Groups blast FERC findings on Mountain Valley Pipeline for fracked gas

A coalition of landowners and advocacy organizations today condemned the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for disregarding the profound and long-lasting human and environmental trauma the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) would cause. In its final environmental review, released Friday morning, FERC ignores the most harmful impacts this 300-mile-long pipeline for fracked gas would have on lives, communities, drinking water supplies, private property, local economies, and publicly owned natural resources. The groups called these risks unacceptable, especially for a pipeline that is not even needed. The coalition also calls the pipeline an assault on the climate and the future of children in West Virginia and Virginia, and notes that the pipeline can still be blocked on multiple federal, state, and legal levels.
The final environmental review1 issued today by FERC for the proposed $3.2 billion MVP — to be developed by EQT Midstream Partners; NextEra; Con Edison Transmission; WGL Midstream; and RGC Midstream — commits the same central failure of its draft review: failing to prove that the pipeline is needed. An independent study shows there is enough existing gas supply in Virginia and the Carolinas to meet consumer demand through 2030, while experts have warned that the gas industry is overbuilding pipeline infrastructure in West Virginia and Virginia. Key federal government agencies and officials have criticized FERC’s failure to properly determine a project’s need. 
Former FERC Chairman and Director Norman Bay in his parting recommendations to the agency, urged the commission to rethink how it determines need when certifying natural gas pipelines. The Bureau of Land Management and Environmental Protection Agency have also criticized FERC specifically for failing to address whether the MVP is needed, and a bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate to reform FERC’s approach to public engagement.
FERC has a history of greenlighting natural gas pipelines with insufficient reviews, resulting in dangerous leaks and spills.  The Rover Pipeline recently spilled millions of gallons of drilling chemicals into Ohio’s wetlands, the Sabal Trail pipeline leaked drilling chemicals underground into the Withlacoochee River in Florida, and the highly contentious Dakota Access pipeline has already suffered three leaks. 
West Virginia and Virginia citizens opposed to the MVP say FERC has proven unable to properly assess the environmental risks of these pipelines, and its incomplete reviews have dealt a huge blow to public confidence, not to mention safety and the environment. MVP developers submitted more than 16,000 pages of information after the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was issued. The public did not have the opportunity to submit comments to FERC on the additional submittals. The NEPA review process for the MVP was bypassed by FERC.
While legal and environmental experts are continuing to review today’s document, they have initially identified major gaps in FERC’s Final EIS, including:

  • An accurate assessment of whether the project is needed and in the public interest;2
  • Alternative analysis including development of energy efficiency, solar, and wind as alternatives to construction of pipelines;
  • A complete analysis of the cumulative, life-cycle climate pollution that would result from the pipeline;3
  • A thorough and accurate analysis of visual impacts from the pipeline, including impacts to the iconic Appalachian Trail and potential damage to its tourism economy;
  • Cumulative impacts analysis of all environmental and human health damage from increased gas fracking in West Virginia that would supply the pipeline;
  • An analysis of the compound effects of multiple regional geo-hazards, including a meaningful analysis of the karst topography; and
  • A thorough review of damage to water quality and natural resources along and downstream from the pipeline route.

The coalition is committed to blocking the pipeline through every available avenue on the federal, state, and legal levels to assure that the very best options for energy, jobs, and landowner rights are considered.
Statements from affected landowners, community members, and environmental and legal experts:

