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August 30, 2010 |  |  | |  Thursday, October 28, 2010 (6:30 PM - 10:30 PM Pacific) Benefit read more > Thursday, October 28, 2010 (9:30 AM - 4:30 PM Pacific) SpecialEvent read more >  - Advocacy, publications and events | |  - Regrouping and Protecting EPA's authority around Clean Energy - Discuss climate policy, Oceans act and EPA - Opposition grows while Valero Contributes an Additional $3M - Rocky Mountains Event Focuses on Speed and Scale - Health, environmental and economic threats continue  This month has been a time of regrouping and assessing our options after the U.S. Senate failed to bring a clean energy and climate bill to the floor before leaving for the August recess. Not even the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico provided sufficient momentum for Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) to bring either oil spill legislation or climate legislation to a vote this summer because a minority of obstructionist senators from both parties blocked action. We assumed that the Senate would resume negotiations on an oil spill bill after Labor Day, but recent comments by Senator Bingaman (D-NM), Chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, suggest that even this may be a tall order. In the meantime, a handful of Democrats are lobbying Senator Reid to include a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) in the oil spill response package. On a related front, we are fighting...read more > | |  | | | Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.
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Though he admits it’s a long shot, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D- RI) thinks that there is still a real possibility of passing a climate bill in this session of Congress. At a meeting in his Rhode Island office on August 24th with E2 members Jeff Weiss, Bob Shatten, Willie Osborn, Tedd Saunders, Chris Kaneb and Berl Hartman, the Senator counseled that to succeed this year there needs to be a coordinated effort that includes business, national security groups, environmental groups plus President Obama and his staff. If these groups can all come together with a strong campaign, he believes that a meaningful climate and energy bill can pass. Senator Whitehouse, who is one of the strongest environmental champions in the Senate, said in a speech on the floor of the Senate shortly before the recess: “I promise my colleagues this is a day that the...read more > E2 continued its efforts to defeat Proposition 23, the ballot measure that would effectively repeal California’s landmark clean energy and climate law (AB 32). We’re working with a broad and diverse coalition of businesses, environmental and public health groups, and civic organizations. More than 500 companies and organizations are now part of the “No on 23” campaign. On August 3rd, E2 co-sponsored a briefing for 60 business leaders and environmental advocates in San Francisco on the economic risks posed by Prop. 23. E2 Co-founder Bob Epstein highlighted the 500,000 green jobs...read more > | |  | | | From left: E2 members Ilona Major, Craig Lewis, Joel Serface, and Sunil Paul. Photo courtesy of Jamila Rockette.
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A dozen E2 members joined over 250 others in attending the seventh annual American Renewable Energy Day Conference (AREDAY), held each year in scenic Aspen, CO. The four-day conference (August 19th-August 22nd), which focused on deploying renewable energies and technology at “speed and scale”. The conference featured nationally recognized figures including Thomas Friedman, Amory Lovins, Ted Turner, and award-winning film director, James Cameron. Several E2 members including Sunil Paul, Founder of the Gigaton Throwdown Project (E2 Northern California), Craig Lewis, Founding Member of the FIT Coalition and Right Cycle (E2 Northern California), and Joel Serface, Founding Member of the Colorado CleanTech Association (E2 Rocky Mountains) spoke on AREDAY panels. Beyond the technical information that the conference addressed, this event also provided E2 members from around the country the... read more >While the media attention has somewhat subsided since the Deepwater Horizon oil gusher was finally capped on July 20th, after 87 days and more than half a million tons of crude oil were spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, E2’s environmental partner, NRDC, has been evaluating the recovery process in order to ensure that the public is fully aware of any continuing environmental, health and economic concerns related to the spill. On August 19th, Congress heeded these efforts when Representative Ed Markey (D-MA), chairman of the House Energy and Environment subcommittee, called a special hearing (rare during August recess) to examine where the oil has gone and how safe seafood from the Gulf is. NRDC Senior Scientist Lisa Suatoni testified at the hearing, raising skepticism about recent government reporting that we have “turned a corner,” in the Gulf – a topic also discussed in NRDC Executive Director Peter Lehner...read more > To read the latest press releases from NRDC, click here. | |
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