I appreciate the initiative taken by Governor McAuliffe, but I know the work does not stop here. It's my moral responsibility to speak up for our environment and our most vulnerable communities. The Department of Environmental Quality should use its authority to:

• Create a rule — based on the strongest available science — that significantly reduces carbon pollution from Virginia’s power plants.
• Ensure that Virginians — not utilities — benefit from any profits from carbon regulations.
• Address the disproportionate environmental effects experienced by our most vulnerable communities.
• Grow the economy and reduce carbon pollution by maximizing investments in zero-carbon wind, solar, and energy efficiency.
• Governor McAuliffe took one of the largest actions on climate ever taken by a southern state.
• Executive Directive 11 directs the Department of Environmental Quality to create a rule by the end of this year that would limit carbon pollution from Virginia power plants.
• This rule has to be trading-ready so that Virginia could participate in a multi-state carbon trading market and has to match the stringency standards of other states that participate in carbon marketplaces.
• The Department of Environmental Quality should create a rule that is based on the strongest available science that significantly reduces carbon pollution from Virginia’s power plants and ensure that Virginians benefit from any profits.
• This rule should address the disproportionate environmental effects experienced by our most vulnerable communities.
• This rule should grow the economy and reduce carbon pollution by maximizing investments in zero-carbon wind, solar, and energy efficiency.
• We need to stay involved in this rulemaking process to show our support for limiting carbon pollution from power plants to ensure that this rule puts people, not polluters first.