Big Wins in Alexandria City Council for Smart Growth, Sierra Club

Smart growth was a big issue in Tuesday's Alexandria City Council race - and candidates who supported transit-oriented development won big:

Democrats in the city had split into factions in recent weeks leading up to the primary, with some opponents of the waterfront redevelopment plan and other development proposals throwing support behind a swath of new blood for the city council. But those forces of opposition weren't enough to carry the day.

"I had a positive message about how to deal with development pressures, and I think people appreciated that," [Tim] Lovain said.

"This anti-development attitude, I don't think was really that loud and strong," said Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille after the votes were tallied. "But yet, I think people are pleased with direction of the city simply because our quality of life, and we are doing all the right things and will continue to do all the right things."

Mount Vernon Sierra Club-endorsed Tim Lovain, Del Pepper, Paul Smedberg and Justin Wilson all won (and a fifth candidate, Sean Holihan, fell just short as he dealt with an unrelated problem).

Virginians: Vote Tuesday!

Virginians will go to the polls on Tuesday for Congressional and certain local primary elections. I'll be working the polls on Tuesday morning for Rep. Jim Moran in Falls Church's Oakwood precinct, if you're voting there, say hello! And if you're still not sure you should go all the way to the polls to cast your vote for Rep. Moran in Virginia's 8th Congressional district, check out Lowell Feld's endorsement of Rep. Moran at Blue Virginia.

The other big election in Northern Virginia is in Alexandria where 14 candidates are competing for 6 Democratic primary endorsements. The Mt. Vernon Sierra Club has endorsed Donna Fossum, Sean Holihan, Tim Lovain, Del Pepper, Paul Smedberg and Justin Wilson.

If you need to know who's on the ballot in your local race or where to vote, visit the Virginia State Board of Elections.

Sea Level Rise Denial Comes to Virginia

Remember how everyone was laughing at North Carolina for pretending they could solve the problem of global warming-fueled sea level rise by ordering state workers to pretend it doesn't exist? Ha ha, said Virginians! Stupid North Carolina!

Except Virginia is denying sea level rise as well, reports Scott Harper of the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot. I'm not sure who to be most upset at - Republicans like Del. Chris Stolle for pushing sea level rise denial, scientists quoted in the article for cowardly refusing to stand up for facts, or the reporter for repeating Tea Party myths like "environmentalists stopped saying global warming" as fact (dear Scott Harper: see my previous paragraph).

For more in-depth analysis, see ClimateProgress on the reality rejection, Blue Virginia's Kindler on Del. Stolle's Orwellian tactics, and Climate Central on how 58,000 Virginians would be flooded out of their homes by the scientifically expected three feet of sea level rise this century.

2012 Shatters Record for America's Hottest Spring

This just in from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:

According to NOAA scientists, the average temperature for the contiguous U.S. during May was 64.3°F, 3.3°F above the long-term average, making it the second warmest May on record. The month's high temperatures also contributed to the warmest spring, warmest year-to-date, and warmest 12-month period the nation has experienced since recordkeeping began in 1895.

The spring season's (March-May) nationally averaged temperature was 57.1°F, 5.2°F above the 1901-2000 long-term average, surpassing the previous warmest spring (1910) by 2.0°F.

Data like this is why I don't use the term climate "skeptic." Who could rationally process America being five degrees above normal and shattering the record for hottest spring by two full degrees and think, "Meh, I'm not yet convinced"? This is what a climate crisis looks like, and if you can't accept that, you're denying reality.

You Can't Get There from Here

The Green Miles is on an Amtrak train on the way to Providence for this week's Netroots Nation. I'd been hoping to be able to visit my girlfriend in nearby New Bedford AND go without a car, but limited bus service makes that costly and inconvenient.

Downtown Providence, RI (population: 178,042) and New Bedford, MA (population: 95,072) are 33 miles apart, a 38 minute drive according to Google Maps. But if you don't have a car or want to drive, the only way to get between the two is a Peter Pan bus that only runs every two hours, takes 80 minutes, and costs $33 round-trip. (By comparison, a Megabus round-trip ticket from Providence to New York City costs $28.)

It's a combination of terrible planning, massive public under-investment in regional transportation, and inconvenient state borders. The main Providence bus station is located three miles north of downtown, so you have to take a bus from downtown to the main bus station, then on to New Bedford. SRTA, which serves New Bedford and Fall River, has an annual budget of only $14 million, barely enough to provide minimal intra-city service despite large rider protests. RIPTA only serves Rhode Island and even Massachusetts' next-generation commuter rail plan acts like Rhode Island doesn't exist.

But with a huge swath of Americans 16-34 driving much less and taking transit much more, you have to wonder how long the lonely driver transportation model can hold.

If you're wondering about the title, read this classic Saturday Night Live skit. (Yes, read it. SNL's video archiving sucks worse than NBC's ratings.)

Do Not Let an Otter Give You Swimming Lessons

Watch this clip from the Columbus Zoo of a mama North American river otter "teaching her pup how to swim," which looks exactly like "doing her best to drown her pup." Holding her pup underwater? Dragging it back into the water by the foot as it tries to escape? What kind of a mother are you?

I once thought otters were cute and fun, but are they really history's greatest monsters? I'm just asking questions.

A Fisherman's Brutally Honest Overfishing Analogy

As Mark Kurlansky detailed in Cod, fishermen often blame someone else for their own overfishing of their native stock. But are Massachusetts fishermen now becoming more accepting their role in the decline of New England fisheries?

"I used to be a hunter. I'd chase fish just like a guy on the plains hunted buffalo," said [Scituate, MA commercial fisherman Frank] Mirarchi, 68, "The solution to all my problems was to catch more fish. But now, with all the fish allocations, it's like trying to juggle a retirement portfolio."

A tough but fair analogy. In the late 1800s, Americans hunted the American buffalo to the edge of extinction. It's taken more than 100 years to bring American buffalo back from the brink, with bison finally returning to tribal lands just this year. Similarly, aggressive factory trawling targeting both big fish like cod and the little fish they eat like herring have devastated Atlantic fish populations (and global warming won't help their effort to rebound).

Fisherman have traditionally fought any limits on catch tooth-and-nail, derisively referring to any effort to manage a sustainable fish stock as "the anti-fishing movement," as if there are still plenty of fish it's only those pesky scientists holding them back. When the political debate's goalposts are "sustainable limits based on the best available science" on one side and "buffalo-style fish harvesting" on the other, whatever policy that fits in will inevitably be insufficient.

