We’d love to have you join us! If you are interested in participating, contact Bill Muth to learn more.

Preparing and testing the chemicals at the VCU Rice River Center before heading down to the creek to test the water.

We’d like to maximize those benefits — and even add a few more — through the Third Act Richmond solar schools project.  Modeled on similar programs developed by Citizens Climate Lobby and the Climate Reality Project, our program enlists high school students to design their own systems for their own school.  This is not just an environmental program.  It’s educational.  And it’s not just educational in STEM skills (though that’s a major benefit).  The Solar Schools project helps develop skills in graphic design, 3D animation, civic engagement and writing.  Participating students investigate all of the parameters needed to specify a rooftop array for their school, then create a 3D model of the building and its solar components, write up the plan in an illustrated proposal, and present it with a resolution to their school board.

Board members then get to evaluate its feasibility, arrange for financing, and eventually sign a contract with the solar installer of their choice.  (Through power purchase agreements, these systems can often be installed for free!)  How does this avoid political complications?  By forgetting about politics altogether, and focusing on future generations, saving money for cash-strapped school districts, and creating a permanent showpiece of student achievement for the world to see.  (Note that if the school rooftop is unsuitable for solar, the design could focus on the middle or elementary school down the street, or even the administration building or a local business interested in supporting students and community.)

There’s one problem, though.  The program needs to be managed by teachers, and teachers already face an overwhelming set of challenges and constraints.  Our lesson plans, instructional materials and online resources can partially offset those burdens, but teachers need a clear understanding of what they’re getting into.

Here’s where you can help.  You can connect us with teachers.  Do you have children in school?  Do you know teachers or school administrators in your neighborhood or church?  Are you a teacher yourself?  We’re hoping to use the expanding network of Third Act volunteers to reach into high schools across the state and identify teachers who might be interested.  We’re asking them to meet with us at their school for a brief discussion and presentation about the project.  We can talk over their unique circumstances and explore ways to make this a workable program.  With one school year winding down and a whole summer for preparation, our hope is to kick off as many of these programs as we can for the fall semester.

Please let us know if this is something you might be able to help with.  We’re happy to answer questions and provide more detail. Contact Tom Beach at: tbeach2k@gmail.com if you have questions or know of any teachers that might be able to help. 

Several of our Third Act members attended the “Hands Off” march in Richmond, VA. on March 5th. What an inspiring day! It was a joy to see so many people gathered at the Capitol. Estimates vary, but I think the best estimate was that there were around 3,000 people that day. It was the biggest protest I’ve ever seen in Richmond and it remained peaceful and determined! There was one person in the crowd trying to disrupt the speakers, and the crowd initially ignored her. Finally one man peacefully stood in front of her to minimize her effect. After the rally we lined up and marched to Monroe Park where cars honked their horns in solidarity. By the time I got home and checked Facebook, my feed was blowing up with various posts documenting so many people’s experience at the March. Thanks to all who marched all over the country (5.2  million I’ve heard), and even abroad! It was a memorable day, yet we must not think our work is done. In fact, it has only begun. Let’s make this Third Act count!

1. In Virginia, who profits the most from obstructing the transition to renewable energy?

2. What does the phrase “all of the above” mean in the MAGA-verse?

In my previous article entitled, “All of the Above” Means Drill, Baby Drill we decoded Governor Youngkin’s “all of the above” energy policy as a purple state ploy that green lights fossil fuel profiteers and red lights renewables, despite the latter’s increasing advantages to ratepayers and the environment. This article focuses on the biggest natural gas profiteer in Virginia, Dominion Energy, to illustrate how “all of the above” means precisely one thing: “drill baby drill.”

A few years back, Dominion committed to wind and solar and the Virginia Clean Economy Act’s (VCEA) 2045 zero emissions targets. Their massive 2.6 gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project (*1) , on target for 2026 completion, will be an exemplar of sound economic and environmental policy—if Trump’s hatchet men do not destroy it first (*2). Youngkin, realizing the disastrous political and economic cost of stranded assets, has defended the project so far. That aside, his “all of the above” illegally pulled us out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (*3) and installed climate change skeptics with deep ties to fossil fuels to his administration and water and air boards (*4). Dominion understood Youngkin’s code

perfectly. Their latest two 10-year plans exclude all new solar and wind buildout while calling for 6 gigawatts of new methane gas generation (* 5). Instead of retiring fossil fuel plants, Dominion now projects a 65% increase in fossil fuel emissions by 2030 . Shawn Kelly of Advanced Energy United, posted this about their most recent plan:

“…this plan threatens to keep the state dependent on fossil fuels for decades…missing a critical opportunity to lead Virginia’s clean energy transition, protect households and businesses from rising costs, and provide more resilient clean energy (*6) …”

