Chesapeake Climate Action Network and Public Citizen delivered today a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) demanding that it hold oil and gas companies accountable for fueling climate-driven disasters such as floods, fires, hurricanes, and extreme heat that have destroyed property and taken innocent lives.
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CHESTERFIELD, VA – Today, dozens of concerned Chesterfield County residents rallied at the monthly Chesterfield Board of Supervisors meeting to protest against the tentative placement of Dominion Energy’s proposed gas power plant in their county. The boisterous gathering was organized in response to the Board of Zoning Appeals’ refusal to hear an appeal from the Friends of Chesterfield community group – which was joined at the rally by allies from the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Mothers Out Front, Chesterfield County Branch NAACP, and other local advocates. Protesters held up signs and chanted slogans opposing the new plant and other fossil fuel infrastructure projects that endanger public health and contribute to climate change.
Just hours before the rally, Friends of Chesterfield announced it had filed a fresh challenge with the county, attempting to call Dominion’s zoning into question. A day prior, the Southern Environmental Law Center also published a report that it had commissioned, which found that constructing an alternative renewable-based energy portfolio would cost ratepayers less than half the projected cost of CERC while providing the same annual energy and peak capacity – addressing reliability concerns.
As the rally gathered momentum, speakers addressed the crowd outside of the building before entering to address the Board meeting with public comments including the following:
Statement from Melissa Thomas, Mothers Out Front:
“Residents of Chesterfield County, who have for decades endured the harmful consequences of pollution from fossil fuel combustion in their community, are pleading with their locally elected representatives to exercise the authority entrusted to them. Their request is straightforward: Please grant us the opportunity to voice our concerns in a public hearing.”
Statement from Glen Besa, Friends of Chesterfield:
“Why is the Board of Supervisors refusing to hold a hearing on Dominion Energy’s massive methane gas power plant that would be the county’s largest source of air pollution? That is a question that every resident of Chesterfield should be asking Chairman Holland and all the county supervisors.”
Statement from Rachel James, Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), speaking on behalf of her client:
“The Chesterfield Branch of the NAACP is committed to elevating the voices of underrepresented groups to ensure their inputs inform each stage of the decision-making processes associated with Dominion’s proposed gas plant. The challenge here is that instead of stepping up to take advantage of the opportunity for local input into the air permit evaluation, the Board of Supervisors is stepping back. The Board is deferring to the Department of Environmental Quality to make a determination that the law recognizes local governing bodies, informed by their constituents, are equipped to make. Holding a public hearing on the issue of site suitability is completely within the Board’s authority to do. Refusing to hold a hearing is unacceptable. That’s why we’re here.”
Statement from Mason Manley, Central Virginia Organizer for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN):
“For more than a year now, Chesterfield residents have expressed their discontent at the lack of meaningful public participation in county approval processes for the so-called Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center. Now, the voices of Chesterfield residents could not be clearer: telling the Board to hold a vote on the matter of Site Suitability and Value and vote ‘No.’”
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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 climate change 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, Washington, D.C. and beyond.
“Wind, solar, energy efficiency, and other clean technologies are our future and Virginia is rising to meet the occasion. This project will help us leave dirty fossil fuels where they belong — in the past.”
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Survivors of numerous disasters driven by climate change yesterday called for fossil fuel companies to be held legally accountable for their crimes, inflicting massive damage on public health and the climate as well as lying to the public for decades about their culpability.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin announced today that his administration will refuse to implement Advanced Clean Car Standards, a regulation Virginia joined through legislation in 2021 to phase in zero-emission vehicles in line with major manufacturer’s timelines and climate deadlines to meet net-zero carbon emissions.
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BALTIMORE — A coalition of health, environmental justice, and climate organizations today applauded an executive order from Gov. Wes Moore directing the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to develop zero-emission heating equipment standards this year. This announcement, which comes as a new analysis from RMI (founded as Rocky Mountain Institute) reveals that Marylanders can save an average of $740 on heating and cooling and $380 on water heating by upgrading to highly efficient heat pumps and heat pump water heaters, will ensure Maryland residents can adopt the best, most efficient clean heating equipment.
Healthy air standards can phase in the adoption of highly efficient heat pumps, which provide affordable, reliable heating and cooling year round while reducing health-harming air pollution. In Maryland, fossil fuel heating equipment in residential and commercial buildings emits more than three times as much health-harming nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions as all the state’s power plants put together, and is responsible for approximately 3,500 cases of asthma, 6,500 lost work days, and $1.3 billion in health impacts each year. Alarmingly, pollution from burning fossil fuels in homes and commercial buildings has increased in recent years, making this executive order even more essential.
Maryland is already a regional leader in heat pump adoption. Already, 54% of Maryland homes are on track to install heat pumps by 2030, and in February 2024 Gov. Moore joined eight states to pledge to accelerate the adoption of heat pumps to reach 65% of all HVAC and water heating sales by 2030 and 90% of all HVAC and water heating sales by 2040. Further, Maryland residents overwhelmingly support this policy. According to polling from CCAN, three-quarters of Maryland voters support healthy air standards that would phase in heat pump technology.