But conservation groups like Pew and the Environmental Defense Fund are increasingly working with fishermen to determine the most efficient ways to reduce take, and people like Frank Mirarchi are recognizing that denial won't preserve their way of life for future generations of fishermen.

Rep. Moran: Congress Has "Moral and Ethical Obligation" to Confront Climate Change

With global warming-fueled wildfires sweeping through New Mexico, Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) is urging Congress to face up to the growing problem:

Congressman Jim Moran, Northern Virginia Democrat and Ranking Member on the Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, today introduced a resolution calling on Congress to take action on climate change. The Moran resolution is supported by a range of religious and faith groups.

“Climate change is already having a profoundly adverse impact on our environment and will affect our national security and the longevity and health of our children. Thus, there is a moral and ethical obligation to responsibly address this growing threat,” said Rep. Moran. “I am proud to join religious leaders and organizations calling for Congress to take timely and responsible action on climate change.”

The resolution acknowledges the impact of climate change on food stability, national security and welfare of future generations and the moral responsibility to be stewards of the environment.

But instead of tackling the climate crisis, Congressional Republican leadership is actually fighting to make it worse, trying to block the Environmental Protection Agency's effort to limit carbon pollution from the oldest, dirtiest coal-fired power plants.

Read Rep. Moran's full resolution here (PDF) and tell the EPA you support limits on industrial carbon pollution.

North Dakota Faces Oil and Gas Drilling Revenue Trap

Are communities really making money off of oil and gas drilling if they have to spend nearly all of the tax revenue building infrastructure to support oil and gas drilling?

The state should invest up to $5 billion in northwest North Dakota communities with the most oil activity, the president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council said Wednesday.

Ron Ness, while testifying to a group of legislators meeting in Williston, said communities need significant resources to do long-range planning, but the state’s grant program for those areas is only helping them react. Ness called for a five-year plan with $800 million to $1 billion per year invested in schools, roads and infrastructure for communities in the core areas of the Bakken. [...]

The industry paid $1.3 billion in oil and gas production tax last year, and will pay even more this year, Ness said. Those dollars should be targeted at the counties with the greatest oil activity, he said.

It makes oil and gas drilling sound like a Ponzi, doesn't it? You'll make lots of money eventually, but only if you keep re-investing! As places like Virginia consider whether to allow oil and gas drilling, politicians like Gov. Bob McDonnell make it sound like every penny of tax revenue will go to existing roads and schools. But if the oil and gas industry expects the money to be spent on supporting the industry, how much will really be left for your community?

And that's to say nothing of the societal costs. "Just about anybody I talk to that's a neighbor — and some of them are getting wealthy — are sick of it. It's never going to be the same in this country, and they're starting to realize that we had it kind of good, even though we weren't No. 1 in oil and we weren't the No. 1 state economically," North Dakota rancher Donnie Nelson told NPR. "We had a good life up here."

We Talkin' 'Bout PRACTICE? Virginia Tech May Cut Woods for Football Facility

Virginia Tech is considering clear-cutting five acres of forest to make way for a football practice facility:

What's the value of an old-growth forest fragment that may be unique on the East Coast? In a report commissioned by Virginia Tech officials, Maryland-based consulting firm Biohabitats Inc. has put the ecological value of the woods at just more than $5 million. [...]

Now university President Charles Steger and the board of visitors — which will meet in Blacksburg on Sunday and Monday — must weigh that calculation against the value of an indoor football practice facility proposed for up to 5 acres of the woods. The report puts the total footprint of the woods at 13.75 acres. [...]

The report estimates that the woods contain up to 59 white oaks that may be 300 years old or older. These findings are in line with estimates of the number and age of old-growth white oaks found in the woods by retired extension specialist Jeff Kirwan, whose work touched off the debate about the future of the woods in November.

If this was some sort of multipurpose athletic facility that benefited the entire student body as the woods do, that would be one thing. But as a famous Virginian once said ... we talkin' 'bout practice. Not a game ... practice.

Does the football team really need a $20 million indoor practice facility? Can the school afford it at a time when the athletic department is already gouging students for $7.2 million in fees every year and Virginia Tech just raised in-state tuition & fees by 4%?

Over 9,000 people have already signed an online petition to preserve the woods. Learn more at SaveStadiumWoods.com.

Protecting Troops with Clean Energy "Most Foolish Thing in the World," Says Climate Denier

Denial isn't just about ignoring real-life impacts of global warming - it's also about ignoring real-life impacts of our dependence on fossil fuels. One prominent professional denier is even willing to ignore the safety of American soldiers, calling the military's efforts to cut its need for risky fuel convoys "the most foolish thing in the world."

Fuel supply convoys are a frequent target for insurgent attacks, with attacks on fuel convoys being responsible for over 3,000 American soldier or contractor deaths between 2003 and 2007 in Iraq and Afghanistan. Considering over 10,000 U.S. soldiers and contractors have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, fuel convoy deaths make up a sizable percentage of total casualties.

The military has responded with a furious effort to cut its need for fuel convoys increase fuel efficiency and deploy clean energy. To cut its dependence on fossil fuel-powered generators and slash fuel costs, the military is developing everything from large solar tents to provide both power & shade to small, foldable solar panels that troops in the field can use to recharge their laptops and other electronic devices.

I joined CCTV's The Heat this weekend to talk about the impacts of global warming and what to do about it. Alongside me was longtime science denier Steve Milloy, who's moved from taking money from Phillip Morris and denying the link between cigarettes and cancer to taking money from Exxon and denying the link between man-made carbon pollution and global warming.

Milloy dismissed the military's clean energy efforts and called for the fuel status quo to continue. Watch here (starts at about 16:40):

Ask The Green Miles: Mattress Disposal

Here's a question that cuts to the core of me, Baxter:

Do you have any ideas on mattress disposal?

You see, I recently bought a new mattress when I didn't really need to ... and trying to get rid of the old one made me wish I'd held onto it a little longer.

Goodwill & similar organizations won't accept used bedding for fear of bedbugs. Putting it on Craigslist only got me emails from scammers. I spent a week looking for a way to keep it out of the incinerator with no luck.

"There are some awesome mattress recycling facilities ... but unfortunately not in this area," says Allison Lohrenz, the solid waste programs coordinator here in Falls Church. "Cross your fingers that one will be here soon!"

