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CCAN WINTER NEWSLETTER
DC | MD | VA | Donate
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MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR


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Mike Tidwell

Dear John,

Have you finished exhaling yet? Joe Biden won! Donald Trump lost! The US Senate
runoff races in Georgia won’t wrap up till January 5th, I know. But HOLY COW,
the biggest victory is complete. The “climate arsonist” Donald Trump is on his
way out.

Across this nation, we know time is almost up for a swift and transformative
clean-energy revolution. But here’s what gives me hope. In the middle of a
pandemic, with a hate-spewing President explicitly trying to push disruptive
chaos into the process, our country at every level and in every state conducted
an incredibly smooth and fair election with record turnout. The Chesapeake
Climate Action Network is proud to have played our role, both regionally and
nationally, in the climate movement with several major victories. As the year comes to an end, won’t you make a gift to keep us going?
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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
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WASHINGTON, DC AND NATIONAL
JOIN US FOR OUR BRRRR-TUAL POLAR BEAR PLUNGE TO "KEEP WINTER COLD"


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The plunge must go on! On February 13th, hundreds of climate activists will come
together virtually to take the plunge for our climate.

There are many ways to join the plunge. You can dump an ice-cold bucket of water
on yourself, jump into a cold bath or kiddie pool, or even run into a nearby
pond or creek. All that matters is that you and bear-y cold water come into
contact.

Join the CCAN team, Bill McKibben, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, and Congressman
McEachin for this fun virtual event! Our annual plunge is our largest
fundraising event of the year. Sign up at [[link removed]] www.keepwintercold.org [[link removed]] . [[link removed]]

2021 ON THE HILL AND IN THE WHITE HOUSE
With Biden’s inauguration we have a rare window to enact sweeping national
climate policies. We are preparing to have the largest impact on these national
policies as possible, to help make sure they are passed and fight to put racial
equity at the center of those policies. We have doubled down on our grassroots
efforts in West Virginia and we will be ready to push Senator Manchin to support
real climate solutions. With a closely divided Senate, no climate policy will be
able to pass without Manchin’s support.

CCAN has also been a movement leader in making sure we protect access to the
courts for municipalities suing the fossil fuel industry. We are building
relationships with lawmakers in each committee of jurisdiction over climate
legislation in the House. In coordination with our allies at the Center for
Climate Integrity and the American Association for Justice, we will make sure
that any climate policy that passes the House will include language explicitly
protecting access to the courts.

There are a lot of unknowns about the early months of 2021. Whether it’s the
Georgia Senate runoffs or the COVID-19 vaccine, we just don’t know what will
happen. What we do know is that we have the best odds we have ever had to pass
national climate legislation at the scale of the problem. Whatever happens, CCAN
will be there, doing all we can to enact justice centered climate policy.







MARYLAND
A WAR NOT YET LOST: EASTERN SHORE PIPELINES
On December 2nd, members of the Board of Public Works voted 3 to 0 to approve a
key permit for the Del-Mar Pipeline to carry fracked gas into the Eastern Shore
region of Maryland. The Del-Mar Pipeline is one of the two controversial,
dirty-energy pipelines proposed for the region in an era of rapid climate change
and environmental justice sensitivity.

A lot happened in the months leading up to the vote. A commissioned study
uncovered troubling environmental justice issues with the pipeline, and the
Mayland NAACP added the pipelines to their list of environmental justice
priorities and local county chapters took a stance in opposition. And CCAN, with
help from our partners at the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club and the
Wicomico Environmental Trust, released a white paper outlining concerns about
the economics of these pipeline projects. Ultimately, over four thousand emails
and 700 letters were sent to the Board of Public Works urging them to reject the
pipelines. But BPW didn’t even consider applications for renewable energy
sources.

