Governor O’Malley Unveils One of Nation’s Strongest Global Warming Plans

CCAN applauds plan as critical example of climate leadership as our planet passes the carbon pollution danger zone of 400 parts per million

BALTIMORE—Governor Martin O’Malley released today a far-reaching plan to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions in Maryland by 25 percent by 2020. The plan will create an estimated $1.6 billion in economic benefits and create over 37,000 jobs. The plan surpasses California and all states except Massachusetts in its goals, while incorporating carbon reduction and clean energy policies that experts believe are credible and achievable. Today’s release positions Maryland as a national leader in facing the climate change crisis head-on.

“A problem of this magnitude requires tough choices and bold leadership,” said Maryland Senator Paul Pinsky (D-Prince George’s County), sponsor of the 2009 landmark Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act. “Not only is it dangerous and foolhardy to ignore this looming threat, but acting now to mitigate the future damage from climate change can also enrich our state in numerous ways. Today’s plan offers the right mix of policy solutions that will both reduce the dangerous greenhouse gas emissions that are causing global warming while offering the maximum economic benefits for Maryland.”

“In the face of virtually unrecognizable weather and rapidly rising seas, Governor O’Malley is stepping up to lead,” said Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “The Governor’s plan is an example that other states should follow, given the intensifying impacts of climate change and the unacceptably slow response on Capitol Hill.”

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Another step toward Virginia offshore wind energy, but concerns over Dominion feet-dragging linger

Beth Kemler, Virginia State Director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, released the following statement in response to today’s announcement from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) that it is moving forward with an offshore wind energy auction off the coast of Virginia on September 4th.

“Every time we move a little closer to seeing powerful wind turbines generating energy off our coast, it’s cause for celebration. At the same time, we have lingering concerns that auctioning the area as one big block will reduce competition and enable the winning company to drag its feet. Dominion Power, which has an abysmal record of bringing new clean energy online in Virginia, was the main proponent of auctioning the lease area to just one developer, and a number of environmental groups warned BOEM against that proposal.

“We’re troubled by the possibility of Dominion winning the auction for the entire wind energy area, given the lackadaisical timetable for offshore wind development that company officials have expressed in the past. We don’t want the company to buy up the whole lease block and then sit on it for years and years.

“Climate change is here now. It’s flooding the streets of Norfolk through sea-level rise and it’s raising the death toll of summer heat. We need companies to develop large-scale clean energy projects as quickly as possible.”

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Amid ‘Summer Heat’ Wave, Grandparents Begin 100-mile Walk from Camp David to the White House

Walkers from 11 to 78 will carry intergenerational call for bold climate action

CAMP DAVID—With heat indexes soaring above 100 °F, several dozen grandparents, parents and young people set off today on a 100-mile, eight-day trek from Camp David to the White House. United by their sweat and their determination to confront the growing crisis of climate change, marchers are calling on President Obama to reject the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline and to take further steps to leave fossil fuels in the ground.

“At 63 years old, nothing could deter me from this long, sweaty journey, because nothing is more important for the future of my five grandchildren than addressing climate change,” said Kendall Hale, a grandmother from Asheville, North Carolina. “I’m walking because I want to leave them a legacy of clean wind turbines and solar panels crisscrossing our nation, not toxic tar sands oil and fracked gas pipelines.”

This first-of-its-kind “Walk for Our Grandchildren” will include activists from across the region and across the country, ranging in age from 78 to 11, marching during the statistically hottest period of the year: late July. The walk began today near the presidential retreat of Camp David in Maryland, which is named after President Dwight Eisenhower’s grandson. Walkers’ ranks are expected to swell to hundreds by the time they near Washington, DC on July 26.