So “all of the above” only includes fossil fuels. Why? Because public utilities rate of return is as much as five times greater for fossil fuel capital outlays than from wind or solar (*7). Dominion, which contributes to approximately two-thirds of Virginia legislators (both sides of the aisle), is emboldened by the resurgence of a deadly and dying, but lucrative (at least in the short term) industry. They blame this betrayal on data centers. Without evidence, Dominion claims that only new fossil fuel generation can meet Virginia’s soaring needs reliably and more cheaply. Yet they refused to even attempt a VCEA-compliant model and their storage and energy efficiency plans are significantly underdeveloped compared to other utilities (*8). They also claim, without evidence, that “over reliance” on third-party distributed energy—such as rooftop solar— is too risky (*9,p. 57). Their justifications for illegally abandoning VCEA include “reliability” and

“least cost”. In fact, distributed solar provides a hedge against energy fluctuations 10 whereas fossil fuels exacerbate extreme weather events (*11). Plummeting solar costs are now less expensive than natural gas even before calculating environmental costs to ratepayers (health, insurance, work, and recreation) (*12).

Last September the Virginia Commission on Electrical Utility Regulation (CEUR) lamented Dominion’s failure to seriously consider “diversified and distributed energy systems.” CEUR sought a VCEA-conforming model, including aggressive energy efficiency requirements, retirement of fossil fuel-based resources, an unobstructed build-out of clean energy (including storage), and the social cost of carbon (*13).

But Dominion loves the Drill Baby Drill as much as Youngkin does. Everyone knows who the winners and losers are. We have our work cut out exposing the MAGA-fueled disinformation campaigns and resisting Dominion’s self-serving attempt to abandon its VCEA commitments. 

TAKE ACTION:

Join Third Act Virginia (at https://thirdact.org/virginia/) 

If you live in the Richmond area, we meet every

first and third Friday at Elwood Thompsons, 9:30 -11:00am. Please join us!

Credit for photo: Ramble.com. 

___________________________

1 https://coastalvawind.com/

2 https://www.npr.org/2023/12/11/1217802769/oil-prices-exxon-mobil-green-energy-solar-wind-cop28-climate-

talks

3 https://environmentamerica.org/virginia/center/media-center/statement-judge-rules-gov-youngkin-has-no-

authority-to-pull-virginia-from-regional-greenhouse-gas-initiative/

4 https://valcv.org/governor-youngkin-gets-grade-of-f-in-first-conservation-ranking/

5 https://blog.advancedenergyunited.org/articles/va-dominion-irp-2024

6 https://blog.advancedenergyunited.org/articles/va-dominion-irp-2024

8 SCC Case No. PUR-2023-00227, Victoria Higgins, CCAN, 10-1-24

9 https://www.dominionenergy.com/-/media/pdfs/global/company/IRP/2024-IRP-w_o-Appendices.pdf

10 https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/resilient-distribution-systems-powered-solar-energy

11 https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/archives/energy/unnatural-disasters-the-connection-between-extreme-

weather-and-fossil-fuels

12 https://www.energysage.com/about-clean-energy/solar/solar-energy-vs-fossil-fuels/

(This is the first of a two part series. Stay tuned for part two entitled, “Why Dominion Loves Drill Baby Drill.”)

On July 18, 2024, Glen Youngkin belittled the worlds’ climate scientists:

   “We need all of the above…We need more gas. We need more

     solar and wind and we need nuclear and we are going to lead

     the nation here and that is going to be a wonderful thing to  

     see…I get frustrated by people who talk about ‘either-ors.’      

     Small minded people, in my mind {*1} .”

He must have meant, “…small minded people, in my closed mind.” Only a closed-minded person could ignore the clarion call of the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC){*2}. The project was comprised of 195 members and 700 climate researchers from 91 countries{*3} who, unlike Youngkin {*4} , had no personal investment in the outcome of their research. Their synthesis confirms what most Americans now grasp{*5} about the acceleration of catastrophic weather events happening ever- closer to home, that: (a) climate change is here, (b) human-generated greenhouse gases (GHGs) are the primary cause, and (c) it’s bad and going to get worse in the decades ahead {*6}.

The remedy—to begin immediately phasing out fossil fuel and ceasing all new construction—is obvious. But Big Oil is doing everything in its power to disguise, dilute, and deny these conclusions. To stand up to them, politicians must be open-minded enough to consider the possibility that the IPCC findings are not small minded, not ideological, and have no ulterior motive other than saving the planet for generations to come.

Youngkin may be open for business {*7} but he’s closed to science. The National Center for Science Education {*8} gave our outdated Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) an “F” for failing to make clear that climate change is caused mostly by humans. Last year Youngkin vetoed a bill that called for updating climate-related SOLs. His closed-minded reason: “The SOLs already provide instructional material related to environmental issues {*9} .” No matter that these materials include units like “clean coal” and “nifty natural gas” and raise misleading doubts about global warming’s cause where no doubt exists.

