Press Release: January 9th, 2024 Contact: Andrew Payton or Everett Brubaker
The Climate Action Alliance of the Valley (CAAV) is pleased to announce that we have awarded funds to several area non-profit organizations in support of our partnership with Community Housing Partners (CHP) Energy Solutions and its work providing no-cost weatherization and energy efficiency upgrades to area residents.
CHP Energy Solutions, the State designated non-profit Weatherization provider for the Shenandoah Valley, provides no-cost home energy improvements and upgrades for qualifying renters and homeowners. This year, CHP Energy Solutions completely weatherized all 112 affordable housing townhomes in Mosby Heights, along with dozens of area mobile homes, stick built homes, and apartments. However, awareness and adoption of programs locally remain low. To help increase awareness and local applications to CHP programs, HUU donated $3,500 to fund a pilot project with Harrisonburg non-profit Comité Salvadoreño Paisanos Unidos (COSPU). Since June 2023, COSPU has used the funding to promote these programs in the communities they serve, and several of their community members are set to receive improvements this year.
Based on the success with the initial pilot, CAAV is pleased to announce the distribution of additional funding totaling $35,500. After soliciting proposals from numerous area organizations who serve disadvantaged renters and homeowners, CAAV selected four organizations on November 29, 2023 to receive grant funding to connect their members with CHP Energy Solutions’ Programs. The organizations selected are:
Comité Salvadoreño Paisanos Unidos (COSPU)
Friendship Industries Inc/Able Solutions Inc
United Way of Harrisonburg & Rockingham County
Valley Program for Aging Services
From January through May, each organization will provide outreach to their clients to encourage and help them apply for CHP services. CAAV and CHP will provide training and guidance throughout the process.
“These collaborations are exciting for CAAV because home weatherization sits at the intersection of addressing climate issues, reducing energy bills, and improving health and safety in our community,” said Andrew Payton, chair of the steering committee of CAAV. “Collaborating with area organizations serving those most energy burdened is going to help connect more families to these opportunities and improve lives.”
Community Housing Partners and the Climate Action Alliance of the Valley invite you to learn how income-qualified families can get their homes weatherized for free.
Simms Center 640 Simms Avenue, Harrisonburg VA Monday, April 11th 7:30 pm
Through the federally-funded Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) adminstered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Development (DHCD), Community Housing Partners‘ (CHP) weatherization services reduce energy costs for families by improving the energy efficiency of their homes, while also assessing and eliminating related health and safety issues. The Energy Solutions team completes a site-specific energy audit of a home that includes blower-door-directed air leakage diagnostics, heating system safety and efficiency diagnostics, duct leakage diagnostics, and insulation needs. Following the energy audit, CHP’s weatherization team performs repairs and improvements to home heating and cooling systems and provides for the installation of energy-saving measures in the house, such as improved insulation and air sealing.
CHP’s weatherization services are for low-income families, particularly for households with elderly residents, individuals with disabilities, and families with children. Households are typically qualified based on income and recipients must be residents of the state of Virginia.
JMU students Melissa, Yen, Isabella, Max, Jake and Brendan meet with CAAV members Laura Dansby and Joni Grady on February 8.
For the spring semester of 2016, CAAV’s efforts to increase home weatherization in the Harrisonburg area through the Community Housing Program-administered Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) is getting a boost of energy from six JMU interns, self-dubbed the Weather Wizards. Their main goal will be to work on overcoming barriers to spreading the word about and getting homes more energy efficient through the federally funded WAP home weatherizing program which is free for income qualified families. The past year’s efforts have only succeeded in getting work done on six area homes.
The Weather Wizards are: Isabella Bauer, Max Florence, Yen Lopez, Brendan Queenan, Melissa Swan and Jake Walters, all taking Dr. Jennifer PeeksMease’s Organization Communication class. More about them below.
“The Weather Wizards’ mission is to assist the Climate Action Alliance of the Valley (CAAV) in their weatherization initiative, while maintaining their standard of beliefs and values. Using our resources effectively, we aim to spread awareness of energy
issues, as well as communicate effectively with community members.”
Among items under discussion are finding out what has worked in other communities, talking to families who have successfully navigated the application process to find ways to facilitate this, and developing an effective flyer as an outreach tool.
CAAV welcome’s the talent and energy of these JMU students!
Max Florence: I am a creative individual who enjoys analyzing and debugging structural
processes, primarily in movies. I excel at viewing a situation holistically and finding
solutions that benefit a group rather than an individual.
Isabella Bauer: I am an organized and dedicated student with an interest in identifying
organizational structures and creating ways in which to help them better perform.
Through past experience working in an office setting, I can aid in organization
management as well as applying knowledge to benefit others. In addition, I am a German
minor and can use my language skills to benefit the group as necessary.
Jake Walters: I’ve worked in a variety of fields that have had a focus of dealing with
many different clients (construction, appliances, food delivery, sports management). I
also have a genuine interest in participating alongside an organization that looks to
benefit the public. Additionally, I do have an Italian minor and although I wouldn’t say
I’m fluent, these skills could be helpful when needed. I’m a pretty easy guy to get along
with as well, and look forward to helping my group in any way that I can.
Yen Lopez: I am a junior Media Arts & Design and Public Relations double major. I
enjoy applying creative processes to find solutions to problems. I am bilingual; I can
speak fluent English and Spanish. I look forward to working with CAAV and aiding
diverse background families.
Melissa Swan: I am majoring in Communications Studies with a minor in Environmental
Studies. I very much enjoy learning about the natural world in which we live and I am
excited to work towards the goal of weatherizing homes of those in my community. I am
a very organized and persistent student who enjoys utilizing creative processes that will
solve communication issues that exist around me.
Brendan Queenan: I am an individual who enjoys a team environment and excels in
managing multiple tasks. Although I do not see myself as a big picture person, I do
believe that I am an individual who is fully capable of coordinating team members and
assigning roles in addition to conflict mediation.
If you qualify* as a low-to-moderate income household, Community Housing Partners can help reduce your energy bills and make your home more comfortable, energy efficient and affordable year round.
Clients approved for the Weatherization Assistance Program will receive a FREE ENERGY AUDIT, which will determine the work that can be done to your home. This may Include:
Energy-Saving measures to reduce heat loss, such as attic and wall insulation, caulking and weather-stripping
Inspection of heating equipment and duct work in order to assure safe and efficient operation
Assessment and remedy of unsafe conditions (carbon monoxide emissions, back-draft conditions, fire hazards, bad wiring etc.)
Other energy-related improvements
To learn more or obtain an application, please contact:
Karen Vincent 540-949-5879 x 5108
Community Housing Partners/ Energy Solutions
126 S. Bayard Ave., Waynesboro, VA 22980
The next meeting of Weatherize Harrisonburg/Rockingham will be on:
Monday, April 20, 2015 5:00-6:30PM, Gilkerson Community Activities Center Craft Room 2
Westover Park
305 S.Dogwood Dr., Harrisonburg.
All welcome!
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We are helping to plan a Public Meeting with representatives of Community Housing Partners sponsored by the Northeast Neighborhood Association on Thursday, March 26 at 7:00 PM, Simms Center, 620 Simms Ave., Harrisonburg.
If you qualify as a low-to-moderate income household, Community Housing Partners can help reduce your energy bills, make your home more comfortable, energy efficient and affordable year round. Clients approved for the Weatherization Assistance Program will receive a free energy audit which will determine the work that can be done in your home.
Join the Northeast Neighborhood Association at this meeting with representatives of Community Housing Partners and Weatherize Harrisonburg/Rockingham to learn more and obtain an application.
~~~~~~~~~~
February 26, 2015, Meeting at the downtown library:
First Meeting on February 26!
Our agenda for the meeting is to learn who you all are and where your interests and expertise lie. Are you interested in helping to ferret out all existing weatherization programs and funding sources, whether “official” or volunteer? Do you work with an agency or business or volunteer group already involved in a program ? Do you know groups of people who might be in need of having their houses worked on? Do you have useful contacts with any of the above or would you like to develop some?