  • Ty Bouldin, landowner in Summers County, West Virginia, stated: “The DEIS for the Mountain Valley Pipeline project was disheartening testimony to the inadequacies of FERC’s environmental assessment procedures. It failed to provide rational scientific standards for evaluating such impacts as were acknowledged. The DEIS simply argued that any impacts—however severe they might prove to be—would be judged acceptable. Such a conclusion was not valid given the inadequacies of the materials submitted by MVP, and it remains unacceptable as the basis for undertaking a responsible Final Environmental Impact Statement.”
  • Maury Johnson, affected landowner in Monroe County WV and The Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Indian Creek Watershed Assoc. WV Rivers Coalition, and more, stated: “The Mountain Valley Pipeline will devalue our land, limit its uses and reduce taxes which support our schools and public services. It will jeopardize the safety and security of residents and anyone who visits the area where it is located. It will impact the water that we so much depend upon for our families, our farms and our communities. It will impact the world class water that comes from Peters Mountain in WV and VA. The impacts to the Jefferson National Forest and the Appalachian Trail will be severe and irreversible. It should be criminal to attempt such a pipeline when the profound environmental damage has not been adequately assessed by FERC, by West Virginia’s DEP or by Virginia’s DEQ.”
  • Andrew Downs, Regional Director, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, stated: “The public has never been allowed adequate access to this process which increasingly seems like it’s been driven by distant a bureaucracy. The devastation anticipated to the Jefferson National Forest and the iconic Appalachian Trail is a violation of the public trust that spans from nearly a century and into our uncertain future.”
  • Diana Christopulos, President, Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club, stated: “The FEIS ignores the potential negative impacts of the project on public drinking water supplies on the Roanoke River, even though the pipeline’s own consultants reported a major increase in sedimentation in the North Fork of the Roanoke River that would travel all the way from Jefferson National Forest through the cities of Salem and Roanoke to either Niagara Dam or Smith Mountain Lake. The FERC never required to applicant to report fully on the sediment that would occur on the South Fork of the Roanoke River, which could have significant impacts on the same downstream communities.”
  • April Keating, Mountain Lakes Preservation Alliance/West Virginia Sierra Club/Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights, stated: “Not only are these new pipelines not needed, but they lock us into flammable, radioactive, climate warming methane use at a time when renewable energy is needed most. Renewable energy is more affordable than ever and has created more jobs than the fossil fuel market in recent years. FERC has refused to look at cumulative impacts of this and other projects in the same region, which is doing a real disservice to our public health and putting a chokehold on our economic opportunities.”
  • Anne Havemann, General Counsel, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, stated: “Time and again, we’ve seen how FERC’s utter failure to honestly assess the impacts of massive, dangerous gas pipelines. We know this pipeline would result in massive climate pollution equivalent to 26 new coal-fired power plants. FERC’s own former chairman has urged the commission to reconsider how it evaluates environmental impacts, including climate change. If FERC was honest in its environmental accounting, it would have no choice but to reject the project.”
  • Dr. Richard Shingles, Coordinator, Preserve Giles County, stated: “An obscure, independent regulatory agency, controlled by the very gas and oil industry it is supposed to regulate, has taken one more step in a fraudulent ‘public review’ process towards finalizing a predetermined decision. The FEIS ignores the scientific consensus4 as to the cumulative threats to communities, local economies and natural resources and the pipeline itself. The multiple geological hazards abound in this region should make it a ‘no build zone’ for large, interstate, high pressure gas pipelines. To date FERC has failed to require the applicant to show that these threats can be avoided or safely mitigated – an assurance that the scientific consensus demonstrates cannot be provided.”
  • Hugh Irwin, Landscape Conservation Planner, The Wilderness Society, stated: “Damage to national forest lands and values including wilderness, roadless lands, the Appalachian Trail, clean water, and wildlife habitat have been inadequately addressed, putting these public resources in jeopardy.”
  • Jerolyn Deplazes, Secretary, Preserve Newport Historic Properties, stated: “FERC has shown blatant disregard for the laws concerning the protection of historical properties in the process of reviewing the MVP. Four landowners in the Greater Newport Rural Historic District have been denied the right to consult with FERC, MVP and other cooperating agencies to develop alternatives to the proposed route of MVP. And many filings by the Greater Newport Rural Historic District Committee have been made pointing out the continually incorrect, misleading, and apparently deliberately incomplete information provided to FERC by MVP and the failure of FERC to require full corrective action by MVP. Without complete and correct data input to FERC, there is no way that FERC can make an informed decision on the MVP project.”
  • Ben Luckett, Staff Attorney, Appalachian Mountain Advocates, stated: “FERC’s failure to look at whether this pipeline is actually needed to serve the public, and not just the bank accounts of MVP’s shareholders, is absolutely galling. All too often, like with the recently completed Sabal Trail project, these new pipelines just shift gas away from existing infrastructure instead of offering any new beneficial service. Without a real market analysis, FERC can’t tell whether the pipeline’s extreme impacts to landowners, communities, and the environment will bring about any public benefit. Our independent studies indicate that they will not.”

 
CONTACT:
Kristen Friedel, Chesapeake Climate Action Network; kristen@chesapeakeclimate.org; 240-396-2146
Anne Havemann, Chesapeake Climate Action Network; anne@chesapeakeclimate.org; 240-396-1984
April Keating, Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights; apkeating@hotmail.com; 304-642-9436
 
