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Tandy: Herring disappoints on the environment; join us on May 18

Originally on Loudoun Times-Mirror

Attorney General Mark Herring (D) last week attended the second of three “Healing Virginia” discussions being held by the Loudoun NAACP and community partners. While the actions Herring has already taken and proposed to take are commendable, his response to the questions posed to him on environmental justice in Virginia were dismaying.

One of the panelists for the event, Karen Campblin, is the NAACP Virginia State Conference Environmental and Climate Justice chair. She spoke about the very real, near-term and disastrous impacts climate change will have on communities of color (CoCs). She addressed how CoCs are negatively impacted by three pipeline projects, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and the Southside Connector, all currently under construction in Virginia. While Herring appropriately talked at length about steps that the community could take in order to remove road signs with segregationists’ names on them – like Harry Flood Byrd Highway – and other similar issues, the impact of climate change and fossil fuel infrastructure on African American communities did not receive a single word from him.

During the question and answer portion of the event, I asked Herring directly what his office is doing to protect vulnerable communities, considering the greatest predictor of the location of fossil fuel infrastructure is whether or not it’s a CoC. His disappointing response was deflection to the legislature.

Attorneys general are tasked with providing consumer protection from dangerous products, which fossil fuels are, and from bad corporate actors, which fossil fuel construction and distribution companies are. In the 1990s, it was state attorneys general that went after the tobacco industry for the public health crisis they were causing and won. Climate change will certainly kill more of us than tobacco will.

Attorneys general are further tasked with the protection of the state’s resources by upholding state and federal environmental laws. Herring’s office has argued to continue the moratorium on uranium mining in Virginia and won at both the 4th Circuit and the Supreme Court. The MVP, ACP and Southside Connector are already harming potable water, poison-free land and breathable air across huge swaths of Virginia. The MVP alone has had over 300 construction violations, prompting AG Herring’s office to file lawsuits against the pipeline construction company, while inconceivably allowing construction to continue.

Enough is enough. Virginia’s attorney general must issue a halt work on the MVP, pursue his lawsuit against MVP to its fullest, refuse to settle the case, reverse his staff’s poor legal advice at the last Water Control Board hearing and affirm the state’s authority to revoke the Clean Water Act 401 certification it granted.

To convince him of this, hundreds of people will gather on the Leesburg Courthouse lawn on May 18 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. to listen to speakers, hear music from the affected communities and find out how they can put pressure on Herring to use his power and authority to stop these tragedies from further harming our great commonwealth.

Amanda Tandy

Leesburg

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Virginia Could Really Use a Hero These Days. Attorney General Mark Herring Could Be That Hero.

by Emily Satterwhite, Amanda Tandy and Chris Tandy

Originally on bluevirginia.us

What are Virginians directly affected by the destruction caused by the Mountain Valley Pipeline to do when their calls for accountable governance fall on deaf ears? What recourse do people have when a project that has received hundreds of environmental violations from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is still allowed to continue construction? What do you do when you have a scandalously corrupt Governor, but an Attorney General who might still have a future in Virginia politics?

Answer: You make as much noise as close to the place people with power are. To that end, the mountains are coming to NoVA! On May 18, rally with us at the Loudoun County courthouse for Herring: Stand with Appalachia, Not Pipelines. This is the second day of a two-day event that starts with a march in Richmond to bring this fight to Virginia’s elected leadership once again.

Virginia could use a hero these days. It needs someone who does the right thing even if it’s the hard thing, someone who puts others before himself or herself, someone who sees the big picture instead of the short term gains.

Attorney General (AG) Mark Herring could be that hero. Currently, the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is tearing a path of destruction through the heart of Virginia, across the Appalachian Trail, through the Jefferson National forest, ravaging small farms, family homes, small businesses and causing environmental destruction rarely seen outside of a natural disaster. AG Herring’s office has sued the pipeline construction company, owned in part by EQM Midstream, for the more than 300 construction violations, (That’s right, more violations in Virginia alone than the entire length of the pipeline in miles. At this point, it’s like measuring violations per linear foot of construction or like the pipeline construction company is really in the violations creation business with the side effect of a pipeline being built simultaneously.) The AG, however, has not required work to stop while the violations and lawsuit are remedied.

Being the good and decent human being that we believe the AG to be, we assume that he is susceptible to public pressure. Distance has made it easy to ignore the plight of the folks along the route of the MVP, so we are bringing them to Leesburg on Saturday, May 18th from 1-3 at the Loudoun County Courthouse.

Why Leesburg? Why now? We’re holding this rally in Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring’s hometown to encourage him to confront the incompetence, corruption, and climate consequences associated with fracked gas pipelines.

