methane gas for home heating and cooking as well as electricity generation. Instead, policy makers should incentivize and accelerate the transition to all-electric buildings and renewable sources of energy, which are cleaner and safer for communities. During the transition, the report recommends that gas infrastructure investments focus on fixing leaks. 

“When rooftop solar panels can power an induction cooktop or electric heat pump, it becomes increasingly unacceptable to saddle society with the risks associated with pumping methane into our homes and throughout our communities,” said Scarr. “It’s time to leave explosive and polluting fossil fuels like methane behind and embrace a future powered by 100% renewable energy.”

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Reposted from: https://marylandpirg.org/news/mdp/report-damaging-methane-gas-pipeline-leaks-happen-every-40-hours-us

CCAN Applauds Cancellation of Chickahominy Power Plant: Gas-Fired Plant Faced Stiff Opposition from Local Residents

Baltimore, MD — Yesterday, Chickahominy Power, LLC announced it had “terminated” its 1,600 megawatt, $1.64 billion gas-fired power plant planned for Charles County, Virginia. The plant would have been one of the largest gas plants in Virginia and would have sold electricity into the grid as a business venture instead of providing power directly to Virginia customers. This termination follows the suspension of a pipeline that would have crossed five counties to carry gas to the power plant.

Both the plant and the pipeline faced strong opposition from Charles City County residents. The county is already home to a large, polluting landfill and was the proposed site of another large gas plant known as C4GT that would have been located just a mile from the Chickahominy Power site. That gas plant was canceled last July.

In response to the cancellation, Anne Havemann, General Counsel of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said:

“The Chesapeake Climate Action Network was honored to fight the proposed Chickahominy gas-fired power plant alongside Concerned Citizens of Charles County and other local residents over the past six years. The cancellation of the plant illustrates that gas is not the energy of Virginia’s future but the energy of the past.

“The company struggled to find financing, was met with stiff opposition from local residents who worried about the health effects of living next to such a large plant, and faced competition from a growing clean-energy industry. Instead of relocating to Ohio or West Virginia, as Chickahominy Power’s press release threatens, the company should see the writing on the wall and invest in clean energy instead of sinking $1.64 billion into more climate-wrecking fossil fuels.”

For more information see “Chickahominy Power cancels plans for natural gas plant in Charles City” by Sarah Vogelsong, The Virginia Mercury.

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Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the first grassroots organization dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in the Chesapeake Bay region. Founded in 2002, CCAN has been at the center of the fight for clean energy and wise climate policy in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC. For more information, visit www.chesapeakeclimate.org

CCAN Winter News

Message from the Director

Dear friends,

Mike Tidwell, Founder & Director, CCAN
Mike Tidwell, Founder & Director, CCAN

I founded Chesapeake Climate Action Network nearly 20 years ago with the hope that one day, if we worked hard enough, the US Congress would enact a truly transformative climate bill. In mid-November, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act that invests $550 billion in climate solutions. But, as you’ve probably heard, Senator Joe Manchin now says he cannot vote for the bill as currently written.

It is up to all of us to change his mind. In the days and weeks ahead, CCAN will use its on-the-ground organizing in Manchin’s home state of West Virginia to make it happen.

We can’t let Build Back Better die because we need it for a livable future. We need BBB investments to fuel the clean power sector, increase access to electric vehicles, and support communities most severely impacted by changing climate. We need BBB to create over 300,000 good jobs in a new Civilian Climate Corps and 150,000 in clean manufacturing. We need BBB to install 500,000 EV charging stations across the country as well as convert more than 60,000 diesel school buses to clean electric buses. And that’s just the beginning.

CCAN is already making plans to renew the battle for climate sanity in 2022 and beyond. We’ll do whatever it takes to get the White House and Congress to deliver bold climate action when they reconvene. And after the Build Back Better Act is enacted, we will continue to press ahead because there is more work to be done. .

