Alliance for Progressive Values ■ Chesapeake Climate Action Network ■ Physicians for Social Responsibility ■ Sierra Club Virginia Chapter ■ Virginia Alliance for a Cleaner Environment
For Immediate Release
October 6, 2012
Contact:
Kirsten Collins, 919-740-0201, kirsten@chesapeakeclimate.org
Glen Besa, 804-387-6001, glen.besa@sierraclub.org
Crowd outside Dominion’s Richmond office swells to 100 on final day of week-long picket over $76 million rip-off
Picketers to Dominion CEO: Earn your company’s bonus with Virginia-made clean energy
RICHMOND — Dominion Virginia Power faced the largest picket line for clean energy yet outside of its Richmond offices today. Approximately 100 people from across the commonwealth capped off a week of daily protests by challenging Dominion CEO Thomas Farrell to stop ripping off customers under the state’s renewable energy law and start bringing clean solar and wind power online in Virginia.
“We’re here because Dominion lobbyists turned Virginia’s renewable energy standard into little more than a glorified corporate handout,” said Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “They check off some boxes, continue with pollution as usual, and claim a $76 million profit bonus from customers in the end.”
Across the week, groups of dozens of protestors hand-delivered a total of 3,000 petitions signed by Virginians calling on Dominion to earn its $76 million customer-funded bonus with new Virginia-made clean energy. The crowd of picketers included parents, rabbis, students, gardeners and doctors, and residents of towns spanning from Hampton Roads to Alexandria to Harrisonburg and Charlottesville. Polling released this week showed 63 percent of Virginians also want to see utilities use solar or wind power to meet the state’s renewable energy goal, as opposed to the hydro-electric dams and trash- and wood-burning sources Dominion has used so far.
“While Thomas Farrell’s PR team provides plenty of spin, they still can’t point to a single wind turbine or solar project Dominion has built in Virginia to earn its $76 million,” said Scott Price, Policy Director of the Alliance for Progressive Values. “The growing numbers on the picket line this week show that Dominion is out of step with Virginians in keeping us locked into old and dirty fossil fuel energy.”
Facing a swell of protests for clean energy, Dominion spokespeople have responded with more subterfuge, telling journalists they are committed to meeting Virginia’s voluntary renewable energy goal of 15 percent by 2025, but leaving out important context.
“To put this into perspective, IKEA recently unveiled the largest solar array in Virginia atop its store in Woodbridge. With this one step, a single furniture store has built more solar energy in Virginia than Dominion, one of America’s largest utilities,” said Phillip Ellis, Field Organizer with the Sierra Club.
The utility’s 15-year plan sets a paltry goal of 2.8 percent renewable energy generated by Dominion by 2026, an increase of only 0.4 percent from 2011 levels. The plan remains dominated by fossil fuels, and includes no concrete plans for utility-scale solar or wind projects. Thus far Dominion is qualifying for its bonus with energy from decades-old hydro-electric dams and trash- and wood-burning facilities — many of them out-of-state and some dating to the pre-WWII era. The 15-year plan indicates more of the same.
“We’re here to demand action because, with rising seas lapping at our doors, air toxins giving our kids asthma, and extreme weather wrecking our homes, we can’t afford to wait for Dominion to wake up in the 21st century,” said Cathy Woodson, Central Virginia Organizer at Virginia Organizing. “As long as Dominion keeps using money and influence to rig the rules in its favor, we’ll keep using the power of our hands, feet and voices to hold the company and our lawmakers accountable.”
“Students are picketing for our future,” said Samantha Corron, a leader of the Virginia Alliance for a Cleaner Environment and a Mary Washington student. “While Dominion shuffles papers for a big bonus, thousands of clean energy jobs bypass Virginia and the impacts of climate change hit home.”
The week of action to stand up to Dominion’s $76 million rip-off and call for wind and solar energy in Virginia was sponsored by the Alliance for Progressive Values, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, and the Virginia Alliance for a Cleaner Environment.
Click here to view pictures from the week-long action.
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