Hill Heat

The Heartland Institute has been quietly dropped from two significant coalitions with top environmental organizations. Under pressure from Forecast the Facts and Greenpeace, insurers who funded Heartland’s Washington DC vice president, Eli Lehrer, ceased their support and helped to convince Lehrer to leave the organization. With Lehrer’s departure, the Heartland Institute has been excised from the websites of two green coalitions:

The Smarter Safer Coalition, an effort to reform the National Flood Insurance Program by top insurers, environmental organizations including American Rivers, the Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, Environmental Defense Fund, Defenders of Wildlife, Ceres, and the Nature Conservancy, alongside conservative groups such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute, American Conservative Union, and Americans for Tax Reform

The Green Scissors Campaign, an initiative to reduce anti-environmental government spending with Friends of the Earth and Taxpayers for Common Sense.

According to leaked documents, Lehrer brought about $700,000 a year into the Heartland Institute for his Center on Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate, including the majority of Heartland’s corporate funding. The insurers who announced their departure from Heartland include the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, XL Group, Renaissance Re, Allied World Assurance, and State Farm Insurance.

Corporate sponsors of the Heartland Institute who have resisted calls to end their financial support include Microsoft, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Comcast, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Heartland’s seventh climate-denier conference will take place in Chicago in two weeks.

Speaker: Peter Gleick

Title: An update on the vulnerability of U.S. water resources to climate change: From the Mississippi River floods to growing shortages in the West

The scientific evidence supporting growing impacts of human-induced climate change on U.S. water resources continues to strengthen. Dr. Peter Gleick, one of the nation’s leading experts on climate and water, will discuss recent reports on increased precipitation intensity in North America, the Mississippi River flood events, the new Department of Interior assessment of climate and western river basins, and efforts to prepare for climate and water risks facing cities, farmers, and natural systems. He will also explore some of the adverse implications of recent budget decisions for emergency preparedness and warning systems, weather forecasting, military preparedness, and national response to extreme events.

The two-day conference will bring together stakeholders from across the government, renewable energy industry, and conservation community to discuss the administration’s efforts to rapidly and responsibly stand-up renewable energy projects on our nation’s public lands.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will open the workshop with a roundtable discussion about the Administration’s work to build a clean energy economy. Immediately following the roundtable, the Secretaries will hold a press conference to discuss how President Obama’s tax cuts are encouraging business investment and job creation in wind, solar and other renewable energy technologies.

Roundtable Discussion with Secretaries Salazar, Chu, Vilsack

• Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior
• Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy
• Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture

10:15 a.m. Press Conference

Department of the Interior Yates Auditorium
1849 C St., NW
Washington, D.C. 20240

All credentialed media are invited to cover the event. Please RSVP to interior_news@ios.doi.gov

The World Bank’s mission is to alleviate poverty and encourage economic growth by providing low-cost loans for worthy development projects. But the Bank has come under fire recently from some developing country critics for placing environmental policy concerns ahead of poverty reduction goals. For example, according to one critic writing recently in the New York Times, “the bank’s loans for plantation agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions – some $132 million of which have gone to palm oil cultivation – have been humanitarian and economic triumphs. Yet now, under misguided pressure from environmental groups, the Bank is turning its back on the program.” Furthermore, questions have been raised over the World Bank’s recent tendency to give greater weight to input from environmentalist NGOs than from private businesses or even sovereign nat! ions.

Join us for a larger policy discussion about the World Bank’s mission and its environmental objectives. Panelists will discuss how effective World Bank aid policies have been in alleviating poverty when they are linked to environmental or other social policies. What should the Bank’s role be in the 21st century? And how should the Congress of the United States, the Bank’s biggest funder, shape the Bank’s priorities?

Hosted by James Roberts, Research Fellow for Economic Freedom and Growth

Speakers

• Ron Bailey, Science Correspondent, Reason Magazine
• Nick Schulz, Editor-in-Chief, American.com, and Author of From Poverty to Prosperity Intangible Assets, Hidden Liabilities and the Lasting Triumph over Scarcity
• Richard Tren, Director, Africa Fighting Malaria, and Co-Author of The Excellent Powder: DDT’s Political and Scientific History

Heritage Foundation
Lehrman Auditorium
214 Massachusetts Ave NE
Washington DC

Michael E. Porter, Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard University

With additional comments by:

• Phil Sharp, President, Resources for the Future
• Daniel C. Esty, Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy, Yale University
• Chad Holliday, former CEO, DuPont

Twenty years ago, Michael Porter, one of the world’s most influential thinkers on management and competitiveness, posited what has since become known as the Porter Hypothesis – the notion that well-designed environmental regulation can spur innovation and improve competitiveness. As current policy debates focus on regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act and concerns about global competitiveness of U.S. industry, Porter’s insights have never been more germane. With these issues in mind, Michael Porter will deliver the annual Hans Landsberg Memorial Lecture at Resources for the Future on January 19, 2011.

