2009 Conference Recap

2009 Conference Recap

By Ivan Brandon

National Fuel Funds Network

Approximately 650 people gathered in Portland, Oregon, on June 15-17 for NEUAC 2009, The National Energy and Utility Affordability Conference. The annual conference, presented by the National Fuel Funds Network and the National Low Income Energy Consortium, is the largest single U.S. gathering to address the need for affordable home energy and other utilities for people with low income.

This year’s event marked a return to Portland, where the NFFN and NLIEC held separate conferences on energy affordability issues over five consecutive days in 1995. Their conferences were combined in 2008 to create the first NEUAC, which was held in Denver.

A noted historian and authority on the American West was one of three featured speakers at the 2009 conference. Dr. Patricia Limerick is the faculty director and chair of the board of the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she is also a professor of history. The title of her keynote luncheon address on June 15 was "Replacing Conflict with Common Cause -- Building a Permanent Bridge between Social Justice and Environmental Well-Being."

Michael W. Grainey, who for the past seven years was director of the Oregon Department of Energy, delivered the address at the conference’s opening general session on June 15. Grainey spent nearly three decades in the Energy Department and recently became Special Counsel to the Director of the Oregon Department of Economic Development. The luncheon speaker on June 16 was Stephen J. Wright, the administrator and chief executive officer of the Bonneville Power Administration. The BPA serves the Pacific Northwest by operating an extensive electricity transmission system and marketing wholesale electrical power at cost from federal dams, a non-federal nuclear plant and other nonfederal hydroelectric and wind energy generation facilities.

Conferees participated in more than 40 workshops in seven tracks including Energy Availability and Sustainability, Weatherization and Conservation, Energy Assistance and Education, Outreach and Advocacy, Vulnerable Populations, Energy Programs in Indian Country and the Evolution of Utility and Fuel Programs.

Attendees also had the opportunity to participate in an exciting learning experience when they took part in a poverty simulation. This unique role-playing activity is designed to create a new level of understanding of the day-to-day realities of poverty in this country. During the simulation, participants assumed the roles of low income families and went through the process of providing their families with food, shelter and other necessities of life. The individuals interacted with other role players representing government and community organizations.

Former Congressman Charles Stenholm, now a consultant who represents the American Petroleum Institute, was among three panelists at a plenary session Tuesday morning titled “National Energy Policy: Local Impacts.” Federal energy policy is clearly changing. Already the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has provided a twenty-fold increase in federal weatherization funds and seeded a smart grid for electricity transmission. The U.S. House energy bill would establish a cap-and-trade program for global warming gases, promote renewable energy and the smart grid, develop green jobs and increase energy efficiency. The ensuing transition in the energy economy will be profound, indeed. The panel will survey existing energy policies along with likely changes and address their impacts on people with low income. Joining him on the panel were Ron Ruggiero of The Apollo Alliance and Chuck Eberdt of The Energy Project, a partnership of the Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development and the state's community action agencies.

Wednesday featured a second plenary session, “Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiatives: Local Benefits.” Several years ago, states began looking toward potential benefits that could be reaped from market-based efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Regional programs were established through which states could sell emission allowances through auctions and invest the proceeds in consumer benefits: energy efficiency, renewable energy and other clean energy technologies. The early results are in, and it would appear that the initiatives are living up to their promise. In this plenary session, panelists from regional programs and one statewide organization that has benefitted from a regional program reported on the success of their efforts to date and looked at potential benefits that may develop in the future. Panelists included Bill Drumheller of the Oregon Department of Energy representing the Western Climate Initiative; Jesse Heier, Washington director for the Midwest Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord; Dale McCormick, director of MaineHousing representing the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative; and Jim Jacob, executive director of New Jersey SHARES.

On the final afternoon of the conference, the NFFN and NLIEC present their annual awards. The NFFN presented its highest honor, the Sister Pat Kelley Achievement Award, to Jacqueline Hutchinson of the Human Development Corporation of Metropolitan St. Louis. Its Victorine Q. Adams Award, spotlighting institutional innovation and achievement among nonprofit NFFN members, was presented to New Jersey SHARES. The NFFN Corporate Excellence Award was presented to Peoples Gas of Chicago, while the organization announced that it selected Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to receive its Extra Mile Award for legislative achievement. The NLIEC presented its national Achievement Award for 2009 to Ken Thiry of Wisconsin Public Service, who served for more than eight years as a member of the organization's Board of Directors and chaired or co-chaired five of its national conferences.

© 2009, National Energy and Utility Affordability Conference, presented by the National Fuel Funds Network and National Low Income Energy Consortium