CONTACTS FOR THOSE QUOTED:
Maury Johnson, landowner: maurywjohnson@yahoo.com; 304-832-6085
April Keating, Mountain Lakes Preservation Alliance/West Virginia Sierra Club/Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights: apkeating@hotmail.com; 304-642-9436
Andrew Downs, Appalachian Trail Conservancy: adowns@appalachiantrail.org; 540-904-4354
Diana Christopulos, Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club: dianak16@earthlink.net; 540-204-3961
Anne Havemann, Chesapeake Climate Action Network: anne@chesapeakeclimate.org; 240-396-1984
Dr. Richard Shingles, Preserve Giles County: shingles@vt.edu; 540-921-7324
Hugh Irwin, The Wilderness Society: hugh_irwin@tws.org; 828-357-5187
Jerolyn Deplazes, Preserve Newport Historic Properties: jdeplazes@pemtel.net
Ben Luckett, Appalachian Mountain Advocates: bluckett@appalmad.org; 304-645-0125
 
Notes:
1: The main document for the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Mountain Valley Pipeline can be viewed by clicking on the last link titled, “MVP_EEP_FEIS_Sections 1-5.PDF” at the bottom of FERC’s file list.
2: Opposition to the Mountain Valley Pipeline has grown in Virginia and West Virginia. In the Supreme Court in both states, judges have ruled in favor of landowners preventing MVP surveyors to enter their land. Also, financial institutions are increasingly backing away from investing in the MVP and other pipelines, suggesting that financial support is waning along with public support. Additionally, more than 17,000 people in the affected region — along with tens of thousands of others across the country — submitted comments criticizing FERC’s draft review, demanding the agency ultimately reject the project. And a poll conducted by the nonpartisan Cromer Group found that 55 percent of Virginia voters oppose McAuliffe’s efforts to build fracked-gas pipelines. Furthermore, Virginia legislators have introduced a bill that aims to improve FERC’s process for public input. Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) stated that the bill is “a direct result of feedback from constituents about the need for reform in FERC’s natural gas pipeline approval process,” and aims to “ensure that local concerns are addressed, particularly when easements on and takings of private lands for private infrastructure are a possibility.” As Senator Tim Kaine stated: “FERC’s job is to adjudicate the public interest — especially when eminent domain is involved — and this requires taking public input more seriously.”
3: An analysis from Oil Change International has found that the Mountain Valley Pipeline would result in nearly 90 million metric tons of greenhouse gases each year (measured as CO2 or the equivalent). That’s the greenhouse gas equivalent of 26 average coal plants or more than 19 million vehicles.
4: This consensus is based on four detailed, independent reports written by leading karst geologists (Dr. Ernst Kastning of Radford University, Paul Rubin, President of HydroQuest, an environmental consulting firm, Dr. Chris Groves of Western Kentucky University, and Dr. Pamela C. Dodds, senior geologist for the Virginia DEQ,1997-1999). Their overall conclusion and the science on which is based has been positively reviewed by the prominent karst geologist, Arthur Palmer (SUNY-Oneonta), and supplemented by scores of site specific findings submitted to FERC from other scientists at Virginia Tech, Radford University and the University of West Virginia. [Kastning: 2016713-5029, 20170310-5024, 20170524-5177; Rubin: 20161222-5458 and 20170602-5147; Groves: 20161223-5058; Dodds: 20170622-5028.]

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Baltimore City Council Adopts Resolution Upholding Paris Climate Agreement

The Baltimore City Council adopted a resolution at their June 19th meeting committing Baltimore to uphold the Paris Climate Agreement. A youth-led rally in support of the resolution took place inside City Hall before the vote.

BALTIMORE — On June 19th, Baltimore youth, residents, local elected officials, and environmental advocates rallied inside City Hall in a strong showing of support for city-level climate action. Baltimore City Councilman Zeke Cohen introduced a resolution at the City Council meeting later that evening committing Baltimore to uphold the Paris Climate Agreement.

The rally featured several local leaders, including students with the advocacy group Baltimore Beyond Plastic, Councilman Zeke Cohen, and members of the Baltimore Peoples Climate Movement, who spoke in support of the resolution. The resolution was co-sponsored by fourteen members of the City Council and was adopted immediately during Monday night’s meeting.

Claire Wayner, co-founder of Baltimore Beyond Plastic, said, “plastic pollution has a direct linkage to climate change from its manufacturing out of fossil fuels to its all-too-common disposal through trash incineration, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Our organization is committed to transmitting the youth voice to support positive climate action in Baltimore to indirectly reduce our reliance on plastics, and we hope our city will join the nationwide movement to stand behind the Paris Climate Agreement.”

“We applaud the efforts of the Baltimore City Council to address climate change, the greatest threat to our health and safety,” said Tamara Toles O’Laughlin, Executive Director of the Maryland Environmental Health Network. “Climate change can lead to dangerous health conditions and preventable deaths for the most vulnerable Marylanders. Baltimoreans already experience extended allergy seasons, heat stress, heart disease, asthma and other lung diseases, as well as increases in the spread of vector borne illnesses like Lyme disease and the threat of the Zika virus. We can not afford to ignore short-sighted rollbacks or play partisan politics at the expense of health outcomes.”