We want to flesh out the list we’ve begun from online sources and add to it with personal contacts, and we need your help to gather as much information as we can. Only then can we decide the best ways of making the information available to the people who need it, whether it’s an online website, public meetings, or going door to door–or all of the above.
We can also decide how often we need to meet, when, and where.
Hope to see you tomorrow.
Joni Grady, Joy Loving, Les Grady
We ended the advocacy workshop last month talking about ways to improve the energy efficiency of low and middle income homes in our area. Energy efficiency is the cleanest, cheapest fuel there is. It is one of the cornerstones of the President’s Climate Action Plan. It can save low and middle income families real dollars and let them benefit even more should a revenue neutral carbon fee be put in place. And the feds have been working on it since 1976, almost 40 years! Here in Virginia, Governor Terry McAuliffe signed a proclamation designating October 30, 2014, as Weatherization Day. The WAP (Weatherization Assistance Program) network was also recognized at the Governor’s Housing Conference in Norfolk, Virginia last November.
There are other programs that Valley residents could tap into if they only knew about them and had some assistance in making use of them. Members of the Climate Action Alliance of the Valley have decided to create an ad hoc committee to:
1) create a database of programs already in place or potentially available, the people involved, what they offer and to whom
2) get the information out to the people who need it and help them connect to the help that’s offered
3) hopefully hold a one-day volunteer weatherization event, put actual (work) boots on the ground
We need your help. The first step is the research and data gathering, an activity a lot of you who came to the workshop were very interested in! We have begun making lists of program/contacts, just as we did at the workshop, but we also need to figure out exactly what information we need to put into the database. And when that’s done, we need people who will gather that information from the online links and then call the contacts to fill in missing information.
I know you’re interested in making a real difference in the Valley so join us for an hour to plan and organize. Also, please let us know if you’re interested in the project but just can’t make the meeting.
Joni Grady, ad hoc committee on Energy Efficiency
contactcaav[at]gmail.com
Update, February 16, 2015.
Joy Loving and I have been busily gathering some background information to find out what we know and what we don’t know about the weatherization options available to low and middle income residents of Virginia and Harrisonburg in particular.
Please look it over–it’s the Weatherization document on Google Drive –and make any comments (using Review) you might have about people you know, groups that you know, etc. When we do meet, we’ll at least have this as a basis for making a plan for further action and know what blanks we need to fill in. We’ll update it as we continue to find more clues to what we can do and we’ll incorporate your comments appropriately. One overall impression that I have gotten is that Virginia and Harrisonburg are strong supporters of energy efficiency action–as long as the feds are paying for it. Which means that there will be ample opportunity for advocacy as well as local action.
We have been asked to attend the NorthEast Neighborhood Association meeting Thursday, February 19 at 7pm at Simms School to introduce what we’re thinking of doing and the information we need from homeowners.
I’m excited about the opportunities we have for making even a small difference where we are.
Full house at Solarize Hburg’s June 2, 2014, exploratory forum.
The Climate Action Alliance of the Valley (CAAV) sponsored an initial public meeting on June 2, 2014. An informational session, it was well attended, with over 100 persons listening to several speakers, including representatives of Community Power Network (CPN) and Sierra Club.
The second Solarize Harrisonburg meeting, to formally launch this initiative, will happen on July 28, 2014, at Massanutten Regional Library, 174 S Main St., Harrisonburg, VA, at 6 PM. The public is welcome. Representatives from Community Power Network will provide specific details about the project and answer questions. After the meeting, the effort will continue with organizational activities and development of a request for proposal (RFP) to be issued to solar installers.
Solarize Harrisonburg has a web site: www.vasun.org/solarize-virginia/solarize-harrisonburg. To sign up in advance of the meeting and receive a free satellite roof analysis of your building’s solar suitability, complete the survey form at this site. Solarize Harrisonburg is partnering with CPN, which has extensive experience in helping communities increase their “solar footprint.” The email address is: solarizeharrisonburg@vasun.org.
Solarize Harrisonburg desires to support low-income energy users, energy conservation programs, renewable energy programs, and the advancement of green building principles. To that end, Solarize Harrisonburg seeks to dramatically increase the use of clean, renewable solar power in the Harrisonburg area and to provide local home and business owners with an opportunity to install solar panels at an affordable rate.
Across VA, families have wanted to take control of their own electricity for decades to provide relief from rate hikes and from unreliable utilities and to reduce their impact on our environment. The solar power option has been too expensive, with large upfront costs that have put it out of reach for middle-class families, and without standardized financing options.
Solarize Harrisonburg will address these issues in the area by creating an easy and affordable way for area homeowners and businesses to own and benefit from their own solar electricity systems. The project will include the following components:
1. Bundling of individual solar contracts to allow participants to benefit from bulk purchasing through a competitive bidding process. The chosen installer will provide a single price per installed Watt for all participating cooperative members.
2. Community-based marketing strategy to encourage neighbors to go solar together. This marketing strategy will include public solar seminars and information sessions, email and personal outreach, and earned media opportunities.
3. Consumer advocacy and technical analysis for cooperative members—ensuring that members receive unbiased, third party assistance from providing trained site assessments, to reviewing bids on behalf of the group, to arranging affordable financing, and ensuring quality installations.
4. A streamlined financing procedure that removes the upfront cost barrier for families and farms in Harrisonburg, VA.
CPN will provide consulting services to the Solarize Harrisonburg effort, including:
1. Develop informational materials to help educate participants on the basics and economics of going solar.
2. Conduct initial satellite assessment and answer technical, policy, and financial questions to prospective homeowners.
3. Conduct due diligence and review of proposals, to allow coop members in making a final choice of installers.
4. Ensure quality and timely installations.
5. Bring any concerns about installer workmanship, pricing, or activities to the attention of the chosen installer and Solarize Harrisonburg.
6. Continue post-installation engagement to build the movement for solar in VA.
CPN will support the formation of Solarize Harrisonburg through:
1. Promoting public information sessions to its membership and the broader Harrisonburg community.
2. Serving as the community anchor and public face for this local effort.
3. Providing institutional backing and community support to the project through social and traditional media channels.
4. Helping ensure the project reflects the culture, needs and desire of the local participants.
5. Helping design follow up actions and next steps for the group.
Click on the image below for a full-sized view of this one page flyer about Solarize Harrisonburg. Consider printing copies to distribute to your neighbors! The more homes involved, the greater the success of this project.
Frequently Asked Questions with more details about how VA Solar Co-op programs work is here.
Sustainability Coordinator, Facility Manager … Performance Standards Coordinator. Let the Council and City Manager know to make this position a budget priority. It will likely pay for itself in financial savings while streamlining and facilitating city efforts to save energy and reduce our carbon footprint for the health of our community and planet. More about the possibilities for this role in this earlier posting.
“… at the Budget work session (February 8, 2014) for City Council, City staff recommended that the next budget include a Facility Manager/Sustainability Coordinator. The City Manager said he would like that new job to take effect before the budget goes into effect. The staff circulated the attached beginning thoughts about a job description. I spoke with Kurt (Hodgen) afterwards and he said they are interested in getting comments about what else should be in the job description or how it should change. He stressed this is their first effort and expect it to change because they have not done this before.
This is very very good news. Pete Bsumek and others have been working on this for years and this is a great development.
So, if you have ideas for what should be in the job description then send those to the City Manager. Also, we should encourage people to use the budget survey at http://beheardharrisonburg.org/surveys/2014-2015-budget-ideas and let the City know that this proposed new job should definitely stay in the budget. The recommendation from City Staff is tremendous but City Council has to know not to remove it.
Truly this is huge. Great work Pete and all who have been working on this issue. – Thomas D. Domonoske
More from Tom about this position:
The Comprehensive Plan that was adopted by the City in 2011 had Goal 8: To preserve and enhance the City’s natural resources and encourage development that is compatible with nature. It specifically listed adoption of performance standards for the following: Pollutant discharges into water resources; Air emissions; Erosion and sediment control; Noise exposure limits; Excessive light emissions; Energy use and efficiency; and Protection of environmental features: floodplains, wetlands, steep slopes, sinkholes, tree cover.