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Legislators and Advocates Launch Effort to Repeal Hybrid Car Tax in Virginia

Hybrid car owners and climate advocates join legislators at Alexandria DMV to protest punitive, illogical tax on day it goes into effect

ALEXANDRIA—As Virginia’s broadly renounced new annual tax on hybrid vehicles went into effect on Monday, Senator Adam P. Ebbin (D-Alexandria) and Delegate Scott A. Surovell (D-Mt. Vernon) joined hybrid car owners and climate advocates outside a Department of Motor Vehicles office to announce their plans to repeal the punitive policy.

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Keystone XL Activists Greet Vice President Biden in Richmond

For Immediate Release: Saturday, June 29, 2013

Contact:
 Beth Kemler, beth@chesapeakeclimate.org, 202-641-0955
Kara Dodson, kara@350.org, 434-509-7573

Richmond, VA — As Vice President Biden arrived in Richmond tonight to address a Democratic Party of Virginia fundraiser, climate activists greeted him with one message: “No Keystone XL pipeline.” Biden, who will deliver the keynote speech at the Jefferson Jackson Dinner, was met by anti-pipeline yard signs on his route to the Convention Center and his motorcade drove directly past about 70 climate activists lining the streets outside of the venue. Protesters called on the Obama administration to reject the tar sands oil pipeline in order to protect Virginians from rising seas, extreme weather and other intensifying climate change impacts.

Photos from the event can be accessed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/chesapeakeclimate/sets/72157634395068673/

President Obama committed in a major speech this week to reject the Keystone XL pipeline if it will increase the carbon emissions causing climate change, which the nation’s leading climate scientists conclude it will. President Obama’s speech arrived on the heels of Virginia Senator Tim Kaine’s announcement that he’s opposed to the pipeline, published in a Washington Post op-ed on June 21. As Senator Kaine’s car drove into the event tonight, he gave a friendly wave to the activists.

“Folks in Norfolk and Virginia Beach are already seeing the effects of climate change at their doorsteps. Rising temperatures cause rising seas and more severe storms to flood coastal homes and small businesses,” said Keith Thirion, Virginia Field Director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “Burning through more and more polluting sources of energy, like Canada’s tar sands, will only increase the risks for coastal Virginia.”  

Carrying banners that read, “Virginians Against the Keystone XL Pipeline,” and chanting, “Joe Biden raise your voice, reaffirm your keystone choice,” the rallyers worked to grab the Vice President’s attention as his motorcade drove into downtown. Several local citizens spoke at the rally, calling on Vice President Biden to reaffirm a comment he shared with a Keystone XL fighter at a South Carolina fish fry when he replied to her question regarding his stance on the pipeline, “I’m with you, but, I’m in the minority.”

Young Democrats inside the dinner also voiced their disapproval of the pipeline by wearing “No KXL” buttons.

April Moore, a local activist who spoke at the rally, highlighted the significance of the event: “President Obama just made a commitment to us this week that if Keystone will contribute to climate change, he will reject it. We are here today to make sure the Administration knows that the pipeline would have disastrous effects on our climate, especially here in Virginia. We hope Vice President Biden will bring back our message to the White House: Virginians want to stop the Keystone pipeline.”

Over the last two years, Virginians have contributed to the national movement to stop Keystone XL pipeline by holding more than a dozen events highlighting the climate risks the commonwealth faces. The fight against the pipeline has energized millions of Americans who see the issue as a test of the Obama administration’s commitment to dealing with the climate crisis. For the past several months, activists have met President Obama, Vice President Biden, and Secretary Kerry at nearly all of their public events and demanded that the President keep his promises on climate change by rejecting the permit for the pipeline.

Saturday’s rally was organized by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Energy Action Coalition, and 350.org.

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Md. State Agency Puts 'Cart Before Horse' on Fracking

Without first measuring risks to people and land, state proposes inadequate ‘best practices’ guidelines for drilling

BALTIMORE—Despite explicit concerns from landowners and environmentalists, the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) yesterday issued a “best practices” draft report for companies that want to drill for fracked natural gas in Maryland. The agency released the report before formally assessing and inventorying the actual risks of the controversial drilling method itself. The failure to assess the likely impacts of fracking on human and natural communities—as a first step—renders the “best practices” report premature and deeply problematic, according to Maryland civic and environmental leaders.

