Club Volunteers Write Citizens Energy Plan for Virginia

Virginia Sierra Club volunteers on the chapter's energy committee knew that Governor Tim Kaine was working on an energy plan for the Commonwealth, and figured it would have good ideas in it, but they guessed there might be some objectionable recommendations as well. Wanting Virginia residents to be well informed to receive Kaine's plan, chapter leaders drafted a plan of their own and released it a week before the governor released his. And now that Kaine has released the state's plan, media coverage has consistently made comparisons between it and the Club's Citizens Energy Plan for Virginia.

Thanks to the technical prowess of Brooks Cressman, Dick Ball (pictured above at the Club's event to release the plan), Roger Diedrich, Ana Prados, and Ross Shearer, and the editing skills of Barbara Null, the chapter crafted a robust and compelling report. The Citizens Plan features the first effort to assess the state's current polluting energy economy and forecast the business-as-usual projection for future pollution. It also maps out a vision for a clean economy with emphasis on energy efficiency and renewable energy, while phasing out Virginia's dependence on coal and other highly polluting energy sources. The plan demonstrates that Virginia has the resources to cut its carbon dioxide emissions at a rate that will achieve 80 percent reductions by 2050, using proven technology that will create new jobs and make the state a leader in the fight to address global warming.

"It's refreshing to have Governor Kaine's leadership on global warming and energy efficiency," says Virginia Sierra Club Director Mike Town. "The Commonwealth's plan is far from perfect, but it's a big step in the right direction." The Club's Citizens Plan was written entirely by volunteers who brought wide-ranging experience to the project. Cressman, for example, is an engineer who consults for the federal government on wireless spectrum regulations; Diedrich spent 25 years doing energy forecasts for the Department of Energy; and Ball (Ph. D) was lead author on the first International Panel on Climate Change assesments of impacts. Read or download a full copy of the Citizens Energy Plan for Virginia.

Comments

[TheGreenMiles]

I think you're being awfully kind to Gov. Kaine's plan. Increased coal production? Drilling for oil off the Virginia coast? More nuclear power? No decoupling of profits from production for Dominion? I don't see how that's a "new" plan. It sounds like the same old energy plan that's put us in position to see temperatures rise 4-10 degrees F in the next 90 years.