Governor Terry McAuliffe visited First Landing State Park on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia Beach to sign Executive Order 19, convening the Governor’s Climate Change and Resiliency Update Commission.
The bipartisan Commission is made up of leaders from around the state including local elected officials, members of the General Assembly, business leaders, environmental advocates, faith leaders, and industry representatives.
“We need to prepare Virginia’s coastal communities to deal with the growing threat of climate change, which is why I’ve re-convened the Climate Commission for the first time in four years,” stated Governor McAuliffe. “Virginia has the opportunity not only to be a leader in finding creative ways to mitigate climate change in the future but also to adapt to the effects of climate change that we have already begun to see here in the Commonwealth. I have asked Secretary of Natural Resources Molly Ward and Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran to co-chair the Commission, which will focus on protecting Virginia’s citizens, our environment, and our industries in every region of Virginia.”
This Commission will evaluate the recommendations made by then-Governor Kaine’s Climate Commission, determine what actions were taken on those recommendations, and issue an updated final report.
The Executive Order gives the Commission one year to complete its work.
Climate Change Commission Members
- Molly Ward, Secretary of Natural Resources
- Brian Moran, Secretary of Public Safety
- Aubrey Lane, Secretary of Transportation
- Maurice Jones, Secretary of Commerce and Trade
- Richard Stuart, Senate of Virginia (R)
- Barbara Favola, Senate of Virginia (D)
- Gordon Helsel, House of Delegates (R)
- Eileen Filler-Corn, House of Delegates (D)
- Michael Karmis, PhD, Virginia Tech
- Ray Toll, Old Dominion University
- Patrick Taylor, NASA
- John Wells, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary
- Michael Mann, PhD, Pennsylvania State University
- Brett Vassey, Virginia Manufactures Association
- Katie Frazier, Virginia Agribusiness Council
- Francis Hodsell, Virginia Advanced Energy
- Ann Jennings, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
- Anne Gambardella, Virginia Automobile Dealers Association
- Robert M. Blue, Dominion Virginia Power
- Charles Patton, Appalachian Power
- Bernice McIntyre, Washington Gas Light Company
- Jerome Barber, Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Temple
- Nikki Rovner, The Nature Conservancy
- Cale Jaffe, Southern Environmental Law Center
- Walton Shepherd, Natural Resources Defense Council
- Ivy Main, Sierra Club
- Michael Town, League of Conservation Voters
- Hap Connors, Commonwealth Transportation Board
- Kenneth Wright, Mayor of Portsmouth
- Daniel LaShof, Next Generation Climate Action
- Neil Gray, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
- Richard Groover, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College
- Mike Toalson, Home Builders Association of Virginia
- Dr. JoAnn Haysbert, Hampton University
- Jagadish Shukla, Institute of Global Environment and Society, George Mason University
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