Lawsuit Challenges Federal Financing of Coal Exports from East Coast Ports

Environmental groups today filed the first-ever lawsuit challenging the federal government’s financing for the export of Appalachian coal from the United States. The U.S. government approved this financial support for coal exports without considering the increased toxic air and water pollution that could affect communities near the mines and ports, and along the railways that connect them.

The groups filing the lawsuit charge that the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) violated federal law by providing a $90 million loan guarantee to Xcoal Energy & Resources without reviewing the environmental impacts as required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). According to Ex-Im Bank, the taxpayer-backed financing, approved on May 24, 2012, will help leverage a billion dollars in exports of coal mined in Appalachia. The coal will be shipped from ports in Baltimore, Maryland and Norfolk, Virginia to markets in Japan, South Korea, China and Italy.

“Ex-Im Bank turned a blind eye to the toxic coal dust, heavy train traffic and disruptive noise that our members living near ports and railways experience on a daily basis,” said Diana Dascalu-Joffe, senior general counsel at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “People on the front lines of the U.S. coal export boom deserve to know the risks and to have a say over whether their tax dollars finance it.”

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Dominion’s latest greenhouse gas belcher = more extreme weather

Every minute of every day, as Virginians turn on lights and computers and air conditioners, the new power plant in Wise County will send on average 10 tons of greenhouse gases into the already overheated atmosphere. That’s 605 tons an hour, a fearsome 5.3 million tons a year. That’s because last month, Dominion Virginia Power turned on its massive new facility that burns coal but includes zero technology for controlling the carbon-dioxide emissions that contribute to heating the planet.

Estimates are that this 585-megawatt facility will increase Virginia’s output of carbon dioxide to more than that of New Jersey, which has 1 million more people than Virginia. The commonwealth will also have the odious distinction of having one of the last coal plants to come online in this country — odious because its emissions far exceed inevitable federal regulations designed to capture power plant pollutants that are baking the planet and wrecking the climate.

Dominion’s timing in firing up this plant couldn’t be more poignant or distressing for Virginians. Less than two weeks before the plant went online, more than a million homes and businesses in the commonwealth lost power for days after a sudden and deadly “derecho” that was fueled along its 600-mile course by energy from an intense heat wave that stretched from Illinois to Washington. No one storm or heat wave can be directly linked to climate change, but scientists say that burning coal and other fossil fuels traps heat in the atmosphere, which in turn can trigger record-breaking temperatures, droughts, forest fires and extreme storms like this summer’s deadly onslaught. In May, for example, the contiguous United States experienced the “warmest spring, warmest year-to-date, and warmest 12-month period the nation has experienced since recordkeeping began in 1895,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported.

So, Dominion better hire more linemen and a bigger PR team, because more extreme weather and resulting outages are forecast in the years ahead.

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Climate Dots Connect Across MD this Saturday

 

This Saturday 5/5/12, people across Maryland and the world will take action to “connect the dots” between climate change, extreme weather and other climate impacts that are already affecting our lives. Organized by 350.org, Climate Impacts Day is shaping up to be another powerful demonstration of the grassroots determination to spur global action on this most urgent of global crises.

Here in Maryland we got off to an early start with our efforts to connect the dots when I traveled to Annapolis this week to chat with hardcore, Annapolis-based sailor Matt Rutherford.

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Upcoming Coal Event at Towson University

Event information was sent from Baltimore student Thalia Patrinos

Towson is having a activism panel and screening event all about the issues surrounding coal!

On Thursday, September 15th, 6:00 – 7:30 We will have panel discussions featuring Climate Ground Zero’s Mike Rosell and Antrim Caskey, two key figures in the social movement against Massey Energy. Then from 7:30 – 9 we will have a Community Resource Fair, featuring several organizations committed to working with labor movements.

On Friday, September 16th starting at 4 will be a large teach-in on Freedom Square.

There will also be a film shot, edited and produced by Towson University student David Resiche as well as a photo exhibition by Antonio Hernandez, both exploring the struggles of local communities against Massey.

THIS EVENT IS FREE!

If you have any questions, please contact Antonio Hernandez:
aherna4@students.towson.edu

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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Virginia General Assembly session just wrapped up and your legislators have headed back to their districts. Here’s a run down on what happened in the last 46 days:

The Good
These bills had our full support and passed this session:

HB 2191 and SB 975 Patroned by Delegate Adam Ebbin and Senator Mary Margaret Whipple:
You have heard from us frequently throughout session about this legislation, which establishes a voluntary solar resource development fund. Through this fund, Virginia homeowners can apply for low-interest loans to put solar PV or solar thermal on their rooftops. This fund will help homeowners with the upfront costs associated with these installations while creating jobs in the clean energy sector in the Commonwealth. Anyone can contribute to this fund once the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy creates it later this year.

HB 1686 Patroned by Delegate David Toscano:
This legislation will promote distributed solar generation by setting up a pilot program for utility-owned facilities. It also allows utilities to create a tariff to encourage citizens to own distributed solar generation.

HB 2389 Patroned by Delegate Albert Pollard:
The Virginia Resource Authority (VRA) provides cost-effective financing to Virginia municipalities for various projects. HB 2389 allows the VRA to add more renewable energy projects to its list of projects it can already finance for municipalities. Continue reading