Podcasts about Edison Electric Institute

This Day in Legal History: Nuclear Non-Proliferation TreatyOn March 5, 1970, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) officially took effect, marking a major milestone in global efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. The treaty, first opened for signatures in 1968, was ratified by 43 nations and established a framework based on three core principles: non-proliferation, disarmament, and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Under its terms, nuclear-armed states agreed not to transfer nuclear weapons or technology to non-nuclear states, while non-nuclear countries pledged not to pursue nuclear weapons. In return, signatories were guaranteed access to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, such as power generation and medical research. The treaty also called for eventual nuclear disarmament, though progress on this front has been slow and uneven. The NPT has since become one of the most widely adhered-to arms control agreements, with 191 countries now party to it. However, key states like India, Pakistan, and Israel never joined, while North Korea withdrew in 2003. The treaty's effectiveness has been challenged by nuclear programs in states like Iran and North Korea, as well as concerns over compliance by nuclear-armed signatories. Despite these challenges, the NPT is reviewed every five years at Review Conferences, where nations assess progress and negotiate future commitments. The treaty remains central to international non-proliferation efforts, balancing national security interests with the goal of reducing nuclear threats worldwide.In his primetime address to Congress, President Donald Trump defended his aggressive tariff policies, claiming they would generate significant revenue and restore economic balance. He downplayed concerns over rising consumer prices, characterizing them as a temporary inconvenience. While Trump briefly addressed inflation, blaming high costs on his predecessor, he provided few concrete solutions. Instead, he focused on politically charged topics like immigration and cultural issues, declaring an end to "wokeness." His speech coincided with growing economic concerns, including stagnating factory activity and declining consumer confidence, while markets reacted negatively to escalating trade tensions. New tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China sparked fears of inflation and economic slowdown, though his administration suggested potential relief for North American allies. Trump also called for the repeal of the Chips Act, arguing tariffs were more effective in boosting domestic industry. He promoted energy independence but proposed long-term projects unlikely to have an immediate impact. Meanwhile, his executive actions have rapidly reshaped government policies, sparking bipartisan concerns. The speech underscored Trump's efforts to push his economic agenda while navigating political and economic challenges.Trump Hails Tariffs as US Economy Barrels Into Trade WarsThe U.S. Tax Court ruled that a $3.1 million grant given to a Cantor Fitzgerald subsidiary after the Sept. 11 attacks is taxable income. The grant, provided in 2007 through New York City's World Trade Center Job Creation and Retention Program, was meant to help businesses recover, but the court determined it did not qualify as a tax-exempt gift or disaster aid. Despite this, the court waived $211,000 in penalties, acknowledging the complexity of tax laws at the time. Cantor Fitzgerald, which lost 658 employees in the World Trade Center attacks, had argued the funds should not be considered taxable, citing past Supreme Court rulings. However, Judge Kathleen M. Kerrigan found that the payments were not an act of disinterested generosity but an effort to stimulate economic recovery. The IRS had initially determined in 2007 that the company owed about $1.1 million in taxes for not reporting the grant on its tax returns. While Cantor Fitzgerald contested the classification, the court upheld the IRS's position, reinforcing that government aid programs do not automatically qualify for tax exemption.Cantor Fitzgerald's Sept. 11 Relief Grant Deemed Taxable IncomeFederal judges are facing an increase in threats as Elon Musk and Trump allies intensify their attacks on the judiciary over rulings that hinder White House policies. The U.S. Marshals Service has warned judges about heightened security risks, especially as Musk has repeatedly criticized judges on his social media platform, calling them “corrupt” and “evil.” Some judges have received anonymous deliveries, like pizzas, in what authorities see as intimidation tactics. Musk's posts, along with calls from Republican lawmakers to impeach certain judges, have coincided with a rise in violent threats, particularly against judges who have blocked parts of the administration's plans to cut government jobs and aid programs. One judge, Amir Ali, received death threats after ruling against a Trump executive order, with online users calling for his execution. The American Bar Association and the Federal Judges Association have condemned these attacks, warning that continued intimidation could undermine judicial independence. Since 2020, threats against federal judges have more than doubled, and legal experts caution that targeting judges for their rulings could destabilize the rule of law.Exclusive: Judges face rise in threats as Musk blasts them over rulings | ReutersTwo Trump EPA nominees are facing Senate scrutiny over the agency's possible plan to roll back the 2009 “endangerment finding,” which forms the legal basis for regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. The nominees, Aaron Szabo and David Fotouhi, would oversee efforts to reverse this finding, which has supported climate regulations on power plants and vehicle emissions. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has recommended reconsidering the finding to the White House, though details remain undisclosed. While the Supreme Court's 2007 ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA confirmed greenhouse gases as air pollutants, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act further solidified the EPA's authority. However, the EPA under Trump previously avoided overturning the rule due to industry resistance. Some industry groups, like the Edison Electric Institute, have expressed reliance on EPA authority for emissions regulation, while automakers have yet to take a position. Zeldin acknowledged the EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gases but suggested it is not obligated to do so, fueling debate over the agency's future climate policies.Top EPA nominees face Senate scrutiny over plan to undo key climate finding | Reuters This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

Is AI a job disruptor, or could it actually make construction more human? In this episode, Hari Vasudevan joins the conversation to explore the transformative impact of AI on safety enhancements, efficiency improvements, and fostering better collaboration across teams. We explore the 80/20 rule in construction, the potential of AI-driven safety metrics, and why true collaboration between field crews and office teams is the key to unlocking AI's full potential. Tune in for a fresh take on how technology isn't here to replace workers—it's here to empower them. Hari Vasudevan, PE, is a serial entrepreneur and engineer at the forefront of AI, utilities, and construction management. As Founder & CEO of KYRO Technologies and Think Power Solutions, he drives transformative advancements in construction, vegetation, utility, and field services. Beyond these corporate roles, Mr. Vasudevan serves as Vice Chair & Strategic Advisor for the Edison Electric Institute's Transmission Subject Area Committee, shaping the future of technology and infrastructure. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering, along with professional engineering licensure in multiple states. TODD TAKES Work Smarter, Not Harder with the 80/20 Rule: In construction, a few key processes drive the majority of outcomes. AI can help identify and optimize those high-impact areas—like making sure project setups are done right from the start, so invoicing, cash flow, and overall efficiency don't take a hit. When used strategically, AI isn't just a nice-to-have; it's a game-changer for profitability. AI Can Actually Make Construction More Human: There's a common fear that AI will replace jobs, but in reality, it can make them safer and more sustainable. By tracking things like long work hours, frequent travel, and risky jobsite behaviors, AI can flag potential safety issues before they become real problems. It can even help ensure workers aren't burning out by nudging project managers to give them a much-needed break. AI isn't about replacing people—it's about protecting and empowering them. Collaboration is the Secret Sauce for AI Success: AI only works if everyone—field teams, project managers, and the office staff—are on the same page. The reality is, field crews care about getting the job done, while office teams focus on financials and reporting. AI can help bridge that gap by making data entry easier, translating real-time updates across different teams, and ensuring everyone has the right info when they need it. When AI is built with true collaboration in mind, it stops being a headache and starts being a real solution. Thanks for listening! Please be sure to leave a rating and/or review and follow up our social accounts. Bridging the Gap Website Bridging the Gap LinkedIn Bridging the Gap Instagram Bridging the Gap YouTube Todd's LinkedIn   Thank you to our sponsors! Applied Software Applied Software LinkedIn   Other Relevant Links: Hari's LinkedIn Think Power Solutions  

Dan Brouillette, Senior Advisor, Edison Electric Institute; Former US Secretary of Energy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lawrence Jones is a global man. He was born and raised in Liberia, attended college in Sweden, and has just been inducted into the Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences. As the Edison Electric Institute's senior vice president of international programs, he runs an annual global electrification forum that crosses industry sectors, from AI to fashion to water."Electricity makes all these things happen, " he tells Host Llewellyn King and Co-host Adam Clayton Powell III in this episode.

Protecting the nation's energy grid is a top priority for America's electric companies, and the electric power industry leads several initiatives to safeguard the grid from any potential threats and hazards. This episode explores Edison Electric Institute's (EEI's) Culture of Security initiative, which is comprised of a few different programs to help electric companies collaborate and share best practices, including a peer review to assess security culture.  On this episode, EEI Managing Director of Cyber and Infrastructure Security David Batz and EEI Senior Director of Cyber and Infrastructure Security Kaitlin Brennan discuss the Culture of Security initiative and others led by our industry, as well as our partnerships with federal agencies to enhance sector-wide resilience to both cyber and physical security threats. 

Dan Brouillette, Donald Trump's former Energy secretary, abruptly exited from his role as the CEO of the powerful Edison Electric Institute after less than a year. POLITICO's Zack Colman and Catherine Morehouse break down Brouillette's tense exit and fallout for him and EEI. Plus, a major renewable energy developer has canceled its plans to develop three solar projects with Hawaiian Electric, the largest utility in the state.  Catherine Morehouse is an energy reporter for POLITICO.  Zack Colman covers climate change for POLITICO.  Josh Siegel is an energy reporter for POLITICO.  Nirmal Mulaikal is a POLITICO audio host-producer.  Annie Rees is the managing producer for audio at POLITICO. Gloria Gonzalez is the deputy energy editor for POLITICO.  Matt Daily is the energy editor for POLITICO. For more news on energy and the environment, subscribe to Power Switch, our free evening newsletter: https://www.politico.com/power-switch And for even deeper coverage and analysis, read our Morning Energy newsletter by subscribing to POLITICO Pro: https://subscriber.politicopro.com/newsletter-archive/morning-energy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new POLITICO-Morning Consult poll out this week shows that Democrats are struggling to sell voters on their massive energy and climate legislative achievements. POLITICO's Zack Colman breaks down the latest polling and how it's a mixed bag for Democrats heading into the final days of the election. Plus, Dan Brouillette, president and CEO of the Edison Electric Institute, announced he is stepping down amid speculation he would join a second Trump administration. Zack Colman covers climate change for POLITICO.  Josh Siegel is an energy reporter for POLITICO.  Nirmal Mulaikal is a POLITICO audio host-producer.  Annie Rees is the managing producer for audio at POLITICO. Gloria Gonzalez is the deputy energy editor for POLITICO.  Matt Daily is the energy editor for POLITICO. For more news on energy and the environment, subscribe to Power Switch, our free evening newsletter: https://www.politico.com/power-switch And for even deeper coverage and analysis, read our Morning Energy newsletter by subscribing to POLITICO Pro: https://subscriber.politicopro.com/newsletter-archive/morning-energy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Big Oil is becoming increasingly enmeshed in election-year politics. Democrats announced new efforts yesterday to highlight what they argue are deceptive practices by oil companies, while presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump met with industry executives to solicit donations to his presidential campaign. POLITICO's Ben Lefebvre and Josh Siegel break down the latest moves by Democrats and Trump's meetings with oil executives. Plus, the Edison Electric Institute, one of the most influential energy players in Washington, is suing EPA over its power plant climate rule.   For more news on energy and the environment, subscribe to Power Switch, our free evening newsletter: https://www.politico.com/power-switch And for even deeper coverage and analysis, read our Morning Energy newsletter by subscribing to POLITICO Pro:  https://subscriber.politicopro.com/newsletter-archive/morning-energy   Ben Lefebvre is an energy reporter for POLITICO.  Josh Siegel is an energy reporter for POLITICO.  Nirmal Mulaikal is a POLITICO audio host-producer.  Kara Tabor is an audio producer for POLITICO. Gloria Gonzalez is the deputy energy editor for POLITICO.  Matt Daily is the energy editor for POLITICO.

