Hill Heat

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), Center for Climate Strategies (CCS) and the Office of Senator Roland Burris (D-IL) invite you to a briefing to learn about state climate actions related to agriculture, forestry and waste management, and how they can inform the current Congressional debate on energy and climate policy. States have developed a range of approaches for promoting bioenergy and biobased products as well as managing agriculture, forestry and other land use to enhance carbon sequestration and minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Many of these approaches are “win-win” solutions that simultaneously address employment/economic stimulus, energy security, climate mitigation and other environmental objectives while garnering broad consensus among diverse stakeholders. At this briefing, agriculture and forestry experts from the South and Midwest will share experiences about policy development and implementation in their states, and offer perspectives on how the federal government and states can best partner to implement effective policies. Speakers for this event include:

• Joe James, Chief Executive Officer, Corporation for Economic Opportunity; Member, South Carolina Climate, Energy and Commerce Advisory Committee
• Richard Leopold, Director, Iowa Department of Natural Resources
• Dennis Hazel, PhD, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University
• Tom Peterson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Center for Climate Strategies (CCS)

Over the past six years, more than 30 states have addressed climate change through comprehensive development of mitigation measures aimed at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while also creating jobs and addressing energy needs within their states. This includes a full suite of policies in the agriculture, forestry and waste sectors and specific actions that support land protection, conservation practices, renewable energy and products, and waste recovery. Some states have developed adaptation plans as well to respond to climate change impacts on natural resources and other systems.

The Center for Climate Strategies is a nonprofit that supplies technical and analytic services to states. This briefing is the second in a series co-sponsored by EESI and CCS. Information from the first briefing, which provided an overview of state energy and climate actions across all sectors, is available here. Future briefings will address topics including the economics of climate change, transportation, land use, and adaptation, and residential, commercial, and industrial energy use.

This briefing is free and open to the public. No RSVP required. For more information, contact Amy Sauer at (202) 662-1892 or asauer@eesi.org.

Senate briefing on “Climate Change and the Midwest,” a discussion of the impacts of climate change on Midwestern states.

• Dr. Donald Wuebbles, Director of the School of Earth, Society, and Environment at the University of Illinois, who will summarize the potential impacts of global warming on the Midwestern states. Dr. Wuebbles developed the concept of Ozone Depletion Potentials used in the Montreal Protocol and the U.S. Clean Air Act. He contributed to all of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) assessments on climate change, and coauthored both an assessment of the impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes region and, more recently, a similar assessment of the U.S. Northeast.
• Dr. Jonathan Pershing, Director of WRI’s Climate, Energy and Pollution Program, who will focus on how proposed federal legislation might be tailored to address Midwest-specific concerns through allowance allocation or complementary policies, including policy options that can mitigate economic impacts of a federal program. Dr. Pershing is active in U.S. and international climate policy design; he serves on the CA Market Advisory Committee, was the facilitator for both the Northeast states’ emissions trading initiative (RGGI) and the Illinois state climate advisory group, is a regular participant in international UN climate negotiations, and was a lead author for the IPCC.
• Doug Scott, Director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, who will present a summary of the actions taken to date by Midwestern states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Mr. Scott chairs Governor Blagojevich’s Climate Change Advisory Committee.

If you have any questions, please contact Senator Klobuchar’s office or Senator Lugar’s office.