Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI)

Community-Centered Resilience: Lessons from Louisiana

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A live webcast will be streamed at 2:00 PM EST at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting)
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing on community-centered resilience featuring an example from Louisiana which holds lessons for all regions of the country. Across the United States, communities are facing increased uncertainty from changes such as shifting agricultural growing seasons and intensifying coastal erosion. These changes hit close to home, and communities should be at the center of finding solutions to increase their resilience.
Louisiana’s Strategic Adaptations for Future Environments (LA SAFE) took on this challenge. The initiative addresses community resilience holistically by integrating risk planning with planning for stormwater management, housing, transportation, economic development, education, recreation, and culture.
Using a ground-breaking approach to community adaptation planning, LA SAFE, which is a collaboration between the Louisiana Office of Community Development and the Foundation for Louisiana, held 71 community meetings and engaged with over 3,000 people in coastal Louisiana. Together, the communities developed adaptation plans and voted on pilot projects, which jumpstarted the initiative’s implementation stage funded by federal Community Development Block Grants.
Briefing panelists will discuss the process and outcomes of the LA SAFE initiative to date to provide attendees with an understanding of how this model can be applied in districts across the country.

Delay and Pay or Plan and Prosper

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A live webcast will be streamed at 9:30 AM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting)
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and the World Resources Institute (WRI) invite you to a briefing on the Global Commission on Adaptation’s Flagship Report and Year of Action for climate adaptation. The Commission, which is chaired by Former U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon, Microsoft Founder Bill Gates, and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, seeks to accelerate adaptation action by elevating its political visibility and focusing on concrete solutions. In September 2019, the Commission launched its flagship report, Adapt Now: A Global Call for Leadership on Climate Resilience, which outlines a roadmap for scaling-up climate adaptation in the United States and abroad in order to safeguard communities and economies from the impacts of climate change. In particular, the report emphasizes the investment potential of climate adaptation initiatives.
The report also kickstarts a Year of Action on climate adaptation, starting in late 2019 and going through 2020, to advance the recommendations from the flagship report which include eight major areas of focus—agriculture, cities, finance, disaster risk management, nature-based solutions, infrastructure, water, and locally-led action. This concentrated effort will help accelerate adaptation action and support, thereby improving human well-being and resulting in better, more sustainable economic development and security for all.
Briefing speakers will highlight key elements of the report and share how federal legislators can engage with the Year of Action for climate adaptation.

Improving Coastal Resilience in the Northeast

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A live webcast will be streamed at 2:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting)
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing on initiatives and partnerships that are helping protect Northeast shorelines and communities from extreme weather events and other coastal hazards. The briefing will showcase nature-based solutions that support coastal resilience for wilderness areas, small communities, and large cities such as New York City. Nature-based solutions can protect human lives and property while creating habitat for wildlife and providing co-benefits like water filtration. These techniques can also be paired with traditional “gray” infrastructure to meet a greater variety of planning needs.
Much coastal restoration work involves multiple agencies at the local, state, and federal level, often working in conjunction with nonprofits and businesses across state and district lines. The panelists will describe this collaborative process and how buy-in for nature-based resilience projects can be achieved across diverse and sometimes competing interests.

Climate and National Security Forum 2019

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A live webcast will be streamed at 9:30 AM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting)
The Center for Climate and Security, in partnership with the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, invites you to join us for the 2019 Climate and National Security Forum: A Climate Security Plan for America. This year’s forum will focus on the risks that climate change presents to U.S. military bases and operations, and on the launch of the Climate and Security Advisory Group’s Climate Security Plan for America, which calls on the U.S. President to recognize climate change as a vital national security threat and issue a National Strategy to fulfill a “responsibility to prepare for and prevent” that threat.

How Do Communities Ensure Federal Energy Programs Help Those Most in Need?

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A live webcast will be streamed at 12:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting)
The Energy Efficiency for All (EEFA) coalition and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invite you to a briefing with EEFA partners in Ohio, Virginia, New York and California. These state leaders will discuss how they are building successful campaigns to deliver energy/cost savings and healthy home environments for low-and-moderate-income (LMI) households. Speakers will discuss how their state coalitions are using and leveraging federal energy services, such as the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Low-Income Housing Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), to ensure that all LMI residents have access to housing that is healthy, safe, energy efficient and affordable.

Energy Efficiency Jobs Are Green Jobs

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A live webcast will be streamed at 12:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting)
Energy Efficiency for All (EEFA) and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invite you to a briefing about an upcoming EEFA report, Job Potential in Retrofitting Affordable Multifamily Housing, which will be previewed at the briefing. The report shows a large untapped job creation potential in the residential retrofit market, particularly for efficiency upgrades to affordable housing. To unlock this potential, however, the disparities in access to those energy efficiency jobs must be addressed.
Energy efficiency improvements are the largest source of clean energy jobs in the United States and a major driver of the economy. Retrofit projects also reduce emissions that pollute our air and overheat our planet, while making homes more comfortable and more affordable through lower utility bills. Indeed, energy efficiency is the cheapest, fastest and simplest way to address energy and environmental goals while providing additional benefits to society and the economy. EEFA’s multi-state analysis shows the distribution of existing energy efficiency jobs across 12 states and their 15 largest metro areas, as well as the employment potential of the sector.

