“The fact is, these things happen”, said Louisiana’s Sen. Mary Landrieu, amazingly trying to dismiss the overwhelming risks associated with offshore drilling. Standing in front of a large poster of the flaming Australian oil platform at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last week, she even went as far as to accuse drilling opponents of lying and scare-mongering!

“All we did was testify about real things that have really happened, to make the point that despite advances in technology, mistakes are still made and accidents still happen - and with offshore oil production, the consequences still can be severe”, writes Sky Truth’s John Amos who was invited to testify on several significant oil spill incidents they’ve investigated over the past few years.

These investigations include “the recent Montara platform blowout and spill in the Timor Sea off Western Australia; this summer’s spill in the Gulf of Mexico from the Eugene Island Pipeline operated by Shell; and the spills from hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, and Ike in 2008, that exposed the Achilles heel of offshore production: the vulnerability and severe spill risk posed by the coastal infrastructure - especially pipelines and storage facilities - that is necessary to support offshore drilling.”

Sky Truth was also commissioned to produce the image depicting the Australian oil spill off Virginia’s coast. Click here to view image.

As an LTE in today’s Virginian-Pilot points out (not online yet - see below the fold), politicians hinge their support of offshore drilling on its capacities to be done in an environmentally safe manner. The Australian spill especially shoots that pro-drilling argument to hell. The truth hurts and thus the knee-jerk reaction of people like Sen. Landrieu saying basically “shit happens”.

Why in the world do we want shit to happen off our Virginia coasts?

Read the rest of this entry »

The James City County Citizens’ Coalition (J4C) is sponsoring a forum entitled “Sea Level Rise: What it means to the Historic Triangle” on Tues., Dec. 1, 4-6pm at Building C, Government Complex, 101 Mounts Bay Road in Williamsburg. The speakers include the following:

Global Warming & Sea Level Rise, Dr. Terence Elkins, J4C

Coming soon - A Storm Tide Operational Forecast System at Jamestown, Dr. John Brubaker, VIMS

Climate Change in Coastal Virginia, Skip Stiles, Wetlands Watch

Government Policy Recommendations, Mark Callazzo, Old Dominion University

Question/Answer Session, Moderator: Terence Elkins

The forum is free and open to the public. Contact Terry Elkins at tjelkins@cox.net or Sarah Kadec at skadec@verizon.net for additional information.

Last week at its monthly Hampton Roads Planning District Commission meeting, a new organization, the Virginia Offshore Wind Energy Coalition, introduced itself and presented a report regarding the status of Atlantic coast offshore wind projects, the economic development opportunities for Hampton Roads, and their legislative strategies for the 2010 General Assembly. (Click here to read entire report.)

According to the report, the Department of Energy estimates long term offshore wind energy potential off Virginia’s shoreline at 6572 megawatts. The Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium (VCERC) estimates the near term offshore wind energy potential at 3500 megawatts with a capital investment of up to $10 billion.

The Federal government’s Mineral Management Services (MMS) released its offshore renewable energy development regulations in June this year. Already two companies have submitted lease applications for projects off Virginia’s coasts.

Capital investment in the East Coast offshore wind energy industry for the coming 10 years is expected to be in excess of 15 billion. And everyone up and down the Atlantic seaboard wants a piece of this action.

New Jersey and Rhode Island head the pack with potentially the first commercial utility scale projects expected to be online as early as 2012. Procurement of wind turbines, installation vessels and other main components of these first projects will occur in the coming 6-12 months.

Read the rest of this entry »

From Hampton’s Councilman Randy Gilliland, also lead organizer with the Peninsula’s Green Drinks and Chairman of Green Economic Alliance and Green Jobs Alliance:

There is $75 million available for our region from the Department of Energy EECBG grants. The purpose is to fund job creation, economic growth, and energy efficiency improvements.

Securing the funding will require support and cooperation from commercial contractors, realtors, homebuilders, local development officials, commercial property owners, and manufacturing.

Come Tuesday to find out more about this tremendous opportunity for Hampton Roads, and what you can do to help.

That Tues., Nov. 24, 5:30-9:00pm at Marker 20, 21 East Queens Way, in Hampton.

Our nation’s coast has wonderful beaches, marshes, remarkable underwater ecosystems and amazing wildlife, all of which would be threatened by more offshore oil drilling.

According to a new report released by Environment America and the Sierra Club, our clean beaches and oceans support a vibrant coastal tourism and fishing economy that generates almost $200 billion per year. The report makes it clear that clean beaches and oceans are worth more than drilling for the last few drops of oil.

Learn more:
Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 7:00-8:45pm
Meyera E. Oberndorf Central Library, 4100 Virginia Beach Blvd., Virginia Beach

Speakers:
Eileen Levandoski, Sierra Club, Virginia Chapter
J.R. Tolbert, Environment Virginia

Click here to RSVP.

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative wants to build the largest coal plant in Virginia in the Hampton Roads region. On Monday, Nov. 23rd, the Surry County Planning Commission is holding a public hearing on whether to grant local zoning approval for this controversial plant and allow ODEC to amend the Comprehensive Plans of Surry County and the Town of Dendron. This is a crucial time to speak out against this monstrosity of a coal plant and to maintain control of the direction of our communities!