Michael Porter is a leading authority on competitive strategy; the competitiveness and economic development of nations, states, and regions; and the application of competitive principles to social problems such as health care, the environment, and corporate responsibility. Porter is generally recognized as the father of the modern strategy field, and has been identified in a variety of rankings and surveys as the world’s most influential thinker on management and competitiveness. He is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, based at Harvard Business School. A University professorship is the highest professional recognition that can be awarded to a Harvard faculty member. In 2001, Harvard Business School and Harvard University jointly created the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, dedicated to furthering Professor Porter’s work. He is the author of 18 books and over 125 articles.

To RSVP for this event, please send an email with your contact details to events@rff.org.

RFF First Floor Conference Center
Resources for the Future
1616 P Street NW, Washington, DC 20036

Speaker

• Michael R. Bromwich, Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement

CSIS B1 Conference Center
1800 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006

The CSIS Energy and National Security Program invites you to a discussion with Michael R. Bromwich, Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE). Mr. Bromwich will discuss the bureau’s continuing effort to provide responsible stewardship of U.S. offshore oil and natural gas development. Frank A. Verrastro, Senior Vice President and Director of the Energy and National Security Program at CSIS will moderate.

On June 21, 2010 Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar swore-in former Justice Department Inspector General Michael R. Bromwich as Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement to lead reforms that will strengthen oversight and regulation of offshore oil and gas development. Mr. Bromwich is overseeing the fundamental restructuring of the former Minerals Management Service, which was responsible for overseeing oil and gas development on the Outer Continental Shelf.

In response to the April 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig and the resulting oil spill, CSIS developed the “Impacts of the Gulf Oil Spill Series.” The project is designed to inform the ongoing public debate by examining the complex interconnections between exploration, risk, regulatory environments, and economic consequences.

This session will be on the record. Registration is required. Please register no later than close of business on Wednesday, January 12th.

Please send your confirmation to energy@csis.org.

8:00 Registration

8:30 Welcome/Opening Comments U.S. EPA Office of Air And Radiation Assistant Administrator Gina McCarthy

9:20 Subcommittee Report Outs Economic Incentives and Regulatory Innovation Permits/NSR/Toxics

10:00 “OAR update on Environmental Justice related Activities” Panel Discussion

BREAK

11:15 “Meet the Members” (Two new members will discuss Air Quality Issues related to their work) A Carrier’s Perspective -Dr. Lee Kindberg, Maersk Tribal Air Quality -Joy Wiecks

12:40-1:45 LUNCH

1:45 – 2:30 Mobile Sources Technical Review Subcommittee Move Model Report

2:30- 3:00 CAAAC Operation/Future Topics

3:00 – 3:15 Public Comments

3:15– 3:30 Next Meeting/Close Pat Childers

Crowne Plaza National Airport
1489 Jefferson Davis Highway
Arlington, VA 22202

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) – News conference The Energy Information Administration (EIA) holds a news conference to present a projection of U.S. energy supply, demand and prices to 2035 with the early release of the reference case projection from the “Annual Energy Outlook 2011.”

Speaker

• EIA Administrator Richard Newell

The Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Nitze Building, 1740 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Kenney Auditorium, Washington, D.C.

CONTACT: Felisa Neuringer Klubes, 202-663-5626, fklubes@jhu.edu; or Jonathan Cogan, 202-586-8719, jonathan.cogan@eia.gov

r. Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy, will talk about accelerating innovation to help meet our energy and climate goals at a National Press Club luncheon on Monday, November 29.

As United States Secretary of Energy, Chu, is charged with helping implement President Obama’s agenda to invest in clean and renewable energy, end the nation’s addiction to foreign oil and address the global climate crisis.

Steven Chu will say that the clean energy successes of China and other countries represent a “Sputnik Moment” for the United States that requires the nation to focus its attention on clean-tech innovation.

The energy secretary will call for the nation to ramp up efforts to develop and deploy the next generation of energy alternatives to ensure the country is able to compete for what he sees as the jobs of the future. Chu is also expected to use the opportunity to tout several of his agency’s ongoing research efforts, including a stimulus-funded project to develop a cost-competitive plug-in car battery with a single-charge range of 500 miles or more.

Chu was co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1997.

Prior to his appointment, Chu was director of DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and professor of physics and molecular and cell biology at the University of California. Previously, he held positions at Stanford University and AT&T Bell Laboratories.

The National Press Club luncheon will begin promptly at 12:30 p.m. and Chu’s remarks will begin at 1:00, followed by a question-and-answer session.

The National Press Club 529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor

“Report to the President on Accelerating the Pace of Change in Energy Technologies Through an Integrated Federal Energy Policy” addresses one of the greatest challenges facing the United States: how to transform the Nation’s energy system within one to two decades through leadership in energy technology innovation—a challenge with great implications for economic competitiveness, environmental stewardship, and national security.

Speakers

• John P. Holdren – PCAST Co-chair, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
• Ernest Moniz and Maxine Savitz, PCAST members and Co-chairs of the PCAST Energy Technology Innovation System Working Group
• Robert Simon, Staff Director of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
• David Goldston, Director of Government Affairs at the Natural Resources Defense Council and former Chief of Staff for the House Committee on Science

Auditorium of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1200 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC