Climate action means taking on the big fights: the oil and gas industry, monopoly utilities, Big Tech, you name it. Advocating for what’s right despite well-moneyed and powerful opposition isn’t easy – so we need to celebrate those that are willing to take on those big fights. 

Last week, CCAN Action Fund held a Climate All Stars award ceremony to celebrate the outstanding climate record of ten legislators in the 2024 legislative session. Winners included five members of the House of Delegates and five members of the state Senate who scored most highly on CCAN Action Fund’s internal tracking system. The scoring system incorporates everything from floor to subcommittee votes, and especially rewards lawmakers that patron (“sponsor” or “introduce”) climate bills – meaning that climate action was a priority piece of their policy platforms.

The event brought together lawmakers and their staff as well as climate and clean energy advocates across the state for a night of pizza, drinks, and celebration. 

House All Stars 

The House of Delegates MVP award went to Delegate Rip Sullivan, who passed two bills to reform the existing shared solar program in Dominion territory (HB106) and create a new program for Appalachian Power customers (HB108). Shared solar allows people who cannot get rooftop systems – renters, low-income customers, or people whose roof cannot support a system, to name a few likely candidates – access to the economic benefits of clean energy and prompts further buildout of these mid-size solar projects. Delegate Sullivan also introduced bills to incentivize data centers to lean on clean energy and meet energy efficiency standards (HB116) and promote more rooftop solar and cost-saving competition in the utility-scale solar industry through the Affordable Reliable Competitive (ARC) Act (HB638). 

Delegate Nadarius Clark had a perfect voting record and co-patroned three bills of importance to CCAN Action Fund: the Savings Achieved Via Efficiency (SAVE) Act (HB746), the Rural Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program and Fund (HB107), and the Virginia Green Infrastructure Bank (HB968).

In his first year in the House, CCAN Action Fund-endorsed candidate and now lawmaker Delegate Michael Feggans had a perfect voting record and co-sponsored the ARC and SAVE Act. 

Delegate Cia Price had a perfect record on CCAN Action Fund priorities and co-patroned both shared solar bills! 

For any organizer or advocate that thinks that their work doesn’t matter, I am living proof that it does. Not everybody’s family has 10 people that have asthma that live within one mile of coal piles and not everybody has to rinse off their outdoor furniture before they use it or play with things outside. As I learned more, I have been able to be loud and proud standing beside you and working on these issues, addressing the actual impact that environmental injustice does specifically to communities like mine and to my very own family. – Delegate Cia Price

Delegate Rozia Henson was another perfect record holder and co-sponsored three major priorities: the SAVE Act, the ARC Act, and the Virginia Green Infrastructure Bank. Delegate Clark accepted his award on his behalf while he was busy on the Harris-Walz “Out for Virginia” campaign trail.

Senate All Stars 

The Senate MVP award went to Senator Lashrecse Aird. In the face of mass opposition from the oil and gas industry, Senator Aird fought to ensure that the Petersburg compressor station be electrified, just like all other compressor stations along the route of the Virginia “Ripoff” Project – a reckless, unnecessary pipeline expansion project that CCAN vehemently opposes. Unfortunately, TC Energy’s plan is to double the capacity of the Petersburg station while continuing to utilize diesel – which will exacerbate already unhealthy air quality in the frontline community. While the bill was not successful, it took immense courage to stand up to oil and gas lobbyists from all over the country, and we thank Senator Aird for taking on this critical environmental justice fight. Senator Aird was also the chief co-sponsor for the Rural Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund (SB457), and co-sponsored the Senate cognate to reform and expand Dominion’s shared solar program (SB253). 

Senator Schuyler VanValkenburg took on one of the most pressing issues in Virginia right now: how to deal with the rapidly growing number of localities that have banned, de-facto banned, or severely restricted utility-scale solar siting. Last year, Senator VanValkenburg introduced SB697, which would have ensured localities have to consider each solar project on its merit by undoing these prohibitive ordinances. 

We have been able to get a lot of good stuff done. The Clean Economy Act, RGGI, Clean Cars – things I think are really important and that made us a leader. I like doing things that make Virginia a leader, that are going to put us at the front of the line economically and environmentally. And it’s nice to pass these laws, but now we have to make them real. Dealing with solar bans, distributed generation, shared solar… These issues are important. People recognize them. They see the value. – Senator VanValkenburg

Senator Favola has long been a stalwart climate advocate, and this year was no different! She co-sponsored both the Green Infrastructure Bank (SB729) and the Senate cognate of the bill to incentivize data centers to use clean energy and operate more efficiently (SB192).

Senator Hashmi was the Senate patron for the ARC Act (SB230), and was the only Senator on the Agriculture Committee to vote in favor of Senator Aird’s SB486 to protect Petersburg residents from compressor station diesel pollution.  

While Senator Jennifer Carroll Foy was not able to join us in person, her Chief of Staff Kayla joined us to accept her award on her behalf – well earned after introducing SB500, a bill to usher in grid-enhancing technologies (GETs) – a suite of technologies that allow existing transmission infrastructure to operate more efficiently, creating space for clean energy projects to get connected to the grid more quickly. 

All ten of our Climate All Stars deserve our thanks – so if any of these lawmakers are your representative, don’t forget to thank them for standing up for climate and environmental justice!