Maryland Passes “Climate Solutions Now Act”
April 2022
After years of hard work by CCAN, our partners, and thousands of climate activists across the state, the Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022 passed in Maryland!
This bill sets one of the most ambitious climate pollution reduction goals in the country — 60% statewide reductions by 2031 and net-zero emissions by 2045 — which is in line with what the top scientists are calling for as necessary to avoid the climate crisis. By establishing the Building Energy Performance standards, Maryland now becomes one of only a handful of states addressing the emissions that come from buildings. With the passage of this bill, Maryland leads the way on climate equity and environmental justice by prioritizing overburdened and underserved communities in mitigation efforts. It also invests in climate-focused jobs within the Maryland Chesapeake Conservation Corps.
This bill went through the wringer and our advocates were its lifeline. Though we didn’t get everything we wanted, this bill lays the groundwork for the climate action we will need throughout the next few years. Bill sponsors and climate champions Senator Paul Pinsky, Delegate Kumar Barve, Delegate Dana Stein, Delegate Fraser-Hidalgo, and Delegate Regina Boyce deserve a huge thanks for all their hard work on this bill. And of course, the thousands of activists and Maryland residents who showed up, lobbied their legislators, turned out at dozens of rallies all helped push this bill over the finish line. Read more >>
We Stopped the Chickahominy Power Plant and Pipeline
March 2022
For six years, CCAN stood alongside Concerned Citizens of Charles City County (C5) and other local residents to help get the word out about the harms of the proposed Chickahominy gas-fired power plant and pipeline. The Herndon-based Balico corporation wanted to build an 82-mile fracked gas pipeline to fuel its own merchant power plant. Merchant plants are independent power plants that supply energy into the regional grid for profit. The plant would not have provided energy directly to Virginia customers. The pipeline would have run through five counties in central Virginia, cutting through residential neighborhoods and crossing major roadways and waterways. The power plant would have been built in the middle of a majority-minority county, which is already home to a large, polluting landfill and was the proposed site of another large gas plant known as C4GT that would have been located just a mile from the Chickahominy Power site. That gas plant was canceled in July 2021.
The company struggled to find financing, was met with stiff opposition from local residents who worried about the health effects of living next to such a large plant, and faced competition from a growing clean-energy industry. In February 2022, its affiliated company Chickahominy Pipeline, LLC canceled its plans for the pipeline. In March 2022, the company announced that it was abandoning the power plant project. Read more here.
We Passed Zero-Emissions Buses and 5 Million Trees in Maryland
May 2021
In 2021, CCAN and CCAN Action Fund supported a groundbreaking climate bill called the “Climate Solutions Now” Act (SB 414/HB 583). This was a broad-ranging piece of legislation that would have mandated 60% emissions reductions by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2045 in Maryland — it was the big climate fight in the spring of 2021 for our grassroots members from across the state. Our climate champion legislators in Annapolis also introduced key provisions of the bill as stand-alone pieces of legislation to ensure their chances of passage. These stand-alone bills included the “Zero-Emission Bus Transition” Act (SB 137) and the “Tree Solutions Now” Act (HB 991). And while the “Climate Solutions Now” Act unfortunately failed to pass in 2021, these key provisions passed!
The bus transition bill will require 100% of new state buses to be zero emission after 2022, leading to a complete transition of the fleet to electric. This is a huge win for communities whose residents live near bus terminals and breathe in fumes from idle engines. And the tree solutions bill will require the state to plant 5 million trees over the next eight years, with two-thirds of the tree-planting funding going to urban, historically-redlined and economically-disadvantaged areas. This policy will explicitly help communities that have suffered from racist policies and significantly impact people’s everyday lives. By planting trees in urban areas, this bill will increase home values, reduce crime, lessen the heat island effect, create jobs, and improve quality of life. Governor Hogan did not sign either of these bills, nor did he veto them, allowing them to become law on May 28th. Read more here.