QUOTES FROM ADVOCATES BELOW:
“Today’s announcement from Gov. Moore not only cements Maryland’s legacy as a climate leader, but will create more equitable access to climate and health resources, paying dividends for generations to come,” said Ruth Ann Norton, president & CEO of the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative. “Phasing in zero-emission heating equipment standards, coupled with policies that build healthier, more affordable homes, will provide urgent relief in the form of cleaner, healthier air for low-income families and a future where all Marylanders can thrive.”
“To meet its climate goals, Maryland must tackle fossil fuel use in buildings, which represents 13% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions,” said Anne Havemann, general counsel for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “We’re proud to see Governor Moore take a massive step toward this goal through today’s executive order, which will gradually reduce this climate pollution from buildings and send a signal to manufacturers, retailers, and installers to prepare for an increased demand in clean technologies such as heat pumps.”
“The impact of air pollution from burning fossil fuels in our homes is not evenly distributed across Maryland, with people of color 60% more likely to be exposed to pollution from gas heating equipment, exacerbating health conditions like asthma and heart disease for vulnerable communities,” said Jose Coronado-Flores, an organizer for CASA. “Promoting the adoption of highly-efficient electric equipment such as heat pumps through this executive order will finally help close the alarming, preventable health disparities we see from this air pollution.”
“We applaud Governor Moore’s affirmative step to promote clean electric heat pumps that should lower bills and improve health outcomes and quality of life for Marylanders,” said Leah Louis-Prescott, building electrification policy expert at RMI. “To ensure monthly energy savings go to the residents who need it most, the Moore administration must pursue a suite of equity-focused policies to help low-income residents adopt this highly efficient technology.”
“Marylanders are working together to reduce climate pollution from every sector, but burning fossil fuels indoors in the buildings where we live, work, learn, and pray is continuing to hurt our neighbors and damage our common home,” said Andrea Orozco, faithful advocacy lead at Interfaith Power & Light (DC.MD.NoVa). “We welcome zero-emission heating equipment standards as a major step towards reckoning with and addressing the harms of gas-burning in our buildings. For all that has breath, we celebrate Governor Moore’s announcement.”
“Burning fossil fuels in our buildings is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in Maryland,” said Josh Tulkin, Sierra Club Maryland Chapter Director. “By developing zero-emission heating equipment standards this year, Maryland can make a measurable dent in climate pollution while delivering cleaner, healthier air for residents.”
“Pollution from gas furnaces and water heaters increases the risk of premature death, asthma attacks, and cancer,” said Emily Scarr, State Director at Maryland PIRG. “We applaud Gov. Moore for today’s announcement and look forward to supporting strong regulations to clean up our air, lower heating bills, and protect the health of Maryland families.”
Contact:
Anne Havemann, CCAN Action Fund: anne@chesapeakeclimate.org, 240-630-2146
KC Chartrand, CCAN Action Fund. kc@chesapeakeclimate.org, 240-620-7144
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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, Washington, DC and beyond.
Dominion Energy will apply to build a massive gas plant in Chesterfield at a recently shuttered coal plant, rather than a new site, in order to avoid the local permitting process, communications from the Company to the Chesterfield Planning Department reveal.
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The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced today the finalization of two vital transmission rules: the transmission planning rule and the backstop siting rule. These two rules are essential to strengthening and accelerating the planning and permitting process for renewable energy and transmission.
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Construction of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project (CVOW) remains on schedule following a routine order from a federal judge requesting supplemental documentation from Dominion Energy.
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Washington, D.C. — On April 25, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a historic package of standards restricting pollution from fossil-fuel power plants throughout the nation. The new regulations require that existing coal and new gas power plants cut or capture 90% of their emissions, update and strengthen the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) limiting toxic metal contamination, and mandate safe disposal of coal ash and toxic wastewater. Climate activists celebrated the release of the new rules as a major victory for public health and clean energy.
Communities and families across America will benefit from EPA enacting these rules in a variety of ways including:
Quentin Scott, Federal Director for Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), made the following statement in response to the newly finalized rules:
“Low-income communities and communities of color who disproportionately live near fossil fuel power plants have been waiting far too long. The fight to update these standards spanned multiple administrations but President Biden and Administrator Regan promised they would get it done– and now they did it! This is a big step in the right direction toward righting past wrongs done to environmental justice communities. We aren’t done, but days like these get us excited for the work to come.”
Unfortunately, not all utilities will look at these rules as an opportunity to change their business priorities, but instead see it as a last chance to saddle rate-payers with a financial boondoggle. They’ve already started. Dominion Energy has proposed a 1,000 MW gas plant in Chesterfield, Virginia and Duke Energy has proposed 10 new gas plants in their service territories. We’re ramping up our members and partners for the next phase of this fight for a cleaner, safer future.”
The package of EPA standards has now been finalized from the agency’s perspective. However, they are now subject to the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows Congress to reverse agency standards. Senator Shelley Moore Capito from West Virginia has already promised to file a motion in the coming weeks to reverse these rules. It’s unclear if U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will bring the motion for a vote.
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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.