2008 - National Energy and Utility Affordability Conference

NEUAC - Beyond the Workshops
Plenary Session: Climate Change Legislation and its Impact on Low-Income Families §
Wednesday, June 18, 9 am - 10:15 am
Room Grand Ballroom 1 & 2
Moderator: Joel Eisenberg, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Speakers: Robert Greenstein, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
John Howat, National Consumer Law Center
Rafe Pomerance, Clean Air-Cool Planet
Oil companies, automobile manufacturers, utilities and environmental organizations all have positions on controlling greenhouse gases;
consumers should as well. This session will examine, among other issues, two proposals that are discussed frequently: “Cap and Trade” and
“Carbon Tax.”
Joel Eisenberg is Senior Analyst for Public Policy at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Research Manager of ORNL’s support project for the
U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Weatherization and Intergovernmental Programs. Eisenberg is regarded as the Weatherization Assistance
Program’s resident authority on the impact of changing energy markets on low-income consumers. He recently published an analysis of the
regional and national impacts of rising energy prices on low-income residential energy consumers.
Robert Greenstein is the founder and executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. He is considered an expert on the
federal budget and a range of domestic policy issues including low-income assistance programs, various aspects of tax policy, and Social
Security. Greenstein has written numerous reports, analyses, editorial opinion pieces, and magazine articles on budget- and poverty-related
issues. A 1996 MacArthur Fellow, he appears on national television news and public affairs programs and is frequently asked to testify on
Capitol Hill.
John Howat specializes in energy and telecommunications at the National Consumer Law Center. Prior to joining NCLC, Howat was a
consultant and technical analyst on regulatory, legislative and communications services to energy consumers and other utility entities. He has
served as research director of the Massachusetts Joint Legislative Committee on Energy, as an economist with the Massachusetts Department of
Telecommunications and Energy’s Electric Power Division and executive director of the Competitive Power Coalition of New England.
Rafe Pomerance is president of Clean Air-Cool Planet, which recently merged with the Climate Policy Center of which he was founder and
chairman. From 1993-1999, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Environment and Development. Prior to joining the State
Department, he spent eight years as a senior associate at the World Resources Institute. From 1975 to 1984, Pomerance was on the staff of
Friends of the Earth, including four years as its president. He was a founder and chairman of the board of American Rivers and has also served
as chairman of the board of the League of Conservation Voters.
NFFN and NLIEC Awards Luncheon
Wednesday, June 18, 12:10 p.m.-1:15 p.m.
Room Grand Ballroom 1 & 2
Speaker Carlos Fierro, attorney, Alcalde & Fay, and former counsel to United States Senate Commerce Committee
Join us for the presentation of the National Fuel Funds Network’s and the National Low Income Energy Consortium’s highest honors.
NFFN Sister Pat Kelley Achievement Award
The National Fuel Funds Network annually presents the Sister Pat Kelley Achievement Award, its highest honor, to recognize
exemplary personal achievement in furthering NFFN’s objectives of increasing public awareness of low-income energy
problems, advancing low-income energy policy and promoting charitable energy assistance. The Sister Pat Kelley Award
will be presented this year to former NFFN Board Chairperson Carol Clements, a longtime member of the energy assistance
community. Ms. Clements served as NFFN Board Chairperson from 2002 to 2006 and played a vital role in increasing the
organization’s membership and national profile. She was also very instrumental in the development and growth of the NFFN’s
Washington Action Day for LIHEAP, which has become the premier grassroots lobbying effort on behalf of the federal energy
assistance program.
NFFN Victorine Q. Adams Award
The NFFN presents the Victorine Q. Adams Award to recognize institutional innovation and achievement during a year by
a non-profit NFFN member. This year’s award will be presented to Oregon HEAT for its creative collaboration with an oil
recycler in designing a program to help lessen the energy burden of low-income Oregon residents and reduce the level of
petroleum waste products in the state. The partnership between Oregon HEAT and the Oil Re-Refining Company (ORRCO)
allows homeowners to donate unwanted home heating oil and allows businesses that generate petroleum waste to have them recycled, all to
the benefit of low-income residents.
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