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Dear Friends and Colleagues,
As Congress returns back to session, I can’t help but reflect on my experiences this summer. I just returned from northern Colorado, where the locals love, appreciate, and work to conserve the beautiful environment around them.
During my time out West, I was reminded how important it is that we empower states and local communities to take the lead in protecting our natural resources and combating the impacts of climate change. Conservatives believe deeply in conservation, and the federal government should give them the tools they need to maintain clean air and water, create resilient lands and forests, and ensure that we leave this planet better than we found it – not stifle them with overregulation.
As we know, clean energy production and combating climate change go hand-in-hand. For example, natural gas fuels one third of Colorado’s electricity production. Natural gas production occurs primarily in rural – and red – communities across America, making the United States and our allies less reliant on dirtier resources from countries like Russia. At the same time, Colorado recently partnered with surrounding states – New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming – to propose a hydrogen hub that will utilize the states’ traditional and renewable energy resources to provide carbon-free power to industry, businesses, and homes across the four-state region. This is the type of innovation we should be encouraging – an all-of-the-above approach that reduces global emissions and creates good-paying jobs.
It’s time we unleash America’s rural communities – throughout the West and beyond – to develop the next generation of clean energy for the United States and the world.
Today, I am in Utah for the Conservative Climate Summit, hosted by Conservative Climate Caucus Chairman John Curtis (R-Utah) to learn more about how Republicans in the Beehive State plan to do just that. Now in its second year, the Conservative Climate Summit brings together local advocates, clean energy leaders, and featured speakers from Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon (R-Wyo.), House Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), and Conservative Climate Caucus Vice Chair Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), to filmmaker and ecologist John Dennis Liu.
It is a delight to see how far the Summit has come, and I look forward to continuing to partner with Rep. Curtis, his team, and the Conservative Climate Caucus to promote Republican solutions to advance American energy leadership and lower global emissions. Click here to learn more about the Summit!
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Heather Reams
CRES President
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“These oil and gas leases would have provided a wonderful opportunity to increase our domestic oil and gas production which is among the cleanest energy in the world,” – Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) in her response to the Biden administration’s announcement it would cancel oil and gas drilling leases in the arctic, cutting off key access to domestic oil production that our nation needs at a time of record-high gas prices. |
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CRES 2023 Clean Energy Champion Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) highlights potential funding for battery manufacturing in Louisiana – a investment that would ultimately reduce our reliance on China’s EV supply chains. See the full post HERE.
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“The reality is if we're going to have the materials we need to power our economy in this century, and these are materials that are needed for batteries and solar panels and semiconductors and the like, we're going to have to develop those ourselves. “ – Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on KSL Sunday Edition. See the full video HERE.
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Representative John Curtis (R-Utah) chats with Energy Fuels’ Logan Shumway about the role that uranium plays in producing clean, nuclear energy. Check out the full video HERE.
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“From advocating for renewable resources like wind and solar and working to achieve meaningful permitting reform to strengthening the resilience of our coastlines and forests, these lawmakers have demonstrated exceptional leadership among their peers—blazing the trail toward pragmatic solutions that leverage America’s carbon advantage, reduce global emissions, create jobs, and deliver affordable and reliable energy. I want to thank Senators Shelley Moore Capito and Bill Cassidy and Representatives Bruce Westerman and Jen Kiggans for their efforts to advance clean, affordable, and reliable energy solutions.” – CRES President Heather Reams in a statement celebrating the announcement of the 2023 CRES Clean Energy Champions. Read the full release HERE.
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Following the first GOP primary debate in August, CRES President Heather Reams was interviewed by CNN’s Ella Nilsen about the spotlight question on climate change and subsequent responses:
Yet for Republicans working to make climate policy more mainstream in the GOP, Ramaswamy’s language at the debate echoed a climate crisis-denying candidate who wasn’t onstage, former President Donald Trump. Trump has called climate change itself a “hoax” and falsely claimed wind turbines cause cancer.
“The fact that he chose the word hoax, to me, he’s emulating what President Trump had said before,” Heather Reams, president of conservative nonprofit Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, told CNN. Reams, who was sitting in the audience in Milwaukee, noted that Ramaswamy calling the “climate change agenda” a hoax didn’t go over well in a room full of Republicans.
“The whole place booed him, so it wasn’t well received,” Reams said. “Hearing booing was actually heartening to hear that the party is really moving on, they’re seeing the economic opportunities that can be had for the United States being a leader in lowering emissions.”
Heather’s statement on the debate was also quoted in MarketWatch, The Washington Post Climate 202, and Politico Morning Energy.
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ICYMI: National Clean Energy Week (NCEW) announced a preliminary slate of speakers for the 2023 NCEW Policymakers Symposium which brings together elected officials from both sides of the aisle, business leaders, advocates, policymakers, investors, and trade associations from all perspectives who are dedicated to advancing clean energy.
CRES Forum is the lead convener of NCEW. Described by POLITICO as “a veritable who’s who of the Clean Energy World,” NCEW is an annual awareness week to recognize the value of clean energy including abundant job opportunities, economic growth, energy independence, consumer choice, lower energy prices, and a cleaner environment.
Learn more about NCEW and register HERE.
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WE’RE HIRING!
CRES is growing, and we are adding to our team! If you are passionate about clean energy and interested in working with an organization dedicated to advancing commonsense, conservative energy solutions, we want to hear from you! Learn more about our open positions and apply below:
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Right on Energy: Responsible Policy Analysis & Responsible Tax Credits
We’re excited to launch a new blog at CRES Forum, Right on Energy. We’ll regularly feature responsible policy solutions to timely energy and climate issues that are top of mind for us. Whether it’s novel policy proposals, recently enacted legislation, or the United States’ role in international policymaking, CRES Forum will highlight conservative policy solutions to the energy and climate challenges we face today. And we are diving right in with a series on tax credits and their role in deploying innovative clean energy technologies.
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