Demand for electricity has exploded over the past several years, and nowhere more so than at Arizona Public Service Company. Grid hardening, storage solutions, flexible rates, transmission projects, federal investments — all of these are part of the solution to make the grid ready for escalating demand. Yet progress needs to be scalable and affordable to meet the needs in the west and across the country. Listen in as Jeff Guldner, the leader of APS, and Philip Moeller, Executive VP at Edison Electric Institute, talk about the whole toolkit, from new market structures to successful DER programs.

Members of the K&L Gates Hydrogen, Power, Tax, and Tax Policy teams speak with Sandi Safro Osborn, Assistant General Counsel of the Edison Electric Institute, about the proposed regulations the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service released on 22 December 2023 concerning the Inflation Reduction Act's new Section 45V hydrogen production tax credit. The discussion covers details of the new rules and considers their potential impacts on the eligibility of hydrogen facilities to claim the credit. This episode of Hydrogen Rising is an edited audio version of a webinar hosted on 10 January 2023. Click here for the original webinar recording which includes presentation slides.

On this episode of The Current, Edison Electric Institute's Executive Director of External Affairs Kristine Telford interviews the Utilities United Against Scams Executive Director Monica Martinez, where these industry leaders discuss utility scams and the ways that consumers can protect themselves as part of their effort to #StopScams ahead of Utility Scam Awareness Day on November 15th. 

The utility sector is embracing new values and attracting a new kind of work force as it empowers America with a sustainable, affordable, secure grid. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg interviews Tom Kuhn, president and CEO of the Edison Electric Institute which represents investor-owned utilities providing electricity to 235 million Americans. The discussion focuses on the current state of the industry and its future. “We are very cognizant of how important electricity is to every household in this country so it's very, very important for us to maintain reliability and affordability, but what is going to have to change is obviously our response to increasing growth and the need to maintain reliability for our customers,” said Kuhn.Additionally, Kuhn talks about the impact electric utilities adopting new cultural values.“We have gotten so much cleaner and we are so much committed to it, we are attracting really a tremendous number of young people into this business right now and they're coming because they see a purpose in life.”He also discusses how recent federal initiatives are spurring deep changes. “The Congress and the White House led the charge on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill that we got a few years ago and clean energy tax credits, the Inflation Reduction Act. They were historic pieces of legislation that our infusing-needed capital into this business to help us to achieve this clean energy transition and to enable us to bring on new technologies.”Tom Kuhn joined the Edison Electric Institute in 1985 as executive vice president, was named chief operating officer in 1988, and elected president in 1990.Prior to joining EEI, he was president of the American Nuclear Energy Council, which subsequently merged with the Nuclear Energy Institute. The Council represented virtually all of the companies in the commercial nuclear power industry. Mr. Kuhn served on the Secretary of Energy's Advisory Board and the Board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He currently serves on the Boards of the Alliance to Save Energy, the United States Energy Association, the Electric Drive Transportation Association, and the American Council for Capital Formation. Mr. Kuhn received a BA in Economics in 1968 from Yale University, served as a Naval Officer following his graduation, and received an MBA in 1972 from George Washington University. 

The U.S. electric power sector is warning the Environmental Protection Agency that its proposed climate rule for power plants – a central piece of the Biden administration's climate agenda – is potentially unlawful and requires significant changes. POLITICO's Alex Guillén breaks down the sector's concerns and the likely legal attacks against the rule. Plus, President Joe Biden said he has already “practically” declared a climate emergency, but he has yet to actually make a declaration.   For more news on energy and the environment, subscribe to Power Switch, our free evening newsletter: https://www.politico.com/power-switch And for even deeper coverage and analysis, read our Morning Energy newsletter by subscribing to POLITICO Pro: https://subscriber.politicopro.com/newsletter-archive/morning-energy   Josh Siegel is an energy reporter for POLITICO.  Alex Guillén is an energy reporter for POLITICO Pro.  Nirmal Mulaikal is a POLITICO audio host-producer.  Alex Keeney is a senior audio producer at POLITICO. Gloria Gonzalez is the deputy energy editor for POLITICO.  Matt Daily is the energy editor for POLITICO.

On this episode of Know Power, we delve into the complex world of solar panel manufacturing and the challenges faced by the global solar industry. From the impact of trade wars on the solar supply chain to the need for onshoring processes, we discuss the urgent need for a comprehensive discussion around establishing a transmission policy in the US. We also explore the challenges of long-term planning for procurement and why the Inflation Reduction Act has been a game changer for the renewable energy industry. Our guest for this episode is the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Pine Gate, Brett White, who provides insights into the company's growth and expansion plans, as well as their in-depth knowledge of federal agency engagement, RTO engagement in wholesale markets, and international trade. Join us as we explore the nuances of onshoring solar supply chains and the opportunities it presents for American jobs and communities.Guest bio: Brett focuses on Pine Gate's activities in the wholesale electricity markets as well as matters before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). He previously spent several years in private practice representing regional transmission organizations and investor-owned utilities before FERC and the federal courts.Before his time in private practice, Brett served as an Attorney-Advisor in FERC's office of general counsel. He was also the director of federal regulatory affairs for the Edison Electric Institute. Brett is a graduate of the Vermont Law School, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Vermont Law Review, and of Appalachian State University. He is a resident of Washington, D.C.__________________________________________________________________________________________________[00:02:33] An overview of Pine Gate: A utility-scale solar developer and operator[00:04:11] His responsibilities as the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs[00:05:34] Tariff issues impact the solar industry, shifting imports and trade dynamics[00:07:10] Anti-dumping and 201 tariffs impact the solar industry, targeting specific countries and all imports[00:09:36] Tariffs create uncertainty, affecting procurement decisions and long-term planning[00:12:21] Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) positively impacts businesses with extended tax credits[00:16:21] Tax equity financing incentivizes investment in renewable projects with low-cost capital[00:20:48] Investments in domestic manufacturing create jobs and drive the energy transition[00:23:48] IRA incentivizes onshoring of solar supply chains to reduce reliance on China[00:28:01] The timeline for onshoring the solar supply chain is influenced by several factors[00:35:04] Navigating policy discussions for responsible onshoring of solar supply chain[00:36:05] Energy community adder brings complexities and uncertainties regarding project eligibility and timelines[00:42:17] The future for Pine Gate is promising, with opportunities for growth, innovation, and success[00:46:34] What Brett's ideal energy future looks like[00:50:43] Balancing domestic manufacturing goals with immediate project deployment challengesLearn more and stay up to date at KnowPowerShow.comConnect with our HostsNoha SidhomLinkedInMike Borgatti

Keeping the lights on is challenging for the electric utility industry in this time of cyberthreats, aberrant weather, and energy transition. But there are new technologies and materials on the horizon for electric utilities. Final in a two-episode series from the Edison Electric Institute's annual meeting in Austin, Texas.

At the Edison Electric Institute's annual meeting in Austin, Host Llewellyn King speaks with consultants and executives of electric utilities about the many challenges of keeping the lights on, and some opportunities ahead with new technology. First of a two-part series.

Today, POLITICO's Josh Siegel chats with Pedro Pizarro, the president and chief executive officer of Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison. Pizarro, who is also vice chair of the Edison Electric Institute, the industry's largest trade group, gives his take on federal policy issues impacting the nation's power grid, the permitting reform push in Congress, and the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act.    Pedro Pizarro is president and chief executive officer of Edison International. Josh Siegel is an energy reporter for POLITICO.  Nirmal Mulaikal is a POLITICO audio host-producer. Jenny Ament is the executive producer of POLITICO's audio department.   For more news on energy and the environment, subscribe to Power Switch, our free evening newsletter: https://www.politico.com/power-switch And for even deeper coverage and analysis, read our Morning Energy newsletter by subscribing to POLITICO Pro:  https://subscriber.politicopro.com/newsletter-archive/morning-energy

Welcome to The Hydrogen Podcast!In episode 205,  What are the arguments for additionality and running? electrolyzers 24/7. I'll go through the second half of the Canary media article on this on today's hydrogen podcast.Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy the podcast. Please feel free to email me at info@thehydrogenpodcast.com with any questions. Also, if you wouldn't mind subscribing to my podcast using your preferred platform... I would greatly appreciate it. Respectfully,Paul RoddenVISIT THE HYDROGEN PODCAST WEBSITEhttps://thehydrogenpodcast.comCHECK OUT OUR BLOGhttps://thehydrogenpodcast.com/blog/WANT TO SPONSOR THE PODCAST? Send us an email to: info@thehydrogenpodcast.comNEW TO HYDROGEN AND NEED A QUICK INTRODUCTION?Start Here: The 6 Main Colors of Hydrogen