The proposed plant, located only a few miles from one of the Commonwealth’s greatest treasures, the Chesapeake Bay, would poison surrounding waterways with 116 pounds of mercury per year. The plant would create nearly 60 tons of poisonous coal ash a day, to be stored in Surry County, and would increase the demand for coal extracted using mountaintop removal mining. In addition, it would add nearly 15 million tons of global warming pollution to our air every year.

Please plan to attend this critical meeting on Monday, Nov. 23 starting at 7:00pm at the Surry County Government Center, 45 School St. in Surry, VA. Visit the Wise Energy for Virginia site for more information.

The importance of locally grown & organic foods and socially responsible investing is the topic of our next York River Group meeting. Join us Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. for “Greening Your Money” with the following speakers:

Bev Sell, of Five Points Farm Market in Norfolk, will speak about the importance of supporting locally grown and organic foods, both for our personal health and the need to protect our farmlands. She will emphasize the hope that future farmers will be encouraged to provide this service to an increasingly interested public.

Andy Merchant and William Reyes, of Merrill Lynch investment corporation, specializing in environmentally sustainable investments, will present a power point on how we can invest in trusted, green companies and projects, and why we should consider this type of investment.

We’re meeting at Sandy Bottom Nature Park, 1255 Big Bethel Road, Hampton, VA 23666. For more info, contact Tyla Matteson, Chair, York River Group, (H) 804-275-6476, (C) 804-240-9246, tmatteson1@mindspring.com; or Tom Ellis, Vice Chair, tiellis@gmail.com, (H) 757-722-9785

Last year, Virginia Beach was the first “Virginia Green Destination”. To be certified “Virginia Green”, tourism partners such as hotels, restaurants, events and attractions must meet specified water conservation, energy conservation and recycling standards. They must also minimize the use of styrofoam/disposables. Today the City announced that the Virginia Beach hospitality industry “took that challenge to the next level, exceeding a goal to certify 100 new hospitality businesses”.

Per their press release: “The Virginia Beach hospitality industry exceeded its goal to certify 100 businesses with the Virginia Green program – including hotels, restaurants, events and attractions. Currently, more than 115 Virginia Beach businesses are Virginia Green certified, including 42 percent of Virginia Beach hotel rooms. Virginia Green awards green certification to businesses that take steps to reduce harmful environmental effects”.

What is Virginia Green?

Clean water, clean air, and abundant wildlife are what make our mountains, streams, and beaches so appealing to our tourists. Visitors to Virginia care about the environment and so does our tourism industry! This is the main premise behind Virginia Green. It is a network of tourism-related organizations and programs that are committed to protecting the environment while promoting responsible tourism.

Click here to learn more about the Virginia Green program.

While they had signed onto ICLEI several years ago, the City of Norfolk finally made their commitment to curbing carbon emissions official, pledging as a three-some tag team along with Tacoma, Washington and Kitakyushu, Japan.

The Joint Declaration reads as follows:

“In 1959, when our Cities entered into sister-city partnerships, most industrial nations - including the U.S. and Japan - were experiencing rapid economic development that brought great prosperity to both nations. At the same time, it also brought a new problem: environmental pollution. This era was also a time of overcoming this new situation.

50 years have passed since then and we now face a new problem, climate change, which affects everyone and in turn, everyone helps to cause. To overcome this problem, we need to change our culture/values and make continued efforts over a long period of time.

In response to this problem, our Cities will cross national barriers to work together to create low-carbon societies while observing the following points in order to appeal our efforts to the rest of the world.

- Each City will carry out activities adapted to their region and achieve a role leading their region toward the realization of a low-carbon society.
- On top of the cultural exchange we have accomplished thus far, we will further deepen our partnership through the exchange of information and opinions regarding climate change.
- The three Cities will work together to transmit information globally regarding each City’s efforts toward the realization of a low-carbon society.”

(Photo above found here within VML’s Town & City magazine.)

Norfolk Environmental Commission celebrates 30 years of keeping Norfolk beautiful with a gala event on Saturday, November 14th from 6 to 10 pm at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. Proceeds from the event support an environmental scholarship for local students.

From their website:

Part of the NEC’s mission is to lead residents toward environmental stewardship. As such, this local environmental organization has brought together local government agencies, businesses, residents and environmental stewards to study and implement environmental stewardship throughout Norfolk for the past 30 years.

The work of the NEC over the 30 years is evident throughout Norfolk. Some of the accomplishments include:

* A cleaner city. Norfolk had a score of 1.46 on the 2009 National Litter Index, which means virtually no litter throughout the City as a whole.
* 627,000 volunteers from our community have contributed 931,000 hours of work participating in litter cleanups, wetland restoration, electronics recycling, environmental education and neighborhood beautification projects.
* 8,223 litter cleanups resulting in the collection and proper disposal of over seven million pounds of litter.
* 263,000 tons of residential waste collected for recycling.
* More than 243,000 students taught basic environmental stewardship principles.

More info on the event on the flip… Read the rest of this entry »