Right now, mattress recycling is limited to local efforts & special events (and special events aren't so great for people who live in apartments & don't have a basement to stick their old mattress in until the next recycling event comes around). Grist's Ask Umbra points to some hope for mattresses in Massachusetts:

Massachusetts is home to one of the nation’s few mattress recyclers, and another outfit is venturing into New England soon. It’s amazing what happens to your mattress: the wood is chipped for energy, the steel springs recycled, the cotton and foam used for insulation or other textile needs.

You should email your local elected officials & recycling coordinator and ask them to support bringing a mattress recycling program to your area ... but in the short term, your mattress is most likely heading for the landfill or an incinerator.

Got a cool mattress recycling program in your area (or an alternate idea for what to do with your old mattress)? Let us know in the comments section.

Don't Play Chicken with Mother Nature, Says WJLA's Bob Ryan

With the DC area having its warmest spring on record breaking the old mark by a jaw-dropping 7/10th of a degree, WJLA Meteorologist Bob Ryan says anyone still waiting for "certainty" before supporting climate action is similar to someone ignoring a tornado siren:

Rather than minutes or hours, Americans in the possible path of a hurricane have to make a decision. Days ahead. Do I evacuate? Do I believe the forecast? There is that cone of uncertainty . . . do I take a chance? Is the science of hurricane forecasting, “settled”? Again of course not, but decisions, human and economic decisions affecting sometimes millions are made, knowing the exact outcome is uncertain.

Supposedly the great Yogi Berra said, “It’s tough making predictions, especially about the future”. However, we make decisions every day about some prediction whether it is the traffic during rush hour, canceling a weekend picnic or headed with my family to a shelter when I hear a tornado siren.

Why should a decision about what action we take based on expert outlooks for our climate and national, regional and local changes 50 or 100 years from now be any different than making a decision, taking actions, minutes, hours, days or even a week from now knowing the tornado or hurricane, snow storm or seasonal forecast is also uncertain. The science is not settled but the modern science of forecasting short term weather is solid and the modern science of estimating long term climate changes (yes global warming and it impacts) is solid. Are either 100% accurate? Do we require 100% accuracy before making a decision or taking action? Ask folks in Joplin what they will do the next time a tornado warning siren sounds.

We make decisions every day without 100% certainty, other than the sun will come up. The science of short-term weather and longer-term climate is solid. Neither is 100% certain but look where we have come in 60 years from no alerts to “You could be killed if not underground or in a tornado shelter”. Where will we be in making climate related decisions 60 years from now? Let’s hope history gives us some perspective for our future shared decisions.

You hope your chance of having a car accident is less than 100%, yet you buy car insurance anyway. You hope the chance of your home catching fire is closer to 0%, yet you buy home insurance anyway.

The cost of cutting carbon pollution is tiny compared to how much inaction could cost. With 97% of climate scientists agreeing that our climate is warming, man-made carbon pollution is to blame, and we only have a narrow window to take action, shouldn't we get moving now?

Or should we kick up the footrest on our recliner & hope that tornado out the window will miss us?

Wednesday: Talking Sustainable Development with Matt Yglesias at GGW

On Wednesday, I'll be hosting a live chat at GreaterGreaterWashington.org with Matt Yglesias, Slate Moneybox writer & author of The Rent Is Too Damn High. The book's a quick & entertaining read and a great introduction to why progressives & conservationists should care about loosening restrictions on urban development. Check it out if you can, then leave your questions in advance of Wednesday's chat.

How Many Jobs Did GOP Clean Energy Obstruction Just Cost Virginia?

Congressional Republicans, led by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), have been blocking extension of several key clean energy tax credits, investments that represent a tiny fraction of the subsidies received by the oil, gas & nuclear industries over time. And here in Virginia, officials have dragged their feet on encouraging offshore wind and been accused of letting Dominion Virginia Power slow down the process.

Now the GOP's ideological war is having real consequences and costing Virginia jobs at a critical time for the fragile economic recovery. Wind energy giant Gamesa has announced that if the U.S. and Virginia can't commit to wind energy, it can't commit to the U.S., building key new wind prototypes off Spain & Africa instead:

While still committed to developing a U.S. market, a Gamesa spokeswoman said the slow pace of regulatory actions, uncertainty over the future of tax credits for offshore development and the lack of a federal energy policy all conspired against investment in the prototype.

"Without a mature offshore wind market in the United States, it is extremely difficult to justify the enormous expenditure of capital and utilization of engineering and technical resources that would be needed to build and install a prototype in the U.S.," Gamesa spokesman Susana Sanjuan wrote in an email to The Associated Press. The prototype was to rise in the lower Chesapeake Bay, about three miles off the town of Cape Charles. It had a late 2013 completion date, which would have made it the first wind turbine in offshore U.S. waters.

The prototype was the first publicly announced product to emerge from a partnership between Gamesa and Huntington Ingalls Newport News Shipbuilding. Gamesa also announced that partnership will "wind down" by year's end with the design of a new offshore platform completed.

Just a couple of months ago, Gov. Bob McDonnell had raved about the project. "This wind turbine prototype will bring jobs, jobs and more jobs, and it positions Virginia to be a leader in clean energy technology," said Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Doug Domenech.

Will Cantor and McDonnell now idly sit by while Virginia gets left in the dust by leaders that are serious about creating jobs and protecting public health with offshore wind?

Harp Seals: Lazy?

Harp seals are suffering from the impacts of global warming and you can help preserve their Arctic habitat by supporting limits on industrial carbon pollution.

But a new video asks an important question - are harp seals more interested in cuddling with cute girls than fighting for survival? The Green Miles reports, you decide.

Why Isn't the Tea Party Outraged About Fracking?

If you're looking for evidence the Tea Party is a fake movement funded by polluters like the Koch brothers to distract voters into freaking out about fake threats while overlooking real ones, look no further than fracking.

As Mother Jones reports, Tea Partiers in Kansas and Arizona are losing their minds not just about current made-up anti-sustainability and Islamophobic conspiracies, but the possibility of future residents deciding to solve aforementioned made-up problems.

But what about the very real threat posed by the natural gas drilling technique known as fracking? While it creates huge profits for corporate drillers, nearby residents see few benefits and face potential health threats:

The report, based on three years of monitoring, found a number of potentially toxic petroleum hydrocarbons in the air near the wells including benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene and xylene. Benzene has been identified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a known carcinogen. Other chemicals included heptane, octane and diethylbenzene but information on their toxicity is limited.

