Washington Advocacy Trip: Part 1

I arrived in Washington DC last week to join 20 other business leaders as part of E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs) advocacy week. This was a very dynamic and accomplished group and I was honored to be a part it.

They broke us up into teams and again, I was amazed at the quality of individuals they had assembled. My team included:

• Marc Boom, the E2 Director of Advocacy
• Mark Bauhaus, a technology veteran from silicon valley, and partner at JustBusiness
• Ethan Garber, CEO of IdleAir
• Norm Seip, USAF Lieutenant General (Ret), national security consultant

Our team in the Russell Senate Office Building

We had multiple objectives for our meetings:

• Demonstrate to legislators and the administration the importance of marrying economic and environmental interests.
• Establish relationships with legislators on both sides of the aisle.
• Discuss our policy agenda which include
  • The importance of incentives and renewable energy tax credits
  • Clean energy financing opportunities
  • Climate Change legislation and rules
  • The EPA Clean Power Plan
  • A Transportation Bill that is sustainable both financially and environmentally
  • Continued support for the military’s research into renewable energy

A couple of very busy days awaited of us after our briefing on Monday night. Part 2 will go over our first day of advocacy…