We Passed Community Choice Energy on Montgomery County
April 2021
HB 0768 is a pilot program that will enable Montgomery County to negotiate on behalf of residents and businesses to both lower rates and move to a more rapid transition to renewable energy. This pilot program will be the first of its kind in Maryland.
Community Choice Energy is a win. It gives the democratically elected County officials control over where the County’s energy is sourced, and the power to negotiate lower rates for customers allowing it to both rapidly transition to renewable energy and decrease energy costs for consumers; costs which disproportionately affect our most vulnerable communities. Further, CCE can help Montgomery County protect its low-income and elderly residents who are often targeted by unscrupulous third-party energy suppliers that charge higher than standard offer service rates. That said, CCE provides for individual choice — Individuals can opt out of CCE and continue with the utility or third-party supplier of their choice.
Read the bill and learn more here.
We Defeated the Header Injustice Project
March 2021
In 2020, Virginia Natural Gas (VNG) proposed a massive pipeline project called the “Header Improvement Project” — a horribly misleading misnomer. CCAN called it the “Header Injustice Project” because it was a travesty of environmental injustice. The proposal was for three new gas pipelines, totaling 24 miles, and three new or expanded gas compressor stations from Northern Virginia, through the middle of the state, and to the shore in Hampton Roads. Key components of the project would run through majority-minority communities.
To fight this pipeline, CCAN joined with key allies to form the Stop the Abuse of Virginian Energy (SAVE) Coalition. During the height of the coronavirus crisis, we worked with the coalition to turn out hundreds of Virginians to virtual public meetings, led Twitter storms, and highlighted to the media the environmental racism that this project embodied . And our efforts worked! On June 26, 2020, the Virginia State Corporation Commission issued a preliminary ruling against the Header Injustice Project because the massive C4GT gas plant — which was to be its primary customer — did not have the financing it needed to be built. When that project still could not secure funding by the end of 2020, the SCC denied the permit but invited the pipeline company to submit a proposal for the portions of the pipeline that were not part of the gas plant. The company submitted a proposal but quickly withdrew it, concluding that it was “no longer needed.” All this goes to show: gas infrastructure like the Header Injustice Project are no longer wanted — not by landowners, not by the financiers, not by anyone. Read more.
We Passed the Consideration of Climate and Labor Act
March 2021
In 2021, Maryland took the Consideration of Climate & Labor Act over the finish line and passed common sense legislation. The Public Service Commission (PSC) has neglected the impacts of climate change and has made an inadequate consideration of labor for too long, allowing harmful projects into our communities. This legislation is a chance to ensure that future infrastructure projects will not continue to adversely affect Marylanders and their environment.
What Will the Legislation Do?
- Directs the PSC to consider climate change in its regulation of the electricity sector, based upon the best available scientific information recognized by the IPCC and achieving our state climate goals.
- Specifically, the legislation will require the PSC to consider climate impacts when reviewing applications for new electricity generating facilities, and when it approves the sites for new facilities.
- State agencies similarly would need to consider climate impacts when providing input to the PSC regarding applications for new facilities.
- Requires energy companies applying to the PSC to disclose the benefits they will give to workers on specific energy projects.
We Passed Clean Car Standards in Virginia
February 2021
The Virginia General Assembly officially passed landmark climate legislation referred to as clean car standards (HB 1965). Carbon emissions from the transportation sector account for close to half of ALL emissions in Virginia. And it’s lethal, disproportionately affecting communities of color. By passing clean car standards legislation (HB 1965), the General Assembly ensured that Virginians will have access to cleaner vehicles that help improve public health, protect our environment, and expand consumer choice.
By passing HB 1965, Virginia will be expanding consumer choice and ensuring that residents have access to a wide array of electric vehicles. HB 1965 garnered broad support from a number of environmental groups, industry voices, and constituents. This vote made Virginia the first state in the Southeast to adopt clean car standards — and the first to do so with official support from the state’s auto dealer association. We could not have achieved this monumental victory without the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus (VLBC).