"Our results show that the non-cancer health impacts from air emissions due to natural gas development is greater for residents living closer to wells," the report said. "The greatest health impact corresponds to the relatively short-term, but high emission, well completion period."

That's due to exposure to trimethylbenzenes, aliaphatic hydrocarbons, and xylenes, all of which have neurological and/or respiratory effects, the study said. Those effects could include eye irritation, headaches, sore throat and difficulty breathing.

"We also calculated higher cancer risks for residents living nearer to the wells as compared to those residing further [away]," the report said. "Benzene is the major contributor to lifetime excess cancer risk from both scenarios."

Much more data is needed on the threats posed by fracking to our air, water and public health. To learn more about fracking, tune in to NPR's series this week, The Fracking Boom: Missing Answers.

Did Washington Post Downplay Poll's Support for Silver Line?

Polls show DC area residents support train, bus, biking and pedestrian projects much more than they support building new or wider highways. However, the Washington Post editorial board strongly supports new highways and spun a poll this week to mean that our fellow Virginians don't support the Silver Line. As Slate's Matt Yglesias points out, the numbers don't necessarily back up that spin:

But the really weird thing is that it's by no means clear that this is what the poll has found. What it says is that 32 percent of the population says the Silver Line project is "not at all important" while 32 percent deems it either "extremely" or "very" important and a further 32 percent says it's "somewhat" important. The "not important to most Virginians" interpretation is supported by lumping the "somewhat" and "not at all" categories together as "negative" responses. But the straightforward reading of the poll is that the median Virginian thinks the Silver Line project is somewhat important. And it is somewhat important! So why not just say that?

In the face of Republican political games, The New Republic's Alec MacGillis says strong support of the Silver Line can be a winner for Tim Kaine in his U.S. Senate race against George Allen.

"Tearing Its Wealth Out of the Ground and Shipping It Overseas"

Roger Ebert reviews Surviving Progress:

"Surviving Progress," a bone-chilling new documentary, argues that the world has financed an unsustainable growth rate by essentially encouraging whole nations to take out unpayable mortgages on their own futures. Brazil is given as an example. Enormous loans are given to the nation, which cannot meet the payments, and is then encouraged to liquefy its own natural assets — the rainforests. When the assets are gone, the wealth will have been taken out in the same process, and corporations will leave behind a drained nation and move on to another loan customer. [...]

"Surviving Progress" is a bright, entertaining (!), coherent argument in favor of these principles I have simplified so briefly. It's self-evident and tells the truth. It is an irony that the actual victims of the process are often those most in support of it. Think of the opposition to "tree huggers." In Brazil, they are seen as a cause of unemployment in the lumber and logging industries. Actually, they are opposed to the nation essentially tearing its wealth out of the ground and shipping it overseas, resulting not only in unemployment but in devastation.

Just replace lumber with coal and Brazil with Appalachia and the analogy is equally apt.

The film's screening dates include a May 12-16 run at Williamsburg's Kimball Theatre and June 6 showing at Norfolk's Naro Cinema. Watch the trailer:

Going Solar is About Savings & Security, Not Organically Pickling Stuff

A solar power company called SunRun has unveiled these brilliant new ads. The company will put solar panels on your home for little or no up-front payment, take care of all the maintenance, and sell you the energy at a rate that's not just competitive with or lower than energy produced by huge, expensive, centralized power plants, but locked in no matter how high non-renewable resource prices spike.

The service is available in 10 states, but not Virginia, because if anyone tries to help Virginians lower their energy rates, cut their carbon footprints and gain independence from giant polluting power corporations, they can expect to get dragged into court by Dominion Virginia Power with the tacit approval of Virginia's elected officials.

New Ad Asks Virginians to Speak Up for Industrial Carbon Pollution Limits

On the same day a new poll shows supermajorities of small business owners support clean energy & limits on industrial carbon pollution, a new television ad is asking Virginians to stand up for clean air:

The ad focuses attention on a recent Department of Labor study showing that transitioning away from dirty sources of energy to clean technology development and innovation in turn creates jobs. In fact, the Labor Department study concludes that the transition to cleaner energy and technology has already created 3.1 million jobs (Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2012).

"Clean air protects health and enhances our economy," said Martin Hayden, vice president of policy & legislation at Earthjustice. "According to a Brookings Institute study, between 2003 and 2010, the clean tech sector outperformed the national economy as a whole, expanding 3.4 percent annually. Letting the EPA enforce the Clean Air Act and limit dangerous air pollution spewing from smokestacks will not only make it easier for Americans to breathe, it will also boost the clean technology sector and help create more jobs."

"Whether aimed at toxic air pollutants like mercury or dangerous carbon pollution, there are multiple benefits from job-creating clean air standards," said Joe Mendelson, global warming policy director at the National Wildlife Federation, the sister organization of NWF Action Fund. "EPA air standards that clean up power plants are good for our economy, the health of our families and communities, addressing climate change and for protecting wildlife and their habitat."

Over 800,000 Americans have already told the Environmental Protection Agency that they support the new rules. It only takes a minute, so please speak up for clean air right now.

Copley Square to Cambridge, Now by Helipad: Global Warming's Impact on MBTA

When The Green Miles was growing up in Boston, T service on the Green Line would occasionally be disrupted by flooding. Much of downtown Boston was built on landfill and severe rainfall would flood the Green Line tunnels with dirty water.

The group Metro Boston Climate Defense shows what severe global warming-fueled sea level rise and storm surges would do to the MBTA map:

Why Mitt Romney Loves High Gas Prices

Mitt Romney profits twice from high gas prices - Mitt can pander to your anger, then his Big Oil friends pump the money you pay at the gas station right back into Mitt's tank. That's according to an op-ed in Politico today by the League of Conservation Voters' Gene Karpinski & Priorities USA Action's Bill Burton:

Record profits now give oil executives even more cash than usual to spend on advancing their political agenda — and that begins with electing Romney. In fact, Big Oil executives pledged more than $200 million to aid Romney’s campaign and defeat Obama.

What does Big Oil get in return for its $200 million investment in Romney? It gets to keep its billions in special tax breaks every year. So middle-class families pay twice — high gas prices when they fill up the tank and $4 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies for an industry where the top five companies combined made $137 billion in profits last year.