Equitable Solutions to Rural Energy Burdens

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Please RSVP to expedite check-in
A live webcast will be streamed at 2:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting)
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), the National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA International (NCBA CLUSA), and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) invite you to a briefing about innovative utility programs that are working to alleviate energy burdens faced by U.S. rural households. The briefing will showcase how rural electric co-ops and other rural utilities can benefit from USDA funding opportunities, such as the Rural Energy Savings Program (RESP) that was renewed in the latest Farm Bill. This program enables co-op members to upgrade their homes and businesses to cut their energy costs, which, in turn, supports jobs and rural economic growth by keeping more dollars in the local economy.

Nature-based Resilience for Gulf Coast Communities

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A live webcast will be streamed at 3:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting)
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing on initiatives and partnerships that are helping protect Gulf Coast shorelines and communities from extreme weather events and other coastal hazards. The briefing will showcase nature-based solutions that support coastal resilience, such as wetlands restoration and other “natural infrastructure,” as well as the “greening” of highways and other traditional “gray” infrastructure. This approach leverages the sustainable management and/or restoration of natural or modified ecosystems to protect people, communities, roadways, buildings, industries, and habitats.
Government agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of the Interior, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of Transportation, are piloting and implementing nature-based infrastructure projects in the Gulf Coast and around the country. Such projects can be more cost effective and durable against extreme weather events than gray infrastructure, while providing additional health, environmental and economic benefits. The panelists will describe how national, regional, state and local governments and organizations are collaborating to integrate nature-based solutions into policy and practice.

Biogas: Pro-Economy and Pro-Climate

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A live webcast will be streamed at 3:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting)
The American Biogas Council (ABC) and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invite you to a briefing about the many benefits of renewable biogas. Biogas is produced from the decomposition of organic wastes (such as agriculture residues, manure, food wastes, and sewage) in the absence of oxygen. It can be refined into renewable natural gas, and used to power vehicles, heat homes, cook, or generate electricity—just like natural gas. Biogas is a powerful driver for economic growth, particularly in rural areas in need of economic opportunities. Biogas also lowers our greenhouse gas emissions, contributes to clean air and water, and improves soil health. It turns waste, which would be a problem if not used, into valuable resources.
Briefing attendees will learn about the potential biogas resources in their states, the economic and job opportunities they offer, and important policy drivers for this promising industry.

Decommissioning: A New Era in the U.S. Nuclear Power Industry; a Critical Need for Congressional Oversight

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A live webcast will be streamed at 2:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting)
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing on the new era of the U.S. nuclear power industry as its electricity generation winds down and decommissioning of nuclear power plants ramps up. Decommissioning is the process of dismantling a closed plant, securing or removing its radioactive waste, and lowering a site’s residual radioactivity. Getting it right is critical to communities’ health and safety. Getting it wrong could pose existential threats.
The U.S. civilian nuclear fleet is aging out. As civilian reactors approach the end of their operating lives, their economics have been undercut by less expensive natural gas-fired generation. Even though nuclear owners are demanding state subsidies to keep some aging plants open a while longer, it will not stop the coming wave of closures. Six reactors have shut down since 2013. Another 15 are slated to close by 2025. Most of the civilian reactor fleet will inevitably close over the next 20 years.
As plants close, previously profitable assets become liabilities owners are eager to offload. Enabled by recent legislative and regulatory changes, private companies (chiefly Holtec International’s joint venture with the Canadian firm SNC-Lavalin and NorthStar’s joint venture with French subsidiary Orano, formerly Areva) are stepping in to acquire the plants, taking over their licenses, liability, decommissioning funds and waste contracts. Their business model is to decommission as quickly and inexpensively as possible, claiming any remaining decommissioning funds as profit. Economic incentives encourage them to pack highly radioactive spent fuel into thin-walled dry storage canisters not designed for the decades or centuries of storage that may be needed. Absent a geologic repository, the companies plan to ship high-level nuclear waste to Consolidated Interim Storage (CIS) sites – one owned by Orano in Texas and another by Holtec in New Mexico.
There is currently little opportunity for meaningful input from citizens, municipalities or states into the companies’ decisions on decommissioning, nuclear waste, or use of ratepayer-financed decommissioning funds. Yet more than 80 reactor communities and communities near waste storage sites, plus countless communities along proposed radioactive waste transport routes (which traverse 75 percent of Congressional districts), will be profoundly affected by those decisions.
Waste transport, CIS and the emerging privatized model of decommissioning and waste stewardship raise dilemmas and potential safety threats that have yet to be solved, or in some cases adequately studied. Even so, Congress will be called upon this year to decide on legislation and appropriations regarding CIS, Yucca Mountain and other key issues related to decommissioning. Congress has the power to require studies and stronger oversight of decommissioning.
To explore these issues, distinguished experts including regulators, independent scientists, NGO advocates, and representatives of affected communities, will speak and answer questions at the briefing.