Cortez Elliott, a member of the Baltimore Peoples Climate Movement, said, “Glad to see Baltimore City moving ahead in the right direction towards a just, clean energy economy. This resolution is the first stepping stone to ensure the city is setting the standard for inclusiveness, equity, and energy efficiency by addressing the environmental injustices that disproportionately impact low-income people and communities of color in Baltimore. The resolution highlights the importance of making the world a better place for future generations by taking strong action to fight climate change.”

Background Information:

The United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement on June 1 sparked action from concerned citizens outraged by the implications for future Baltimoreans. Baltimore youth, Councilman Cohen, environmental health advocates, and a coalition of groups that make up the Baltimore Peoples Climate Movement, united to reject this reckless decision and abdication of leadership. In the absence of federal action, cities like Baltimore must step up.

Councilman Zeke Cohen, the Maryland Environmental Health Network, and over fifteen partners collaborated on the resolution. The aims of the resolution are to recognize the significance of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, oppose the U.S.’s withdrawal from it, and commit Baltimore City to specific practices that will work to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. The resolution pledges to uphold practices that foster “a liveable, economical, equitable, and just energy future for all Baltimoreans regardless of age, race, income, or zip code.” The resolution can be viewed here.

More information can be found on Facebook at Baltimore Beyond Plastic, Baltimore Peoples Climate Movement , and by searching the hashtags #BmoreClimateJust and #WeAreStillIn.

CONTACT:

Allison Rich, Maryland Environmental Health Network: arich@mdehn.org; (786) 897-6689

Rebecca Mark, Maryland Working Families; rmark@workingfamilies.org; (347) 224-1860

Taylor Smith-Hams, CCAN: taylor@chesapeakeclimate.org; (650) 704-3208

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Baltimore Residents Call for Action on Oil Trains, Commemorate 1-Year Anniversary of Train Derailment

One year after a train carrying acetone derailed in the Howard Street Tunnel, advocates called on the City Council to take steps to protect public health and safety from trains carrying explosive crude oil through the city.

BALTIMORE — Today, residents of Baltimore’s crude oil train blast zone, MICA staff and faculty, elected officials, and labor and environmental advocates rallied to commemorate the 1-year anniversary of a train derailment in the Howard Street Tunnel and discussed the public health and safety threats posed to Baltimoreans by dangerous crude oil trains.
During a rally in Frost Plaza on Tuesday June 13, speakers recalled last year’s dangerous 13-car derailment, which carried highly flammable substances including acetone and natural gas and took over 24 hours to clear. The speakers renewed demands from community members, local activists, and environmental organizations for the City Council to take steps to protect the public from trains carrying hazardous cargo such as crude oil through Baltimore.
Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, representative of Baltimore’s District 14, said: “Crude oil transport through Baltimore is a dangerous venture. At the least, our residents require State and local coordination to secure better notice of such transport, more secure carriers than now employed, and a concerted plan of prevention and response to potential accidents.”
IMG_6142
Councilwoman Clarke speaks to the crowd.
Valeska Populoh, a faculty member at MICA, reflected on last year’s derailment: “The incident has raised my concerns about the transport of hazardous materials on these rail lines so close to our campus and the surrounding community, the potential threats to health and safety that these pose, as well as the potential for disruption of traffic and daily life in this central part of Baltimore in the event of another derailment.”
David McClure, President of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1300, said: “Each day our 2,500 MTA workers transport the people of Baltimore to work, school, the doctor, or wherever they need to go. And our riders’ safety is our number one priority. I repeat, it’s our number one priority. And now it’s time for the City Council to put the safety and health of the people first. It’s time to put a stop these trains from carrying dangerous crude oil and other hazardous cargo travelling through these densely-populated neighborhoods before we have a disaster on our hands.”
IMG_6133
ATU Local 1300 President David McClure addressing the crowd.
During the rally, activists held a large replica “oil train” that read “Stop Oil Trains,” hand-painted signs of fire and explosions, and a map of Baltimore’s oil train “blast zone” in front of the site of last year’s derailment.
The press conference came a few days after members of the Baltimore City Council and Maryland General Assembly toured South Baltimore neighborhoods that are threatened by crude oil train traffic. On Friday, June 9th, community leaders concerned about the potential for a catastrophic explosion led the elected officials on a tour of Mt Winans, Westport, and Curtis Bay and saw some of the most vulnerable points in Baltimore’s infrastructure for a derailment and explosion.
IMG_6109
Elected officials and staff members from the Baltimore City Council and Maryland General Assembly toured the oil train blast zone on Friday, June 9th, 2017. This photo was taken at the southern end of the Howard St Tunnel, 1.5 miles from site of last year’s derailment at the northern end of the tunnel. Photo credit: Clean Water Action.
IMG_5122
Tour participants travel over an at-grade crossing in Fairfield in South Baltimore. At-grade crossings have been identified by rail companies as some of the most dangerous points of rail infrastructure.
Background: Transport of crude oil by rail has skyrocketed in the midst of the U.S.’s fracking boom in the Bakken shale fields of North Dakota and in tar sands extraction in Canada, and a string of derailments has followed. The worst incident occurred when a train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded in Lac-Megantic, Quebec in 2013, killing 47 people and leveling the town.
165,000 Baltimoreans live in the oil train “blast zone” – the area that could be directly impacted if a train were to derail and explode in the city. There have been many close calls in Baltimore, including last year’s derailment of 13 train cars in the Howard Street Tunnel. And just a few months ago, a fire broke out in a scrap yard across the street from the crude oil shipping terminal in Fairfield in South Baltimore.
Concerned residents and local advocates are calling on members of the Baltimore City Council to take action to protect Baltimoreans from this unnecessary public health and safety risk.