Various options are at play in the EPA's planned greenhouse gas standards for new and existing power plants. In this episode, Lissa Lynch of NRDC discusses the implications.(PDF transcript)(Active transcript)Text transcript:David RobertsA couple of weeks ago, the policy analysts at the Rhodium Group put out a new report showing that the Biden administration's legislative achievements are not quite enough to get it to its Paris climate goals. But those goals could be reached if the legislation is supplemented with smart executive action.Some of the most important upcoming executive actions are EPA's greenhouse gas standards for new and existing power plants. The Supreme Court famously struck down Obama's Clean Power Plan — his attempt to address existing power plants — judging it impermissibly expansive. So now EPA has to figure out what to ask of individual plants.The agency's decisions will help shape the future of the US power sector and determine whether the Biden administration gets on track for its climate goals. To talk through those decisions in more detail, I contacted Lissa Lynch, who runs the Federal Legal Group at the NRDC's Climate & Clean Energy Program. We discussed the options before the EPA, the viability of carbon capture and hydrogen as systems of pollution reduction, and whether Biden will have time to complete all the regulatory work that remains.Alright. With no further ado, Lissa Lynch from NRDC. Welcome to Volts. Thank you so much for coming.Lissa LynchThank you for having me.David RobertsThis is a subject that I used to spend a lot of time thinking about back in the day, and it's sort of receded for a while, and now it's back. So it's very exciting for a nerd like me. So I want to just quickly walk through some history with this and then sort of hand it off to you so you can tell us where things stand now, because I don't want to assume that listeners have been obsessively following this now nearly two decade long saga. So let me just run through some history really briefly. So listeners will recall in 2007, there's a big Supreme Court case, Massachusetts vs. EPA, in which the Supreme Court ruled that CO2 is eligible to be listed as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act if EPA determines it is a threat to human health.And then shortly thereafter, Obama's EPA officially determined that it is a threat to human health via the endangerment finding. So this is one thing I'm not sure everybody understands, and I just want to get it on the table up front. So for context, the combination of those two things, Mass vs. EPA, plus the endangerment finding, means that EPA is lawfully obliged to regulate greenhouse gases. This is not a choice. This is not something it can do or not do, depending on how it feels or who's president. They have to do it. So then that triggers the obligation, three separate obligations.You have to regulate mobile sources, which Obama did with his new fuel economy regulations, which are still in place, as far as I know. Then you have to regulate new stationary sources of greenhouse gases, which Obama did. And as far as I know, we can come back to this in a second, but as far as I know, those new power plant regulations that Obama passed are still in effect. And then thirdly, you have to regulate existing stationary sources of greenhouse gases, which mainly means power plants. And so Obama's effort to regulate existing power plants is called the Clean Power Plan.People may remember the fuss and ado about the Clean Power Plan as it was under development. Lawsuits were immediately launched. Of course, the Supreme Court took the extremely unusual step of putting the law on hold, basically not letting it go into implementation until it had heard this case. And then it heard the case, rejected the Clean Power Plan on the basis of the newly dreamed up, rectally, extracted Major Questions Doctrine. So that's where we stand now is we've got the mobile regs in place, although Biden is updating those too. I think we've got the new power plant regs in place, although Biden is also updating those.But as for existing power plant regulations, there are basically none. It's been a legal mire and so Biden's got to do those too. So let's talk about what Supreme Court said about the Clean Power Plan in their ruling and how that constrains the sort of solution space that we're looking at now.Lissa LynchSo in West Virginia vs. EPA, that was the Supreme Court decision from last summer. The Supreme Court held that this section of the Clean Air Act that we're talking about here, section 111, does not clearly provide authority for the approach that EPA took in the Clean Power Plan. And what they did there we sort of refer to as generation shifting. In the Clean Power Plan, EPA looked at the power sector as a whole and they concluded that the best system for reducing fossil-fuel-fired power plant emissions was a combination of measures including shifting generation away from dirtier fossil power toward cleaner power.So essentially retiring dirtier power plants and replacing them with renewables.David RobertsRight. So the unit of analysis here was a state's whole power fleet, not the power plant individual, but the whole power fleet.Lissa LynchRight. And the reasoning for that in the Clean Power Plan context was supported by the companies themselves, the power companies themselves and the states who said, yes, this is the way that we are dealing with decarbonizing our fleets. We are looking out across our whole fleets, retiring the dirtiest sources and replacing them with cleaner generation. That's how the existing RGGI program in California cap-and-trade programs work. That's how many of the power companies that have emission reduction or clean energy targets are doing that.David RobertsAnd let's just say Republicans have been saying for decades that regulations are too restrictive and they're not flexible enough and states and power companies need flexibility. And this was perfectly flexible. This is absolutely as flexible as you could make a system. It just said to the state, do whatever you want to do to lower the average emissions of your power plant fleet. And then conservatives got what they wanted and hated it for other reasons.Lissa LynchOne of the things that's important about what is left on the table after this decision is there is still a considerable amount of flexibility on the compliance side. So what the Supreme Court was really dealing with was the method EPA uses for setting the level of the standard, basically setting the target that industry has to meet. So the Supreme Court explicitly took that generation shifting approach off the table for purposes of setting the level of the standard itself. And so after this decision, EPA can still set standards, in John Roberts words, "Based on the application of measures that would reduce pollution by causing the regulated source to operate more cleanly."David RobertsRight? So the idea here is EPA, by interpreting the Clean Air Act in such a way as to apply to the power plant fleet overall, and sort of telling states how they have to shape their overall power plant fleets. EPA was assuming too much authority, basically. Like doing something major, despite too major for the words in the Clean Air Act, which I don't want to dwell on this too long, but let's just pause here to acknowledge that. No one then in the ruling, now in the subsequent ruling, since then in all scholarship knows what the hell "major" means or when it is that an agency has crossed the line from proper regulatory interpretation into "Oops, too major."It really just kind of sounds like and seems that major means anything bigger than John Roberts is comfortable with.Lissa LynchRight? I mean, this is one of the really concerning things about the Major Questions Doctrine, just generally is that it is murky and it does have this sort of paralyzing effect on ...David RobertsYes, intentionally.Lissa LynchExactly. It is explicitly anti-regulatory and explicitly sort of intended to stop agencies in their tracks and make them question, oh, is this too major?David RobertsAnd there's no answer. Right. So naturally you're going to be cautious because there's no definition of major. It's just whatever irritates John Roberts when he wakes up one day. So this was the opening salvo, I think, in a longer Supreme Court effort basically to brow-beat agencies into being timid. So anyway, point being EPA can't use the overall power fleet as a sort of benchmark through which to set this standard. So what does that leave? What's the sort of range of motion that we think we still can act in here when we're talking about these new standards?Lissa LynchSo now that we have this Supreme Court decision in place. EPA's got some guidelines, and they can base the next round of standards on, as Justice Roberts put it, measures that make the plants operate more cleanly. So what they're looking for now is a rule that looks more like what traditional pollution regulations of the past looked like based on scrubbers, bag houses, the stuff that you can physically attach onto the plant or do at the plant itself to reduce that plant's emissions. When it comes to reducing CO2 emissions, the options are limited.David RobertsWell, let me pause there. Before we get into that, I just want to say one thing that I learned from your writing that I had not known, and I don't know that it's widely known. So there's been talk ever since Mass vs. EPA that bugged conservatives, and they would love to undo that, right? Because they would just love to moot this whole thing by undoing that ruling and saying that CO2 is outside the context of the Clean Air Act and have been muttering about doing that. So the Inflation Reduction Act statutorily locks into place that ruling.Right. It says explicitly CO2 qualifies under the Clean Air Act, and it instructs EPA to develop new standards. So there's no ambiguity about that. And it says EPA needs to set standards that are going to reduce emissions relative to baseline, where the new baseline is taking the Inflation Reduction Act itself and all its subsidies into account. So it's telling EPA calculate what all these subsidies are going to do, what the new sort of business as usual trajectory of emissions would be, and then develop regulations that reduce it further. I didn't know any of that.Lissa LynchYeah, no, this is huge. And I mean, obviously the Inflation Reduction Act is enormous. It is going to accelerate the clean energy progress that we've seen in the last decade or so by many fold. It is a huge, huge deal. And one of the provisions in this quite large law essentially reaffirms EPA's not only statutory authority, but its obligation to go ahead and set CO2 emission standards for fossil-fuel-fired power plants. And so that's a clear statement from Congress last year.David RobertsClear enough even for John Roberts.Lissa LynchRight. So we have always thought that that authority and obligation under the statute was quite clear, but now it's crystal clear, and they need to move.David RobertsAnd I think it's also important to absorb this new baseline idea, because the IRA itself and all the historical progress since the last round of these regs, the new expected baseline for power plant emissions is much lower now than it was when Oobama's EPA was calculating these things. Which commensurately means you're going to need tighter standards if you want to reduce further than that new baseline.Lissa LynchYeah. And it is kind of wild to look back on ten years ago. So it was ten years ago, 2013, that President Obama announced in his big climate change speech that he was directing his EPA to go ahead and set carbon pollution reduction standards under Section 111 for fossil-fuel-fired power plants. The first time that was being done. So much has changed in ten years in the power sector. And I think anyone listening to this podcast knows we are smack in the midst of a clean energy transition in the power industry. Industry itself says so.The Edison Electric Institute says we are, quote, "In the middle of a profound long term transformation in how energy is generated, transmitted and used." Lazard, the investment firm, estimates that wind costs have fallen by 46%, solar has fallen by 77% over the past decade. So we're just in a totally different world now than we were ten years ago. And so we passed the Clean Power Plan's 2030 emission reduction targets in 2019 without the Clean Power Plan ever having gone into effect.David RobertsWhich in retrospect makes all the Republican arguments about how this is an economy killing regulation and it's too strong and it's unrealistic and there's no way we can move that fast look utterly ludicrous, which we all said at the time, but we had to pretend that it was a real live argument. So they're saying it's too stringent, it's going to destroy the economy. And here we rocketed past it in 2019 without any regs.Lissa LynchRight? And that is part and parcel with each time. There are new ambitious pollution standards set ...David RobertsEvery time.Lissa LynchUnder the Clean Air Act, industry claims the sky is going to fall. This happened with the acid rain program back in the American Electric Power predicted that it was going to destroy the economy of the Midwest. Like the lights are going to go out, the sky is going to fall.Every time and we never learn. We never learn from those previous examples. It's crazy, right?And so the actual costs of complying with the acid rain program and reducing sulfur dioxide ended up being, I think, around a 10th of what industry had estimated. Sulfur scrubbers are now widely used. The program has been a great success. It is this great example of how we can set pollution standards and then innovate to meet them cost effectively and quicker than anyone expects. We do it over and over again.David RobertsOver and over again.Lissa LynchAnd we can do it in this context.David RobertsRight? One more thing. Before we get to what's available for the new standards, we should mention I should mention that when the clean power plant got shut down, the legal obligation to pass regulations on existing power plants then passed to the Trump administration, which did that sort of passed a ... what was it called? The clean America ...Lissa LynchThe Affordable, Clean Energy Plan.David RobertsYes, Affordable Clean Energy, the ACE Plan, which several analyses showed would on net have raised emissions in the power plant sector. So those got shut down in court, too. They were just completely a joke. Ludicrous so that's all the history. So here we are Biden's EPA has got to regulate existing power plants and new power plants. And it can't take this so called outside the fence line holistic approach that the clean power plant took. So it's got to set standards based on what you can do at the individual power plant level inside the fence line, as they say.So what are the options? Actually, I'm talking way too much, but let me get one more thing out of the way and then I'll let you talk. But one of the things that faced the reason I just want people to understand this too, the reason Obama took this approach, the reason Obama's EPA took this outside the fence line holistic approach, is that if you're just restricting yourself to the individual power plant, you're stuck with either marginal improvements, right? You get the boiler to work more efficiently, you tighten up efficiency, and you can sort of marginally 3% to 5%, reduce emissions.Or on the other side, there's carbon capture and sequestration, which especially ten years ago when Obama's EPA was contemplating it, was not very well tested, not very well proven, super expensive. So you either had sort of like a fly swatter or a nuke when it comes to the individual power plant, which is why they went with the holistic approach. So now the holistic approach is off the table. We're back to the fly swatter or nuke problem. So just tell us sort of like, what are the available options here?Lissa LynchYeah, so you kind of covered the two ends of the range, right? On one end, the very low ambition end, you can make minor improvements to the operating efficiency of the plant, the way the plant operates. That was the basis for the standards that the Trump administration issued. And as you noted, improving the efficiency