Dominion Power goes carbon neutral? April Fools!

Activists use spoof video and news headlines to launch ‘Project Planet’ campaign and counter Dominion’s greenwashing of its climate pollution

RICHMOND—Newspaper boxes near Dominion Virginia Power’s downtown Richmond offices, as well as the social media feeds of thousands of Virginians, featured an astounding headline this morning, “Dominion Power to go carbon neutral.” Or not. A Virginia climate advocacy group used some April Fool’s Day satire to launch an Earth Month campaign targeting the utility’s expanding footprint of climate pollution.

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Black Liquor Bill Comes One Vote Shy of Passing Md. House Committee

1-8 vote could mean Maryland ratepayers will lose millions more to old, out-of-state mills that burn a dirty waste byproduct – instead of gaining new, job-creating clean energy

ANNAPOLIS – Today HB1102, known as the “black liquor bill” came one vote short, 11-8, of the 12 needed to advance out of the House Economic Matters Committee, just one day after a companion bill (SB 684) passed the full Senate with overwhelming, bipartisan support.

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Maryland Senate urged to pass ‘black liquor’ bill as win-win for state consumers, environment and jobs

For Immediate Release
March 27, 2013

Contact:
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Tom Carlson, 651-587-0730, tom@chesapeakeclimate.org

Environmental leaders call SB684/HB1102 a common-sense, must-pass bill that will close a costly loophole in Maryland’s clean electricity standard while creating jobs and reducing toxic air and climate pollution

ANNAPOLIS—Maryland’s environmental community is calling on state senators to seize the opportunity to dramatically improve the state’s core clean electricity law today when SB 684, the so-called “black liquor” bill, gets its third reading on the Senate floor.

The bill would close a massive loophole in the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) law that is shoveling millions in Maryland ratepayer dollars to old, out-of-state paper mills for burning “black liquor,” a carbon-intensive waste byproduct. After a critical compromise was struck that will protect in perpetuity the only Maryland paper mill that burns black liquor, Luke Mill, SB 684 passed the Senate Finance committee by a bipartisan, 9-2 vote.

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Gov McDonnell keeps punitive hybrid tax, defying public outcry

For Immediate Release
March 26, 2013

Contact: Beth Kemler, 804-335-0915, beth@chesapeakeclimate.org

RICHMOND—Beth Kemler, Virginia State Director at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, issued the following statement in response to news reports that Governor McDonnell will keep the annual hybrid car tax alive, amending it to $64 a year:

“While Governor McDonnell bent to public outcry and reduced the hybrid car tax, he should have vetoed it altogether, as thousands of Virginians urged. The hybrid tax remains an unfair and unreasonable policy. A $64 fee is just as arbitrary as the whole policy is to begin with.

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Virginians rally at Sen. Warner's office ahead of Keystone XL vote

For Immediate Release
March 18, 2013

Contact:
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org; Molly Haigh, 907-750-1999

Dozens of Students, CCAN, 350.org, EAC join forces to demand Warner oppose toxic pipeline

RICHMOND, VA—With a vote on the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline looming in the US Senate, dozens of concerned Virginians rallied outside Sen. Mark Warner’s office today to demand that he vote against the project. While the senator has been vocal about his concern for climate change in the past, constituents wanted a guarantee that he stands with them in opposing a toxic pipeline top climate scientists have referred to as “game over for the climate.”

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Marylanders tell General Assembly to “Get to Work” on fracking protections

For Immediate Release
March 13, 2013

Contact:
Kelly Trout, 717-439-0346, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org

Energized by close Senate committee vote on fracking moratorium bill, more than 100 concerned citizens attend morning rally at the State House in Annapolis, vow to continue the fight

ANNAPOLIS—Concerned Marylanders from across the state converged at the State House in Annapolis on Wednesday and vowed to continue their fight for legislative action to address the risks of fracking. Activists said they have more determination than ever after falling just one vote short of passing a bill to place a statutory moratorium on the controversial drilling practice in a Senate committee last week.