Modeling shows that, while the Build Back Better Act gets us close, it doesn’t achieve the full 50 percent reductions in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say we need by 2030. But don’t worry. Individual states can and will make up the difference. Our teams in Maryland, Virginia, and DC are going to keep pushing for state-level reductions. We’ll join other states nationwide to mandate that all new buildings are powered by electricity, not gas. We’ll push for pedestrian-friendly communities while fighting new fossil fuel infrastructure projects. And we’ll make sure all new federal climate spending — tens of billions of dollars in our region — is invested wisely.

Because of our grassroots supporters, we’ve made incredible progress… but there is so much still to do. Help us make 2022 — CCAN’s 20th year — our best year yet. Join us as a member here, sign up to volunteer here or make an end-of-year donation here.

Thanks again for your support… and Happy New Year!

Mike Tidwell
Director, CCAN and CCAN Action Fund

Federal News

News from the Hill

On November 19th, the US House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act. It’s the strongest climate legislation ever passed by a legislative body and will keep millions of Americans out of poverty. You can find a helpful description of what’s included in the plan at this link.

Our sister organization, CCAN Action Fund (CCAN AF), worked tirelessly and in close collaboration with allies across the country over the past year to help pass this plan. A half dozen Democrats in the House initially refused to vote for the bill! So, the coalition of activists went to work and our targeted, coordinated advocacy helped get those holdouts to vote YES.

Today, this legislation still needs to pass the Senate. CCAN Action Fund has been working all year to communicate to Senator Joe Manchin why the people of West Virginia support the Build Back Better Act. We‘ve recruited hundreds of constituents to call his office, projected images of climate disasters onto his local office, convinced community organizations to sign resolutions, and so much more. And now we will redouble our efforts in order to achieve success in early 2022.

The Build Back Better Act will get us into the ballpark of reducing our emissions 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. You can find a detailed projection of the plan at this link. Reaching the 50 percent reductions called for by 2030 will require further executive action and state legislation to close the gap, and our powerful community of advocates and grassroots members will help make sure that happens. That means we need you. Join us as a member for as little as $1 per year.

We’re suing the EPA

Represented by our friends at the Environmental Integrity Project, we announced on December 9th our intention to file suit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to properly regulate pollution from landfills, including potent greenhouse gas, methane. The EPA’s model for measuring emissions is based on a set of methods called “emission factors” which the EPA is required to consider updating every three years. These factors haven’t been updated since 1998. The underestimation of emissions results in landfills avoiding regulation and prevents regulators and the public from realizing the full extent of air pollution coming from landfills. We expect our lawsuit to result in the EPA updating these 1998 emission factors and better regulating landfills across the country. See our press release.

Join CCAN’s Annual Polar Bear Plunge to Celebrate the Climate Movement

Join us on February 12, 2022, for our annual Polar Bear Plunge (also our inaugural event to launch and celebrate CCAN’s 20th Anniversary)! We’re holding a “hybrid” Plunge this year, meaning you can join us from anywhere — in person at National Harbor, just outside of DC, or you can take the Plunge from your backyard or a water body of your choosing.

So grab your friends and family and #TakeThePlunge.

Maryland

We passed the strongest climate bill in the country… in 2019. What’s next?

Though landmark renewable energy legislation was passed in 2019, we haven’t yet adequately addressed the two other top-emitting sectors — transportation and buildings. We’ve been working with a broad coalition since the summer, vetting policies and preparing for big wins in Annapolis in 2022.

This year, we’ll be working on policies to electrify our transportation sector and decarbonize buildings. We’ll also be working on crucial legislation to divest Maryland pension funds from fossil fuels and put the environmental human rights amendment to the Maryland Constitution on the 2022 ballot. Learn more about our Climate Platform Resolution and show your support.

In the last few weeks before the legislative session begins, our sister organization, CCAN Action Fund, will hold lobby trainings, legislative previews, and preparation and planning meetings with our partners and volunteers. We hope you can join us! Contact victoria@chesapeakeclimate.org to learn more, or sign up here to volunteer.