“The cart has been put before the horse on fracking in Maryland,” said Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “What sense does it make to lay out guidelines for the ‘best way’ to frack for natural gas when the state hasn’t formally inventoried the risks and harm that could come the moment drill bits enter our soil?”

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CCAN Director Responds to President Obama's Major Climate Address

For Immediate Release
June 25, 2013

Contact:
Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

CCAN Director Mike Tidwell Responds to President Obama’s Major Speech on Climate Change

President Obama gave a major speech today outlining new and significant efforts by his administration to fight global warming. Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, had the following statement in response:

“On this hot D.C. afternoon, after the hottest year on record, President Obama stepped up to lead in facing the biggest crisis our region, our country and our world faces: climate change. With extreme weather impacts accelerating rapidly in Maryland, Virginia, and D.C., the President is right in calling for, among other steps, mandatory limits on climate pollution from power plants in America and an end to public financing of new coal plants overseas.

“Of particular note, the President was right to declare that he will not approve the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline if the pipeline will exacerbate climate change. All honest assessments of the pipeline show significant climate consequences, and 18 of the nation’s top climate scientists have previously called on President Obama to reject it.

“Less impressive was the President’s praise of domestic natural gas development. Citizens across the Chesapeake region now face serious negative consequences to air and water from proposed fracking for natural gas. To truly protect our health and our climate, America must move beyond gas to zero-carbon energy sources like wind and solar.

“Overall, the President today began to finally ‘walk the walk’ on climate change. Now America must sprint toward implementation of his global warming plan and race past these benchmarks toward a truly zero-carbon economy that benefits the entire Chesapeake Bay region.”

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Dominion CEO Faces Growing Backlash Over Risks of Extreme Energy at Shareholder Meeting

Through resolutions and re-imaginings of classic paintings, Virginians urge Dominion to stop leading the way toward an unrecognizable future of climate disruption and marred landscapes

RICHMOND—Dominion Resources CEO Thomas Farrell is putting his own company and Virginians at risk by promoting dirty energy in a rapidly warming world, according to shareholders and grassroots activists protesting at the company’s annual meeting in Richmond today. While shareholders present reform resolutions inside, activists are exhibiting altered artwork outside to represent the unrecognizable future of rising seas, extreme weather disasters and destroyed mountains they say Dominion is leading Virginia toward. The company is Virginia’s biggest climate polluter and a major purchaser of coal from mountaintop removal mining.

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Virginians urge Dominion: Honor Earth Day by reversing course on new fossil fuel plant

Ahead of key hearing, students and parents deliver youth artwork, nearly 1,000 petitions to utility’s Richmond offices in opposition to Brunswick plant

Dominion urged to go beyond token ‘green’ efforts and make a serious plan to cut its carbon pollution

RICHMOND—A group of Virginia parents and students observed Earth Day today by delivering youth-created artwork and nearly 1,000 petitions to Dominion Virginia Power’s Richmond offices. Ahead of a key public hearing, they are calling on the utility to reconsider a proposal to build another fossil fuel-burning power plant in Brunswick County and instead make an immediate plan to reduce its destructive carbon footprint, which threatens the health and future of children in Virginia.

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2013 Md General Assembly is Historic Yet Mixed Year for Climate Progress

Chesapeake Climate Action Network applauds General Assembly for passing landmark offshore wind legislation, while expressing disappointment that ‘black liquor’ and fracking moratorium bills fell short

ANNAPOLIS—The 2013 Maryland General Assembly session will be remembered as a historic turning point for clean energy in Maryland, as legislators passed landmark legislation to develop offshore wind power, the state’s most abundant clean energy resource. However, the General Assembly’s overall record on climate and clean energy issues was a mixed bag this year, as two bills that would significantly impact the climate fell short: the “black liquor” bill (SB 684/HB 1102) and the fracking moratorium bill (SB 601/HB 1274).

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