Sierra Club seeks Danville support for ACES bill

Sierra Club volunteers met Thursday at the Danville Public Library to kick off a grassroots campaign of clean energy legislation, discussing ways to reach out to local media and the community.

About 30 people brainstormed ideas to build support of the American Clean Energy and Security Act — also known as the cap-and-trade bill — which aims to reduce pollution and create green energy jobs. The legislation has received both strong praise and criticism for its plan to reduce greenhouse gases.

Trieste Lockwood, clean energy field organizer for the Sierra Club, said the organization has not had a strong presence in Southside for some time. Lockwood said the Sierra Club’s goal in Southside was to support 5th District Rep. Tom Perriello’s vote for the bill in June 2009.

“We’re working to support this bill because of all the clean energy jobs it will create in the country,” Lockwood said. “It will create a million jobs in the country and 45,000 in Virginia. I feel this area specifically will largely benefit because of the agricultural and manufacturing history.”

Local companies such as Red Birch Energy in Bassett and Piedmont BioProducts in Gretna are aiming to repurpose the local agricultural sector, transforming former tobacco fields into clean energy production in Southside. Lockwood and others said the ACES bill would further increase the green energy industry locally.

“We’re kind of at a crossroads,” Bernard Baker, a volunteer for Perriello, told the group. “We can take another path and begin developing so-called ‘green jobs.’ Green jobs is not limited to Northern Virginia or Tidewater.”

The group discussed tactics such as letter-writing parties, town hall meetings and reaching out to traditional and social media. The Sierra Club will hold a letter-writing party Jan. 28 at 6 p.m. at Mount Vernon Church in Danville to support Perriello’s vote.

“We’re trying to make a splash,” local volunteer Max Hall told the group. “Getting into people’s heads a little bit. Let them know we’re here.”

Katherine Mull, executive director of the Dan River Basin Association, attended the meeting to see if the Sierra Club’s efforts were something the organization would promote. The DRBA seeks to preserve and promote the area’s natural resources through recreation and education.

Mull said she still wanted to learn more about the specific legislation, but was receptive to the idea.

“We really wanna see people put back to work,” Mull said. “We’re really interested in how we can support economic growth.”

Lockwood said she was happy with the turnout and seemed optimistic for establishing a grassroots base in Southside in favor of the ACES bill.

“It’s good to know that people in the Southside care about the energy plan and the jobs it will create,” she said. “It’s this set of smart policies that will help clean energy happen in Southside.”