Virginia

Looking ahead at legislation

The transportation sector is the number one climate polluter in Virginia and nationally. Our “Mobility for All” campaign pushes for a comprehensive approach to decarbonizing transportation by rapidly electrifying as many vehicles as possible and providing folks with safe, reliable, and affordable alternatives to driving such as transit, biking, and walking. Our sister organization, CCAN Action Fund, had a number of key legislative victories on this front in the 2021 session and we plan to continue this work in the upcoming year.

The recent election results in Virginia mean CCAN Action Fund will likely have to defend a number of recent climate victories in the Commonwealth, like the Virginia Clean Economy Act of 2020. We’ll be working closely with partners to ensure that state senators and delegates understand the health and economic benefits of transitioning to a clean energy economy. If you want to help advocate for continued progress and protect the strides already made, please encourage your friends and family to join CCAN as a member. Members receive monthly updates on our legislative and political campaigns, have access to training and discussions, and learn how they can best plug in to our campaigns.

Keeping up the fight against the Mountain Valley Pipeline

On December 14th, the Virginia State Water Control Board sided with a polluter in approving a key water permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. This happened a few short days after hundreds of pipeline fighters got together for the “NO Mountain Valley Pipeline Violation Vigil,” which highlighted the more than 300 water violations — yes, 300 — that the pipeline company has already committed. The fight is not over. We will continue to fight, as we await decisions from our neighbors in West Virginia, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. We’re eyeling legal and other action — stay tuned. See CCAN’s statement.

Membership

Launching a new program to meet new challenges

The climate and political challenges today are even bigger and more complex than when CCAN was founded 20 years ago. Which means we have to adapt. In September we launched a new Membership program to build volunteer leadership capacity, which is critical to building a movement at the scale needed to solve today’s challenges. If you’ve made a gift to our work in the past year, you were automatically enrolled in our Membership program. If not, you can join for as little as $1 per year. Find more information on the Membership program at this link. Or contact mustafa@chesapeakeclimate.org to connect with a CCAN organizer.

Several members have already taken on new projects and leadership roles. Here are a few highlights: 

Training up

Rob, longtime CCAN supporter (now member), designed a Letter to the Editor training we recently used to prepare dozens of volunteers in Maryland to write LTEs around our legislative priorities. Meanwhile, volunteers in Virginia wrote LTEs to encourage Virginia’s Water Control Board to deny a 401 permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

National action teams

Pamela and Christy are working together to develop Friends, Family and Neighbors Action Teams. These teams will offer a mechanism for members across the country to gain information, strategies, and general support on reaching out to and engaging friends, family, and neighbors (FFN) in the climate movement.

Thank you, Neighborhood Sun!

Thank you to our Polar Bear Plunge sponsor, Neighborhood Sun.

Neighborhood Sun is a community solar company and certified B Corp that works to bring clean, affordable, and local solar energy to thousands of residents and small businesses who can’t have or don’t want solar panels on their rooftops.

Anyone who pays an electric bill is eligible to subscribe to a solar project and receive a majority of their electricity from locally-generated solar energy! You can find the latest on their projects at neighborhoodsun.solar.

CCAN Responds to Virginia Water Control Board Approval of MVP Permit: “This is a Major Step in the Wrong Direction”

The Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) joined other climate activists today in reacting to the Virginia State Water Control Board’s decision to approve a water permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Below is the statement from CCAN:

“The decision to permit a pipeline that has already amassed over 300 violations of existing permits is not only reckless, but works against the interests of residents of the Commonwealth and threatens the existence of all living things,” said Elle De La Cancela, Central Virginia Grassroots Organizer for Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “We need to act on climate now, and this is a major step in the wrong direction. The MVP will undoubtedly continue to destroy areas of private and public land, only to line the pockets of CEOs and investors. We will continue to fight, as we await decisions from our neighbors in West Virginia, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.”

