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Most Recent NewsObama Administration Cancels Virginia Lease Sale 220 5/27/2010Richmond – This morning, President Obama announced the cancellation of the proposed lease sale 220 off of the Virginia coast. The president’s announcement comes amid public outrage over the ongoing BP oil spill. Environment Virginia Advocate J.R. Tolbert issued the following statement: Environment Virginia Responds to Senate Vote on Oil Company Liability 5/13/2010Richmond, VA – In response to the recent oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico the U.S. Senate attempted to vote today on a measure that would have raised the liability of oil companies from $75 million to $10 billion. The measure was blocked on an objection by Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski. Environment Virginia Cautiously Optimistic on Obama Decision to Delay Drilling off Virginia Coast 5/06/2010Richmond – In a reversal of its recent announcement on offshore drilling off the coast of Virginia, the Obama administration today announced its decision to suspend Lease Sale 220 off the coast of Virginia citing the ongoing review of OCS safety issues. The announcement comes in light of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico caused when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank in the past two weeks. Most Recent ReportsGenerating Failure: How Building Nuclear Power Plants Would Set America Back In the Race Against Global Warming 11/24/2009Far from a solution to global warming, nuclear power will actually set America back in the race to reduce pollution, according to a new report by Environment Virginia. Environment Virginia was joined by the Piedmont Group of Sierra Club and local nuclear power activists today to release the report and call on Senators Webb and Warner to focus on energy efficiency and renewable energy instead of nuclear power as the solution to global warming. Too Much Pollution: State and National Trends in Global Warming Emissions from 1990 to 2007 11/12/2009America’s reliance on fossil fuels—oil, coal and natural gas—for energy creates a host of problems, including air and water pollution, global warming pollution, high and unpredictable bills for consumers and businesses, and the need to import oil from unstable parts of the world. Moving to clean energy—such as solar and wind power, more efficient homes, and plug-in cars—will cut pollution, help rebuild our economy, and reduce America’s dependence on oil. For decades, America’s use of fossil fuels—and the global warming pollution that results—has been on the rise nationally and in states across the country. But this trend is starting to change in some states—in part because of the move to clean energy. Following the lead of those states will start to put the United States on a path to lower global warming emissions and help drive the creation of a clean energy economy. This report analyzes the most recent data available from the federal Department of Energy to calculate emissions of carbon dioxide from the use of oil, coal and natural gas at the national and state level from 1990 to 2007. Our analysis finds that: * Emissions of carbon dioxide, the leading global warming pollutant, from fossil fuel consumption increased by 19 percent in the United States from 1990 to 2007. Nationally, the rate of emissions growth has slowed in recent years, and emissions peaked in many states in 2004 and 2005. * Seventeen states saw declines in carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel use between 2004 and 2007. Watermen Blues: Economic, Cultural and Community Impacts of Poor Water Quality in the Chesapeake Bay 9/16/2009More than 25 years since the Chesapeake Bay Agreement of December 1983 created a region-wide partnership “to improve and protect the water quality and living resources of the Chesapeake Bay,”the bay’s water quality has not improved, and communities that rely on a clean, sustainable bay are paying a high price for the lack of progress.1 |