CONTACT:

Jennifer Kunze; Clean Water Action; jkunze@cleanwater.org; 240-397-4126 
Taylor Smith-Hams; CCAN; taylor@chesapeakeclimate.org; 650-704-3208

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Photo at the top from Flickr user Bill Kalkman with a Creative Commons license. 

Faith Leaders Release Letter Of Opposition To Atlantic Coast And Mountain Valley Pipelines

Attendees Will Reveal Sign-On Letter Of Opposition To Atlantic Coast And Mountain Valley Pipelines

Norfolk, VA – Faith leaders from Virginia’s Hampton Roads region released a letter opposing the proposed Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines for fracked gas on Thursday, June 8th. The letter release followed an interdisciplinary prayer breakfast in Norfolk, where leaders of local parishes, mosques, churches, temples, and worship centers spoke on the spiritual morality that calls them to stand up for our climate. During the event, the faith leaders learned about the dangers of the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines, which are proposed to cross Virginia and would trigger massive climate pollution equivalent to 46 new coal-fired power plants.

The letter, signed by 29 faith leaders and members of the religious community, likened the environmental impacts of the pipeline to “attacks on the health and human rights of the people who live in their paths,” which is “contrary to the teachings of all of our religions.” They stated: “[W]e cannot allow a creation as amazing as our earth to be devastated by irresponsible and unnecessary fossil fuel infrastructure any longer.”
“Pope Francis wrote in his Encyclical Letter that we have to ‘integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment,’” said Sister Margaret McCabe, Daughter of Wisdom. “The Pope’s message of justice and compassion places on us the moral imperative to work with others for workable solutions to repair and sustain our common home.”
Dominion Energy’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline and EQT’s Mountain Valley Pipeline would together lay nearly 1,000 miles of 42-inch diameter pipe throughout the Commonwealth, threatening hundreds of waterways and putting the health of some of our most vulnerable communities at risk.
“Man’s greed has seriously damaged the earth’s ability to sustain God’s creation on Earth,” said Rev. John Myers, President of Virginia Council of Churches. “The United States in partnership with the global community must take active and aggressive steps to ensure clean air and seas so that all people have clean drinking water. It’s not a privilege. It’s a right.”
Faith leaders represented many denominations, including Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and Unitarianism. They stated in the letter: “We recognize the duty that we all have as people of faith to be stewards of our environment for the next generation of humankind that will inherit this Commonwealth and this planet.”
“In the wake of President Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement, we need to provide hope to each other,” said Teresa Stanley, organizer with the Interspiritual Empowerment Project. “We need each other as we commit to doing our part in the local and global struggle to address climate change and creating a sustainable environment for us all.”
The event was coordinated by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and the Interspiritual Empowerment Project. Visit CCAN for more details on our No Pipelines Campaign.