Many of our public buildings use far more energy than necessary and do not deliver consistent comfort to the occupants. A Performance Standards Coordinator would both save the City money and implement the vision in the Comprehensive Plan.
Here is what is in the Comprehensive Plan – see specifically 8.3.1 at the end.
Goal 8. To preserve and enhance the City’s natural resources and encourage development that is compatible with nature.
Objective 8.1 To keep abreast of environmental issues facing the City and to monitor the City’s environmental health.
Strategy 8.1.1 To tap local expertise as available to keep abreast of environmental issues facing the City and to monitor the City’s environmental health.
Strategy 8.1.2 To prepare an annual or biannual “state of the City’s environment” report using compiled data collected by the City, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and other sources and describing and recommending programs to address environmental issues.
Objective 8.2 To develop water and air quality improvement programs to comply with federal and state standards, programs and requirements.
Strategy 8.2.1 To continue to implement the City’s MS4 Phase II storm water management program dealing with improving the quality of storm water runoff.
Strategy 8.2.2 To continue working with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, and other partner organizations that implement best management practices to improve stormwater and water quality.
Strategy 8.2.3 To collaborate with Rockingham County and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality in developing an air quality improvement plan, should the region be declared to be nonattainment for ozone pollution.
Objective 8.3 To create a set of environmental performance standards for public and private development and redevelopment projects.
Strategy 8.3.1 Using state standards where applicable, to prepare a set of environmental performance standards for all development which may include such issues as:
Pollutant discharges into water resources
Air emissions
Erosion and sediment control
Noise exposure limits
Excessive light emissions
Energy use and efficiency
Protection of environmental features: floodplains, wetlands, steep slopes, sinkholes, tree cover
A coalition of a number of local activist groups is on a mission.The Harrisonburg City Public School Board is in the planning phase for a new middle school to be located next to either the Harrisonburg High School or the present Thomas Harrison Middle School. It is the perfect time to consider designing a showcase net zero energy building (ZEB) which can function as a model and learning center for area students as well as offer significant energy and money savings benefiting our climate and taxpayers.
image from sustainablebusiness.com’s story on New York City’s first net zero energy school
CAAV is one of the members of the coalition, dubbed New Middle School LEED/ZEB Project. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, a program of the U.S. Green Building Council which offers nationally accepted certification for sustainable building. CAAV member Bishop Dansby says: “The City of Harrisonburg School Board is going to build a new middle school. The architect, Crabtree, Rohrbaugh and Associates Architects, has been chosen but the design has not been developed, yet. We are on a campaign to convince the school board to make the new middle school a net zero energy structure. This will mean that via the addition of about 500kw of solar panels, the school’s net energy use over the course of the year will be zero!”
“… schools are the best opportunity to build NZEB (net zero energy buildings). They have low energy density (50% commercial), have long holidays and summer where use decreases, and the ‘owner’ has a long investment horizon (to justify the investment in solar).
You can think of NZEB as LEED plus solar. Of course, you could have NZEB without LEED, since some of the aspects of LEED have little to do with operation energy cost. However, when LEED is combined with NZEB, you have the best we humans can do for sustainability at this point in time. Further, the school becomes a learning laboratory for school children, and this is the way these schools have been used in other states.
This would be the first NZEB school in Virginia, but there are several around the country.
Frankly, the proposed new Harrisonburg middle school is large. It is actually at least as large as the Lady Bird Johnson Middle School, in terms of number of students. I found out from the meeting last night (School Board Meeting, 10/15/2013, see Architects Agenda) that the estimate of 900 students is a low estimate. This will make this NZEB project even more outstanding: it is one thing to build a small NZEB, but even more interesting to build a large NZEB. This could mean the solar array could be even larger than 500 kw.
… the School Board has the option to buy the solar array outright or to enter a power purchase agreement (PPA). Today, for a system this size, solar will cost $3.00 per watt, for a total or $1.5M for a 500w system. If we want to put pressure on the School Board, we can make the case that it would be economically irresponsible to not at least enter into a PPA, as this would reduce their power cost by 10% with no investment. By the way, we have found no evidence that LEED cost more than conventional construction, but let me know if you know different.”