of the plant makes it run better and it can be called upon to run more and therefore can end up increasing its overall emissions. That sort of rebound effect. That's a possibility. You can still reduce emissions through operating efficiency improvements. And I think there's more options that could achieve greater reductions than the ones that the Trump administration included in their rule.But still, we're talking the very low-end, single percentage reductions in the middle, there's this option of cofiring with a lower carbon fuel. So if you're talking about coal plants, you can co-fire that coal plant partially with gas. In a gas plant, you could co-fire partially with hydrogen and you're going to bring the emissions rate of the plant down somewhat. In some of our analysis, we've estimated that a 40% cofiring coal with gas. So cofiring a coal plant with 40% gas gets you about a 20% emission reduction. So it's not nothing, but it also involves additional fossil infrastructure to get gas to a coal plant or additional infrastructure to get hydrogen to a gas plant.And on top of several other issues with hydrogen that we can talk about a little later.David RobertsWell, a legal question, I guess all of this in some respect is arbitrary, but where is the line between forcing fuel-switching, which I think Supreme Court said was out of bounds, and too far, versus a rule that requires cofiring, which is like kind of like halfway to fuel switching? Is there a legal distinction there between those two?Lissa LynchThere's absolutely precedent for requiring cleaner fuels or fuel processes. What the Supreme Court mentioned, at least in dicta, was we don't want to see standards that would force a plant to stop existing. And so essentially, if EPA were to base the standard on total conversion from coal to gas, which some coal plants have undertaken with cheap gas prices, that I think, based on our reading of the decision anyway, would probably be too far. So full conversion probably off the table along with generation shifting. But partial cofiring is actually one of the technologies that the Obama administration considered for their Clean Power Plan, as was carbon capture.And as you noted, the approach that they took in the Clean Power Plan, they selected because it was the most cost effective. So they ruled out carbon capture and cofiring, not because they weren't adequately demonstrated or available, they were just more expensive than the approach that EPA ended up going with.David RobertsBut now we're forced back basically to that more expensive approach.Lissa LynchRight, as I mentioned before, but want to keep reiterating, this is all about setting the level of the standard, finding it's a math problem. EPA looks at the options, and so the options as we see them are efficiency improvements, getting very little cofiring, getting somewhere in the middle, or carbon capture and storage, getting the most amount of emission reductions. They look out at that and they select the best system. Then they apply it to the plant and essentially do a math problem and come out with a number, a numerical limit for the amount of CO2 emission reductions that the plants need to achieve.Then they hand the baton off to the states for existing sources and to the companies for new sources. So this is not a requirement to install that specific technology. It's a way to derive the level of the standard and then pass that off to the states and the companies to comply with.David RobertsRight. EPA sets the standard and then says to states and companies, do what you want.Lissa LynchRight, as long as you can meet this number. Be creative, innovate.David RobertsThe central question is what upon what technology is the number going to be based on exactly? This low-end, this something in the middle, and this high-end, which is carbon capture and sequestration. So here I want to talk about what the sort of arguments are around this. It says in the text of the Clean Air Act that EPA should set the standard based on the best available system. That has to be adequately demonstrated so I just want to dig in a little bit on the technical legal language here. Like what exactly or what have courts interpreted that language to mean exactly?What is required to be adequately demonstrated? A single demonstration plant somewhere? like some good charts and graphs in a lab? Or do you have to be commercial, or does price and, you know, financial viability come into that? Like, what is EPA thinking about when it thinks about what is adequately demonstrated or best?Lissa LynchYes. Okay, so I'm a Clean Air Act lawyer. This is my favorite part. I love the Clean Air Act, and I love to talk about the language of the statute because that's actually what we're really fighting over here. EPA is tasked with establishing the standard of performance, and so that definition is in the statute. They have to determine the degree of emission limitation that can be achieved through the application of the best system of emission reduction that is adequately demonstrated considering cost, energy factors and essentially other factors. And so there's this really defined set of criteria that EPA needs to go through as they're determining what's the best system of emission reduction.So we've been talking about adequately demonstrated that it can't be a made up technology, but it also doesn't have to be widely used by everyone. Already, the Clean Air Act is technology forcing it's forward looking.David RobertsRight.Lissa LynchIt requires the regulated source to reduce its emissions commensurate with the best control systems that are available, not the ones that are already sort of out there in use, that plants are choosing to use of their own accord. So again, in a lot of ways, this is analogous to so SO2 scrubbers which were not in widely used, they were not widely produced in the 90s, and there were all these doom and gloom predictions of how much it's going to cost.We're not going to be able to do this. So right now, there's no limit at all on CO2 emissions from power plants. There's been no reason to innovate on carbon capture for power plants, and there is not a ton of projects out there in the world, but there are plenty to serve as an adequate demonstration for purposes of the Clean Air Act. There's essentially three parts here of carbon capture. There's capture, there's transport, and there's storage. And each part of that process is well established and has been in use for decades, especially the capture part. We've been capturing carbon for decades.And so there's plenty of demonstration in both pilot projects and at commercial scale to be applied in the power sector. It doesn't have to be something that's already widely out there.David RobertsSo it's sort of a holistic consideration. And EPA is sort of attempting to apply something like wisdom here. There's a balance of considerations. And I assume, and tell me if I'm wrong, that the usual suspects are arguing to EPA that that would be too strict, that a standard based on CCS would be too strict. And presumably the way they're making that argument is by saying CCS is not the best or adequately demonstrated. So what is their argument? Have you read, like, their briefs, or do they have a specific argument here?Lissa LynchThey do, and they're familiar. It's the same set of arguments that we've seen over and over. It's too costly, we can't do it yet. We're getting there. Just let us do this at our own pace. One of the concerning things is the argument that we need gas now, and we're okay with standards that are based on something we might do in the future. So set the standards only at a level that were ready for CCS, that were ready for hydrogen sometime in the future.David RobertsCCS ready.Lissa LynchCCS ready. Hydrogen ready.David RobertsI love that phrase.Lissa LynchIt's just kicking the can down the road.David RobertsLike your own David Hawkins once said, it's like saying, my driveway is Ferrari ready.Lissa LynchExactly. And I think what's at the heart of this industry estimates that CCS can achieve 90% capture and emissions data from the projects that have been built back that up. That is not to say that EPA needs to go ahead and require a 90% emission reduction from every single coal and gas plant in the country. Right. We think it makes the most sense for EPA to draw some distinctions based on the role that the plants perform on the grid. Right. So there's a big difference between ...David RobertsOh, really?Lissa LynchYes, there's a big difference between plants that are used for baseload power that are running constantly all the time, and those that are used intermittently for reliability as backup power during times of high demand.There does not need to be the exact identical standards on those two types of plants. So plants that are running full time are emitting the most, and they should be required to reduce their emissions to the greatest degree. So we think it makes sense to have a 90% capture based standard for plants that are going to serve as baseload, that are going to run all the time. And it's the most cost effective for those types of plants to install CCS, especially when you consider the tax credit. Plants that are operating intermittently as backup are already emitting less pollution simply by running less.And those plants can face a less stringent standard, stay on the grid as backup, and serve that really important reliability function without being required to install CCS, they can meet a lesser standard.David RobertsIs there a distinction between those two kinds of plants that is clean enough and clear enough to set legal limits around them because there are some fuzzy edge cases? And then, number two, are we sure that EPA like that's within EPA? Sort of. That's not major for EPA to be thinking to be sort of specifying which standards applied based on function based on operations.Lissa LynchYes. So this is the kind of detailed analytical and technical decision making that is well within the expert agency's wheelhouse. This is exactly the type of thing that the experts at the agency are normally tasked by the statute to do. They're the ones who run the numbers and figure out what's most appropriate for the specific type of plant that they're regulating. And in fact, the existing standards for new sources do include these sorts of subcategorization based on the use type of the plant. So this is not something complex and mysterious. This is based on true and visible distinctions between types of plants based on the way that they're used.And I think it really is yet another layer of the sort of flexibility that EPA can and should build into this program. Again, none of this is a particular mandate. And so the states and the companies then have that additional choice. Well, they can run a plant full steam and install controls, or they can run intermittently, keep that plant online and face a lesser limit, or they can retire it and make their own choices about what to replace it with. This is providing more and more levels of choices to the regulated industry to comply in the way that makes sense for them.David RobertsYeah. And something you mentioned in passing, I want to just highlight and put a pin in here, which is that a big argument here on your side is CCS is now being showered with subsidies. Like there are huge subsidies coming down from the Inflation Reduction Act for captured hydrogen, enough to make them economic in some cases or certainly a lot closer. So these are synergistic. I'm saying like the Biden administration's legislation is bolstering the case for these tighter standards because CCS is not just on its own now. Now it's explicitly being helped and shaped and stood up by government grants.Lissa LynchThat's right. And at the same time, the Inflation Reduction Act also contains a ton of money for renewables. And so that level of investment across these types of technologies really changes the overall cost of the regulations. And that's one of the things that EPA has to consider, is the overall cost of compliance to the system. And so again, when these standards are in place and states and companies are looking out across their fleet and saying, oh, what should we do? All of those incentives are going to come into that consideration for them. And it makes renewables really cheap to replace your older dirtier generation with.David RobertsI got one more question about the standard setting before I want to get into the politics a little bit, but some energy heads out there may be familiar with a company called NET Power, which has come up with a new, I guess it's a couple of years old now. They've built one demonstration plan, a new technology that without getting into the technological details, it's really fascinating. I might do a whole pod on it, but basically it burns natural gas. Emits no particulate pollution at all and captures 100% of the CO2 emissions as a purified stream of CO2.So you have in NET Power a natural gas power plant with zero particulate emissions and 100% carbon capture. They've built one, it's running and working. So has there been any talk about using that as a standard? Because that would be 100% carbon reduction. Has NET Power's tech come up in these discussions?Lissa LynchYeah, for sure. I mean, it's very cool, right? It was included, the EPA put out a white paper last year asking for input, sort of preregulatory input on the technologies that are available to reduce emissions, specifically from gas plants. And they took comment on the NET Power approach, which I cannot remember the name of. Allam something.David RobertsAllam Cycle, I think is right. I was trying to think of that.Lissa LynchAnd it is really cool and innovative and I hope that that is a direction that we're going to see any remaining fossil generation go in. And I think we may see that in the proposal. Again, all of what I'm talking about here is we have not seen a proposal from EPA. This is sort of NRDC's perspective on what is possible, justifiable achievable and legally defensible in court. And this is what we've been advocating for before the agency, and then we'll have to see what they come up with. We're expecting a proposal relatively soon, probably within a month or so.David RobertsWhat's really interesting to me about this, just from a political perspective, is it's a sort of weird inversion here of the typical roles. So you've got the power sector, which has been touting CCS for years, to sort of like defend the ongoing existence of fossil power plants. They sort of wave their hands at CCS and say, no, we can go clean too. So they've got Joe Manchin out up there saying, I want to go clean, but I want to do it with fossil. I literally think they've convinced him that they can eliminate their carbon emissions. And traditionally you've had sort of greens and climate people saying that's big and overly complicated and overly expensive and stupid and nobody's ever really going to do it and it's just going to make more sense to switch to clean generation.And so now we've got this odd political inversion where the power companies are saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, CCS is not really ready. We didn't mean "ready ready," we meant just over the horizon is what we meant. That's where they like it. They like CCS just over the horizon. And all of a sudden this is like calling their bluff. Like, oh, you've been talking about this for decades. Well, how about you use it? And then on the green side, on the climate side, you have a similar inversion where now greens and green groups like yours are arguing like CCS.Oh, it's great. Yeah, it's right there, it's ready to go, absolutely ready to serve. As the basis for a standard. It's just odd and funny and I just wonder if you have any comment on the politics of trying to herd the cats in the climate community around this message of like CCS is ready and viable, which I don't think comes naturally to a lot of factions, let's say, within the climate community.Lissa LynchWell, that's well phrased. We're walking a fine line. I think our vision for the power sector and the power industry is one of net zero. And in order to get to net zero, that means a heck of a lot of renewables and a heck of a lot less fossil.David RobertsRight.Lissa LynchFor the purposes of setting