See below for the complete press release from activists opposing the MVP Pipeline. ______________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 14, 2021

Contact:
Denali Nalamalapu, (302) 307-6966, denali@powhr.org
Dan Radmacher, (540) 798-6683, dan@appvoices.org

Virginia Water Board Approves Key Permit for Mountain Valley Pipeline

RICHMOND, VA — Today, the Virginia State Water Control Board approved a water permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) via a 3-2 vote, finalizing state approval for the MVP to build across hundreds of Virginia waterways.

The Board is an independent regulatory body composed of seven private citizens appointed by the Governor. Despite significant evidence to the contrary, the Board accepted the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s recommendation and found that the agency’s draft permit will adequately protect more than 200 water bodies in the state from the pipeline’s impacts. Under the Clean Water Act, projects like pipelines that release pollutants into U.S. waters must secure both federal and state permits that assure water quality standards will not be violated. The MVP has already violated Virginia’s water protection laws more than 300 times and has been heavily fined for failing to control erosion and sediment.

Despite this decision, the fight to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline continues. The project still needs authorizations from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in order to cross water bodies. Additionally, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has yet to rule on MVP’s request to bore under waterways in West Virginia and Virginia.

Roberta Bondurant, Co-Chair of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights Coalition (POWHR) responded: “As we reflect on the losses of neighbor landowners and communities suffering MVP’s destructive effects on land, forests and waters, in the midst of an intensifying climate crisis, Virginia’s Water Board has marked for itself an infamous place in history. In granting MVP, a 300 plus repeat offender, a Clean Water Act 401 permit, Virginia regulators have shown its willful indifference to the stark reality of climate catastrophe and squandered an opportunity to do real environmental justice for the people of Southwest Virginia.

“MVP’s chosen route for its mega-pipeline, blasting and barreling across steep, landslide and earthquake prone mountain slopes, our pristine streams, and protective wetlands, multiplies already high risks of drinking water pollution and fiery explosions, imposing constant threats upon vulnerable and often silent witnesses in its path — including the elderly, single, low- and fixed-income residents, people of color, military veterans, and the disabled. MVP at once renders whole communities either ‘pipeline prisoners,’ or if they are fortunate enough to be able to leave, ‘environmental refugees.’ The result today, shameful but not surprising, leads us to brace for MVP’s continued wrath upon our people and their great places. We will go forward– relentless in pursuit of environmental justice — for the livable future that is the birthright of today’s and future generations.”

Peter Anderson, Virginia Policy Director for Appalachian Voices said: “While we are very disappointed with Virginia regulators’ decision today, the Mountain Valley Pipeline still has a long and uncertain road ahead. We remain convinced that this pipeline cannot be built in compliance with the law, and we will continue to stand with impacted communities as they fight this unnecessary and dangerous project.”

Lynn Godfrey, Sierra Club Virginia Chapter Community Outreach Coordinator, said, “The Mountain Valley Pipeline mainline is billions of dollars over budget, three years behind schedule, and has racked up more than $2 million in fines for water quality-related violations in Virginia and West Virginia. The MVP project already threatens 236 of Virginia’s waterways and this latest permit would signify the continued disregard of water sources essential to maintain a healthy ecosystem with lasting and permanent impact to Southwest Virginia’s waterways. We will not stand by as regulators continue to give a free pass to corporate polluters and will pursue all legal avenues to ensure that this pipeline is never completed.”

Elle De La Cancela, Central Virginia Grassroots Organizer for Chesapeake Climate Action Network: “The decision to permit a pipeline that has already amassed over 300 violations of existing permits is not only reckless, but works against the interests of residents of the Commonwealth and threatens the existence of all living things. We need to act on climate now, and this is a major step in the wrong direction. The MVP will undoubtedly continue to destroy areas of private and public land, only to line the pockets of CEOs and investors. We will continue to fight, as we await decisions from our neighbors in West Virginia, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.”

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