Paul Hutton, AIA, LEED AP, founding Principal of Hutton Architecture Studio, in Denver, Colorado writes for the Council of Educational Facility Planners International: “One of the fastest growing trends in school design is Net Zero Energy Schools. There are now at least a dozen or more schools completed or in construction that have achieved, or have committed to, this incredible level of energy efficiency.” Bishop recommends his article Zero Energy Schools – Beyond Platinum for an “excellent primer on the subject.”
A Zero Energy Building solution shows the community that our leaders care about future costs to run a facility, tax burdens imposed on community members, and the health of our environment. More important, it shows that our community cares deeply for our children and their future. – Architect Charles Hendricks
Learn more about the benefits and cost savings of LEED-certified schools from Ashley Katz of the U.S. Green Building Council here.
“LEED-certified schools provide students, teachers and visitors with clean and healthy air to breathe, better acoustics, regular access to daylight, thermal comfort and moisture control. LEED for Schools emphasizes strategies to create spaces that enhance learning …”
By way of example, Virginia Beach City Public Schools subscribe to a sustainability plan where, “Any new or renovated building will be designed to achieve a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) silver rating at a minimum.”
City Council meeting, March 28, 2013 photo from Becky Johnston
Earlier this year, the Harrisonburg City Public School Board’s request to the Harrisonburg City Council for the new school drew a packed audience interested in seeing that bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure be included in its planning and funding. See the Northend Greenway’s post about this here.
To further the coalition’s efforts to promote a net zero energy (and bike/ped accessible) Harrisonburg Middle School:
Journalist Emily Sharrer covered this project for the Daily News-Record on November 11, 2013, here.
Bishop Dansby’s Open Forum piece in the Daily News-Record on November 23, 2013, here: New School Should be Green.
New Middle School LEED/ZEB Project co-leaders Bishop Dansby and Jeffrey Tang offered comments about the new middle school design at the Harrisonburg City School Board meeting on Tuesday, November 5. Click on either image below for video of the meeting. School discussion begins at 44 minutes.
Click on this image to sign the coalition’s online petition!
Last week Bishop and I went to a meeting at the School Board’s offices that we were told was with the architects. It turned out to be a meeting with the architects, the engineers, both mechanical and physical, school reps and a person from Chicago helping to organize the design process. They were very interested in the concepts and made clear that the limiting factor is how the City Council makes the money available. If, as in the past, the City Council provides a lump sum and says “build the best school you can with this money” then the money is hard to allocate to future energy savings beyond what the Building Code requires.
They repeatedly said that LEED certification at one level is almost a given because of Building Code requirements. That does not necessarily translate into energy efficiency or production because LEED points can be obtained in a number of different ways.
The real work is on City Council and the budget process. The issue is that savings from future budgets regarding lower utility payments are a totally different budget than capital improvements budget for putting up the building. We need the City to add the current value of the future savings into the dollars made available for the building. Then the School Board can spend money on energy efficiency.
I do not know when will be the best time to have a bunch of people attend a City Council meeting, but we need to figure that out and plan it. I am assuming it will be after a site is chosen in January but am really not sure.
Also, I have added Scott Kettelkamp to this list. He is local contractor who has built three passive solar townhomes in Harrisonburg that also have active solar panels. They include things like shades on light sensors that automatically open and lower, etc. He has data on how they have performed through the seasons that is Harrisonburg specific and his wife teaches elementary school in the City Schools and they have children in the school system. We need people like him to attend whatever meeting we will have in front of City Council to present their experience and what they want.
by Josh Israel, Thinkprogress.org December 3, 2012
Virginia’s Republican Party appears poised to nominate state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to be its candidate for governor in 2013 — embracing a man whose extreme political views bear striking resemblance to those of unsuccessful 2012 Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO).
With his fervent anti-science, anti-choice, and anti-LGBT, anti-federal government activism, Akin’s extreme positions were well known long before his infamous August pronouncement that victims of “legitimate rape” are unlikely to become pregnant helped derail his 2012 U.S. Senate campaign. Cuccinelli’s views closely mirror Akin’s in all of those areas.
