Region’s Leading Energy and Environmental Groups to React to Midwest Governors’ Energy Summit Announcement

Plan Could Provide Billions in Economic Opportunity to Region,
  Increase Renewable Energy and Reduce Global Warming Pollution

  Coalition to Offer State-by-State Analysis of Summit Results

  News Conference for Journalists

  WHEN:
  TODAY, Thursday, November 15, 2007, 1:00 PM Central (2:00 PM Eastern)

  WHERE:
  Hotel Metro Ballroom (around the corner from the Pfister Hotel)
  411 East Mason Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

  WHAT:

On November 15, following the first-ever Midwest Governors Association (MGA) Energy Summit, Midwest Governors will announce details of their plan to establish a Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program. MGA states include Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Questions remain about which states will join the agreement.

Environmental organizations from around the region will hold a media briefing on November 15 immediately following the Governors’ announcement to provide reaction and analysis of the potentially watershed carbon reduction agreement.

CALL IN INFORMATION:

Reporters unable to attend the Milwaukee press conference should use the following call in information to join the briefing:

  Dial: 877-366-0713 Code: VF88651

  WHO:

  Rolf Nordstrom, Executive Director, Great Plains Institute

  The Reverend Paul Stumme-Diers, Bishop, Milwaukee Synod ELCA

  A representative from the United Steel Workers, Milwaukee Office (invited)

  Keith Reopelle, Program Director, Clean Wisconsin

Zoe Lipman, Global Warming Regional Senior Manager, National Wildlife Federation, Michigan

  Rebecca Stanfield, State Director, Environment Illinois

  Ed Woolsey, Board Member, Iowa Renewable Energy Association (IRENEW)

  Donn Teske, President, Kansas Farmers Union (invited)

  Bill Grant, Regional Director, Izaak Walton League, Minnesota

  Howard Learner, Executive Director, Environmental Law & Policy Center

Representatives from additional Midwestern states including OH, ND, SD and IN will be present to field state-specific questions.

BACKGROUND:

The Midwest accounts for more global warming emissions than any other region of the country — more than any other country, in fact, than China and a few other nations synonymous with dirty air. But next week Midwestern states are expected to dramatically reinvent themselves as leaders in global warming reduction.

Four states including Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota already launched task forces to formulate strategies to slash carbon emissions, and Minnesota and Wisconsin have both passed legislation.

But the coalition of regional and national energy and environmental groups will watch closely to see how aggressively the Governors’ plan combats global warming and to find out which states sign on to significantly reduce carbon emissions in the region.

A strong carbon reduction plan from the Midwest Governors could result in economic gains for the entire region. A 2002 study by the University of Illinois shows that a comprehensive plan to shift more energy production to non-carbon renewable fuels would generate more than 200,000 new jobs by 2020 in the Midwest while funneling nearly $20 billion in economic growth.

CONTACT: Joyce Harms, Clean Wisconsin, +1-608-251-7020 x22, +1-608-212-8752 (cell); or Nora Ferrell, Valerie Denney Communications, +1-312-408-2580 x24, +1-773-510-4819 (cell); or Rick Fuentes, +1-651-726-7572, +1-612-741-0662 (cell), or Elenda Velkov, +1-651-726-7576, both of Fresh Energy

/PRNewswire-USNewswire – Nov. 15/

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Fresh Energy