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Healthy Communities

The Sierra Club wants to foster vibrant, healthy communities with clean water and air, that are free from toxic chemical threats. Our goals include protecting drinking water sources, preventing sewage pollution, protecting communities threatened by mountaintop removal mining, promoting clean water in rural communities, and addressing climate change impacts on water resources.

Land Use and Transportation

Large amounts of poorly planned development across Virginia have created a threat to our lifestyles, health, economy and the very beauty of the Commonwealth.  The highway lobby and the development industry seek to benefit by converting open space into sprawling car-dependent suburbs and exurbs away from urban and community centers.

There is a better way to build and in doing so, to produce healthy neighborhoods, better transportation choices and cleaner air, water and open space. (Read more...)

Clean Water

Virginia is a water-rich state with 9 major river basins : the Potomac, Rappahannock, Shenandoah, James, York, Roanoke, New, Tennessee/Big Sandy River, Chowan and Dismal Swamp, and (part of) the Chesapeake Bay. These river basins contain 50,357 miles of river, 116,058 sq miles of lakes, 2428 sq miles of estuaries and 1246 unique watersheds. In addition Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland share the Chesapeake Bay, once one of the most productive ecosystems in the world. These water resources used to provide Virginia with premier recreation, fishing, and tourism opportunities.  (Read more...)

Clean Air

Many citizens in Virginia are breathing air that does not meet Federal Clean Air standards. Cars, industrial processes, and electrical power generation from coal and gas all contribute to this problem.  The Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club is currently working to both stop the construction of additional coal burning power plants in Virginia, and to clean existing polluting power plants with state of the art technology.  (Read more...)