Over seven-and-a-half years as a Virginia state senator and three years as the commonwealth’s attorney general, Republican Ken Cuccinelli II has been, in the words of the Washington Post’s editorial board, “the most overtly partisan attorney general in Virginia’s history.” Though he claims he is “best known for his efforts to preserve liberty and defend the US Constitution,” it is his opposition to liberty for women and LGBT Americans and his frequent court losses based on his flawed constitutional theories that have defined his political career to date.
While perhaps not as careless as Akin with his rhetoric, Cuccinelli has embraced many of the same extreme positions:
…
3. He is a climate-change denier. As part of his efforts to cast doubt on climate-change science, he used his position to launch an inquisition against a former University of Virginia climate scientist. Citing possible “fraud against taxpayers,” Cuccinelli demanded the university provide him with a wide range of records relating Dr. Michael E. Mann’s grant applications. A circuit judge and then the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the Attorney General was incorrect in believing he had the legal authority to undertake such a fishing expedition. He blasted the ruling, newspapers blasted him for wasting Virginia tax dollars. He also failed in his federal lawsuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas — a unanimous appeals court upheld the agency’s regulations as based on an “unambiguously correct” reading of the law. Since his legal efforts for climate-change denial failed, he often relies on mockery, asking audiences to exhale carbon dioxide in unison, during his speeches, to annoy the EPA. …
Switzer Lake, photo from Friends of Shenandoah Mountain
Our area forests are life providing reservoirs of clean water, fresh air, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration in addition to offering managed use opportunities for timber, game, and recreation.
Newer technology is also making our forests a valuable source of natural gas from their underlying shale formations. The ability to extract this energy without tremendous ecological consequences is in question. Lynn Cameron explores these issues among others for Friends of the Shenandoah Mountain here.
Jeremiah Knupp reports on the April 24 “Fracking Travelogue” public forum here for Old South High. Candace Sipos writes about the issue for the Daily News Recordhere as published on May 3.
Old South High continued its coverage in Jeremiah Knupp’s entry on May 8: “In Rockingham County, the forest contains hiking and mountain biking trails, campsites and hunting land, and one of the country’s greatest areas of biodiversity. Fracking opponents note that the drilling process is a large-scale industrial operation. In addition to the five to ten acre sites required for a well, roads and other infrastructure must be built into the forest.”
Charlottesville’s The Daily Progress reports in an April 20, 2013 article by Aaron Richardson:
“The U.S. Forest Service is expected in June to end two years of wrangling over whether to ban hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the George Washington National Forest.
Debate has raged about the issue since 2011, when the service initially proposed a 15-year moratorium on fracking in the swath of largely undeveloped wilderness stretching down the spines of the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains in western Virginia.”
Laura Peters covered recent conversations about this on April 26 for the News Leaderhere. She writes:
“Ken Landgraf, planning staff officer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, said the decision on banning horizontal drilling or making it an option is still up in the air.
An important part of the Forest Service’s consideration, Landgraf said, will be public comment.”
Rockingham County’s Community Alliance for Preservation and the Shenandoah Valley Network are urging last minute appeals to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and our US Senators to support the George Washington National Forest’s proposed fracking ban:
“Please contact Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack at agsec@usda.gov, who oversees the US Forest Service, and ask him to support the GWNF’s proposed fracking ban. It’s our last best chance to make sure the sensible horizontal drilling ban stays in the final forest plan, coming out soon. It’s not too late for the Forest Service to make the right decision.
After you email Secretary Vilsack at agsec@usda.gov, please contact our US Senators with the same message.”
Senator Mark Warner: invite@warner.senate.gov or fax 202-224-6295
Here are the contact details for commenting on the GWNF management plan. Official comment period is closed but you can still send comments to show support for continuing to keep GWNF off-limits to fracking and other industrial activities.
Submitting Comments
If you wish to submit a comment, please send it to:
Karen Overcash 5162 Valleypointe Parkway , Roanoke, VA, 24019 kovercash@fs.fed.us
Simms Center
by Josh Israel, Thinkprogress.org December 3, 2012
Climate Action Alliance of the Valley 