At the same time, Big Oil gets one of its own dictating Romney’s energy policy. Harold Hamm, Romney’s top energy adviser, is a billionaire oil executive who says clean energy is a “magical fantasy” and wants high gas prices. He admitted as much when he declared in 2009 that cheap oil would be a “disaster.”

Mitt Romney's magical gas price prescription: More drilling! And Virginia GOP Senate candidate George Allen is just as deeply snuggled in Big Oil's back pocket. But here's the problem - even Romney's own economic team knows that wouldn't lower gas prices or help the economy.

West Wing Talks Walks

I still prefer this video on the benefits of walking, but there's no better way to reach the DC political nerd crowd than a West Wing reunion:
 

Walk & Talk - The West Wing Reunion from Martin Sheen

When Energy Industry Greed and Wall Street Corruption Converge

Chesapeake Energy has been fined repeatedly for its sloppy safety record when it comes to "fracking" natural gas drilling, particularly in Pennsylvania. Now Aubrey McClendon, the same CEO who repeatedly professed Chesapeake's innocence on safety violations, is stepping down as chairman of the board after a Reuters report revealed he was playing Wall Street-style accounting games, using company resources to rake in extra cash for himself:

Aubrey McClendon, the embattled chief executive of natural gas company Chesapeake Energy, will relinquish his title as chairman of the board, the company said Tuesday.

The news follows last week's announcement by Chesapeake that McClendon agreed to negotiate an early termination of the controversial Founder Well Participation Program (FWPP), which allowed him to take personal stakes in wells drilled by the company.

The incentive program came under fire last month following news that McClendon took out loans worth over $1 billion against his personal stake in the company's wells, raising concerns about a conflict of interest.

How the hell does this asshole not get fired outright? What does it say about the state of the energy industry & corporate America that this guy is revealed to be using Chesapeake Energy as his own personal piggybank and he still gets to stay on as chief executive officer?

Side note: McClendon is also one of the weasels who helped screw over Seattle Sonics basketball fans.

Virginia Moving Forward with Rail - Will Virginia Beach?

Despite a Congress that's more interested in pandering to the austerity crowd than actually solving America's problems, Virginia is moving to create jobs & boost our economy with several new rail projects:

The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation is forging ahead on several state rail improvement and expansion projects using mostly state funding, concerned that even promised federal funds won’t materialize in time.

[Department of Rail and Public Transportation Director Thelma] Drake said that her department was hard at work on an Amtrak extension that would connect Richmond to Norfolk (some 111 miles apart, see diagram at top). The project’s cost recently swelled by about $13 million to a total $114.6 million, due to added safety and infrastructure costs, all paid for in state transportation funding. The state believes the service, which will cost $33 for a one-way ticket between Norfolk and Washington, will pay for itself.

Depending on your mileage, it costs about $30 just for gas to drive from Norfolk to DC, so $33 for a one-way ticket would be a huge bargain. (And yes, note the time for posterity - I just said something nice about Bob McDonnell & Thelma Drake. Given how much the McDonnell administration is bungling Metro's Silver Line, don't get used to it.)

Meanwhile, the Virginian-Pilot editorializes in favor of a fresh look at light rail in Virginia Beach:

People in Virginia Beach have been talking about light rail since the 1970s. In 1999, the last time they were asked whether to bring it to the city, about 42,000 voters said no. But that didn't stop the discussions, arguments, affirmations - or the second-guessing - for a dozen years.

In November, the issue is back on the ballot. The City Council wants to take the pulse of the citizens, hundreds of thousands of them this time, on whether to pursue an extension of Norfolk's light-rail line, The Tide, to the Beach. [...]

If voters approve of extending The Tide, it'll be years before trains are rolling to Town Center. If they reject light rail, city leaders must come up with other solutions to traffic problems that are only getting worse.

Virginia Beach failed to research light rail thoroughly before its voters rejected the idea 13 years ago. The city has a chance to do it right this time.

Done right, light rail can spur development, save commuters money, reduce the need for expensive parking, cut traffic and slash air pollution. What's not to like?

Is Your City Still Wasting Money on Inefficient Streetlights?

At The Atlantic's Cities Blog, Nate Berg points out that streetlights drain a huge amount of a community's budget, but thanks to new technologies, cities like San Diego can slash their energy bills & carbon footprints:

Under the leadership of a program called CleanTECH San Diego, cities in the area have been able to streamline what would otherwise be a cumbersome process to make the switch from old bulbs to new. And with grant money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, 13 cities in the region have kicked off projects to replace about 55,000 streetlights, which will save an estimated $3 million annually.

The largest among those cities is San Diego, which will be replacing about 90 percent of its streetlights, roughly 35,000. The city is replacing its old low-pressure sodium lights – a common streetlight – with induction bulbs that use about 40 percent less energy. 16,500 have already been converted, and officials expect the transition to be finished by next spring.

Before the conversion, the city had been paying about $4.7 million a year to light its streets. When all 35,000 lights are replaced, that cost will drop to about $2.8 million a year, according to Tom Blair, deputy environmental services director for the City of San Diego.

And it's not just energy costs that will go down. The old sodium bulbs typically had to be replaced every 3 or 4 years, while the new induction bulbs can last more than a decade. Blair says a set of induction bulbs were installed in downtown San Diego about 12 years ago and have yet to need replacement. "That’s a significant savings," Blair says.

"It was kind of a no-brainer," says Marty Turock, a program manager at CleanTECH San Diego. "Virtually every city, at least within San Diego County, recognized that doing the street lighting retrofits was one of the biggest impacts and one of the biggest payback energy efficiency projects they could take on."

Another leader - Ann Arbor, MI, projected to save $100,000 a year by installing new LED streetlights with motion detectors (unlike older streetlight bulbs that need a few minutes to power up to full intensity, LEDs can fire up instantly).

Ask the Green Miles: Which Fish are Most Sustainable & Have Least Mercury?

First, the short answer: Check out the FDA's advisory on mercury in fish & shellfish, then cross-reference the FDA's chart of typical mercury content in fish with your local Seafood Watch pocket guide.

But in the big picture, if you're concerned about mercury in your fish, you should be thrilled about the Obama administration's new limits on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. They're often wrongly treated as separate concerns - coal plants pollute our air & water, and there's mercury in fish. That's why reporters let Republicans like Mitt Romney (sometimes joined by coal-state Democrats) bash Environmental Protection Agency regulations on coal-fired power plants in the abstract without connecting the dots to the 1 in 7 newborns at risk for brain damage and learning difficulties due to mercury exposure in the womb.