Youngkin’s SOL stance is one example of MAGA-inspired disinformation campaigns. Here’s another: He says “all of the above” while doing everything he can to undo environmental protections and usher in a new golden age of fossil fuels. Dominion Energy (Dominion)—which profits much more from fossil fuels than from wind or solar {*10} —understands “all of the above” perfectly. Their 2024 10-year plan excludes any new solar or wind yet adds six new gas plants claiming without evidence that this is driven by data center buildout rather than profit {*11} (developed further in Part Two: Why Dominion Loves Drill Baby Drill).

“All of the Above” is code for “Drill Baby Drill.” Call us narrow minded, but we know how to decode and how to expose the profiteers and catastrophic effects of “All of the Above.” And we will remember Youngkin’s self-serving MAGA-miming this November. That’s code for: VOTE ALL CLIMATE DENIERS OUT OF OFFICE!

TAKE ACTION:

Between now and November 4, 2025, expose the deadly consequences of the extreme MAGA agenda.

Contact Third Act Virginia (https://thirdact.org/virginia/)  to join the resistance!

Follow Third Act RVA on Facebook here.

********************************************************

Picture credit: Washington Post, 6-28-24. Creator: Steve Helber/ Credit: AP

{*1} https://virginiamercury.com/…/youngkin-speaks-about…/

{*2} https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/

{*3} https://www.carbonbrief.org/qa-ipcc-wraps-up-its-most-in…/

{*4} https://www.opensecrets.org/…/youngkin-fossil-fuels…/

{*5} https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/…/climate…/

{*6} https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/

{*7} https://virginiabusiness.com/the-outsider/

{*8} https://climategrades.org/

{*9} https://www.governor.virginia.gov/…/Pursuant-to…-4.2…

{*10} https://www.nrdc.org/…/utility-accountability-101-how…

{*11} https://securesolarfutures.com/dominion-invents-new…/

Excerpt:  “In the long history of MVP resistance, elders have populated numerous blockades, occupying tree sits, attaching to drills, and blocking roads and work sites in creative and colorful ways. Some have received misdemeanor charges, some have been sued in civil court for the cost of their extraction, and some are included in the wide net of current SLAPP suits in both Virginia and West Virginia. One elder, Jerome, was recently released after serving a 2-month jail sentence in West Virginia. Elders aren’t immune from injury or prosecution, but lend a different gravitas to what resistance looks like, and attract media coverage because of their presence. With no likely future employment applications to fill out, and typically less-full calendars than younger people busy with jobs and families, elders are critical to resistance movements.”

Precious Soils, March 19, 2024
By Deborah Kushner 

The extent of the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s impacts along its 303 mile length and 125’ construction corridor width are difficult to fully grasp. Some people realize the extent of these impacts more fully than others. Nan Gray is one of the few who know the depths of these impacts. As a soil scientist, Nan studies the interrelationships of soil, plants and the larger environment. Of the five soil scientists who live in southwest Virginia in proximity to the MVP, who know the area’s soils best, none of them were consulted about the project.

A licensed professional soil scientist in both Virginia and North Carolina, Nan sees soil as a living organism. Disturbances upset the delicate balances that allow soil systems to thrive. ‘Soils provide the food, water and home for biodiversity. Soils complete the undisturbed landscape,’ she explains. MVP’s disturbances have destroyed the living soils, creating an industrial wasteland – a dead zone planned to be kept cleared –  that fragments the forests and affects forest creatures for miles on either side of the right-of-way. When disturbed, micro organisms die. Nan explains, ‘When soil is severely disturbed, soil microorganisms and organisms die, which gives other soil microorganisms a boost in population, until they die and there is nothing to replace them.’ This wasteland will stay a wasteland.

Nan has lived in Craig County, Virginia, close to the Giles County border for 30 years, studying the ancient soils here. She marvels at the history contained in the ground, in these rare and endangered places, which took millions of years to create. She’s charted living treasures that are the soils in the local national forests, distinct worlds unto themselves, sometimes teeming with life, sometimes quiet. She’s studied ephemeral ponds here, connected and unique wetlands with specialized amphibians that traverse the ponds only during specific climate events. In some areas, she has documented organic matter 13” deep in wetlands – each inch of which took thousands of years to create. Within these ancient wetlands is a record of life on earth, micro-ecosystems with their own evolutionary history and a refuge for lifeforms found nowhere else. Wetlands are some of the most endangered ecosystems on the planet, critical to remove sediment from waterways, and pollutants from the atmosphere. They hold plants in place, and slow the flow of water. One acre of wetlands can absorb 1.5 million gallons of water.

Continue reading on SubStack…

Take the Third Act Banking on our Future Pledge to pressure the Big 4 Banks to stop their greenwashing and fossil fuel investing.

Beyond the pledge, we will be taking bold actions to put further pressure on banks to quit investing in fossil fuels. We’ll align our actions with youth and other groups for added impact.

Here in Virginia, new and proposed pipelines and fossil fuel projects dot the map. The Mountain Valley Pipeline, Chickahominy Pipeline and others present opportunities for us to engage by supporting local communities from environmental injustices and harm.

Your input, ideas, and leadership is welcome and encouraged. Together we are stronger! Learn more here.