CONSERVATION NEWS ACROSS VIRGINIA
Conservation Updates from the 2020 General Assembly – Week 3
Network Partners join Sen. Lewis after the passing of SB795 through subcommittee on a largely bi-partisan vote. The bill removes outdated language that expresses Virginia's support of offshore drilling. Updates on VCN Priorities Restoring the regulatory power of the SCC and saving ratepayers billions (HB1132). Since 2015, Dominion Energy has overcharged its Virginia customers by more than $1.3 billion and Virginians now pay the 7th highest residential energy bills in the nation. High bills are harming Virginia's businesses and families - according to the Virginia [...]
Trump Administration to Strip Clean Water Act Protections
The Trump administration today will strip Clean Water Act protections for more than half the nation’s wetlands and millions of miles of streams-- numbers confirmed by the administration’s own analysis. The cuts put drinking water sources for millions of people in the U.S. at risk and jeopardize the ability to counter floods, droughts, toxic algal blooms, groundwater depletion and other worsening water issues driven by the climate crisis. The Clean Water Act rollbacks are the latest in a series of [...]
PHOTO GALLERY: More than 250 Advocates Meet with Legislators for 2020 Conservation Lobby Day
MORE THAN 250 ADVOCATES MEET WITH LEGISLATORS FOR 2020 CONSERVATION LOBBY DAY On Tuesday, January 21, more than 250 conservation advocates met with legislators for VCN's 2020 Conservation Lobby Day. Advocates completed more than 50 meetings int he Pocahontas building, lobbying their state representatives on legislation including the Virginia Clean Economy Act, cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay, and a variety of additional goals for the conservation community. The sold out event began with a charge from Dels. Bulova, [...]
Conservation Updates from the 2020 General Assembly – Week 2
EARLY BIRD ENDS JANUARY 17 AT 11:59 PM Hundreds of clean energy supporters joined CCAN and the Sierra Club for the Rally and Lobby Day for Clean Energy (Photo credit: Adrienne Eichner). Updates on VCN Priorities VCN endorses the Virginia Clean Economy Act (HB1526/SB851). The VCEA moves the Commonwealth to a 100% carbon-free electricity grid and eliminates pollution from utilities by 2050. The bill takes the following four steps to get us there: using energy efficiency to lower bills and reduce energy demand, [...]
Kristie Smith: Virginia Clean Economy Act primer
OPINION: Virginia Clean Economy Act VCN’s own Kristie Smith, Climate & Clean Energy Policy & Campaigns Manager, is featured in Energy News Network discussing the Virginia Clean Economy Act. Virginia environmentalists have reason to be giddy and emboldened as the General Assembly delves into lawmaking this month. For one, Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam has been on a green tear. And, voters flipped both the House of Delegates and the Senate from red to blue during the November election [...]
Conservation Updates from the 2020 General Assembly – Week 1
SIGN UP TODAY! Happy Hour Primer "Madam Speaker." For the first time in the 400-year history of the Virginia General Assembly, a woman was elected Speaker of the House. Del. Filler-Corn was sworn in on Wednesday and joins Charniele Herring, the first woman and African American Majority Leader, and Suzette Denslow, the first woman Clerk of the House of Delegates and Keeper of the Rolls, up on the dais. More than 2,400 bills have already been filed (woah!). This time last year, around 1,600 [...]