Grist's David Roberts digs deeper into why the new mercury rules are a BFD.

Virginian-Pilot Calls Out "Norfolk's Coal Embarrassment"

Norfolk City Council has refused to take a firm stand against a proposed new coal-fired power plant that would cause dozens of premature deaths in the city each year:

A representative from Norfolk Southern - which transports lots of coal - argued that it would be premature for the council to vote on the resolution so early in the project's permitting process. He's wrong. The Dendron power plant, as planned right now, would cause damage downwind. No amount of time will change that.

Norfolk City Council's interests lie in protecting its people, its water supply, its food sources from farms throughout the region. The potential for huge amounts of new pollution, for tons of carcinogens to infiltrate our environment through smog, wind and rain, calls for adamant, continuing, loud opposition.

Norfolk instead got embarrassment and questions about the allegiances of city leaders.

The new plant doesn't just face serious public health questions - it also faces major economic ones. At a time when natural gas is far cheaper & wind is creating far more jobs, why should we invest $6 billion in Virginia ratepayer money in a polluting coal-fired power plant?

Big Oil Pledges $200 Million to Help Elect Mitt Romney

Like this ad? Donate to the League of Conservation Voters to help keep it on the air.

Clean Energy Employs More People in MA Alone Than Coal Mining Does in All of Appalachia

While Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) is vetoing bills to promote solar power, Massachusetts is showing Virginians what could've been had the state chosen to embrace clean energy.

A new Center for American Progress report details how the Bay State's clean energy policies have the industry booming, with 64,000 people now working in clean energy jobs in Massachusetts and growing at an annual rate of 7 percent. That's compared to just 16,907 clean energy jobs in Virginia, according to the most recent data I could find in a 2009 Pew report.

But even that relatively low number of clean energy jobs dwarfs the number of coal mining jobs in Virginia - just 5,164 in 2011. Across Appalachia, just 59,059 people work in coal mining - and that represents a 14-year high.

Meanwhile, Gov. McDonnell and the Republican-controlled, Dominion Virginia Power-funded General Assembly aren't just protecting tax giveaways to the coal industry, they're adding new loopholes to let coal companies like Consol increase their already sky-high profits by polluting more.

Even with a slightly improved 2011 job assessment, "Virginia's job losses in 2011 were in construction, manufacturing and the information sector" - some of the same industries that would benefit from the move to clean energy.

Imagine if Virginia had set strong, mandatory clean energy & energy efficiency standards at the same time Massachusetts did. How many of these stories would we be hearing from across Virginia?

Obama Campaign Has No Idea How to Inspire Environmentalists

The Barack Obama campaign has apparently made a decision to run to the right of mainstream America on environmental issues. That's their choice, but if they don't want to fire up environmentalists to fight to re-elect President Obama, why are they now launching a ham-handed Environmentalists for Obama campaign?

The Obama campaign released this video in conjunction with Earth Day, but as ClimateProgress' Joe Romm points out, it makes no mention of global warming, the biggest threat to Earth's life and ecosystems. That's why I say the Obama campaign is running to the right of America - poll after poll shows a majority of Americans understand the threat posed by climate change, but the Obama campaign has apparently chosen to ignore the majority's concerns and instead woo the skeptical minority. Best of luck with that.

Also noticeably absent from President Obama's Earth Day outreach to environmentalists - wildlife. The video shows beautiful landscapes and depicts them as great habitats for mountain bikers and little else. Really? Not even a quick shot of a bald eagle, that great Endangered Species Act success story?

I was most confused and frankly insulted by the Obama campaign having their man go on and on about "energy independence." This is supposed to be the environmentalist pitch and you're talking to me not about less drilling and fewer oil spills, but about national security?

Environmentalists are ready to be fired up to re-elect President Obama. But if his campaign doesn't know how to drop the cold-blooded calculated messaging for even two minutes to inspire their base, a key opportunity could be lost.

Terrible Ideas & Pathological Lying: Why I Don't Like Mitt Romney

While The Green Miles consumes politics like a grizzly bear consumes salmon, my girlfriend is a normal human being who pays attention to politics only occasionally. When one day she asked why I don't like Mitt Romney, I didn't want to come off as only hating Romney because he's on the Red Team and I'm on the Blue Team. So here's what I said.

First, the substance, which is pretty straightforward. Romney would raise taxes on the poor, slash taxes on the wealthy, do nothing for the middle class, and dramatically increase the national debt - and claims that would magically create jobs, an underpants gnome scheme if there ever was one. On energy, Romney's plan would be Bush-Cheney on steroids, giving even more control to polluting oil & coal companies and making even lower investments in clean energy. from the poor to give to the rich.

What's harder to convey is just how much Romney & his campaign are built on lies. Steve Benen has been chronicling how often Romney lies and the list runs into the double digits every single week - lies about himself, lies about his past positions, lies about President Obama. "At this point, the pattern here is obvious, and it’s clearly not an accident," wrote Greg Sargent. "And Romney and his team will remain secure in the knowledge that most of the media will politely look the other way as the Big Lies keep flowing, and will continue to treat them as just part of the game."

Rachel Maddow recently went in-depth on Romney's lies and how they define his candidacy (if you don't want to watch the Etch A Sketch intro, skip ahead to 6:25):

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

BP Oil Spill 2-Year Mark: Talking to Thom Hartmann

Virginia "Conservatives" Think Conservation is a Joke

A Blue Virginia reader passed along this Facebook update from Randy Marcus, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling's chief of staff:

Every time I see that stupid green peacock logo on NBC, I turn on another light in my house and cut the thermostat down another degree. I mean can't a guy watch the Voice and Smash without being subjected to some environmental agenda? Haha

We're supposed to believe these guys care more about solving our problems than about politics? This attitude isn't isolated to a staffer - Gov. Bob McDonnell spent thousands of your tax dollars to thumb his nose at conservationists.

Virginia's elected officials have turned their back on energy efficiency and left us addicted to coal at a time when natural gas is the cheaper short-term bet & wind energy is creating jobs almost as fast as coal is shedding them (a search for wind jobs in Virginia on indeed.com turns up 137 positions while a search for coal only returns 56). But Bill Bolling's number one donor by far is Virginia's coal-controlled energy industry. Second is real estate & construction - and you wonder why Virginia Republicans are pushing so hard for their "Agenda 639" to silence your community's voices & promote sprawl?

