Volunteer Action for the Environment - Zero Waste Initiative
Virtual Meeting WHEN: Monday, July 12; 5-6:15 pm WHERE: Zoom link sent after RSVP DETAILS: We will focus on three topics:
1. Promoting composting 2. Passing a plastic bag fee 3. Improving recycling
We will have a discussion on possible actions for this new Great Falls Group initiative. You can choose the topic that you would like to work on. New and experienced participants are all welcome. Come be part of the solution! CONTACTS: Evelina Hobson or Haiping Luo at zerowastesierra@gmail.com SPONSOR: Sierra Club/Great Falls Group
Latinx Conservation Month
How do you say Watershed Defenders in Spanish? Defensores de la Cuenca is a non-profit dedicated to helping the Latinx community connect with the natural world through knowledge, shared experiences, and opportunities to preserve and defend the Chesapeake Bay watershed for a healthier mind, body and soul.
The Great Falls Group is sponsoring Defensores de la Cuenca’s Latinx Conservation Month events. Each event welcomes the Latinx community to come and enjoy time in nature with their families and community. Locations are Nottoway Park, a spacious park with sports fields and picnic tables, Lake Fairfax, including free boat/canoe access and waterpark access, and Frying Pan Park, a working farm with nature-based programming. For more information contact Vivian Mendez.
For more than a year, Sierra Club has been advocating for better alternatives to the Virginia 495 NEXT project. This proposed project would widen three miles of the Beltway from near the Dulles Toll Road to George Washington Memorial Parkway by adding four new travel lanes. It would increase greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, exacerbate flooding issues in Scott’s Run, and harm 19+ acres of wetlands.
495 NEXT is closely linked to similar plans in Maryland for widening the Beltway and I-270, and replacing the American Legion Bridge. That’s why we were so encouraged when the Washington region’s Transportation Planning Board voted in June to remove the Maryland 495-270 widening plan from the region’s long-range transportation plan. The vote complicates the path forward for the Virginia project.
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images in the Mercury News )
Smart Growth Plans at West Falls Church Transit Station
Fairfax County is considering a plan to add new housing and commercial development near the West Falls Church Metro station. The proposed plan would add about 1,400 new housing units within a short walk of the station, and complement adjacent development that is taking place in the City of Falls Church.
The West Falls Church plan epitomizes smart and sustainable growth by focusing new development in an area where people can walk, bike and use transit for their daily needs.
Ivy Main, Conservation Co-Chair and Renewable Energy Chair
Justice Park
The Great Falls Group continues to work to ensure that the Fairfax County Park Authority does not allow paved parking in Justice Park, a community park adjacent to Justice High School in Falls Church (Mason District). Working with the neighborhoods surrounding Justice Park, the Friends of Holmes Run and NAACP, Sierra Club continues to encourage the Fairfax County Park Authority to reject a request by FCPS to use the park for its parking requirements due to an addition to the school.
So far, it has been difficult to get information on this proposal, although plans were submitted to the county for approval in March. The opportunity for public input has been extremely limited raising tranparency issues about how these decisions are made. The consequence to the park is the loss of a valuable and much-utilized fields and increased impervious surface. As FCPS owns Peace Valley Lane, GFG has advocated for consideration of a range of alternatives to reducing the open space at Justice Park, a park that serves a diverse community and is a gem for the local residents.
CECAP Working Group Finalizing Environmental Initiatives
On June 8 and 10, the CECAP's Energy Group and the Transportation and Development Group gathered again in full Working Group meetings to accomplish three major tasks:
Discuss and vote on a natural resources goal;
Discuss and vote on whether to include “renewable” natural gas in Strategy 6; and
Discuss and provide feedback on the second half of the report focusing on Sections 7,8, and 9
Discussion was especially lively on the “renewable” status of natural gas and on setting a stronger goal for adopting electric vehicles in the county by 2050.
The August column will recount the outcome of the formal submission of the CECAP Final Report to the Board of Supervisors’ Environmental Committee meeting, scheduled for July 20th and how you can reach out to your Supervisors about the final report.
The Sierra Club Great Falls Group is participating in the upcoming Plant NOVA Trees campaign. Among other things, GFG is helping to fund "native tree" hang tags and other costs associated with the effort.
The five-year regional campaign, which is a project of the collaborative effort known as Plant NOVA Natives, will reach out to residents, businesses and communities in general and to climate-vulnerable communities in particular. It will launch with a region-wide Celebration of Trees, September through November. We are hoping that numerous people will help create buzz by reaching out to folks in all kinds of settings: neighborhoods, workplaces, faith communities, nature centers, etc.
Sierra Club members are encouraged to participate by submitting tree-planting photos and organizing events like tree walks, seed collecting, scavenger hunts and more (click below for many more ideas).
Quiet Clean Nova Keeps Up the Fight against Leaf Blower Din
Gas-powered leaf blowers disturb the peace of communities with their noise, pollute the air we breathe, undermine environmental justice, contribute to climate change, and damage wildlife and insect habitat. Quiet Clean NOVA has posted a petition on Change.org asking the Virginia General Assembly to pass legislation allowing local governments to ban or regulate gas-powered leaf blowers.
Fairfax and Arlington officials tell QC NOVA that local noise regulations are almost impossible to apply to leaf blowers. New laws are needed to give local government power to regulate blowers because Virginia is a ‘Dillon Rule’ state, which means the state reserves all powers to itself unless specifically granted to local governments. You can find the petition at http://chng.it/8Nz5pbcZ. And see the next article for one small firm's response to this problem.
Read more about QC NOVA's activities and what you can do to help out.
As Sierra Club members, most of us are aware of the toxic pollutants spewed out by gas-powered lawn equipment that endangers the environment and the health of the people inhaling the fumes. Noise pollution is another concern, with many gas-powered tools functioning at decibel levels that can impair hearing.
Enter David Jimenez, owner and founder of Little Foot Lawn Care. The company uses only zero-emission electrical equipment, charged with solar panels on top of the company van.
Cinder Bed Road Bikeway in Springfield May Not Be Environmentally Friendly
We have concerns about the Cinder Bed Road Bikeway in Springfield that is part of an ongoing pattern of pitting two worthy goals – enhanced non-motorized transportation and habitat preservation - against each other, This trend always chooses the path of least resistance that leads through our dwindling reserve of wooded habitat. Worse in this case is the plan for 24-hour lighting of the path, stressing and disrupting the lives of wildlife large and small.
Improved opportunities for bicycle and pedestrian travel are welcome, but the proposed route means this opportunity may come at the expense of forests and streams. We have plenty of streets that need to be made people-friendly first! Let’s stop making our woods asphalt-friendly!
The GFG testified before the Fairfax County Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors to encourage decision-makers not to weaken protections in the Occoquan Downzoned area.
In a reversal on June 22, the Board of Supervisors encouraged large-scale events "by right." That means that there will no longer be public hearings or special exceptions needed for "party venues" uses and in some cases, properties in the Residential-Conservation zone (R-C) will be able to have large-scale events that allow up to 350 people per day.
The Community-Wide Energy and Climate Action Plan’s (CECAP) success will depend in part on forward thinking land use decision-making. We are concerned that the expansion of by-right development and streamlined decision-making could undermine climate planning efforts and our Environmental Vision.
New Zero Waste Initiative at the June "Volunteer for the Environment" Meeting
We kicked off our new Zero Waste Initiative by focusing on three primary objectives:
Encourage Fairfax County to introduce a plastic bag fee
Examine Fairfax County's current options for and barriers to wider adoption of composting
Increase the recycling rate and decrease contamination of recyclables in Fairfax County
We will strive for these objectives in Loudoun and Prince William Counties too if you live there and want to support these goals. We’ll work more on this effort at our July meeting.
Next Meeting: Volunteer Action for the Environment - Zero Waste Initiative WHEN: Monday, July 12; 5:00-6:15 PM WHERE: Virtual Meeting - Zoom link sent after RSVP
The Fairfax County Supervisor's Environmental Committee Meeting Considers Carbon Neutrality
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors met June 15 to discuss environmental matters for the county. Included in the discussion was a proposed update by Susan Hafeli of the Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination (OEEC) to the 2018 operational energy strategy to support a carbon neutral goal. Committee chair Supervisor Storck discussed a Carbon Neutral Counties Declaration to advance the county’s commitment to this goal. There was an update to the Community-wide Energy and Climate Action Plan (CECAP) and Resilient Fairfax (formerly CARP) by Maya Dhavale and Matt Meyers of the OEEC. Kate Daley, Environmental Specialist with the OEEC, presented an update to the status of Fairfax Green Initiatives. There was an update of Environment and Energy not in Board Packages (NIPs).
The next scheduled Environmental Committee meeting is Tuesday, July 20 at 11:00 a.m. To listen live to this meeting by phone dial 703-324-7700.
Prince William County
Protect our National Parks!
The Prince William County Board of Supervisors is considering a zoning change to expand its data center overlay district to include land adjacent to Manassas National Battlefield Park (MNBP).
The proposed changes to the Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District would allow an 800-acre data center campus along Pageland Lane, between Conway Robinson State Forest and the Manassas National Battlefield Park. This proposal follows a decision by the Board of Supervisors to allow construction of data centers on land within the boundary of Prince William Forest (National) Park.
Such moves to reduce protections next to the national park risk undermining the visual and historical experience of visitors. Do we really want high-voltage transmission lines or substations next to the park?
Previous work to limit intense development next to MNBP is now threatened by continued rezoning efforts. As a result, the Great Falls Group has joined with a coalition of groups working to preserve the considerable natural open space and historical resources in and around this park.
