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Trump’s ‘assault on the ear’ means a hard pass on Fourth of July speech
Here’s one set of eyes and ears that won’t be fastened on President Donald Trump’s speech on Thursday at the Lincoln Memorial. The aural and visual blackout has nothing to do with politics or ideology, though Trump’s policies and politics are 18th century leftovers, at best. Everything a president says, good, bad, even ungrammatical, is […]
To fight climate change, transportation must be a top priority
After watching the first two Democratic Presidential debates, where 20 candidates debated a whole host of issues, we came away disappointed. According to Vox, climate change got only 15 minutes worth of airtime out of four hours’ worth of debates. And during those 15 minutes, no candidate mentioned one of the top producers of greenhouse […]
Water board should support call for federal action to halt pipeline damage
By David Sligh On Thursday the State Water Control Board has another chance to act on the good intentions its members have expressed – that Mountain Valley Pipeline’s violations and the resulting damages to Virginia waters and landowners must stop. A federal agency can make that happen. We just need the board to tell those […]
Change Virginia’s ‘hush and hurry’ tendency on environmental regulation
By Elizabeth Kreydatus Last week, New York passed legislation committing the state to 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040 and net-zero carbon emissions throughout the economy by 2050. This progressive environmental policy stands in stark contrast to the shenanigans of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Last Friday, our Air Pollution Control Board granted a new permit for […]
Virginia isn’t making the grade for environmental justice
Gov. Ralph Northam has just announced the formation of a new commission charged with identifying and recommending fixes for racial inequities in Virginia law. This would be a long-needed and utterly critical step by the commonwealth; however, the true success of such an initiative is far from certain — especially based on this governor’s record […]
Let’s honor Virginia Beach with action
By Kris Brown Once again, our state is reeling from the epidemic of gun violence. Twelve years after 32 people were shot and killed at my alma mater, Virginia Tech. Nine years after eight were shot and killed in Appomattox. Four years after Alison Parker and Adam Ward were shot and killed on camera in […]
From here to single payer, a path forward
High health insurance costs and high numbers of uninsured have generated political pressure to adopt a single-payer health care system. The challenge for single-payer advocates is to convince the general population that a conversion to a single-payer system will not bankrupt the government nor deprive them of quality healthcare. The solution is to implement an […]
Our ancestors’ voices are begging us to stand up
By Beth Roach Serving as the vice chair of Gov. Ralph Northam’s Advisory Council on Environmental Justice has given me a unique perspective on equity and environmental justice in the face of the Northam scandal. This Earth Month, I have been reflecting on my childhood growing up in Surry County, surrounded by the brackish James […]
With variance, FERC allows Mountain Valley Pipeline to play it by ear
By Emily Satterwhite In May 2018, Mountain Valley Pipeline confessed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that its plan for stream crossings along its proposed 303-mile fracked gas pipeline had been based on “theoretical desktop analysis” that “did not take site specific constructability issues (elevations, terrain and workspace) into account.” From May to September, MVP, […]
Advocate: Medicare for All is gaining steam
By Matthew Conover Just this month, I helped care for a man who passed away peacefully in the night. It should have been a time of solemn mourning and perhaps relief for the family, who had seen their loved one suffer for weeks. But shortly after stepping out the room where he lay on his […]
Rappahannock Sierra Club: Support the Spotsylvania solar farm
By Richard Eggeling and Bill Johnson The Rappahannock Group of the Sierra Club has taken awhile in arriving at our position on sPower’s proposed Spotsylvania solar farm because we wanted to complete our own analysis of the issues. On the one hand, it is critical that we stop spewing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to […]