We have invited Attorney General Mark Herring to join us and will be making enough noise that he can hear us down the street. We request that he:

1) Advise the Department of Environmental Quality – his client – to issue a stop work order for the Mountain Valley Pipeline

2) Ask the court hearing his lawsuit against MVP to issue an injunction halting all work on the MVP

3) Advise the State Water Control Board that it has the power under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act and under state law to commence proceedings to revoke the certification previously issued to MVP.

As Jon Sokolow pointed out on Blue Virginia previously, the Deputy Attorney General erroneously relied upon a section of the Clean Water Act that applies to instances when a company applies for a permit to operate a project that the state previously permitted for construction. The State Water Control Board can and should exercise its power under VA Code paragraph 62.1-44.15 to revoke MVP’s Section 401 water permit. Put succinctly, the law is on the side of protecting the people and natural resources, no matter how many times our elected leaders pretend it’s someone else’s responsibility.

This event is one that Virginia environmental champions won’t want to miss. Emceed by Delegate Sam Rasoul, it features a slate of invited speakers including Karenna Gore of the Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary; Reverend Lennox Yearwood of the Hip Hop Caucus; Delegate Chris Hurst; Delegate Elizabeth Guzman; Professor Emily Hammond, George Washington University Law School; affected landowners, and more. Music will be provided by old time fiddler and banjoist Rachel Eddy and the SUN SiNG Collective’s Josh Vana, BJ Brown, and Graham Smith-White. There will be activities for kids, such as face painting, bubble-making, and a make-your-own water or prayer flag station, as well as a giant water spirit puppet courtesy of All Saints Theater Company Light refreshments will be provided with a suggested donation amount.

As they say, Virginia is for lovers. People fighting the Atlantic Coast, Mountain Valley, Southside Connector, and MVP Southgate Extension pipelines know that there’s no love in the destruction of the countless waterways and scenic view-sheds that make Virginia the beautiful place that is. We are also not waiting around for our elected officials to eventually realize the urgency of the climate crisis. We require solutions, not excuses.

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Taking Breaks during the Anthropocene

Darlings,

I don’t know about you, but I needed a break from national news and the unsettling feeling that we might not be able to stop our country’s slide into the horrors of whatever Trumpistas have planned for after the election.

To that end, I did several things this week that helped protect my mental ability to continue the struggle and I’d like to share them with you because they’re so goddammed positive I’m radiating joy through my clenched teeth and tear stained face right now:

  • I started every day this week with a sob on the way to work (sorry, other commuters on Route 28. I forget that you can also see me ugly cry at 9:30 in the morning because windshield glass is transparent) or in front of the TV. I disconcerted my husband a little with letting him know that I was having this reaction to eleven perfectly lovely people being murdered in their place of worship, but then reminded him that normal human beings cry at stuff that is horrific, tragic and completely preventable. What I’m saying is, I’m not a fucking snowflake for being sad and letting that emotion out. I’m a healthy person and you are too, if you have similar emotions about shootings, bombings and other violence perpetrated on people.

In response to this, I reached out to people I haven’t talked to in a long time. This included a friend who lives in Pittsburgh and works at a nonprofit refugee resettlement organization. Not only was it a relief to realize that she was ok and her beloved city was as safe as it was going to be, (“We’re safe. Don’t worry. There’s Israeli massad-looking guards and FBI everywhere.”), but that there are so many things to do to assist. Specifically, look at the suggestions on the webpage of the fine organization she works for here: www.jfcspgh.org/communitysupport.  Or, you can support HIAS, the group specifically called out by a coward radicalized online and by our sad, my-father-didn’t-really-love-me, dumpster-fire-in-chief here: https://www.hias.org/. Also, maybe just go be a human by reaching out to your local synagogue and seeing what they need. I bet they’d appreciate it and you’d get the feels.

  • On Thursday, we went to the movies like we did before the world started falling apart around us. The movie? Bohemian Rhapsody. I don’t care how inaccurate it was. I needed it. Freddie Mercury is the rock god by which all other rock gods will be judged. I’m sure there are many people who will analyze it better than I will, but my takeaways were that things that make us different can sometimes make us extraordinary; love is what binds us all together and makes us better; communication is hard for all families, but it’s totally worth having difficult conversations and calling people out on their bullshit when it hurts you; LGBTQ people create so much space for the rest of us to be whatever it is we’re going to be (not to put the burden of being magic rainbow unicorns on every LGBTQ person or indicating that your existence should be a benefit to me, just ham-fistedly trying to express gratitude); and the ‘70’s were the pinnacle of human artistic expression as far as I can tell. Also, maybe that is linked to terrible excesses. I don’t know. It’s the opinion of a partial and ignorant historian.
  • I spent the better part of Saturday morning reading our local newspapers. Not the Washington Post—Loudoun Now and the Loudoun Times Mirror. There were no less than a dozen articles in each paper about how the community is working on issues and support each other in difficult times. If all you do is read or listen to the national news, you’d think the country is only voter suppression and violence. The closer you get to the local, the more you are reminded most of us are decent people just trying to make it through. Additionally, work at the local level is sometimes the most potent. The point I’m trying to make is support your local press. It will be there when you need it if you do.
  • I ate my vegetables. I’m serious; all of this resisting takes a lot of vitamins and minerals. Eating junk food last week was seriously draining. Eating vegetables this week made everything better.
  • I donated to campaigns, walked a packet, solicited for other people’s campaigns and did what I could for the races this year. It matters. It all matters. Ask the Dems in Shelley Simond’s district if they wished they had walked one more packet, spent one more hour on the phones, written another stack of postcards and I bet the answer you will get is, “Yes. A thousand times, yes”. Democracy hinges on every vote. You may feel more in control of the direction this ridiculousness if you participate in whatever way you are able.

I’m now going to go shower, put on a fancy dress, and go to the Freedom Fund Dinner Banquet with Chris.  It is hosted by the Loudoun County chapter of the NAACP, where some of the best people in the county will also be in fancy dresses and nice suits to raise money for the protection of everyone’s civil liberties and scholarships. Not a bad Saturday night and cap to a week that has needed positivity.

I adore you,

Amanda

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Letter: Chris Tandy, Leesburg

View on Loudoun Now: http://loudounnow.com/2018/05/01/letter-chris-tandy-leesburg-2/

Editor:  On April 27, the Loudoun County Democratic Committee issued a statement on the tree sit protestors opposing the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Mountain Valley Pipeline. I’m extremely proud of LCDC for publishing this.

Why should Loudouners care? First, the pipelines will affect Loudoun and indeed the entire commonwealth. They will increase our energy bills and contribute to climate change. They will impact the Potomac, James and Roanoke watersheds. Just as important is the undeniable fact that our fellow Virginians are being harmed directly by their construction.

The Democrats I know in Loudoun believe in community and our responsibilities to each other. We should not, and cannot, avert our gaze while the Virginians who do not live in population-dense, high-income Northern Virginia are run over by greedy fossil fuel companies, like Dominion and EQT. Democrats have the best candidates and the best ideas for how to fix the problems we all face, but they must also be courageous and speak up.

I have never seen LCDC stronger than it is now, sticking steadfastly to its values. After running the table in the election last year, we’re bringing enormous energy into this year’s election with issues that people care about, such as pipelines and rural conservation. Our committee is tough. Our members have their canvassing shoes ready. We are experienced, we are dedicated and we will continue to get Democrats elected all over Loudoun.

I am calling on the following Loudoun senators and delegates to add their voices to the statements made by the 14 legislators who spoke on April 18 against the MVP and ACP and the 20 who signed a letter to the Department of Environmental Quality on the same topic: Sen. Barbara Favola (D-31), Sen. Jennifer Wexton (D-33), Del. David Reid (D-32), Del. Karrie Delaney (D-67), Del. Jennifer Boysko (D-86) and Del. John Bell (D-87) .

Loudoun Republicans Sen. Jill Vogel (R-27), Sen. Dick Black (R-13) and Del. David LaRock (R-33), I would also ask you to join in defending personal property rights in the face of overreaching government working at the behest of large corporations, protection of the public lands beloved by outdoors-people and the small business owners and farmers who will lose their livelihoods while a negligible amount of jobs are created. These projects are heinous for so many reasons for so many groups of Virginians. We must stand together and protect our neighbors to the southwest.

The LCDC stands with Red and demands a thorough stream-by-stream water quality review by the DEQ. As the press release states: “Democrats in Loudoun are conscientious stewards of the environment, advocates of rural conservation and defenders of social justice”. Virginia deserves better than the ACP and MVP.

Chris Tandy, Leesburg

Issues Chair, Loudoun County Democratic Committee

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Stop the True North Data Center

In Loudoun, we’re asking our county Supervisors to vote against a zoning change that would allow a data center to be built in the transition policy area. It’s a bad idea for a lot of reasons. Our friends at Piedmont Environmental Council have put together quite a bit of information on this, which can be found here:

https://www.pecva.org/our-region/loudoun/growth-development-traffic/1343-why-true-north-data-is-worse-than-current-zoning

https://www.pecva.org/our-region/loudoun/growth-development-traffic/1335-true-north-data-wrong-direction-for-loudoun

To show how vocally opposed to the rezoning the community has been, I worked w/ 350 Loudoun and PEC to put together this 7 minute video showing some of the comments against the rezoning.