CONTACT:

Denise Robbins, Communications Director; denise@chesapeakeclimate.org; (608)-620-8819

Harrison Wallace, Hampton Roads Coordinator; Harrison@chesapeakeclimate.org; (804) 305-1472

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Photo at the top from Flickr user Virginia Department of Transportation with a Creative Commons license

Learn more: No New Pipelines in Virginia

Hypocrisy: McAuliffe’s Climate “Alliance” Means Nothing If He Supports Fracked-Gas Pipelines

Statement from Mike Tidwell, executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, on VA Gov. McAuliffe joining the U.S. Climate Alliance:

“Governor Terry McAuliffe announced today that he has committed the Commonwealth to an ‘alliance’ with 12 other states to move forward on the principles of the Paris Climate Agreement in the wake of President Trump’s withdrawal from the accord. However, Gov. McAuliffe’s announcement will forever ring hollow as long as he continues to support Trump’s plans to build two massive fracked-gas pipelines through Virginia and to drill for oil off of Virginia’s fragile coastline. The Governor’s commitment to fracking and offshore oil will — if realized — cause Virginia to dramatically INCREASE greenhouse gas emissions in coming years, a total violation of the principles of the Paris Agreement. It is, frankly, hypocrisy for the Governor to support both Paris and violent drilling for oil and gas in and across the state. The best thing Gov. McAuliffe could do to support Paris and oppose Trump is to drop his tragic support for offshore oil drilling and for the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast Pipelines for fracked gas.”

CONTACT:
Denise Robbins, Communications Director; denise@chesapeakeclimate.org; 240-396-2022
Mike Tidwell, Executive Director; mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org; 240-460-583

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Photo at the top from Flickr user Edward Kimmel with a Creative Commons license. 

Appalachian Trail Hikers Protest McAuliffe’s Support of Fracked Gas Pipelines

Dozens of hikers in full backpacking gear rally and deliver compasses to Governor, demanding a new “course” on fracking and pipelines that would harm iconic trail

 
RICHMOND, VA – Dozens of Appalachian Trail hikers in full backpacking gear rallied outside Governor Terry McAuliffe’s office on June 2 — the eve of National Trails Day — to oppose the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline. The hikers highlighted the fact that both pipelines for fracked-gas, each of which would cross the Appalachian Trail, would severely impact the viewsheds and water sources along the iconic trail. Following the protest, the hikers delivered dozens of compasses to the Governor’s office, demanding that he chart a new direction for the state.
Companies building the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast Pipelines would lay nearly 1,000 miles of fracked-gas pipeline infrastructure across West Virginia and the Commonwealth, threatening hundreds of waterways and endangered species. Recent data show that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, supported by McAuliffe and proposed by controversial power company Dominion Energy, would blast away the tops of 38 miles of mountain ridges in West Virginia and Virginia, much of it near the Appalachian Trail. The proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline would likewise deforest and harm valleys and mountains along the trail, causing permanent damage to iconic views.
“The Mountain Valley Pipeline and Atlantic Coast Pipeline are both unnecessary and dangerous projects,” said Jessica Sims, lifelong hiker from Midlothian, Virginia. “They would be irreversibly traumatic to Virginia’s landscape — physical manifestations of disregard for the environment. They are attacks on that which I love: Virginia, the Appalachian Trail, the Blue Ridge Mountains, our park systems, our tourism industry, our water, our ecosystems and our history.”
“I know these mountains, these waters, these forests, and how fragile they are,” said Kathleen “Kit” Johnston, a member of Wild Virginia and Appalachian Voices from Reva, Virginia. “That’s why McAuliffe must say NO to cutting hundreds of miles of pipeline access under and through our ancient mountains, invaluable forests, and irreplaceable waters.”
Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), which McAuliffe oversees, recently abandoned its promise to conduct thorough, site-specific reviews of the impacts that the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast pipelines would have on water quality. Now, the agency wants to abdicate that responsibility to President Trump’s Army Corps of Engineers, which is expected to issue a blanket one-size-fits-all permit that does not look at each individual stream crossing, and therefore does not fully protect these water bodies.
“I’ve been a proud hiker of the Appalachian Trail since I was a kid,” said Mike Tidwell, member of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. “But with the Governor’s support, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Mountain Valley Pipeline for fracked gas would decapitate mountains within view of the trail and plow through geologically fragile areas. The pipelines would threaten not only water along the trail, but also water for farmers and communities across 13 counties. This is horrifying, and must be stopped.”
The hikers also referred to the climate change impacts of the pipelines. The two pipelines would together create annual greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to doubling all of Virginia’s current power plants combined. If built, these pipelines would lock us into another generation of unacceptable and unnecessary fossil fuel extractions.
“Climate change threatens our mountains, our forests, our rivers, and the entire ecosystem that we depend on,” said Lorne Stockman, lifelong hiker from Staunton, Virginia and senior researcher at Oil Change International. “These pipelines will not only disrupt the Appalachian Trail, but also fuel the destruction of our climate. With Trump pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Accord, it is up to us to defend our future and stopping these pipelines is at the top of our pack list.”
This rally was one of the largest political acts ever in Richmond held by defenders of the Appalachian Trail.

