Howdy!
As usual, so much is going on! I will begin with the Mountain Valley Pipeline and MVP Southgate.
There have been soooo many violations caused by MVP’s construction in WV and VA! Regulators are not doing their jobs or listening to the impacted landowners!
Beautiful and heartbreaking essays by Deborah Kushner Sinking Creek and Newport, Sacrificed and Requiem for Sinking Creek, describes some of the latest violations.
Press release from POWHR after MVP caused water pollution in Sinking Creek: Amidst National Protests, MVP Causes Water Pollution Disaster here.
Virginia A.G., Hold MVP Accountable! The Mountain Valley Pipeline is currently tearing into our mountains and streams with reckless fervor; they are causing permanent damage that violates our environmental laws. The Virginia Attorney General has the power to hold them accountable and the MVP frontline needs your support to demand he do his job! Sign the letterhere.
PHMSA canceled a meeting with MVP advocates a few days before the scheduled meeting. Press release from POWHR, that includes a link to the letter in response to the cancelation. Federal Agency Abandons Virginians, Yet Again here.
February 13, Urgent #StopMVP Rally to Expose Regulatory Agency Failure!
7 pm, online
The call will be moderated by POWHR’s co-director Russell Chisholm and feature harmed community speakers discussing how they are being impacted by reckless MVP construction in Virginia and the failures of agencies to safeguard communities and water resources. Register here.
February 17, Water Walk
10 am – 5 pm, Eden, NC
Hosted by 7 Directions of Service, join water protectors for a Water Walk and artful community events to Protect Sacred Places & Phase Out Fossil Fuels. The Water Walk is an ancient technology to pray for and give thanks to Water or Mani, in the Yesasahen language of the Monacan [Monascane], Occaneechi, Sappony, Haliwa Saponi, and the Ohio Band of Saponi. Water Walk specifics differ across Indigenous cultures. Location and details provided upon registering here.
NoMEC
An update on the Moriah Energy Center LNG in Person County. After requests from organizers, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will hold a public hearing on the air permit to be announced in a few weeks. There will need to be a 30 day notice, so at least a 3-4 month delay on MEC. Samantha from Sound Rivers took baseline water samples at several locations that will be used to monitor changes in water quality if construction begins. And recently, Person County residents and environmental justice organizations have filed a complaint to stop the construction of the dangerous Moriah Energy Center! More information in the press release here.
Duke Energy is at it again!
More events
February 14, Black History: Unsung Heroes of the Environmental Justice Movement
1 pm, online
For Black History Month, Creation Justice Webinars will celebrate past environmental justice leaders and their historic contributions to the movement with Robert Bullard, Peggy Shepard, and more. Information and register here.
February 16-19, Great Backyard Bird Count
Always a fun annual event! Spend time in your favorite places watching birds. Identify them, count them, and submit them to help scientists better understand and protect birds around the world. More info here.
February 16, Local utility rules part 3 with Nancy LaPlaca
12 pm, online
Hosted by Beyond Extreme Energy, join Nancy for part 3 of a 4 part training series focusing on the skills and information you need to become an intervener — or help others intervene — in a fuel docket at the NC Utility Commission. With news last week of fracked gas giant Williams Co. planning a massive new pipeline expansion in the Southeast, we’ll learn how we can fight back against this pipeline, and other fossil fuel projects, by becoming ratepayer intervenors in our local utility dockets! Register here.
— The first session covered the basics of how our power grid works. The second session covered the state of the clean energy transition. If you missed one of the earlier sessions click here to find recordings, slides, and other tools.
February 20, Go Green & Cut Your Energy Bills
6 pm, online
Join Meech and Amelia with Climate Action NC for a webinar to walk people through how to take advantage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds using the new EnergyFundsForAll.orgwebsite launched last month. A few of us from 350 Triangle have been attending meetings with other organizations discussing the IRA. Register here.
February 27, POWHR Book Club: Building Power While the Lights Are Out
7-8 pm, online
Hosted by POWHR, join a discussion about disaster relief and mutual aid. Register here.
March 2, Mass Poor People’s & Low Wage Workers’ State House Assembly & Moral March on Raleigh & to the Polls
10 am, start gathering, March at 11 am
350 Triangle is excited to join our partners as the Forward Together-Moral Monday movement is calling the coalition back together for a mass day of action that will lead us towards the polls in primaries and in November. North Carolina is joining thirty states across the nation holding simultaneous assemblies and marches at their state capitals on March 2nd, as a part of 40 weeks of action beginning February 5 leading to the November elections. We will gather at State Capitol (1 E. Morgan Street) and march to NC General Assembly (16 W. Jones Street). Awesome promo video here and more information and register here.
Election year! March 5th is North Carolina’s primary election day. Early voting runs from February 15 to March 2. For details on voting requirements, photo ID, registration status, sample ballots, deadlines, and more, check the N.C. Board of Elections website here. We need more climate and environmental justice champions in our local, state, and federal offices!
March 13, Shaping the Carbon Plan Through Community Engagement
11 am -12 pm, online
The Carbon Plan impacts everyone in North Carolina. In this webinar hosted by CleanAire NC, learn steps to share your concerns and shape the plan’s direction. Register here.
— If you scroll down in this document from the NC Utility Commission, you will see the dates and locations of the April public hearings on the Carbon Plan. The Durham public hearing will take place on April 30 at Durham County Courthouse.
Save the dates!
April 20-21, 2024 Piedmont Farm Tour
The 27th Piedmont Farm Tour, organized by Carolina Farm Stewardship Association and hosted in partnership with Weaver Street Market, the farm tour features farms across six counties committed to sustainable agriculture and environmental stewardship. Tour goers can meet farmers, see animals and crops up close, watch demonstrations, sample delicious bites, and buy locally-grown foods, flowers, and fibers. Registration opens in March!
April 20, Forum on Religion, Ethics, and Law in a Time of Planetary Crisis and Political Decline
9 am – 4 pm, Binkley Memorial Baptist Church, Chapel Hill
With Karena Gore and Herman Greene. More details soon.
Actions to Take!
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee is trying to stop shareholder representative As You Sow and 13 other organizations from securing climate action from corporations by alleging “antitrust” violations. Tell Congress to Protect Climate Action and Shareholder Rights here.
Right now fossil fuel-funded Members of Congress are holding hearings and putting forth a resolution that would allow for unlimited exports of US gas overseas. Tell your Representatives to support the pause on LNG here!
Take action to protect wetlands and clean water here.
Participate in the Central Pines Regional Council Climate Priorities survey here.
Articles and recordings
Access the recording of 350.org’s excellent Divest from Militarism, Invest in Life! webinar here, using password ^DCJ3xQy.
Ceasefire now, ceasefire forever: No climate justice without Palestinian freedom and self-determination by staff at Climate and Community Project here.
Check out this new #EnergyFundsForAll toolkit (and join the webinar on the 20th listed above!)
“So many people in our communities struggle with high energy bills and are vulnerable to natural disasters. This toolkit provides the information people need to learn more about these funds and opportunities to get help if they don’t know where to start.” Thrive NC’s Jessica Finkel
Such an important report We’re Dying Here’: The Fight for Life In a Louisiana Fossil Fuel Sacrifice Zone, by Antonia Juhasz here.
The EPA Is Backing Down From Environmental Justice Cases Nationwide by Delaney Nolan here. NC hog farms are mentioned.
LNG Kills: How Biden’s Pause on New Export Authorizations Doesn’t Go Far Enough byAndy Rowell here.
‘Smoking gun proof’: fossil fuel industry knew of climate danger as early as 1954, documents show by Oliver Milman here.
As a psychologist I have witnessed a surge in climate grief. This is what I tell my clientsby Carly Dober here.
Thanks for reading and for taking action! Maybe we’ll see some of you at the Water Walk and Moral March on Raleigh!
Peace and love for our beautiful Earth, Karen