By approving the Del-Mar pipeline, the Board elected to ignore numerous climate
and environmental justice concerns. That is an injustice. As a next step, CCAN
will continue to fight and organize against the pipeline, including the
Chesapeake Utilities portion which is expected to come before the Board in the
next couple of months. Help us win by signing this petition.
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WE NEED CLIMATE SOLUTIONS. NOW.
As climate activists, we’re more than grateful for a Biden win. With his
leadership, we can look forward to a bold new climate plan and our re-entry into
the Paris Climate Accord. However, even if Democrats gain a Senate majority,
states will still need to wholeheartedly commit to their own net-zero emissions
policies if we hope to make sweeping federal legislation a reality.

Our top priority legislation -- The Climate Solutions Now bill, introduced by
Sen. Paul Pinsky and Del. Dana Stein -- seeks to do that and more. Most
critically, it will position us to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2045;
right in line with internationally recognized scientific mandates as well as
recent recommendations from the Maryland Commission on Climate. Beyond just
setting targets, it also revises several flaws in our state’s climate planning
process by requiring use of best available scientific information, banning the
expansion of highways and unproven carbon capture technologies as emissions
pathways, and adjusting the way we account for the impacts of highly potent
methane as a greenhouse gas. It also takes immediate climate-forward job
creating actions -- such as planting half a million trees annually for the next
decade and increasing efficiency requirements through the highly successful
EMPOWER program. A new workgroup created by the bill will oversee labor impacts
and ensure that new career opportunities are being filled fairly. And in keeping
with the national dialogue on racial and economic justice, it comes with a heavy
focus on investments in “disadvantaged” communities.

Last year’s version of this common sense bill experienced bipartisan committee
support for good reason - it’s a logical next step for Maryland to stay relevant
in our fast changing economy. We have great precedent for strong economic
success from our state’s participation in climate programs. For example, our
participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative has both reduced our
emissions and brought significant revenue to our state’s coffers. And because of
the 2019 Clean Energy Jobs Act, we were seeing excellent job gains to the clean
energy industry before COVID hit. To regain this ground and continue to showcase
our ability to be a player in the new green economy, it’s imperative that our
state adopt this winning policy. Sign here to add your support for Climate Solutions Now.
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VIRGINIA
WE WON: 100% BY 2050
This past legislative session, Virginia took significant strides toward reducing
emissions from the energy sector. Most notably, the Commonwealth passed the
Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA). This legislation puts us on the path towards
100% clean energy generation by 2050. Most importantly, the legislation creates
a framework to achieve the goals in a way that will protect ratepayers, invest
in frontline communities, and create thousands of jobs in the new economy. This
framework seeks to invest in energy efficiency and renewables, enact a renewable
portfolio standard, expand distributed clean power generation, and eliminate
utility-related carbon pollution.

Passing the VCEA was a bold and pivotal first step but the work to preserve our
climate is far from done. Moving forward, we must work to enact a fossil fuel
moratorium in order to protect Virginians and their communities from dangerous
and unnecessary fracked-gas pipelines. We also have to ensure that electric
utilities are achieving these carbon reduction and clean energy goals at the
lowest cost to ratepayers and hold them accountable to their commitments.
Further, we have to commit to a just-transition that seeks to include all
Virginians in this new clean energy economy and protects formerly coal-reliant
communities. Through continued bold and deliberate action, we can build on the
momentum of the VCEA, and achieve a clean energy future for all.

Sign here to help curb transportation emissions in Virginia.
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WITH ACP CANCELLED, ALL EYES ARE ON THE MVP
The MVP continually meets opposition and “stop work” orders, thanks largely to
resistance fighters on the ground, including direct action in the form of aerial
resistance at the Yellow Finch tree sites. Meanwhile, a dedicated team of
citizen scientists, Mountain Valley Watch, has recorded hundreds of violations
for faulty erosion control and violations of the Clean Water Act. There are
ongoing legal battles to hold the corporation accountable and halt work until it
can receive all of the necessary permits.