 
CONTACT:
Stephanie Weber, Virginia Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network; stephanie@chesapeakeclimate.org; 757-871-8639
Denise Robbins, Communications Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network; denise@chesapeakeclimate.org; 608-620-8819

Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC Will Defy President Trump on Climate Policy

Statement from Mike Tidwell, director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, on Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement:

THE BAD NEWS: President Trump today sealed his reputation as an economic and environmental wrecking ball with few rivals in US history. Locally, his decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement threatens to reduce jobs and shrink our regional economy. It would do so by embracing fracking and a dying coal industry over the jobs-creating markets for wind and solar power. Trump has endangered our coastal military bases in Virginia with more sea-level rise. He has endangered DC citizens with more life-threatening urban heat waves. He has endangered Maryland agriculture with more erratic weather that harms everything from fruit trees to livestock.

THE GOOD NEWS: President Trump CANNOT stop the growing local movement toward clean energy or the broader international effort to stabilize our global climate. Locally, states are moving faster toward clean energy than ever before because of Trump’s criminal rejection of climate science and sound policy. Virginia has just announced the state’s first-ever carbon cap on power plant pollution. DC is moving toward a citywide carbon fee that creatively cuts pollution while boosting individual incomes. And Maryland has just banned fracking while approving the country’s largest offshore wind farm. This robust state action cannot and will not be slowed by Trump’s federal rejection of climate truth and economic sanity. The citizens of Maryland, Virginia, and DC should rest assured that our states – along with progressive states across the country – will continue to grow our economies with clean energy while fulfilling our historic collective duty to help solve the climate crisis for our children and the rest of the world.

CONTACT:
Denise Robbins; Communications Director; denise@chesapeakeclimate.org; 240-396-2022
Mike Tidwell, Executive Director; mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org; 240-460-5838.

Virginia Military Veterans Speak Out Against Fracked-Gas Pipelines

New letter signed by military veterans from all branches announces opposition to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline

RICHMOND, Virginia– Military veterans from across Virginia released a letter today opposing two proposed fracked-gas pipelines: Dominion Energy’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline and EQT’s Mountain Valley Pipeline. These pipelines would cross through pristine areas of Virginia, taking private property by use of eminent domain, removing mountain ridgetops, and threatening valuable drinking water resources. The veterans view this as contrary to their service to protect and defend the freedom and security of American citizens.
Their letter, released on Thursday, May 25th, is signed by 14 Virginia veterans from all five branches of the military. The veterans signing the letter state: “We stand together to support our citizens and our Constitution. We stand against [the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline] because we stand against the seizure of private property for corporate gain. Both of these proposed pipelines would create new sacrifice zones and abuse eminent domain to strip property owners of land that, in many cases, has been in their families for generations. This direct attack on the constitutional rights of landowners goes against the oath we all took when we volunteered to serve this great country.”
“As veterans we took an oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic,” said Adam Fischbach, Hospital Corpsman Second Class, U.S. Navy. “The Constitution was written to protect the rights of American citizens. Now, when we allow a private corporation such as Dominion to overpower individual rights in the name of unjustified business profits, we have lost what it means to be American and to our right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We, as veterans must take a stand to ensure that individual rights are not stepped on in the name of economic advancement for the fossil fuel industry.”
The letter discusses the battle between indigenous communities and police forces at Standing Rock, when thousands of military veterans showed up to form a human shield around the water protectors when their communities were under threat from the Dakota Access Pipeline. The signatories state: “We will continue to embody that spirit to protect our communities against the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines.”
“Pipeline companies target communities like Newport, Virginia because they think we won’t make trouble for them due to our rural values,” said Russell Chisholm, US Army, Desert Storm and Newport resident. “They ignore the fact that people of faith live here. Veterans and active duty service members live here and we take our oath to ‘support and defend’ as a life-long promise. We stand up when Americans are threatened. You better believe we are going to stand up when fellow veterans are threatened.”
In the letter, released on behalf of Veterans Service Corps., the signatories renounce the pipelines for ensuring “that Virginia remains shackled to fossil fuel extraction for another generation.” They call for action on climate change, noting a “proven demand for a future that is powered by clean energy and innovation.”
“It’s time we stopped looking backwards at dirty energy technologies of the past and started creating jobs in energy efficiency, solar, and wind energy,” said Dave Belote, Colonel (retired), U.S. Air Force. “Hampton Roads should be the center of a mid-Atlantic offshore wind industry that can employ thousands, maximize the use of our port facilities, and point the way to a clean, resilient future.”
The joint letter will be sent to Governor Terry McAuliffe as well as each of the five Virginia gubernatorial candidates: Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam, Tom Perriello, Ed Gillespie, Virginia Senator Frank Wagner, and Corey Stewart.
 