We Beat the Atlantic Coast Pipeline
July 2020
On July 5, 2020, after six years of dedicated and powerful opposition, Dominion Energy and Duke Energy announced the cancellation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The ACP would have carried fracked gas for 600 miles from West Virginia, across the Appalachian Trail and into Virginia and the Carolinas, costing the people $8 billion and visiting immeasurable harm on the communities in its path. The ACP was an environmental justice nightmare, siting a compressor station in the historically Black neighborhood of Union Hill in Buckingham County. As US Circuit Judge Stephanie Thacker wrote in the ruling revoking an air pollution permit for this compressor station, “environmental justice is not merely a box to be checked.”
CCAN has opposed the ACP since it was announced in September 2014. From the start, we worked with a coalition of partners to organize countless rallies, marches, and protests, many of which incorporated civil disobedience. And the pipeline has been caught up in dozens of lawsuits that resulted in key permits being thrown out again and again, resulting in so many stop-work orders that only six percent of the pipeline was built in the two years it had been allowed to construct.
This victory was achieved by working with numerous state and local groups, including Friends of Buckingham, Friends of Nelson, Appalachian Mountain Advocates, Appalachian Voices, Virginia League of Conservation Voters, the SAVE Coalition, the Sierra Club, and many, many more — not to mention thousands of volunteers and community advocates who achieved such an amazing victory. Read more here.
Virginia Passes the Clean Economy Act
March 2020
On March 12, 2020, the Virginia General Assembly PASSED the Virginia Clean Economy Act! This historic bill reverses decades of bad energy policy in Virginia. It mandates the shutdown of most of the state’s coal plants by 2030 and all the state’s fossil fuel plants for electricity – including gas plants — by 2045. It opens the gate to the biggest offshore wind farms in America and turbocharges the spread of solar rooftops and solar farms. It does this while creating real safeguards against Dominion Energy for ratepayers – especially for low-income families – and by mandating the use of LESS electricity statewide in the future.
The VCEA was supported by the biggest clean energy coalition ever assembled not just in Virginia but perhaps in the nation. The bill was supported by many environmental partners, including the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Southern Environmental Law Center, Audubon Society, CERES, and more; scores of clean energy companies; and constant involvement of literally dozens of climate-committed legislators. Passage of this historic bill brings Virginia from the back of the pack to the forefront of climate leadership in the nation. Read more here.
Virginia Bans Offshore Drilling
February 2020
The 2010 BP oil disaster gave us a stark reminder of the dangers of offshore oil drilling. America watched helplessly as millions of barrels of oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico for months, costing millions of dollars in environmental and health damages, and taking the lives of 11 workers who died in the oil rig explosion.
Over the years, CCAN has joined with many other organizations to build a groundswell of opposition to offshore drilling in the Atlantic. More than 140 East Coast communities, including Wilmington, Virginia Beach, Charleston, and Savannah, and thousands of businesses, trade groups, and tourism associations have passed resolutions opposing Atlantic drilling and seismic testing.
All this led to the Virginia General Assembly passing HB 706, a bill that blocks future oil and gas development off the state’s coastline! This was a great win for our coast and our climate. Read more.
Virginia Joins the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
February 2020
After six years of fighting for Virginia to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Iniative, on February 2020, the Virginia General Assembly passed the Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act! This bill will formally join Virginia to RGGI, a carbon trading program comprised of nine East Coast states that is designed to cut carbon emissions by decreasing amounts in a way that keeps costs low. In short, Virginia’s fossil fuel plants will have to pay for their pollution as they reduce overall emissions. As a result, public health problems like asthma and acute bronchitis caused by fossil fuels will decline.
The Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act will require the revenue from this program — upwards of $1 billion — to fund flooding adaptation and energy efficiency measures. It’s increasingly important protect our coastal and inland communities from flooding, which will only get worse as sea levels rise and extreme weather worsens with global warming. And the efficiency solutions will keep electricity bills low for everyone as we transition to a clean energy economy. These funds will provide safer communities and lower energy bills for ratepayers across Virginia. Read more here.
Maryland Passes the Clean Energy Jobs Act
April 2019
DC Passes Strongest Climate Policy in the Country
December 2018
Baltimore Passes Crude Oil Terminal Prohibition
March 2018
Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Strengthens Carbon Pollution Standards
August 2017
Nation’s largest offshore wind farms approved for Maryland
May 2017
Maryland Passes Permanent, Statewide Ban on Fracking, with Nationwide Implications
March 2017
MD Enacts “Clean Energy Jobs Act” by Overriding Hogan’s Veto
February 2017
DC Enacts 50% Clean Energy Standard
July 2016
Targa Resources Nixes Plans for Crude Oil Terminal in Baltimore
July 2016
Prince George’s County Bans Fracking
April 2016
Maryland’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act Renewed
April 2016Obama Administration Protects Atlantic Coast From Offshore Drilling
March 2016
President Obama Rejects the Keystone XL Pipeline
November 2015
Fracking Moratorium in Maryland
May 2015
Solar Net Metering Bill Passes the Virginia Legislature
February 2015
- Doubles Virginia’s Cap to 1MW. The bill raised the non-residential project cap for solar net metering customers from 500 kilowatts to 1 megawatts.
Major Loophole Closed in DC Clean Electricity Standard
December 2014
Proposed Frederick, MD Incinerator Defeated
November 2014Virginia Hybrid Tax Repealed
February 2014
EPA Agrees to Deadline for First-Ever US Coal Ash Regulations
January 2014 In the aftermath of the Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill, the EPA proposed various regulatory options in May 2010 and held seven public hearings in August and September of that year. Environmental and public health groups, community organizations, Native American tribes and others generated more than 450,000 public comments on EPA’s proposed regulation, calling for the strongest protections under the law. But since then, despite coal ash contamination at more than 200 sites nationwide, the EPA has failed to finalize the protections. In October, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the EPA has a mandatory duty to review and revise its waste regulations under the Resource and Conservation Recovery Act. The EPA announced plans to finalize first-ever federal regulations for the disposal of coal ash by December 19, 2014.Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act
April 2013
R. Paul Smith Coal-Fired Power Station shut-down
February 2012 CCAN and the Environmental Integrity Project celebrated a major legal victory to end dirty coal electricity in Maryland by threatening legal action against the R. Paul Smith Power Station for non-compliance with air emission standards. Subsequently, the company that owns the power plant decided to shut it down. This is a significant victory for the health of Maryland communities, the health of the Chesapeake Bay, and efforts to fight climate change in the mid-Atlantic region. This plant closure will reduce annual emissions of carbon dioxide by more than 200,000 tons annually, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions by at least 2,000 tons, and particulate matter by 120 tons.Potomac River Coal-Fired Power Plant shut-down
August 2011
1500 MW Surry County Coal Plant Indefinitely Delayed
September 2010 Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) was considering spending $6 Billion to build a massive new coal-fired power plant just 32 miles from the Chesapeake Bay in Surry County, Virginia.Maryland Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Act (GGRA)
April 2009
The EmPOWER Maryland Energy Efficiency Act
April 2008
Virginia Voluntary Renewable Energy Portfolio Goal
April 2007 Virginia’s voluntary RPS was passed with the stated aim of getting 15 percent of Virginia’s power from renewable sources like wind farms and solar arrays by 2025, by offering financial incentives to utilities. Although the law has not had its intended effect, and has instead sent ratepayer funds to out-of-state facilities that were in existence before the RPS was passed, CCAN continues to fight for a mandatory RPS that funds clean energy generation from within the Commonwealth.DC Clean Cars Act
May 2007 The District joins 18 other states, including Maryland, in adopting California’s stricter tailpipe emissions standards. The DC Clean Cars Act will regulate carbon dioxide emissions from all cars registered in the District beginning in 2011 and ensures that DC will greatly reduce its contribution to global warming.Maryland Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)
April 2007