The American Association Of Blacks In Energy (AABE) and its partners held a landmark "Energy And Climate Change Summit" on Thursday, January 28, 2010 at the Heritage Center of the United States Navy Memorial in Washington, DC. The theme of the summit was "Implications & Economic Opportunities," the goal was to establish a vehicle to provide a credible voice for people of color on the issues of energy and climate change policy. The Summit focused on economic opportunities and impacts to vulnerable populations, and providing a dialogue to establish a set of principles to be presented to key policy officials in Congress, the Obama administration and other government agencies.The summit, which was very well attended and successful in achieving its goals, was opened by Frank Stewart, President of AABE and David Owens, AABE Chair and Edison Electric Institute Vice President. Majority Whip James Clyburn was the featured speaker at the morning plenary session. Kevin Bryan, Meridian Institute, served as the facilitator of the morning and afternoon sessions. Mr. Stewart and Mr. Owens also served as stakeholder panelists.
Session 1 with the theme "State of the Debate: Energy and Climate Change Policy," featured Chris Miller, Senior Policy Advisor for Energy and Environment for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Session 2 with the theme "Economic Implications of Energy and Climate Change Policy," featured former Congressman Philllip Sharp, President, Resources For The Future (RFF) and Ray Kopp, Senior Fellow & Director Climate and Technology Policy, RFF. Former EPA Administrator Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy & Climate Change delivered the keynote address.
The afternoon Session 3 had the theme "Economic Opportunities from Energy and Climate Policy and featured Barbara Tyran, Director, Washington Relations, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and David Rosner, Senior Policy Analyst, National Commission on Energy Policy. Session 4 was themed " Forging Ahead--Clarifying the Unifying Themes and Identifying Opportunities for Input Into the Political Process and featured Walter McLeod, Summit Secretariat, EcoCapitol, LLC.
Stakeholder panelists included Norris McDonald, President, AAEA, Ms. Marti Doneghy, Senior Legislative Representative, American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), Dr. Charles Steele, former SCLC President and CEO, Niger Innis, National Spokesperson, Congress of Racial Equity (CORE), Gina Wood, Director of Policy, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Donnell Spivey, Vice President, National Association of Real Estate Brokers, Janet Murguia, President & CEO, National Council of La Raza, and Linda Haithcox, President, National Organization of Black County Officials.
The summit was sponsored by AABE, Bonneville Power Administration, American Electric Power, Consumers Energy, American Gas Association, Edison Electric Institute, Blue Diamond Ventures, Inc., General Electric, Nuclear Energy Institute, Peabody Coal, Progress Energy, Southern Company
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