Climate Recovery Partnership News and Events

Maryland Community Wants Wind Energy Now!

Though Maryland currently gets 60 percent of its power from coal, Marylanders have spoken loud and clear that they want clean energy and green jobs from offshore wind. The Sierra Club and its allies are organizing town halls around the state this month and next, working from the grassroots up to advance offshore wind in Maryland.

A broad coalition of groups including the League of Women Voters, Interfaith Power & Light, and the Club’s Maryland Chapter held a town hall meeting on offshore wind in the Hillcrest Heights Community of Prince George’s County. The predominately African American community sits just a few miles upwind of the polluting GenOn Potomac River coal plant in Virginia (recently scheduled for retirement, thanks to the Beyond Coal Campaign's tireless efforts). The event drew a diverse crowd, from Prince George’s community members to lifelong Sierra Club members, all of whom want to bring cleaner air and jobs to their community.

Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown and State Delegate Aisha Braveboy addressed the 90-person crowd and expressed their enthusiastic support for bringing offshore wind to Maryland. A panel of experts explained how transitioning from coal to offshore wind could improve public health, advance climate justice, and bring good jobs to the county.

(Image: Kari Fulton, of the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative, speaking about climate justice. Seated, left to right, are moderator Jesse Alexander and panelists Fred Tutman of Patuxent Riverkeeper and Delegate Aisha Braveboy.) 

(Ad) Campaign Season in D.C.

Last weekend in Washington, D.C., the Sierra Club made a splash with the launch of a new advertising campaign focused on protecting families from toxic mercury pollution. Placed throughout 160 Metro train cars, the ads show images of pregnant women and point out the dangerous levels of mercury pollution that afflict over 300,000 newborns each year. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can damage the brain and nervous system and cause developmental problems, learning disabilities, and delayed onset of walking and talking for babies.

The ads come as the Obama administration is expected to issue the first-ever federal protections regarding mercury pollution from power plants, rules that would reduce mercury pollution in the United States by 90 percent. Coal-fired power plants remain one of the largest sources of pollution in our country: they pump approximately 48 tons of toxic mercury into our air each year, constituting the largest domestic source of federally unrestrained mercury pollution in the United States.

Our ad campaign was featured in media outlets Huffington Post (front page!), Greenwire/E&E News, and Politico Morning Energy.

Check out the ads here.

Campuses Unite for Clean Energy

Sierra Student Coalition just concluded their tremendously successful “100 Actions for Clean Energy” on campuses all over the United States. Highlights included:

• On Thursday, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson met with SSC leaders from across the country (see photo) at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Students talked with Jackson about their local campaigns to retire coal-fired power plants on their campuses. Jackson agreed that the outdated U.S. fleet of coal plants must be cleaned up. She also explained her agency’s recent regulations of pollution from coal-fueled power plants and other dirty energy sources: "We’re not going to use the current economic crisis to roll back the health and safety people have come to rely on for a decade." The meeting with Jackson received great attention from Bloomberg News, Reuters, The Hill, McClatchy, IWP, EENews, and Politico.

• On Wednesday, our SSC group at the University of Kentucky delivered to the Board of Trustees over 500 signatures calling for the university board and president to phase out the two on-campus coal plants and replace them with efficient and renewable sources of energy. SSC leader Patrick Johnson addressed the board’s finance committee, and about half of the committee members joined Beyond Coal activists in applauding Johnson’s speech. Lexington’s Herald Leader devoted a story to the students’ efforts here.

• In other Wednesday news, Sierra Student Coalition members at the University of Virginia camped out in the amphitheater to protest coal burning on their campus. Joined by Sierra Club’s Virginia Chapter, they also screened the Dr. Seuss movie "The Lorax." This great event appeared in the campus newspaper.

• Students at Michigan State University held a flash mob dance and delivered a petition to university president Lou Anna Simon, asking her to retire the on-campus coal plant.

More Big Wins in Virginia

Just days after the city of Alexandria and GenOn announced the retirement of the Potomac River coal plant, Virginia's largest utility, Dominion Resources, said yesterday that it will shutter its Chesapeake Energy Center by 2016, shut down one coal-fired boiler at Yorktown Power Station by 2015, and convert a second coal-fired unit to gas. The Chesapeake Energy Center and the Yorktown Power Station emit tens of thousands of tons of soot annually, triggering asthma attacks and aggravating respiratory ailments among the hundreds of thousands of local residents.

"Today's announcement of the retirement of the Chesapeake and Yorktown plants in another critical win for the residents of Virginia," said Sierra Club's Executive Director Michael Brune. "These two plants are a major source of pollution in coastal Virginia, and the decision by Dominion to responsibly phase them out means kids will have the opportunity to breathe cleaner air. Local activists and everyday Virginians have been working for years to ensure that plants like these get cleaned up or phased out; today they all celebrate this victory."

Coverage of this important news spanned local outlets such as The Daily Press and PilotOnline, and earned national attention in the Houston Chronicle and the energy industry magazine Power Engineering.

Even “Coal Country” Opposes MTR

The results of a poll indicate that voters in Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and Tennessee oppose mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining by wide margins.

The poll, commissioned by the Sierra Club, Appalachian Mountain Advocates, and Earthjustice, found that 57 percent of voters oppose MTR. Only 20 percent support the destructive practice of mining coal through topographical alteration, which causes biodiversity loss and human health impacts.

The survey also revealed that attitudes towards MTR crosses typical political boundaries. More than 50 percent of respondents from each political affiliation—Democratic, Independent, and Republican—opposed MTR.

These surprising findings grabbed the attention of several outlets, such as the Associated Press, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Charleston Gazette, Grist, Register Herald, and Greenwire/EE News.

Check out the polling document here and the polling memo here. Read Sierra Club’s press release about the poll here.

Thumbs-Up for Clean Air

On Wednesday, the Sierra Club teamed up with University of Pittsburgh students and local environmental activists in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park to rally for strong EPA safeguards against dangerous smog pollution. Our news conference came in response to the EPA’s Tuesday decision to delay adopting stricter anti-smog rules.

Aided by Sierra Club’s 18-foot-tall inflatable hand holding an inhaler, which has been making its rounds in Club events across the country, the news conference provided a valuable chance to educate the public about the dangers of dirty air. In Western Pennsylvania alone, smog sends 10,000 people each summer to the emergency room and harms on a daily basis more than 78,000 adults and 25,000 children living with asthma.

Our efforts to make our voices heard grabbed the attention of local media, garnering coverage in outlets such as Central Public Radio, NewsRadio 1020 KDKA, and this excellent piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Darrell Sapp/Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Hands Across the Sand Returns

On June 25, one year after the BP oil disaster, Sierra Club organizers from four ecoregions—the Gulf Coast, Adirondacks to Acadia, Pacific Northwest, and Arctic—brought hundreds of participants throughout America together once again for Hands Across the Sand.

Working with several organizations, such as Oceana, Florida Wildlife Federation, and 350.org, we generated great turn-outs in key states, including the 555 people who joined hands in Florida to support a move beyond oil.

We also received great high-profile media coverage, like this TV spot from New Orleans NBC affiliate WDSU, that bolstered our successful efforts to raise awareness about the dangers of dirty fuels and offshore drilling nationwide.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg Takes a $50 Million Stand with Sierra Club against Coal

(Photos: 1) Illinois Beyond Coal Organizers (L to R) Christine Nannicelli, Verena Owen, and Rose Gomez. Photo by Heather Moyer. 2) Michael Brune, Mary Anne Hitt, and Bruce Nilles of the Sierra Club with Mayor Bloomberg. Photo by Kristina Hopper.)

In an unprecedented blow to the coal industry, Bloomberg Philanthropies donated $50 million to the Sierra Club to help us move America beyond coal toward a clean energy future. The gift is the largest individual donation to the Climate Recovery Partnership, and Bloomberg’s largest gift to an environmental organization.

With the GenOn coal plant of Alexandria, Virginia, in the background, Mayor Bloomberg—surrounded by media, Sierra Club volunteers, donors, and staff—announced the gift to the Club’s Beyond Coal campaign. "We all have to do our part. I wouldn't ask you to do anything I'm not willing to do myself. And I'm willing to do $50 million," stated Mayor Bloomberg. The donation will expand the Club’s Beyond Coal campaign from 15 to 45 states and double the campaign workforce.

Read more about this exciting news on Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune’s blog, Coming Clean.

Media coverage of the event was international in scope, and included the following publications:

• Sierra Club press release;
• NPR, Mayor Bloomberg Donates $50 Million to Sierra Club;
  • Piece run by WBUR Boston Public Radio; Minnesota Public Radio; KCLU – Santa Barbara Public Radio; North Country Public Radio (NY); Vermont Public Radio.
• New York Times, Bloomberg and Sierra Club Join Forces to Slow Coal;
• Rolling Stone, Michael Bloomberg Funds Guerilla War Against Big Coal;
• Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Gives Sierra Club $50 Million to Fight Coal Plants;
• Washington Post, Mayor Bloomberg gives $50 million to fight coal-fired power plants;
  • This article was republished by The Daily Caller;
  • This article was republished by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
• Reuters, Bloomberg, Sierra Club make $50 mln anti-coal move;
  • The Reuters article was republished by Solve Climate News; Mother Nature Network.

• New Yorker, Bloomberg Spends Big Against Coal;
• Time, Coal Kills Every Day's: Michael Bloomberg Pledges $50 Million to Fight the Coal Industry;
• San Francisco Chronicle, The Coal Stops Here
• Philadelphia Inquirer, $50 mill to get U.S. “Beyond Coal”;
• The Nation, Bloomberg Goes 'Beyond Coal'; Activists Step Up Protests Against Tar Sands;
• The Guardian, Michael Bloomberg got New Yorkers to quit smoking. Can he shut down coal?
• Financial News Network, Mayor Bloomberg Donates $50 Million For A Campaign To Eliminate Coal-Fired Plants;
• Market Watch, Bloomberg gives $50M to fight against coal plants;
• Business Wire, Sierra Club, Bloomberg’s ‘Beyond Coal’ Campaign Would Move America ‘Beyond Jobs’;
• Huffington Post, Bloomberg Beyond Coal Donation: New York City Mayor Commits $50 Million Toward Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal;
• National Journal, Bloomberg Targets Coal with $50 Million Donation to Sierra Club;
• BNet, How Mayor Bloomberg Will Help Close One-Third of U.S. Coal Plants.

D.C. Mayor Echoes Club Concerns

Concerned about toxic air pollution from a coal-fired power plant in nearby Alexandria, Virginia, the Sierra Club recently asked Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray to file a special EPA petition to force the Potomac River Generating Station to either clean up or shut down. The Club has discovered that sulfur dioxide emissions from the 62-year-old plant travel downwind to the District's Ward 8 neighborhoods, causing residents to suffer asthma attacks and other respiratory ailments.

"We're concerned about people's health,” Sierra Club’s Irv Sheffey told The Washington Examiner, “This is a tangible indicator that there's something going on in the air we need to be concerned about.”

Not only did the mayor support our proposal, but his increasing questions about the plant have helped focus tremendous attention to the plant’s health dangers. Television, radio, and online media are all spreading the news about our work to clean up our nation’s capital.

Inflatable Hand Helps Us Reach Out

Over the past week, two Sierra Club rallies helped spread the word about the public health consequences of air pollution and coal-fired power, aided by an inflatable prop.

In Philadelphia, members of the Sierra Club, the Clean Air Council, and other local groups held a rally for clean air on the Independence Mall. The event showcased an 18-foot-tall inflatable hand holding an inhaler, which highlighted the discussion about asthma and poor air quality. Coverage of the rally appeared on local television and radio in Philadelphia, a city that received an “F” in the State of the Air 2011 Report by the American Lung Association.

The inflatable hand also appeared at our rally in Houston, which featured Houston’s Vice Mayor Pro Tem, City Council Member Ed Gonzalez, and various environmental supporters opposing the proposed White Stallion coal-fired power plant near the city. Despite the rainy weather, dozens of White Stallion opponents gathered to release a new Sierra Club study showing the potential risks of increased smog pollution from the proposed power plant. In addition to showing the support of local politicians for our work, the rally received attention in media outlets such as Houston Public Radio and Fox News in Houston.