The letter can be read in full here.

 
Contact: Jamshid Bakhtiari, jamshid@chesapeakeclimate.org, (757) 386-8107.
 

 
Photo at the top from Flickr user Joe Brusky with a Creative Commons license. 

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe Proposes Statewide Carbon Cap Through Executive Action

Advocates Now Call On Governor To Drop Support For Offshore Drilling, Fracked-Gas Pipelines

Governor Terry McAuliffe today announced an executive action paving the way for Virginia to significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions from fossil-fuel power plants. The governor announced a directive which, by the end of this year, could create a legal framework for the state to create its own carbon cap program to annually lower power-plant pollution. That program would most likely be linked to the highly successful Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cap-and-trade system now in place from Maine to Maryland — or to California’s cap-and-trade system.
To date, McAuliffe’s policies on climate and energy have earned him very poor grades from many environmental, faith, student, and justice groups. See this 2016 “report card” giving the governor a D-plus grade on climate and energy policies. And see this “open letter” to the governor last June.
But today’s action will significantly improve the governor’s grade. The governor can further cement a positive legacy on climate change by finally dropping his support for offshore oil drilling in Virginia and – most importantly – drop his support for two massive proposed pipelines to transport fracked gas from West Virginia to Virginia. The global warming emissions from the two pipelines – the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Atlantic Coast Pipeline – would, if built, create a new pulse of greenhouse gas pollution that would completely undo any reductions stemming from the governor’s executive action today on power plants. It is possible – and hoped – that the executive action today could itself dampen the market for fracked-gas pipelines and new gas-powered plants in Virginia. It could do this by rewarding carbon-free generation like wind and solar over gas combustion and the attendant pipelines. But this is unclear at this point.
Statement from Mike Tidwell, Executive Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network:

“Though late in his administration, Governor Terry McAuliffe did the right thing today in announcing a pathway for Virginia to significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The governor’s executive ‘directive’ unveiled today is precisely what environmental advocates have been asking the governor to do for over two years now. With President Trump dismantling climate policies nationally, it’s reassuring that Governor McAuliffe has at last responded in a powerful way. This move could soon allow Virginia to cap carbon pollution in a systematic way, likely linked to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative now in place from Maine to Maryland. Now, the governor should further cement his climate legacy by opposing offshore drilling for oil and opposing the massive fracked-gas pipelines that Dominion and other companies want to build across the state.”


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CONTACT:

Denise Robbins; Communications Director; denise@chesapeakeclimate.org; 240-396-2022
Mike Tidwell, Executive Director; mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org; 240-460-5838

Photo at the top from Flickr User VCU ANS with a Creative Commons license. 

In Historic Move, Maryland Public Service Commission Approves Two Offshore Wind Farms

The Maryland Public Service Commission today awarded offshore wind renewable energy credits (ORECs) to two projects, bringing what will become the nation’s largest offshore wind farms to Maryland’s shores. The two projects will bring 368 megawatts of wind energy capacity, together yielding over $1.8 billion of in-state spending, spurring the creation of almost 9,700 new direct and indirect jobs and contributing $74 million in state tax revenues over 20 years, according to the PSC.

Mike Tidwell, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, stated:

“After years of visionary advocacy from citizens and businesses across Maryland, the state’s Public Service Commission today approved two major offshore wind farms off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland. These wind farms will be truly pioneering facilities, leading Maryland and the nation toward a 21st century economy that combats climate change and creates jobs in droves at the same time.

The Chesapeake Climate Action Network commends the PSC for correctly assessing the economic, health, and environmental gains integral to these projects. Major thanks must also go to the Maryland General Assembly for passing landmark legislation in 2013, which created incentives and guidelines for offshore wind development. And major credit must go to former Governor Martin O’Malley (D) and his staff who, for years, lead this fight with a vision filled with climate urgency, a sense of social justice, and a devotion to sustainable and vibrant economic growth. This major move toward offshore wind power would not have happened without Governor O’Malley.

Now CCAN is optimistic that the PSC approval today will quickly lead to near-term construction of nearly 400 megawatts of offshore wind. This marks the real start toward an extensive offshore wind industry that will one day soon stretch from Cape Cod, MA to Cape Hatteras, NC and provide as much as a third of the East Coast’s electricity

CONTACT:

Denise Robbins; Chesapeake Climate Action Network; denise@chesapeakeclimate.org; 608-620-8819

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