What can the Climate President do next?
Back in November, our Co-Executive Director Jessica Lovering gave the opening keynote at the American Nuclear Society meeting:
|
|
|
Read Lovering's keynote speech from the 2020 American Nuclear Society Annual Winter Meeting
|
|
|
Lovering focused on what the future of nuclear policy might look like under a Biden-Harris Administration, but a lot has happened in climate and energy since then:
- On Day One of his term, President Biden signed a series of executive orders focused on tackling climate change including rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline permit, reviewing pro-pollution regulatory rollbacks from the Trump Administration, and re-establishing an inter-agency group to evaluate the social cost of carbon.
- Just a week later, President Biden hosted a Climate Day with another suite of executive orders including a focus on infrastructure, revitalizing energy communities, and addressing environmental justice.
- But personnel is also policy, and President Biden didn’t just appoint some great climate folks to his office, he also made sure that every appointee to his cabinet was ready to tackle climate change, from Pete Buttigieg for Transportation, Jennifer Granholm for Energy, and Rep. Deb Haaland for Interior. Even Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that climate change would be a top priority for her department.
While this is just the start, and now we need to see big action in Congress, we’re optimistic about the progress that can be made in the next four years toward a clean and just energy system. Check out Jessica's keynote to learn what else we may expect.
|
|
Erin Burns - Board member
Erin is the Executive Director of Carbon180, a DC-based think tank at the cutting edge of carbon management policy. Erin brings many years of policy experience, including previous work on nuclear energy, to her new role as a board member for Good Energy Collective. We are honored to welcome Erin to the team. Learn more about Erin
|
|
|
Ty Chung - Fellow
Ty is a second year law student at University of Pennsylvania with a passion for climate and energy policy. He will be working with MC to help develop our regulatory work with the goal of making advanced nuclear technologies more readily available and financially accessible to more communities. Learn more about Ty
|
|
M.C. Hammond - Senior fellow
M.C. is a regulatory attorney with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in Washington, D.C. with over a decade of experience in the energy industry. We are thrilled to welcome her as our first Senior Fellow, a role where she will help shape our work on nuclear regulation and policy. Learn more about M.C.
|
|
|
|
Please click the links above to explore their profiles and join us in welcoming them to the Collective.
|
|
|
And finally, we'd like to share an op-ed recently published by TheHill.com and written by our Co-Executive Director Suzy Hobbs Baker along with Todd Allen (Executive Director of Fastest Path to Zero). It outlines the value of nuclear energy for decarbonizing the economy and how we can center communities. Give it a read and let us know what you think.
|
|
That's all for now. Stay safe and we look forward to sharing more with you soon.
—Good Energy Collective
|
|
|
Good Energy Collective delivers progressive policy and leadership on nuclear energy as part of the fight against climate change. We invite you to chip in if you are able and share broadly with your networks.
|
|
|
|