Wearing bright red t-shirts and resounding chants across Lawyer’s Mall, around 150 activists—Western Maryland residents on the front lines of drilling, nurses, students, teachers and grandparents—rallied with one message for their legislators: “Get to work now protecting our communities and climate from the harms of fracking.”

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Landmark offshore wind power bill passes final hurdle in Maryland

For Immediate Release
March 8, 2013

Contact:
Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org
Tom Carlson, 651-587-0730, tom@chesapeakeclimate.org

CCAN applauds historic Senate vote; bill is now destined for Governor O’Malley’s desk

ANNAPOLIS—The Maryland Senate today passed the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2013 (HB 226) by a vote of 30 to 15, pushing this landmark clean energy law over its final major hurdle, and ensuring it will reach Governor O’Malley’s desk.

The bill will incentivize development of more than 200 megawatts of wind power ten miles off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland. Advocates say this is just the first step toward a goal of over 1,000 megawatts of ocean-based wind development in coastal Maryland. Regionally, the legislation is another concrete step toward a major new and clean power source for the East Coast. Construction of the Cape Wind offshore project in Massachusetts will begin later this year while New Jersey, like Maryland, is moving forward with incentive policies.

In Maryland, today’s Senate passage of the offshore wind bill follows House passage two weeks ago. The bill is the culmination of a broad, unprecedented grassroots campaign. Over the past two and a half years, hundreds of environmental, health, labor, business, faith and student groups, and thousands of ordinary Marylander voters, joined together to push lawmakers in Annapolis to take this step forward and make offshore wind power a reality in Maryland.

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Fracking moratorium comes one vote shy of passing in MD Senate committee

For Immediate Release
March 7, 2013

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

Advocates say near-miss on victory will only deepen movement to protect state residents from impacts of high-risk drilling

ANNAPOLIS—State legislation to place a statutory moratorium on the controversial gas drilling practice known as fracking came within one vote of passing yesterday in the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs committee of the Maryland Senate. The oil and gas industry had lobbied heavily against the bill (SB 601) in the face of widespread grassroots support and polling data showing Maryland voters overwhelmingly support legislative action on the issue of fracking.

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Fracking Poll: Broad and growing majority of MD voters support pause for studies

For Immediate Release
February 25, 2013

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

Polling shows seventy-eight percent of Marylanders support approach of moratorium bill; voters want General Assembly to join Governor’s agencies in deciding fate of fracking in the state

ANNAPOLIS—Poll results released today, on the eve of a key Senate hearing on the issue of fracking, show that an overwhelming and growing majority of Maryland voters want legislators to require thorough study of the risks of fracking before any drilling is permitted in the state. Advocates and policymakers pointed to the polling as strong evidence that the fracking moratorium bill (SB 601) before the General Assembly is a common-sense approach that reflects the will of state voters.

More than three-fourths of registered voters surveyed, or 78 percent, want the General Assembly to require environmental and safety studies for fracking, a jump in support of seven points from similar polling conducted last spring. Support for mandating studies aligns across party, regional and racial lines — including 76 percent of Western Marylanders, 55 percent of Republicans and a very strong 95 percent of African Americans. The support is also notably intense. Fifty-eight percent of respondents felt strongly that health and safety studies must come before fracking. Three times as many respondents would vote for a legislator who supports studies as would vote against that legislator.

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Regional climate leader joins historic act of civil disobedience to stop Keystone XL pipeline

CCAN director Mike Tidwell joins Julian Bond, Bill McKibben, Michael Brune and nearly 50 other environmental, civil rights and community leaders arrested in front of White House in call for action on climate

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Nearly fifty environmental and civil rights leaders from across the nation — including Mike Tidwell of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network — joined together today in an historic display of peaceful civil disobedience at the White House. They demanded that President Obama reject the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline and address climate disruption with the force and urgency required to protect people now and in future generations.

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