Stand up for off-shore wind power!

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is taking public comment on leasing an area off the Virginia coast with huge wind energy potential. In addition to bringing good jobs to the Commonwealth, it is estimated that wind in this prime area could generate enough electricity for half a million homes.

Dominion Virginia Power, which has a long history of dragging its feet on renewable energy, could use its deep pockets to outbid competitors on these new offshore areas and then do nothing by sitting on the leases for years. That would mean no new job creation and dirtier air and water as Dominion continues to burn dirty coal to generate electricity.

Tell BOEM to require companies bidding on offshore wind leases that they must begin construction of turbines and infrastructure in a timely manner. Tell BOEM that delaying development of wind energy will hurt the state's economy and environment. Tell BOEM that now is the time to move to a 21st century clean energy economy.

Grassroots Momentum Growing to Keep the Ban

keeptheban.org

In spite of the lack of transparency (and objectivity?) of Governor Bob McDonnell's Uranium Working Group, there seems to be some momentum building to Keep the Ban on uranium mining in the Commonwealth. This fall several influential lobbying groups - the Virginia Municipal League, the Virginia Association of Counties, and the Virginia Farm Bureau - all stated their opposition to uranium mining in Virginia.

The mayors of both Virginia Beach and Norfolk expressed their strong opposition to uranium mining because of threat to drinking water sources for over a million residents. As they noted in their editorial in the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

While we have confidence in Virginia’s regulatory agencies, we understand the difficulties associated with implementing new processes in an area less than hospitable for uranium mining. This is not an appropriate project for our regulatory partners to learn "on the job." There simply is too much at stake and too much to risk. No amount of regulation can prevent the unexpected.

 And just this week, Lt. Governor Bill Bolling broke GOP ranks by announcing his opposition to uranium mining in the state. Among the reasons he cited in his official statement are the potential for adverse and chilling economic and environmental impacts as well as the strong opposition of officials in Pittsylvania County and the region.

But, there is big money on the side of the proponents of and the battle will be joined during this session of the General Assembly. Many legislators say they are undecided but "our representatives" are being lavished by the industry with huge campaign contributions and perks provided by their lobbyists. The corrupting and anti-democracy influence of money is estimated by the Southern Environmental Law Center to have reached nearly $750,000 already!

Keep the Ban - what YOU can do!

• Look for updates at the Virginia Chapter Sierra Club and Keep the Ban.
• Contact your senator and delegate and tell him or her to keep the ban on uranium mining.
• Talk to friends.
• Write a letter to the editor of your local paper.
• On January 28 attend the VCN/Sierra Club Lobby Day at the General Assembly.

UPDATE 12/20/12 - Senator Mark Herring (Loudoun & Fairfax) announced his opposition to uranium mining in Virginia saying, "I will oppose legislation during the upcoming 2013 General Assembly session that would lift the ban. Additionally, I plan to introduce budget language that would prohibit any state funding from being used to promulgate regulations designed to circumvent the ban."

Just how bad is George Allen?--One more reason to Vote for Tim Kaine

Originally posted by: glenbesa on Article XI: To Preserve and Protect on Sat Oct 20, 2012 at 15:55:53 PM EST:

If you didn't live in Virginia when George Allen was Governor you may not understand just how anti-environmental he is. In the US Senate he had an abysmal record but those were only votes. 

It was as Governor where George Allen demonstrated his utter contempt for environmental laws. Right after he was sworn in as Governor, he gutted the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Allen, bringing in what we then caused "wise users" at the time to run this key environmental agency is today's equivalent of putting the Tea Party in charge. There were mass firings and mass resignations of agency staffers who refused to follow orders to ignore pollution violations. 

Allen also interfered with an on going EPA lawsuit against Smithfield Foods for water pollution. The CEO of Smithfield at the time, Joe Luter, gave Allen a $100,000 campaign contribution and after Allen was elected he had the state intervene in that EPA lawsuit, effectively neutralizing federal action against Smithfield. As unethical as this may sound, it apparently is not illegal in Virginia where there is no limit on campaign contributions. 

The Allen Administration even lied to the US EPA about the status of data collected on toxic emissions. When the EPA sought the toxic pollution data from the state, the response was that they did not have it, all the while it was actually locked in safe at the DEQ. 

If elected to the US Senate, George Allen will continue his war against the environment, attacking EPA funding and regulations and voting as he has before to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. We must not let this happen.

Coarse Cracked Corn stands in total agreement with this post. Returning George Allen to the United States Senate would be as disgusting as allowing mountain top removal coal mining in Shenandoah National Park.

Good day sunshine!

On September 19 the State Corporation Commission will hold a public hearing on Dominion Resource's Community Solar Power Program. According to Dominion it includes "company-owned solar PV DG systems; both on leased roof space or ground-mounted installations, as well as the purchase of output from customer-owned solar PV DG systems." When fully completed Dominion would generate 30 MW of solar generated electricity - enough to power about 6,000 homes.

Solar generated electricity has made great strides in other states where laws and company policies encourage building for a cleaner and more secure tomorrow. For example, New Jersey, a state with less solar potential than Virginia, already has built 850 MW of solar and has another 600 MW in the works. Dominion's tiny step towards generating clean energy in the commonwealth would, by 2027, produce just 0.006% of the company's expected output.

Nevertheless, the Community Solar Power Program is a move in the right direction for improving the quality of our air and water and the health of our citizens. Construction of these facilities will create Virginia jobs and encourage more clean energy by Dominion and other electric utilities. Tell the SCC and Dominion that you support the Community Solar Power Program and you expect Dominion Resources to do even more to bring clean energy - solar and wind - to Virginia.

In other Dominion Resources news, the company is seeking permission to convert the 227 MW Bremo Power Station in Fluvanna County from coal to natural gas. It would be the ninth Dominion coal-fired plant to be converted to other fuels or closed in recent years. Although not nearly as clean nor renewable as solar and wind, in the short term these conversions signal progress in eliminating dirty coal from polluting our skies and threatening the well-being of our families and the climate.

Cypress Creek coal-plant on hold... hopefully forever

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) announced in a press release that it has suspended plans for a coal-fired plant known as Cypress Creek near Dendron in Surry County, Virginia. The announcement is a victory for cleaner air and water, especially in the Tidewater region of the commonwealth. ODEC cited more stringent EPA regulations and market conditions as driving the decision, but a broad coalition of groups, including Wise Energy for Virginia, had built a strong case that harm to air quality and water quality from the 1,5000 megawatt plant would outweigh any possible benefits. Less demand for coal also means less destruction from mountaintop removal coal mining.

ODEC supplies power to 11 electric cooperatives including Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative. This bird attended the SVEC annual meeting where ODEC's CEO, Jack Reasor, said the company would not be moving forward on Cypress Creek and looking at alternative sources. Coarse Cracked Corn had previously commented on the $6 billion threat to the environment here and here and is proud to have been a tiny "cluck, cluck" in the coalition of groups, local governments, and citizens in Hampton Roads that helped to put this toxic stew on the back burner.

Those of us who care about the environment need to keep minding the kitchen because the toxic stew isn't totally off the stove - ODEC spokesman, David Huggins, indicated work may resume in a couple years depending on the outcome of an appeal to the Supreme Court over the EPA's carbon emissions standards.

Glen Besa, director of the Virginia Chapter Sierra Club, called on ODEC to invest in "efficiency, wind and solar power now." For its part, ODEC says it is exploring "alternative sources of power supply" but that could mean more natural gas and hydrofracking. As citizens we need to keep the pressure on the General Assembly and utilities to put in place meaningful laws and policies to encourage efficiency and renewable energy. Virginia could look to forward-looking states where a variety of incentives make solar and wind energy affordable now.

Just say NO to uranium mining in Virginia

keeptheban.org

There is a widely held view across the commonwealth that uranium mining in Virginia is a bad idea. When Paul Locke, the chair of the National Academy of Sciences report, "Uranium Mining in Virginia said, " Internationally accepted best practices, which include timely and meaningful public participation, are available to mitigate some of the risks involved. However, there are still many unknowns."

Unknowns? Mitigate some risks?

Virginia's climate and geology does indeed present significant and scary unknowns to uranium mining and milling that have not been confronted in other places. As the report noted, Virginia is subject to extreme natural events, including hurricanes, tornados, and heavy rainfall. And, as we've recently witnessed, the commonwealth is not immune to earthquakes.

The risks to public health and safety are great, yet powerful economic interests led by Virginia Uranium, Inc. are pulling out all the stops to influence legislators and agencies who will make the final decisions about keeping or rescinding the 1982 statewide moratorium on uranium mining. Those decisions will affect the future of every Virginian and possibly people beyond the state's borders. Unable to get ban-lifting legislation through the General Assembly, the industry enlisted Governor Bob McDonnell to create a Working Group that is tilted towards industry views, lacks transparency, and has encouraged little public participation.

To date, many concerns and questions remain unanswered. For instance:

• What happens to left over toxic wastes?
• What is the impact on drinking water supplies for millions of Virginians?
• What is the impact on air quality for the region?
• How will hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation be affected?
• What is the impact on key parts of the Virginia economy such as agriculture and tourism?
• What plans are in place for extreme natural events?
• What is the impact on property values near mines and mills and along transportation routes?
• What is the impact..... (fill in your own concern or check these out)?

The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) is conducting public meetings on issues of water quality and water recreation to assess the impact of uranium mining and milling in the commonwealth. The meetings scheduled (more info about these and other meetings) are:

• August 7 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the Chatham Circuit Court Building in Chatham, VA;
• August 15 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at The Barn, Lord Fairfax Community College in Warrenton, VA;
• August 29 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at Meyera Oberndorff Library in Virginia Beach, VA.

If you can't make the meetings, you can submit comments directly to the Uranium Working Group online or by mail at 1100 Bank Street, 8th Floor, Richmond, VA 23219.

Another way to take action is to contact your legislators in the General Assembly. For those of us in the central Valley contacting Senator Emmett Hanger is vitally important. He has previously shown that he is willing to listen and he has been sensitive to environmental concerns on other issues. And, as a senior member of the Virginia Senate, he holds a position of power and influence. Not sure who your legislators are or want more ideas for your email to him/her - visit the Virginia Chapter Sierra Club.

Virginia faces many challenges in the commonwealth's diverse environment - cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay, reducing the impact of burning dirty coal on air and water quality, mountaintop removal coal mining, and the uncertain dangers of hydrofracking in the huge watersheds of the George Washington National Forest. Each of these threats is very real and deserves the public's and policymakers' attentions. But, the unknowns and horrific perils of uranium mining and milling in Virginia are job #1 of all who care about a healthy future for the Old Dominion.

Ex-skeptic... global warming real; caused by humans

Richard Mueller, a physics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, has been a very prominent skeptic about the human causes of climate change.

Until Monday.

On July 30, 2012 Mueller, a member of the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature team said the "evidence has changed my mind." He continued, "Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct... I'm now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause."

So what does this have to do with the Shenandoah Valley and Virginia - the focus points of this blog? Everything, ya dumb cluck.

If we are going to slow human caused global warming it will take political initiative, commitment, and concrete actions right here in the commonwealth as well as around the world. One small step is to tell Virginia senators Mark Warner and Jim Webb to show leadership by supporting renewal of the production tax credit for wind power. It will mean jobs for Virginians, cleaner air over the commonwealth, and fewer greenhouse gasses cranking up global temperatures.

Cooch watching

Although Virginia is a critical toss-up state in the presidential election, many eyes have turned to the Commonwealth's 2013 gubernatorial election - specifically on the likely GOP nominee, Ken Cuccinelli. For anyone other than reactionaries of the far right, the attorney general has a very dangerous mind. Activists on issues ranging from individual rights to protecting the environment are taking preemptive action to make sure Ken Cuccinelli, aka "the Cooch," is exposed in all his glorious wing nuttery.

The Cooch has made news, and Virginia a laughing stock, since he took office. You may remember him covering the left breast of the Virtus, the goddess of virtue, on pins of the Virginia State Seal. Changing our Founding Father's work is certainly job #1 in this AG's office!

Donate to the VA Sierra Club PAC - get this bumper sticker.

Then the Cooch used state resources and energy to sue the University of Virginia as a way of attacking climate scientist, Michael Mann. The Cooch, who rejects science and is a climate-change denying ideologue, alleged that Mann committed fraud by using UVA funding for the research. He also sued the EPA saying they had no scientific evidence to regulate greenhouse gasses. The attorney general had swings and misses on both cases, but in the meantime he spent an estimated $1 million in tax dollars. The Virginia Chapter Sierra Club has taken notice of this crazed anti-environment fanatic and launched their Cuccinelli is a Hoax campaign.

Ken Cuccinelli made his early political name trying to do away with abortion rights in the Commonwealth. As attorney general he has continued to do everything in his power to bring the power of big government to regulate lady parts. This past June, the Board of Health issued regulations for abortion facilities. Because they included a grandfather clause for existing facilities, the Cooch abandoned typical procedures and delayed action for a month before refusing to certify them. In response a group of abortion rights activists has started COOCH WATCH 2012 because, as their website notes, "The Cooch has been keeping an eye on your vagina, so now we’re going to keep an eye on him…"

The Cooch just keeps on embarrassing Virginia. Last night Rachel Maddow highlighted COOCH WATCH 2012 and discussed how the Cooch and Virginia Republicans probably torpedoed Governor Bob "ultrasound" McDonnell's craving to be tapped by Mitt Romney as the VP candidate. Rachel tells the story with humor and class....

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Dominion: Time to Move Virginia Forward

Dominion emits more industrial carbon and mercury pollution than any other utility in Virginia. Dominion has developed clean energy in neighboring states, yet in Virginia it relies on dirty fuels that produce mercury, smog, and soot pollution which contribute to developmental disabilities in children as well as asthma, heart attacks, and cancer.

Tell Dominion to lead the way toward a cleaner and better tomorrow with clean, renewable energy by creating 3,000 megawatts - enough to power 700,000 homes - of new Virginia-made wind and solar energy and energy efficiency by 2020.

Sign the Virginia Chapter Sierra Club petition today. And after you sign, pass the link on to friends and family.