Stephen Colbert on Coal Comparing Itself to Osama Bin Laden

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Think Backyard Chickens are Gross? Watch This Video on Factory Eggs

A Humane Society investigation has turned up evidence of widespread cruelty & unhealthy practices at a factory-style egg production facility. As Nicholas Kristof wrote in today's New York Times, "The police would stop wayward boys who were torturing a stray dog, so should we allow industrialists to abuse millions of hens?"

At some point, we thought it would be healthier to separate ourselves from the production of our food, sending food production to distant farms & factories. But have we gone too far? Could a few chickens in your community's yards really be any less healthy than what the Humane Society found?

It's time for communities like Arlington to lift restrictions on backyard chickens.

Oil Executive Leads Attack on Climate Scientist Jim Hansen

Oil executive H. Leighton Steward is helping a group of former NASA employees push a letter attacking climate scientist James Hansen (sub. req.), head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies:

Leighton Steward, a retired oil industry official who is chairman of the nonprofit groups Plants Need CO2 and CO2 is Green, said the coalition formed a few weeks ago. He had given presentations to the NASA retirees last year meant to underscore that empirical data don't echo the dire predictions of climate modeling espoused by Hansen and others.

"We've been trying to tell people that there's a lot of great benefit in CO2 in the atmosphere," he explained to POLITICO. Steward emphasized that he did not organize the coalition of NASA retirees nor is he a spokesman for them.

First, the obvious: The "extra CO2 is good for plants" argument is completely nuts, unless you enjoy wildfires and think Virginia Beach would look better under 30 to 90 meters of seawater.

As for H. Leighton, I know why he likes to call himself "retired" - makes him seem like he's not the active part of Big Oil that he really is - but I'm not clear why Politico reporter Darren Goode repeats it here. Steward is a member of the board of directors of oil & gas company EOG Resources, where he's made millions of dollars.

H. Leighton is also trying to have it both ways on ownership of the letter. He told Goode he didn't organize it & isn't a spokesman, but hours later he emailed his PlantsNeedCO2.org list bragging about "our announcements" and media appearances:

Our announcements below include the actual letter and signatories. The letter speaks for itself.  We will update this with media interviews in which we are fortunate to participate.  

The list itself also deserves some scrutiny. I picked out just one name, the only listed "meteorologist," Thomas (Tom) Wysmuller, who's listed as "Johnson Space Center, Meteorologist, 5 years." But a quick Google search turns up Wysmuller's website, which says "at different times in his life, Tom has been" both "a Meteorologist" and "a NASA Intern." If Wysmuller was a NASA meteorologist for 5 years, why wouldn't his own website say so? Another Wysmuller bio that says had a "dual major in sociology and political science, and a concentration in meteorology at NYU" - how meteorology fits under sociology & poli sci, I'm not sure - and that he was an "an intern and jack-of-all-trades for NASA."

If the letter so significantly overstates the credentials of the one signer I looked into, how many other overstatements are there? They didn't exactly strike one climate scientist as experts:

Texas A&M atmospheric sciences professor Andrew Dessler told POLITICO that he did in fact meet with the 75 or so retirees at Goddard last October — along with University of Houston professor Barry Lefer and fellow Texas A&M professor John Nielsen-Gammon — and came away less than impressed. 

“These people are well meaning, but they don’t seem to realize that climate science takes years of full-time work to actually get to know,” he said. “They really don’t understand anything about the climate system. They understand less than the first-year grad students that come out of my classes.”

We're well past the point of needing fancy computer models to understand global warming - just look at the thousands of temperature records that fell in March. It's time for action.

Global Warming-Fueled Heat Demolishes March Weather Records

How has 2012 rewritten America's temperature records?

• 2012's was America's warmest March on record. It didn't just barely break the record by a tiny fraction - it smoked it by half a degree.
• Measured against the historical average, March's 8.6 degree deviation from normal was America's second-largest on record, surpassed only by another recent warm month, January 2006.
• The first three months of 2012 were America's warmest January to March on record.

What was scariest about March was how many cities in so many parts of America were so far above their historical averages and absolutely obliterated their records:

• Green Bay, WI was 10.4 degrees above normal & broke its March record by 4.4 degrees
• Des Moines, IA was 9.8 degrees above normal & broke its March record by 3.7 degrees
• Boston, MA was 6.4 degrees above normal & broke its March record by 1.6 degrees
• Norfolk, VA was 6 degrees above normal & broke its March record by 1 degree
• Bismarck, ND was 9.1 degrees above normal & broke its March record by 0.5 degrees

While Europe and much of Asia have been colder than usual this year, it's not enough to offset the global trend. January-February were 0.67 degrees above the 20th century average and the 20th-warmest on record globally.

NOAA has been unequivocal that global warming is fueling the trend. Have your local meteorologists been willing to point out that fact? And do your elected officials know it's time to act?

Massachusetts Media Fails to Connect 2012's Extreme Weather to Climate Change

Massachusetts has had an record-shattering warm and dry start to 2012, resulting in brush fires - but with rare exceptions, the local media isn't connecting the extreme weather to global warming for their audience.

Polls and Beltway discussion focuses on whether Americans accept climate science and support action, but that whistles past the media's role in the matter. What if the public's knowledge of the climate threat and how it's already impacting their community is being obscured, misinformed by a media that's either not up to date on the topic, afraid to tackle it & face Tea Party blowback, or letting their own political leanings color their coverage?

Meteorologists often say they avoid talking about climate change's impact on weather because they don't want to be political. But the connection between global warming and increased wildfire frequency & intensity is well-documented. Omitting scientific reality in the face of political pressure IS politicizing the issue.

Imagine if Big Oil and its allies started denying another weather phenomenon - say, hurricanes. Would meteorologists bow to political pressure and not connect hurricanes to their local weather impacts? "Violent wind, torrential rain & extremely high tides this weekend ... uh, weird!"

A Bad Week to Defend Arsenic-Laced Chicken Feed in Maryland

Some state senators in Maryland are trying to defend the use of arsenic in chicken feed.

Just yesterday, Nicholas Kristof wrote in the New York Times about "a pair of new scientific studies suggesting that poultry on factory farms are routinely fed caffeine, active ingredients of Tylenol and Benadryl, banned antibiotics and even arsenic." Isn't asking poultry farms to stop using arsenic the least we can do?