The project itself has pushed back its completion date, yet again, this time
until late 2021. It was supposed to finish at the start of this year. While MVP
claims to be 92% finished, an analysis of their own data indicates it’s only
around 50% complete. The price of the pipeline continues to grow exponentially,
from $3B to almost $6B in the past few years. This makes the MVP the most
expensive pipeline project per mile to date. Fortunately, investors are scaling
back, as we continue to try to push banks to divest.

The MVP has refiled their certification with FERC, and we're submitting
comments. If you'd like to get involved, you can personally divest from banks
who are funding the MVP, and urge others to do so as well. And if you’d like to support the direct action on the ground, consider donating
to our partner, Appalachians Against Pipelines, which is providing legal aid and
material goods to the tree sitters.
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HEADER INJUSTICE PROJECT: WE’RE WINNING THE FIGHT
CCAN’s months-long fight against the Header Injustice Project is paying off.
Virginia Natural Gas’ application was recently rejected by the SCC as they could
not confirm adequate funding for a lynchpin aspect of the project, C4GT in
Charles City. Although VNG has the option to submit a new application, this
rejection shows that the tide is turning.

At every step of the process, CCAN has worked with ally organizations and
impacted community members to demonstrate the public health risks posed by this
dangerous network of pipelines and compressor stations threatening to snake
through Virginia. We have fought VNG’s attempt to further target environmentally
burdened communities through legal action, media awareness, technical comments,
and public testimony. And we’re ready to do it again.

A new application from VNG may propose a smaller project scope, as this dirty
fossil fuel project lacks necessity and viability. However, we will fight any
iteration of HIP that VNG proposes; fossil fuel infrastructure of any size has
no place in the renewable energy future of our state. With victory hopefully in
sight, now is not the time for complacency. HIP threatens the Commonwealth from
Northern Virginia, through Central Virginia, and into Hampton Roads. Please review our HIP Campaign Page so you’re informed and ready to keep
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EVENTS
NATIONAL EVENTS
February 13, 2021 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm: BRRRR-tual Polar Bear Plunge. We are taking our 16th annual Polar Bear Plunge VIRTUAL and NATIONAL! Sign up
today to be one of the first to have access to this year's Polar Bear Plunge
site to register before everyone else.

RSVP [[link removed]]







MD EVENTS
January 12, 2021 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Maryland Legislative Process 101 – For
Students. Join Chesapeake Climate Action Network and the MaryPIRG Student Climate Action
Coalition for a special student cram event all about the 2021 Annapolis
Legislative Session!

RSVP [[link removed]]





VA EVENTS
January 6th @ 7pm: Virginia Legislative Preview. Join our partner Mothers Out Front for an event that will offer Virginians an
overview of some key climate bills coming before the General Assembly this year.

RSVP [[link removed]]

January 7th @ 6:00pm: Picture Your Green New Future. Join our partner Mothers Out Front New River Valley to Picture Your Green New
Future! This virtual event will provide Mamas, caregivers and others with an
opportunity to learn about and support the Virginia Green New Deal (VA GND)
legislation in the upcoming January 2021 VA General Assembly.

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January 14th @ 6:30pm: Virtual Offshore Wind Volunteer Team Meeting. Get together with fellow offshore wind activists to discuss what is happening
with offshore wind in Virginia and what needs to be done. Each month we discuss
updates on the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, what everyone is working
on, and next steps for our work. This meeting is free and open to anyone
interested in working on offshore wind!

RSVP
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January 26th @ 6pm: Virtual Letter to the Editor Workshop. This workshop is an opportunity for you to learn more about writing letters to
the editor as a way to advocate for the environment. During the workshop, we
will go over what letters to the editor are, why they matter, and how they are
effective. We will provide you with tips, tricks, and experiences to help you
write effective letters on current environmental issues. Whether you are new to
writing letters, or just want to brush up on your skills, this is a great
opportunity to learn new skills and what to write about.

RSVP
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SUPPORT CCAN
We finally have a clear path forward towards climate solutions. But we need your
help to get to the finish line. Your tax-deductible donation will help us
respond to threats to our climate with bold, creative action. Make your gift
today!


Donate now
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