Fossil fuel infrastructure negatively impacts public health, the environment, and our climate crisis. In Virginia, projects like pipeline buildout and gold mining perpetuate environmental injustice and hinder us from achieving the clean energy goals of our Commonwealth in an equitable manner. The heaviest burden of these projects is likely to fall on our most vulnerable communities, and the resulting ground and surface water contamination harms not only the local community but our entire watershed. Virginia needs to remediate outdated mining and fossil fuel projects to reduce the negative impacts on our human health and environment.

Narissa Turner

Pat Calvert

STOPPING UNNECESSARY PIPELINES AND PHASING OUT FOSSIL FUEL BUILDOUT

• Fund key water quality programs at levels consistent with achieving the goals of the Watershed Implementation Plan (see chapter Meeting Our Chesapeake Bay Clean-Up Goals, p. 1).
• Fund land conservation programs (see Healthy, Resilient Communities and Landscapes, p. 88).
• Increase funding for key state environmental agencies to levels adequate with programmatic needs, including programs to address resiliency and climate change needs.
• Fund and ensure rapid and thorough integration of environmental justice mandates. See additional recommendations in Working Towards Environmental Justice (p. 118).
• Ensure Virginia’s natural resources programs are adequately and reliably funded going forward by adopting dedicated funding mechanisms, such as application of the full statewide recordation fee revenue (see Exploring Dedicated Funding for Conservation, p. 94).

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Check back in January for talking points for the 2022 General Assembly Session.