Learn more from Food and Water Watch about how you can help the arsenic ban get across the finish line. And as the scientists Kristof talked to suggest, next time you're at the grocery store, maybe spend a few cents more to buy organic.

NBA Green(washing) Week

It's the National Basketball Association's Green Week, but in 2012 is simply recycling enough to call yourself green?

The Natural Resources Defense Council has positioned itself as the go-to organization for sports leagues looking to go green. It's had some success getting Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League to measure energy usage. But other leagues like the NBA and National Football League seem to be doing the bare minimum - recycling & a few service projects with no league-wide efforts to even measure carbon pollution, never mind cut it - while still getting to plaster NRDC's green seal of approval on their websites.

Not that organic cotton jerseys aren't cool, but ... even the NBA/NRDC video announcing the partnership shows an NBA arena surrounded by a sea of cars next to a busy highway. All you have to do is recycle your empty water bottle before you get back in your SUV and consider the planet saved!

Groups Push Virginia Politicians to Support Clean Air

The Green Miles had asthma as a kid and until recently had always thought of it strictly as a personal health problem ... but I grew up in Boston, not only home to hundreds of thousands of cars, but destination for much of the air pollution produced by coal-fired power plants in the Midwest. How much did that air pollution exacerbate my breathing problems?

And you have to remember how much better air quality in cities like Boston is today than it was in the early 1980s, thanks to increased vehicle fuel efficiency standards, the 1990 Clean Air Act update, and other efforts. According to the American Lung Association, many cities are reporting their best-ever air quality.

Now a coalition of public health and environmental groups including the League of Conservation Voters and Mom's Clean Air Force is asking, what if more politicians knew what it was like to suffer from asthma made worse by air pollution? Tell your members of Congress you support the Environmental Protection Agency's new industrial air pollution standards.

Ken Cuccinelli Has the Solution to All Your Problems: Ken Cuccinelli

Ken Cuccinelli has quite the televangelist-style pyramid scheme going. He's always so close to stopping those evil moderates ... if only you'll give him a little more money, and ask your friends to do the same.

He was pitching the Cuccinelli brand Monday night at Virginia's Christendom College:

Programs like health care reform threaten to give the government, specifically Congress, the ability to order citizens to do anything it wants, including what kinds of food to eat and what kinds of cars to buy, Cuccinelli said.

Cuccinelli also warned of scientific discoveries and groundbreaking technology that threaten to undermine society's ethical foundations. He accused climate scientists, almost all of whom have asserted that human activity is the primary cause of a dangerous worldwide warming of temperatures, of contaminating their research with a political agenda.

"This kind of politicized science and world view drives their research," he said. He made no direct mention of a recent ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court that halted his investigation into the work of climate scientist Michael E. Mann, a former member of the University of Virginia faculty.

Ken Cuccinelli lies like this as a political technique: Throw out lies in such volume & frequency that no one can ever hope to refute them all. And if reporters DO point out how much he's lying, Cuccinelli will just say they're part of the liberal media.

Cuccinelli uses the lies to connect with his Tea Party supporters. No matter what's in the news that day - health insurance reform, fuel efficiency standards, climate science - Cuccinelli frames it as part of the culture war. They're all out to get you, and the only one who can save you is, of course, Ken Cuccinelli:

Cuccinelli ended his speech with an appeal to students in the audience to volunteer for his campaign which, he said, will swing into full gear next year after this fall's elections.

Cuccinelli does this constantly and shamelessly - emails to supporters that detail some existential threat, followed by Cuccinelli asking for more money, more email subscribers, more volunteers, etc.

Progressives can be too quick to categorize people like Ken Cuccinelli, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin as nutty or crazy. That's completely wrong. They're using a tried and true method of building a following and milking that following for money & power. And by the time people realize they've been lied to, Sylvester McMonkey McBean has skipped town with their money.

Republicans for Environmental Protection Keeps Swimming Upstream

Today's generation of Republican leadership has long since abandoned its party's historic tradition of supporting science and conservation, selling out their values to everyone from Big Tobacco to the Koch brothers. Nowhere is that generational contrast more stark than here in Virginia, where George Allen's fancy designer cowboy boots have replaced John Warner's muddy riding boots.

But Republicans for Environmental Protection is still fighting the good fight, trying to get its party's leadership to back off its attacks on clean air, clean water and public lands:

"Ronald Reagan signed more wilderness bills than any other president, before or since his administration. And what we're trying to say is that conservation is conservative. It is part of the conservative ethic to care for the land and to be good stewards."

Of the 19 bills, two were sponsored by Virginia Republican Congressman Rob Wittman. One promotes restoration of Chesapeake Bay and the other deals with an extension of the Wetlands Conservation Act. [ REP spokesman Jim] DiPeso understands that Congress has been swamped, but says there is no good reason to delay bills that lawmakers actually agree on.

"When we wrote that letter to Speaker Boehner, we were pointing out, 'Look, you have all these conservation bills that have Republican sponsors. Let's go ahead and pass 'em.'"

I wish REP luck, but the truth is its party's leaders have long since turned their backs on anyone who'd dare stand up for America's natural resources. Moderates like Lincoln Chafee, Jim Jeffords and Arlen Specter knew it all too well and left the party, while others like Bob Bennett, Mike Castle and Charlie Crist have been cast out as insufficiently extreme.

The GOP misses leaders like Teddy Roosevelt who knew the outdoors were a place to be men - a literal man cave. But today's Republican leaders only like the great outdoors when they're using it as cover for extramarital affairs.

UPDATE: REP just announced it's changing its name to ConservAmerica.

Raven Rocks: Hiking a Piece of the Appalachian Trail

Took advantage of the ideal hiking weather this weekend to hike the Appalachian Trail to Raven Rocks. It was a relatively short drive, about an hour from Falls Church, to a hike of moderate length (4 hours) and moderate difficulty (1,530 feet of elevation gain) from a start in Virginia to the Raven Rocks overlook in West Virginia.

The near-record warm winter and lack of snowfall (only 2" in DC) followed by a warm, dry spring has left streams very low. Trails that usually would give you a chance for a little rock-hopping were nearly bone dry:


Spotted this snake about 3 or 4 feet long just off the trail. While most snakes move quietly away from people, this one hurried behind a log, then stared us down. Looks like a black racer, a non-venomous constrictor but one of the few snakes that tends to be aggressive towards people rather than hiding or fleeing:


And here's the reward for a day of hiking - an amazing view of the Shenandoah Valley from the Raven Rocks cliff: