Thursday, May 8 Rally will display ‘mile long’ petition to Dominion
“Endless pressure, endlessly applied, that is the only way we are going to stop global warming and mountaintop removal coal mining,” said Glen Besa, Sierra Club’s Virginia Chapter Director.
“The big utilities and the coal industry are blocking the doorway to our clean energy future and it is about time they got out of the way.”
With the potent influence that Dominion-Virginia Power has with the Virginia General Assembly and Governor Kaine, it is going to take a lot of “people power” to stop Dominion’s proposed coal fired power plant in Wise County Virginia. In 2007, Dominion spent more $5000 per legislator; over $750,000, shaping their very own legislation to guarantee they’d get a profit of more than 12% on a new coal fired power plant in Wise County.
A “mile long” petition with 50,000 names is just the kind of people power that may be need to send a message to Dominion and to state officials that the $1.8 billion Wise County plant is a boondoggle that Dominion’s customers will be forced to pay for, and which does not even include the costs of carbon sequestration. The “mile long” petition will be unfurled at a Rally for Clean Energy in Richmond on Thursday, May 8 at Kanawha Plaza directly across the street from Dominion’s offices between Cary and Canal Streets in downtown. The coalition of organizations working on the Rally is planning for a crowd of 500. That coalition includes Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Appalachian Voices, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Southern Environmental Law Center and the Sierra Club.
The coalition has been working together to defeat the Wise plant and in March they won a major victory when the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board decided to take control of the air permits for the plant from the Department of Environmental Quality. The Air Board raised serious questions regarding excess mercury pollution, the poor quality of the coal to be used and global warming in taking over the permit.
Before this action by the Air Board, Dominion was pushing for an April ground breaking for the Wise plant that has now been put on hold indefinitely. Although the State Corporation Commission did grant Dominion its permit in early April, Dominion can not proceed without the required air permits.
The May 8 Rally is one day before Dominion’s Annual Shareholders meeting that has been moved to Chicago, Ill. “It is obvious that Dominion has moved their shareholders meeting out of state to avoid a major demonstration against their regressive energy policies,” said Besa. “They can run, but they are too big to hide, and we will have representatives in Chicago as well to present the ‘mile long’ petition.”
Please plan to attend this important rally promoting clean energy and opposing mountaintop removal coal mining and the Wise County coal burning power plant!
Virginia Rally for Clean Energy
Thursday, May 8 at 1 PM
WHEN: Thursday, May 8, starting at 1 PM
WHERE: Kanawa Plaza in Downtown Richmond on Canal Street at 7th Street.
WHAT: Music and a brief program including the unfurling of the “mile long” petition for clean energy.
For more information and to
SIGN the Mile long Petition on line,
go to: www.virginia.sierraclub.org
New Campaign report outlines Clean Energy Solutions and the 2008 Elections
Washington, DC: The Sierra Club today launched a new effort to educate the public about what is at stake in the 2008 elections. Focused on nine states, the Power2Change campaign aims to educate the public and candidates about what is at stake in the elections by defining the contrast between competing visions of our energy future--positioning clean energy as an economic driver, and challenging candidates up and down the ballot-- including the new President - to move America towards a clean energy economy.
The nine states are Colorado, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Virginia and Wisconsin. The Sierra Club’s Power 2 Change Report highlights examples of clean energy leaders – public officials, businesses and individuals; and their opponents – backwards thinking polluters with a specific section focusing on each state. Press conferences are being held in each state today.
The full report is available at: www.sierraclub.org/power2change
“The choices we make in 2008 will define our future, especially when it comes to the election and energy issues,” said Cathy Duvall, Sierra Club National Political Director. “The contrast could not be sharper — we can move forward to a clean energy economy that creates jobs, save consumers money and solves global warming, or we can continue the expensive, polluting policies of the past.”
The million-dollar five week Power 2 Change campaign involves a new grassroots organizing effort in these communities, with approximately fifty new organizers hired for the project. Over the next five weeks, Sierra Club activists will document and release examples of clean and polluting energy sites within each state, collect and deliver petition signatures demanding elected officials help build a clean energy economy, and recruit volunteers to meet with elected, business and community leaders and to participate in Earth Day events on or around April 22.
“We’ve got a message for candidates at every level that we have the power to change direction,” said Duvall. “We have the technology, know-how and power to build a clean energy future. What we have lacked is the political will and leadership. We need to challenge all our elected officials, including the next President, to provide the leadership we need to move us forward.”
More information about the new campaign is available at: www.sierraclub.org/power2change