Potomac River

Welcome!

We have over 2,000 members located in the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church, and Arlington County. The Group's elected volunteer leaders work with interested Group members and state and national Sierra Club staffers to organize campaigns for clean energy, smart growth, public transportation, open space conservation and more. Join us!
 

Sierra Club Virginia Chapter Endorses Matt de Ferranti In Arlington County Board Democratic Primary

Sierra Club’s Virginia Chapter announces its endorsement of Democratic candidate Matt de Ferranti in the Democratic Primary election to be held on August 4. 

“Matt is a true champion on climate and environmental issues. We need his leadership and expertise in office now more than ever," said Dean Amel, Chair of the Sierra Club’s Potomac River Group.

Matt has been at the forefront of many climate and environmental debates. He provided key support to Arlington’s 2019 Community Energy Plan, including its ambitious goal of 100% renewable electricity county-wide by 2035. He also backed creation of the Climate Policy Office in the County Manager’s Office; stronger green building standards for new and existing buildings; electrification of County fleets, including transit buses; elimination of gas-powered leaf blowers; food-waste recycling for all, and many other policies and programs now in place or being implemented.

More information about Matt can be found at https://mattforarlington.com/.
Download the press release

 

Can we Expect Data Center Action at the General Assembly?

The Potomac River and Great Falls groups of the VA Sierra Club hosted, along with co-sponsors EcoAction Arlington and the Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions, a webinar to address an issue which has been much in the news and on our minds: the proliferation of data centers, especially in Northern Virginia. Ann Bennett was the speaker and is the Data Center and Land Use Issue Chairs for the Virginia Chapter. 

Link to the audio recording: https://bit.ly/4re2jQ0
Link to the presentation: https://bit.ly/3NS2HVW

 

Tribute to Rick Keller, June 16, 1949 - August 22, 2025 
Long time leader of the Potomac River Group

Rick Keller, a long-time leader of the Potomac River Group, died last month after a short illness. Rick spent many years as chair of our local group. As a long-time Arlingtonian, Rick had an unmatched knowledge of local leaders and institutions and served as a mentor to many of the people who now lead our local group. Rick was intelligent, hard-nosed, passionate and a lot of fun to work with. We will miss him dearly.

Please read more here

 

Climate and energy updates from Arlington and Alexandria

On September 10th, the Potomac River Group hosted a webinar "Climate and energy updates from Arlington and Alexandria" featuring Jennifer Fioretti from Arlington and Ryan Freed from Alexandria.  This was an excellent discussion of what has been accomplished in the past few years and what challenges and opportunities lie ahead. Enjoy!

Link to the recording of the meeting
Passcode: Z7*c?Q$O

 

Housing, homelessness, and public policy – let’s talk about solutions

“Fault Lines" is about the Bay Area, but it carries a warning for every region in the country. If you want to understand the real forces driving the housing crisis, you need to watch this film,” says Gleam Davis, Former Mayor of Santa Monica about this documentary on homelessness and policy.

What can the Washington, DC area learn from this groundbreaking film?

The Sierra Club Potomac River Group co-sponsered this showing on September 7. Read about the key takeaways and how to get involved here: https://www.smartergrowth.net/event-materials/fault-lines-key-takeaways-and-whats-next/

 

Sign the Petition to Stand with Chesterfield: Say No to Dominion’s Polluting Gas Plant! 

The PRG was recently alerted by Glen Besa, former head of the Virginia Chapter, to Dominion Energy's plan to build 6 new gas plants, mainly to power all the extra energy needs at peak times that all the data centers are creating.  The first one is proposed for a neighborhood in East Chesterfield County just south of Richmond in an area which is majority black and poor. 
 
Please use this link https://nogasplant.org/petition to sign the petition to the VA Dept of Environmental Quality opposing this plant.  You can also get more information and alerts at www.friendsofchesterfield.org.  
 

Sierra Club Members Tour Indoor Community Share Farm in Arlington

On a beautiful afternoon 25 Sierra Club members toured an indoor organic community share farm in South Arlington. Area 2 Farms grows its produce using a multilevel, vertical conveyor belt system that replicates a plant's day-night growth cycle.

Read all about it here!

Arlington’s Green Building Incentive Policy: Recommendations for Improvement


The Potomac River Group, Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions, and EcoAction Arlington released a detailed report on how Arlington’s Green Building Incentive Policy (GBIP) can be strengthened to better address the climate crisis. 

The GBIP is a nationally recognized program to manage climate emissions and promote sustainability in large commercial buildings in Arlington, including multifamily residential projects. The GBIP was last updated in 2020. 

The Potomac River Group and allies commissioned the report and analysis from Jessica Abralind, a uniquely qualified and respected building sustainability expert. Ms. Abralind was an important part of the team that managed Arlington’s GBIP program for 11 years and was deeply involved in its 2020 update. Ms. Abralind also has worked on building performance issues for Washington, DC’s Department of Energy and Environment, and more recently as an independent consultant. 

Ms. Abralind’s recommendations cover a wide range of issues, including the importance of relying on the most recent version of LEED, increasing energy performance standards, and strengthening building electrification and electric vehicle parking requirements. 

The Potomac River Group and its allies are deeply supportive of Arlington’s GBIP program and look forward to further engagement as the Policy is updated. 

For more information see the full text of the Policy Review and Recommendations and Analysis documents below

 

Virginia’s energy transition: underway and under fire.

On February 12th, the Potomac River Group hosted a webinar “Virginia’s energy transition: underway and under fire.”

Our speaker was Ivy Main, who is the Virginia Sierra Club’s co-chair for renewable energy. She also writes commentary on energy and environmental issues for the Virginia Mercury and her own blog, PowerforthepeopleVA.com. Ivy discussed the laws and policies Virginia adopted beginning in 2020 to transition to clean energy, the backlash from opponents on the right, and the new challenges confronting us with the rapid growth in data centers.
 
Here is the link to the recording, which runs 57 minutes
 

 

 

Call for MINI-GRANT Applications

The Potomac River Group is looking for proposals for new projects that will further the Sierra Club’s mission of environmental sustainability and climate health. We offer one to two mini-grants each year, not to exceed $500. Applications can be submitted at any time and will be reviewed as soon as possible after submission.

We are especially interested in new, creative ideas for environmental advocacy or education projects that will engage members of the larger community and lead to significant new programs or policies. We will prioritize projects benefitting the local area covered by the Potomac River Group of the Sierra Club (Arlington, Alexandria, and Falls Church), although local residency is not a requirement. Projects should be completed within one year. Grants cannot be used to advocate for or against any candidate for elective office.

To apply, please fill out the two-page application form below and email it to Paul Kaplowitz at pkaplowi@gmail.com and Barbara Swart at barbara@helmets.org. Questions? Please email the same addresses.

prgminigrantapplication_1.docx