pollution limits, we need a technological basis and by far and away CCS is the most effective of the options that we've got.David RobertsThat the Supreme Court left us.Lissa LynchExactly. And I think it is very important to have limits on the CO2 emissions from power plants. I think that is sort of the baseline, most important thing from our point of view.David RobertsRight, well, lots of, I mean, reports, we should just say lots of reports have been done saying the legislative progress is great, but it's not enough to reach Biden's stated goal. And to reach Biden's stated goal, you need a whole of administration approach, including these standards.Lissa LynchExactly. And just to put some actual numbers on that, if we want to meet our international and domestic greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for 2030, we need to get our power sector emissions down by 80% from the 2005 sort of peak emissions. We're already about a third of a reduction, 33% -ish reduction since 2005. Our analysis and RDCs of the Inflation Reduction Act puts us now on track to cut our power sector emissions by about 65% by 2030. So that is massive and also not enough.David RobertsRight.Lissa LynchAnd our estimate there is somewhere in the middle there's a really wide range of modeling of the Inflation Reduction Act and a lot of work is going to need to be done in order to get those emission reductions that we're sort of showing in that modeling. It's not a foregone conclusion.David RobertsYeah, one of the wildest things going on right now is just the incredible range of projections about what the IRA will do. Right. Like the sort of government came up with, oh, that it's going to spend $370 on these tax credits and then Credit Suisse is like, actually it's more like a trillion. And then I think there was another one last week, it was like actually it's more like a trillion five. So the range of amounts of money that could come out of this bill are just huge. It's so opaque.Lissa LynchIt is. And a lot still remains to be written in all the guidance for these tax credits. But that sort of uncertainty aside, I think the Inflation Reduction Act is going to accelerate a bunch of clean energy and it's going to get us a bunch of emission reductions in the power sector. And at least based on our analysis, that's not quite enough. And we absolutely are going to need limits on the CO2 emissions in addition to investments in clean energy.David RobertsSo maybe the way to summarize is just to say endorsing CCS as the basis of a performance standard is different than endorsing CCS, full stop.Lissa LynchYeah, well put. And I think what we see in the modeling reflects what I've been saying about the decision making that comes once EPA sets the standard. So when we model standards that are based on CCS and we've included the Inflation Reduction Act in the baseline, we overall get to around between 70% and 77% CO2 emission reduction by 2030. And what we're seeing in the actual generation results, there is some CCS deployment and also a ton of clean energy.David RobertsThis is my next question, actually, and you're here answering it before I even ask it, but I just wanted to ask, as a matter of curiosity, has someone modeled what would happen if EPA sets the standards where you are endorsing and what does the modeling say about the decisions power companies are going to make? Like how many fossil fuel plants will shut down versus installing CCS? I don't know if there's like an easy answer to that.Lissa LynchWell, so we have done lots of modeling and we've been doing it for quite a while because even before this Supreme Court decision last summer, we were anticipating that EPA was going to be constrained and in this sort of inside the fence line way. And so we've really been looking for ways to get the most ambition and the most emission reductions out of these sort of source specific basis for the standards. That range that I gave you is based on CCS and partial CCS runs. So 70% to 77% overall emission reductions depending how much you crank the dial on the ambition.But still with some of those sort of flexibilities that I talked about in terms of the type of use of the plant and what we see in those runs is renewables and energy storage capacity tripling from now to 2030 and quadrupling by 2035. And I think that is in large part based on these new Inflation Reduction Act tax credits being just so much more cost effective. And we still do see some retrofits with carbon capture and storage and some new builds of gas with carbon capture, but not a massive amount. And so there is some uptake of the technology and there's also some reinvestment in clean energy and that kind of tracks with what you would expect, right?And that kind of goes back to that was essentially what EPA was counting on and basing their standards off of in the Clean Power Plan and that's why they did it that way. I think we can do it this way. And that carbon capture and storage based best system of emission reduction can be shown to be available to the plants that could use it. And not all plants are going to make that choice. It's going to be up to the states and the companies to look at their options and choose whether they want to keep that plant online, and that should work.David RobertsSo NRDC is recommending a CCS based standard for both existing-source regs and new-source regs. Is there any difference between those two that's worth sort of pulling out here?Lissa LynchYeah, so I think industry estimates that CCS can achieve 90% capture. And so given that that technology exists, we think it should be used to set the standard for at least the plants that are operating at full bore, both new and existing. When you're building a new plant, you have much greater options in terms of where you're sighting it, how you're building it. You should be required to use the latest and greatest technology on a brand new plant. So that's pretty straightforward for existing plants because they're all over the place. We rely on them already for power.There needs to be more flexibility, there needs to be more of a phase-in sort of glide path to compliance and some flexibility for how you're going to comply and some exemptions for those plants that are going to commit to retire. You don't want to make them retrofit right before they're expected to retire, you want to just let them plan to retire at the natural end-of-life of the plant. And so giving that flexibility on the existing source side is going to be really important and has long been part of the way that the section 111 standard setting has worked to differentiate between new and existing plants.David RobertsSo, CCS based standard in both cases, but maybe more flexibility and implementation for the existing plants.Lissa LynchExactly.David RobertsIf EPA does use CCS or hydrogen, something like that, as the basis for its performance standard, does it have any say at all in the details of sort of how CCS or hydrogen are used or measured? Because Volts listeners just got an hour and a half earful of discussion of the clean Hydrogen Tax Credits last week, and the details are many, and they make a big gifference in how clean hydrogen is used, how it's measured sort of how its carbon intensity is assessed, how much end users are allowed to claim reductions from using it, et cetera, et cetera. Does EPA get into any of that? Or is this purely just, we're using this tech as a way to set the numerical standard, but the details of how a power plant might implement this is somebody else's problem.Lissa LynchSo they absolutely have some authority over how it gets used to comply with this standard. So for purposes of standard setting, they're looking kind of broadly at what the technology is capable of achieving, how it's been used in the past, how it could apply to power plants that exist now in terms of compliance, though, they've got the authority over CO2 essentially in this rulemaking. And so if a plant is going to demonstrate compliance using carbon capture and storage or hydrogen, they can absolutely include the types of rigorous monitoring and verification requirements they would need to see in order for a plant to be demonstrating compliance using one of these technologies.David RobertsRight? So they can get into saying, here's what does and doesn't qualify as full CCS like measured every so often, or this kind of geographical storage. They can't get into that?Lissa LynchI absolutely think so. I think they have authority to say you need to have rigorous monitoring and verification from the point of capture to the point of sequestration. And that needs to be part of your demonstration of compliance for using carbon capture. For hydrogen ... It's a little trickier.David RobertsI'm very aware at the moment.Lissa LynchTo the extent that there is going to be a pathway for hydrogen to be used for compliance, it's got to take into account where that hydrogen comes from, how it's made in order to avoid net emissions increases. And I think they absolutely have that authority. Given that the purpose of this is for the best system of emission reduction, they've got to ensure that it is truly reducing emissions.David RobertsMaybe they can just borrow whatever treasury comes up with for the hydrogen.Lissa LynchAssuming it's good.David RobertsYes, true. If EPA doesn't go with CCS, doesn't go with the high end here, what do you think it will do? Will it fall back to something medium, something in the fuel blending sort of range? And just more broadly, do we have any sense at all of what EPA is thinking or which direction it's going or what to expect?Lissa LynchI think in terms of publicly facing tea leaves, what we've got to look at really is that white paper from last year where they had laid out the options and said, hey, give us some comments on what you think of these options for reducing CO2 emissions from combustion turbines. From everything that we have seen from this administration, we are hoping that they're going to be ambitious. They know that this is a critical moment. They know that this is an important wedge of emissions, that the power sector is still a really significant percentage of our emissions, roughly a quarter, and that we need standards on those CO2 emissions and they need to be strong.And it's not going to be worth all this work, honestly, if they don't make them strong. And so that has been our message to the administration, is, look, if you're going to go through the trouble of doing this all over again, let's make it worth it.David RobertsIs Manchin he's like the monster under my bed at this point. Is there some way Manchin could burst out of the closet and screw this up somehow? Or is he ...Lissa LynchI hesitate to even speculate.David RobertsCan I just not think about him in this respect, or does he have some way that he could theoretically muck this up, or is this something that's finally just sort of beyond his reach?Lissa LynchI think for now, the ball is in EPA's court to come out with a proposal and to take public comments and to consider them. And so for right now, this is an EPA project. Once it's finalized, it will presumably be subject to a Congressional Review Act resolution, and it will depend on who is in charge as to what happens there. And so that's when Congress gets to have its veto opportunity over regulations, which is unfortunate, but it is the world we're living in.David RobertsAnd does that just require a majority or a supermajority?Lissa LynchI believe it's just a majority, but it can be blocked by the President.David RobertsRight. And by the time there's a new president, it'll be too late. We're coming in under the deadline that the Congressional Review Act, if it's going to happen at all, would happen under Biden and thus would be vetoed. So that's not really ...Lissa LynchAnd so that takes place at the final rule. So we're only at the proposal stage. We've got a long way to go.David RobertsIs it going to get done under the Congressional Review Act just to just explain to listeners? Congressional Review Act says basically Congress can undo or veto a regulation basically within a certain window of it being finalized which is 60 ...Lissa Lynch60 working days, which does not equal the calendar days.David RobertsRight. So what you want to do is get your regulations on the books more than 60 working days prior to the next presidential election.Lissa LynchExactly.David RobertsJust so you're sure your guys in charge, if it happens.Lissa LynchThe date that we are looking at is next April, roughly a year from now, for all of these regulations. Right. Like it's not just ...David RobertsThere's a lot these are not the only ones. There's a lot of there's a big backlog.Lissa LynchIt is. And we are seeing the use of the Congressional Review Act right now as we speak in this Congress with attempts to invalidate the rules that the administration has recently finalized. It is a terrible tool. It is not a good thing.David RobertsIt's a Newt Gingrich special, isn't it? Am I right about the history? Of course, like so many malignant things in our government treat.Lissa LynchBut it is the world we're living in, and I think the administration is aware of the timeline that's facing them next year.David RobertsInteresting. So you think a proposed rule is going to show up in the next month or two?Lissa LynchYeah, we're expecting a proposed rule maybe by the end of April. And then when ... you know what happens, that gets published in the Federal Register. There's an opportunity for public comment. There's public hearings. And so there will be sort of a flurry of activity as everybody gets their comments in, and then the agency has to review those comments and address them in the final rule. That's part of the sort of Administrative Law 101. And then they have to issue the final rule and demonstrate yeah, we heard all your comments, and this is why we made the decisions that we made.David RobertsAnd that's when the lawsuits kick off.Lissa LynchAnd that's when the lawsuits start. Exactly. We do it all over again. It's the circle of life.David RobertsYes. And what do you think of the chances that this Supreme Court ends up hearing a case on this again? Do you think the conservatives can mount a legal case plausible enough to get it back into the Supreme Court?Lissa LynchI would never speculate about what this Supreme Court will do, because who knows, right? Our job is to make this thing as airtight as possible. And Chief Justice Roberts gave us some guidelines and a roadmap in the West Virginia decision. He told us what he's looking for, and it's this sort of traditional looking approach to pollution control. And so that's what we're operating under. And we are urging EPA to follow those guidelines and do the most that they can within those constraints, and we'll be there to defend it with them if it comes down to that.David RobertsAll right, awesome. Lissa Lynch of NRDC, thank you for coming and forecasting and explaining all this with us. Maybe we'll talk again in that distant future day when these things are actually on the books and the lawsuits have started. We'll talk again.Lissa LynchThank you so much for having me.David RobertsThank you for listening to the Volts podcast. It is ad-free, powered entirely by listeners like you. If you value conversations like this, please consider becoming a paid Volts subscriber at volts.wtf. Yes, that's volts.wtf so that I can continue doing this work. Thank you so much, and I'll see you next time. 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Welcome to The Hydrogen Podcast!In episode 204, Canary media releases their continuing coverage of the green hydrogen battle. I'll go over the first half of part two today on the hydrogen podcast.Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy the podcast. Please feel free to email me at info@thehydrogenpodcast.com with any questions. Also, if you wouldn't mind subscribing to my podcast using your preferred platform... I would greatly appreciate it. Respectfully,Paul RoddenVISIT THE HYDROGEN PODCAST WEBSITEhttps://thehydrogenpodcast.comCHECK OUT OUR BLOGhttps://thehydrogenpodcast.com/blog/WANT TO SPONSOR THE PODCAST? Send us an email to: info@thehydrogenpodcast.comNEW TO HYDROGEN AND NEED A QUICK INTRODUCTION?Start Here: The 6 Main Colors of Hydrogen

In late February, executives from the Edison Electric Institute briefed Wall Street analysts, bankers, investors, and other industry stakeholders on the state of the U.S. electric power industry at the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York City. Today's episode will feature a recap of the briefing. EEI's leadership team covered several high-priority topics, including ESG; the role of new and developing carbon-free technologies; electric transportation; energy grid reliability, resilience, and security; federal and state regulations; workforce development and diversity, equity, and inclusion; financial performance; and ongoing efforts to meet customer expectations and to support customers in need.  You can watch the full presentation and read the prepared remarks on EEI's website.

The California Solar and Stage Association's Bernadette Del Chiaro discusses the California Public Utilities Commission's pending decision on net metering and her view that granting utilities' request to ratchet back net metering compensation is a threat to the vibrant growth California has experienced recently in solar-plus-storage adoption. She describes the CPUC's pending proposal as part of a concerted, nationwide campaign to limit rooftop solar net metering, which the Edison Electric Institute described 10 years ago as an existential threat to the utility industry. The industry has employed an army of lobbyists and consultants using "bogus PR and bogus math" to convince state lawmakers to limit net-metering compensation for small consumers, she says.Support the show

The Inflation Reduction Act is the largest investment in clean energy ever made by the federal government. Among the bill's more than 700 pages is a lesser-known provision that could play a pivotal role in transforming existing dirty energy infrastructure to serve the clean energy economy of the future. The new Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment Program — also known as the Section 1706 program — gives the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office $5 billion, with the authority to provide up to $250 billion in low-interest loans. These loans could radically change the energy landscape. The program could fund efforts to repurpose old coal and gas plant sites to deploy clean energy projects, leveraging existing infrastructure to save on costs while delivering economic benefits to communities. Political Climate hosts Julia Pyper, Shane Skelton and Brandon Hurlbut are joined by two guests to discuss this new program: Alexander Bond, deputy general counsel for climate and clean energy at the Edison Electric Institute, and Uday Varadarajan, a principal at the clean-energy nonprofit RMI. They discuss the innovative structure of the Section 1706 program, challenges the Loan Programs Office will face as it rolls out the funding, and the opportunities for the program to help clean up the U.S. electric grid. Listen and subscribe to Political Climate on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or pretty much wherever you get podcasts! Follow us on Twitter at @Poli_Climate.Recommended reading:Canary Media: How will DOE loan out $250B to make dirty energy systems clean?Canary Media: What challenges will confront DOE loan program for energy retrofits?RMI: The Most Important Clean Energy Policy You've Never Heard AboutDOE: Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment***Political Climate is brought to you by MCE. Today, MCE offers nearly 40 Bay Area communities almost twice as much renewable energy as the state average. The power of MCE is about more than clean energy — it's the power of people over profit. Learn more at mceCleanEnergy.org.Support for Political Climate also comes from Climate Positive, a podcast from Hannon Armstrong, the first U.S. public company solely dedicated to investing in climate solutions. The Climate Positive podcast features candid conversations with the leaders, innovators and changemakers driving our climate-positive future. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

During Hurricane Ian, millions of Floridians were without power for days at a time.  However, three communities - employing a combination of hardened power infrastructure, microgrids, solar power, energy storage and bi-directional power, managed to keep the lights on during the worse of the storm. 

This week on the Current, Kristine is joined by Eric Grey, Vice President of Government Relations at the Edison Electric Institute and Austin Keyser, Assistant to the International President of Government Affairs for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Eric and Austin provide expert analysis on the Inflation Reduction Act and its potential impact on the electric power industry. 

We take a closer look at the investor-owned utility model with Jeff Keebler, Chairman, President, and CEO of Madison Gas and Electric. Jeff shares more insights on how investor-owned utilities work, how they're regulated, and the new technologies changing the power dynamics in the industry. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) electric power sector survey data, almost 3,000 electric distribution companies—or utilities—are operating in the United States. EIA classifies utilities into three ownership types: investor-owned utilities, publicly run utilities such as municipal utilities, and cooperatives. This episode features investor-owned utilities, or IOUs, which are large electric distributors that issue stock owned by shareholders. Almost three-quarters of utility customers get their electricity from these companies. Upcoming episodes will discuss municipal utilities and electric cooperatives. Note: MGE is a member of the Customers First! Coalition, which produces the Electric Wire podcast. Links and additional reading: Energy Information Administration (EIA): https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=40913 Madison Gas and Electric https://www.mge.com/ Wisconsin Utilities Association https://www.wiutilities.org/ Edison Electric Institute https://www.eei.org/ American Gas Association https://www.aga.org/ Public Service Commission of Wisconsin https://psc.wi.gov/ Public Service Commission of Wisconsin: Electric Service Territory Maps https://maps.psc.wi.gov/portal/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=bb1a9f501e3d472cbde970310540b466 Wisconsin Legislative Council: Overview of Wisconsin's Public Utility Regulatory System https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/misc/lc/information_memos/2017/im_2017_01

With ESG top of mind for many companies, we're continuing our podcast series looking at how the current and future reporting landscape may impact individual industries. This week, guest host Casey Herman, PwC's US ESG leader, was joined by PwC specialists Scott Thompson and Mark Roslin to discuss the current state of climate and ESG reporting in the aviation industry and the related challenges.In this episode, our guests discuss:1:45 - Technologies on the horizon that have the potential to impact the aviation industry's greenhouse gas emissions profile8:35 - Incentives for sustainable aviation fuel in the Inflation Reduction Act16:42 - Challenges of reporting under the SEC climate disclosure proposal for the aviation industry26:46 - Navigating social and governance considerations in the aviation industryListen to our previous podcast that provides insights into the ESG disclosures that matter to investors. Also refer to the text or audio version of our In the loop, The SEC wants me to disclose what?Scott Thompson is PwC's Global Aerospace & Defense Leader, leading a team of 1,700 professionals delivering audit, tax, and advisory services to the world's top aerospace and defense companies. Scott is a widely recognized expert in the industry, with his commentaries frequently featured in industry publications and other media outlets. Scott also hosts the annual Aerospace & Defense Finance Executive Roundtable.Mark Rosling is a director in PwC's Trust Solutions ESG practice. Mark works with clients to establish the controls, processes, and structures needed for accurate ESG reporting, in addition to helping companies integrate ESG into their corporate reporting.Casey Herman is PwC's US ESG Leader. Casey has over 35 years of experience leading and working on the audits of many significant, complex clients and is a member of the Edison Electric Institute's Wall Street Advisory Group, the Electric Power Research Institutes Advisory Council, and the NYU Stern Business School Center for Sustainable Business Advisory Council.Transcripts available upon request for individuals who may need a disability-related accommodation. Please send requests to us_podcast@pwc.com.

K&L Gates partner Tariq Fedda sits down with Hydrogen Rising co-hosts David Wochner, Partner at K&L Gates, and Sandra Safro, Associate General Counsel at the Edison Electric Institute, to discuss a range of commercial issues impacting the European hydrogen and energy markets. Tariq talks about the Renewable Energy Directive, green hydrogen, guarantees of origin, and other issues driving the commercial negotiations and contracts he is currently working on to facilitate the development of Europe's hydrogen economy.   

With ESG top of mind for many companies, we're continuing our podcast series looking at how the current and future reporting landscape may impact individual industries. This week, guest host Casey Herman, PwC's US ESG leader, was joined by PwC partners Brittany Schmidt and David Challen to discuss the current state of climate and ESG reporting in the banking and capital markets industry, the related challenges, and how to best prepare to address them.In this episode, our guests discuss:1:37 - Why the banking and capital markets industry has been at the forefront of voluntary ESG reporting6:41 - Industry themes in responses to the SEC's climate proposal14:37 - Key requirements of the SEC's proposal and difficulties financial services companies may face addressing them20:39 - How financial services companies are thinking about the proposed scope 3 disclosure requirements29:39 - Forward-looking disclosure requirements and how to prepare for the proposal's implementation35:51 - Final thoughts on the proposed disclosure requirementsListen to our previous podcast that provides insights into the ESG disclosures that matter to investors. Also refer to the text or audio version of our In the loop, The SEC wants me to disclose what?Brittany Schmidt is a partner in PwC's financial services consulting practice with over 15 years of experience helping banks and other financial services clients navigate the rapid pace of change in the regulatory and business landscape. Brittany is a firm-designated ESG champion for the financial services sector.David Challen is a partner in PwC's banking and capital markets Trust Solutions practice with over 15 years of industry experience. He has worked with clients ranging from large, multinational banking institutions to broker-dealers and asset management advisors and funds. David is a firm-designated ESG champion for the financial services sector.Casey Herman is PwC's US ESG Leader. Casey has over 35 years of experience leading and working on the audits of many significant, complex clients and is a member of the Edison Electric Institute's Wall Street Advisory Group, the Electric Power Research Institutes Advisory Council, and the NYU Stern Business School Center for Sustainable Business Advisory Council.Transcripts available upon request for individuals who may need a disability-related accommodation. Please send requests to us_podcast@pwc.com.

With ESG top of mind for many companies, we're continuing our podcast series looking at how the current and future reporting landscape may impact individual industries. This week, guest host Casey Herman, PwC's US ESG leader, was joined by PwC partners Jennifer Kosar and Erica Chase to discuss the current state of climate and ESG reporting in the insurance industry and the associated challenges.In this episode, our guests discuss:1:51 - The current state of climate and ESG reporting in the insurance industry and areas of focus11:35 - Challenges and concerns insurers are thinking about as they work through ESG reporting17:34 - Planning to comply with the proposed reporting requirements while protecting proprietary information23:55 - The impact of the proposed footnote disclosures on the industry and how companies are planning for the requirements31:15 - Navigating the overlapping layers of state, federal, and international reporting requirements37:41 - What industry leaders are doing now to address the new ESG reporting requirements, and what's to comeListen to our previous podcast that provides insights into the ESG disclosures that matter to investors. Also refer to the text or audio version of our In the loop, The SEC wants me to disclose what?Jennifer Kosar is a partner in PwC's Digital Assurance and Transparency practice, helping clients in the financial services industry through the design and execution of governance, risk management, audit, and compliance programs throughout their organization. Recently, Jenn has focused on providing support to her clients on the risks and opportunities that ESG creates for the financial services industry.Erica Chace is a partner in PwC's Trust Solutions practice, specializing in providing assurance services to insurance companies. Erica supports PwC's Sustainability Services group, which involves helping clients develop their ESG strategy and assess relevant reporting requirements.Casey Herman is PwC's US ESG Leader. Casey has over 35 years of experience leading and working on the audits of many significant, complex clients and is a member of the Edison Electric Institute's Wall Street Advisory Group, the Electric Power Research Institutes Advisory Council, and the NYU Stern Business School Center for Sustainable Business Advisory Council.Transcripts available upon request for individuals who may need a disability-related accommodation. Please send requests to us_podcast@pwc.com.

The Inflation Reduction Act (the Act), signed into law on August 16, includes a number of green initiatives and incentives – but what are they, and how will they impact businesses? In this special episode, host Heather Horn was joined by Casey Herman and Matt Haskins, specialists in PwC's ESG groups, to discuss the ESG initiatives that companies will have to consider as part of the Act.In this episode, you will hear them discuss:2:25 - Background on the Act, and how it is structured to prioritize incentives rather than penalties for green innovation7:58 - An overview of the major areas of credits in the law16:09 - Perspective on the breadth of impact of the Act to the overall economy19:32 - How electricity storage technology is needed to enable broader adoption of renewable electricity26:33 - Examples of how companies in a variety of industries could be impacted by the Act35:34 - The expected impacts of the Act in reducing greenhouse gas emissions36:27 - Opportunities for entities not directly involved in generating tax credits to benefit from the Act42:12 - Looking at the social incentives in the Act, and how these unlock additional credit dollars48:24 - Constraints that companies will face as they work to take advantage of the incentives in the ActFor more information about developments in ESG, listen to our previous podcast that provides insights into the ESG disclosures that matter to investors. Also refer to the text or audio version of our In the loop, The SEC wants me to disclose what?Matt Haskins is a principal in PwC's Washington National Tax Services, where he leads the firm's Cleantech tax practice, focusing on renewable energy financing and M&A transactions. In addition to writing and speaking on issues in the renewable energy industry, Matt has co-chaired the energy and environmental taxes working group for the US Council on International Business and served as a delegate for key energy initiatives of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.Casey Herman is PwC's US ESG Leader. Casey has over 35 years of experience leading and working on the audits of many significant, complex clients and is a member of the Edison Electric Institute's Wall Street Advisory Group, the Electric Power Research Institutes Advisory Council, and the NYU Stern Business School Center for Sustainable Business Advisory Council.Heather Horn is PwC's National Office thought leader, responsible for developing our communications strategy and conveying firm positions on accounting and financial reporting matters. She is the engaging host of PwC's accounting and reporting weekly podcast and quarterly webcast series. With over 30 years of experience, Heather's accounting and auditing expertise includes financial instruments and rate-regulated accounting.Transcripts available upon request for individuals who may need a disability-related accommodation. Please send requests to us_podcast@pwc.com. 

With ESG top of mind for many companies, we're continuing our new podcast series looking at how the current and future reporting landscape may impact individual industries. This week, guest host Casey Herman, PwC's US ESG leader, was joined by Rich Goode and Robert Moline from PwC's ESG practice to discuss the strategy and reporting challenges that technology companies face.In this episode, our guests discuss:2:20 - The current state of ESG reporting in the technology industry7:16 - An overview of the SEC's climate proposal requirements that will impact technology companies16:49 - Effective data collection for meeting the disclosure requirements26:55 - Observations from the industry's response letters to the SEC's climate proposal30:09 - The challenges technology companies may face in meeting the proposed emissions disclosure requirements39:41 - Advice and recommendations for technology companies to proactively ready their reporting processesListen to our previous podcast that provides insights into the ESG disclosures that matter to investors. Also refer to the text or audio version of our In the loop, The SEC wants me to disclose what?Robert Moline is a PwC Partner in our technology, media and telecommunications consulting group. Robert focuses on the transformation of global technology industry clients with a focus on sustainability and climate driven change.Rich Goode is a principal in PwC's ESG practice where he assists clients in the technology, media, and telecommunications sectors navigate key environmental, social, and governance issues. Leveraging 30 years of experience, Rich also currently serves as an Adjunct Lecturer at Harvard University.Casey Herman is PwC's US ESG Leader. Casey has over 35 years of experience leading and working on the audits of many significant, complex clients and is a member of the Edison Electric Institute's Wall Street Advisory Group, the Electric Power Research Institutes Advisory Council, and the NYU Stern Business School Center for Sustainable Business Advisory Council.Transcripts available upon request for individuals who may need a disability-related accommodation. Please send requests to us_podcast@pwc.com. 

With ESG top of mind for many companies, we're continuing our new podcast series looking at how the current and future reporting landscape may impact individual industries. This week, guest host Casey Herman, PwC's US ESG leader, was joined by Dan Sullivan and Randy Hoff, specialists in PwC's Financial Markets & Real Estate practice, to discuss the strategy and reporting challenges and opportunities for real estate companies. In addition, any company that owns or rents space for its business would benefit from it.In this episode, our guests discuss:2:19 - Current areas of focus in financing real estate ESG initiatives10:22 - Why the real estate industry is motivated to invest in the “E” of ESG18:46 - Trends in the real estate industry's comment letters on the SEC's climate proposal23:52 - Industry themes in ESG reporting goals29:42 - Availability of new sustainability-focused financing instruments33:31 - Advice for real estate businesses working through ESG challengesWant to learn more about developments in ESG? Register for our upcoming Q3 2022 Quarterly ESG webcast, and listen to our previous podcast that provides insights into the ESG disclosures that matter to investors. Also refer to the text or audio version of our In the loop, The SEC wants me to disclose what?Dan Sullivan is PwC's Financial Markets & Real Estate leader. Dan has 18 years experience assisting clients with capital markets challenges driven by owning, originating, and investing in complex financial products and real estate. He helps clients navigate rapidly changing ESG demands to create innovative product and market strategies that lead the way in sustainability finance. Randy Hoff is a Principal in PwC's Financial Markets & Real Estate team with over 20 years experience.  He provides a wide range of innovative and tech-forward ESG solutions to Commercial and Industrial occupiers and investors.  Randy helps clients achieve Net Zero and other emissions reduction goals through technology, advanced analytics and engineering.Casey Herman is PwC's US ESG Leader. Casey has over 35 years of experience leading and working on the audits of many significant, complex clients and is a member of the Edison Electric Institute's Wall Street Advisory Group, the Electric Power Research Institutes Advisory Council, and the NYU Stern Business School Center for Sustainable Business Advisory Council.Transcripts available upon request for individuals who may need a disability-related accommodation. Please send requests to us_podcast@pwc.com.

With ESG top of mind for many companies, we're starting a new podcast series looking at how the current and future reporting landscape may impact individual industries. This week, guest host Casey Herman was joined by Julie Bogas and John DeRose, partners in PwC's ESG practice, to discuss the reporting and strategy-related challenges and opportunities that exist for companies that operate in retail and other consumer-facing businesses.In this episode, you will hear them discuss:3:40 - An overview of why SEC's climate disclosure proposal matters to companies that do business directly with consumers11:19 - The current state of voluntary ESG reporting in the industry14:55 - The biggest challenges consumer-focused companies are facing as they prepare for the expected new SEC rules22:08 - Difficulties shared by companies in gathering and reporting emissions data33:42 - Common physical and transition risks seen in the industry and how companies are managing them40:23 - Typical ESG goals and targets set by companies in the industry, along with the outlook for achieving themWant to learn more about developments in ESG? Register for our upcoming Q3 2022 Quarterly ESG webcast, and listen to our previous podcast that provides insights into the ESG disclosures that matter to investors. Also refer to the text or audio version of our In the loop, The SEC wants me to disclose what?Julie Bogas is a partner in PwC's ESG Consulting Solutions practice with more than 21 years of experience helping clients in a variety of industries undertake ambitious programs to successfully transform their sustainability, finance, IT, and risk and compliance capabilities. For 11 years she has been helping clients build ESG and sustainability capabilities, including ESG strategy, value chain impact assessment, goal setting, training, disclosure and reporting, and data governance and technology.John DeRose is a partner in PwC's ESG Trust Solutions practice with more than 20 years of reporting, assurance, compliance, and risk management experience serving large multinational organizations. He works with companies across all industries, including technology, telecommunications, manufacturing, apparel and footwear, and banking.Casey Herman is PwC's US ESG Leader. Casey has over 35 years of experience leading and working on the audits of many significant, complex clients and is a member of the Edison Electric Institute's Wall Street Advisory Group, the Electric Power Research Institutes Advisory Council, and the NYU Stern Business School Center for Sustainable Business Advisory Council.Transcripts available upon request for individuals who may need a disability-related accommodation. Please send requests to us_podcast@pwc.com.

Join the conversation to learn more about summer reliability, wildfires and how the electric grid as a whole is being impacted. To help provide unique insights into these issues Brad is joined by John Moura, Director of Reliability Assessment and Performance Analysis at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and Scott Aaronson, Senior Vice President of Security and Preparedness at Edison Electric Institute and also part of the Secretariat at the Electric Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC).

Electricity is the vital commodity of the future. At the Edison Electric Institute's annual meeting in Orlando, Host Llewellyn King speaks with utility CEOs, including Eric Silagy of Florida Power & Light, about how they're keeping the electricity flowing during fires, ice storms, and supply chain disruption, and are innovating. Second and final episode in a series.

The electric revolution is upon us, but how well is it going? Host Llewellyn King speaks with Philip Moeller, executive vice president of the Edison Electric Institute and others at the group's annual meeting.

Hydrogen Rising co-hosts David Wochner, partner at K&L Gates, and Sandra Safro, Associate General Counsel at the Edison Electric Institute, welcome Frank Wolak, President and CEO of Washington, D.C.,-based Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association (FCHEA) to the podcast. Mr. Wolak has spent his career in the fuel cell and hydrogen sector, previously having served as Senior Vice President at Fuel Cell Energy where he developed some of the most innovative and largest fuel cell technology applications in the world. In this episode, Frank discusses FCHEA's efforts to advance the deployment of a hydrogen economy, the development and continued evolution of global codes and standards for the safe deployment of hydrogen at scale, and the reasons why he believes hydrogen is a “long-term, evolutionary, and sustainable” solution to our energy and climate challenges. 

With current events, there is a strong focus on the critical infrastructure sector that provide fuel, water and electricity to our homes and office buildings. In today's episode we hear from Spencer Wilcox, who is a cybersecurity leader at a large power utility working to ensure that power is always available and protected against cybercriminals. He shares with us his insights to the energy industry, the supply chain, cyber resiliency and the threats the industry is facing in the next ten years.Spencer Wilcox has worked in the cybersecurity and physical space of the energy sector for almost twenty years, where previously he was in law enforcement.Don't miss out on The transition from a law enforcement to cyber securityHow important privacy is to securityThe importance of supply chain to availabilityDiscussed Links & Follow-upHex Editor - https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/hex-editorTELNET - https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/telnetLink for Thom Langford episode - https://www.buzzsprout.com/1892704/10255518The Hymn of the Great A'Tuin - https://discworld.fandom.com/wiki/Great_A%27TuinPurdue Model - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purdue_Enterprise_Reference_ArchitectureBlind Men & the Elephant - https://americanliterature.com/author/james-baldwin/short-story/the-blind-men-and-the-elephantChristmas Tree Scan - https://nmap.org/book/scan-methods-null-fin-xmas-scan.htmlNERC CIP Standards - https://www.nerc.com/pa/Stand/Pages/CIPStandards.aspxNetflix Chaos Engineering - https://netflixtechblog.com/tagged/chaos-engineeringAbout Spencer WilcoxSpencer Wilcox is Executive Director of Technology and Chief Security Officer at PNM Resources, an investor owned utility headquartered in Albuquerque, NM. Spencer is accountable for the secure operations of enterprise IT and OT Infrastructure, Network and Telecommunications, Technology Innovation and the Cyber and Physical Security of the enterprise and the electric grid. In this role he strategically leads leaders to continuously improve operational effectiveness using a risk based approach to technology and security.Spencer is a nationally recognized speaker, and regular contributor to (ISC)2, ASIS, and SC Congress events. He regularly serves in volunteer capacities to improve cyber security, technology innovation and economic development. He currently serves as Vice Chair of the ICCS committee for the Electric Power Research Institute, and as co-chair of the Security and Technology Policy Executive Advisory Committee for the Edison Electric Institute. He has previously served as a judge in the SC awards, and Maryland Cyber awards and as a volunteer on the boards of directors for the Virginia Crime Prevention Association, the Cybersecurity Association of Maryland, Inc, and the Fort Meade Alliance. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerwilcoxcisspTwitter: @brasscount Email: 

In February 2021, EEI and its members worked with industry leaders and leading environmental groups to launch the Carbon-Free Technology Initiative (CFTI). The primary goal of CFTI is to identify and advocate for specific policies that can help to ensure the commercial availability of key technologies, so that they can be deployed in a timely manner to achieve net-zero emissions in the U.S. electric power sector and to ensure electricity remains affordable and reliable. In this episode, Jeff Lyng, area vice president of energy and sustainability policy at Xcel Energy, and Eric Holdsworth, managing director of clean energy and environmental policy at the Edison Electric Institute, reflect on the progress of CFTI's policy and funding goals and discuss what comes next. Learn more about CFTI at carbonfreetech.org.

Hydrogen Rising co-hosts David Wochner, partner at K&L Gates, and Sandra Safro, Associate General Counsel at the Edison Electric Institute, speak with the co-founders of Kaizen Clean Energy [link:  www.kaizencleanenergy.com], Eric Smith and Robert Meaney, about Kaizen's role in the energy transition, challenges facing broader deployment of ZEVs in the United States, and how Kaizen's technology can use methanol to more efficiently and economically advance the hydrogen economy.  

Since the Paris Climate Conference, innovations in the development of hydrogen energy have accelerated sharply, with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) now predicting green hydrogen will be competitive in 2030, while other industry experts are now targeting 2025. The recent COP26 climate summit has further boosted global investment in hydrogen, with companies across a range of sectors recognizing the potential and taking an active role in the development of the sector. K&L Gates partners James Douglass in London, David Wochner in Washington, D.C., Kelly Davies in Sydney, Melanie Bruneau in Brussels, and Annette Mutschler-Siebert in Berlin, all members of our Hydrogen practice, held a town hall on 24 March 2022 to discuss global hydrogen policy and regulatory developments with moderator Sandra Safro, Associate General Counsel at the Edison Electric Institute, and co-host of Hydrogen Rising. 

Transportation electrification is undergoing a revolution as demand increases for private and commercial EV options. However, expanding access to charging infrastructure will require untangling a web of regulatory hurdles spanning different states and different regulatory jurisdictions. In this episode of The Current, Brad unpacks how the electric power and transportation industries are collaborating to plan for rising demand for charging tools, the ways in which the industries educate regulators, and the challenges that must be overcome to accelerate EV adoption. Joining the discussion are Kellen Schefter, Director of Electric Transportation at the Edison Electric Institute, and Phil Jones, Executive Director of the Alliance for Transportation Electrification. 

Phil Moeller, , Executive Vice President, Business, Operations Group and Regulatory Affairs at the Edison Electric Institute, discusses net energy metering, infrastructure development and FERC's docket on updating its transmission policy, including ROFR, whether utilities should be the sole source of electricity for EV charging in monopoly-regulated states, the threat of cyber attacks on the electric system, particularly in the wake of Putin's war of aggression in Ukraine, and competitive regional wholesale power market development.He also addresses the role that plentiful, cheap natural gas has played in keeping electricity prices stable for the last decade, and the lack of policy emphasis on the need for better coordination between the natural gas and electric sectors as part of our transition to a clean-energy economy, a problem Winter Storm Uri demonstrated tragically last year. The need for natural gas resources will only become more acute as we introduce more and more intermittent renewable resources onto the grid, he says.Support the show

Hosts David Wochner and Sandra Safro, Associate General Counsel at the Edison Electric Institute , have a conversation with Michelle Detwiler, the Executive Director of the Renewable Hydrogen Alliance.  Based in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon, the RHA is a non-profit trade association advocating in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, including Washington, Oregon and California, for the use of renewable electricity to produce hydrogen and other climate neutral fuels to replace fossil fuel consumption.  The conversation touches on a range of issues from federal efforts to advance hydrogen to state and local laws and regulations in the Washington and Oregon that are propelling the growth of clean hydrogen from renewable resources. 

In early February, executives from the Edison Electric Institute briefed Wall Street analysts, bankers, investors, and other industry stakeholders on the state of the U.S. electric power industry in New York City. Today's episode will feature a recap of the briefing, which featured presentations from Brian Wolff, EEI's Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President of Public Policy and External Affairs; Emily Fisher, EEI's General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, and Senior Vice President of Clean Energy; Phil Moeller, EEI's Executive Vice President of Business Operations Group and Regulatory Affairs; and Richard McMahon, EEI's Senior Vice President of Energy Supply and Finance. These leaders covered several high-priority topics, including clean energy and the clean energy tax policies that EEI supports; electric transportation; carbon-free technologies; energy grid security and resilience; and electric companies' adaptation, hardening, and resilience investments.   You can watch the full presentation and read the prepared remarks on EEI's website.

Gerry Anderson is the former CEO of DTE Energy. He now serves as the chair of the Edison Electric Institute's committee on the environment, a trade association representing all publicly-owned U.S. electric companies. He also chairs Business Leaders for Michigan and serves on the board of the Nature Conservancy and the Downtown Detroit Partnership. He graduated from the University of Michigan (MPP, MBA) in 1988.

Co-hosts David Wochner from K&L Gates and Sandra Safro from the Edison Electric Institute are joined by Karl Gnadt, President of the newly formed Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus Council and Managing Director and CEO of the Champaign-Urbana, Illinois Mass Transit District.  Karl discusses the mission of the coalition to advance the hydrogen fuel cell electric bus economy and its applications in the public transit sector, as well as the importance of hydrogen to public transit so that the industry can continue to seamlessly provide service to its customers who rely on public transportation.

Co-hosts David Wochner, partner at K&L Gates, and Sandra Safro, Associate General Counsel at the Edison Electric Institute, kick off season 2 of Hydrogen Rising with a discussion of developments since the last episodes of Season 1 in November, including exciting new programs at the U.S. Department of Energy like the H2 Twin Cities program and the H2 Matchmaker Tool, as well as moves by cities to bring hydrogen into everyday life

In this episode of Smart Energy Voices, host John Failla continues SED's series on “Inspiring Diversity in Energy.” This conversation was part of the recent Distributed Energy Forum with a panel featuring Cheryl Comer, Strategic Account Manager - Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions, Gilbert Campbell, Co-Founder & CEO - Volt Energy, and Denis George, Category Manager for Energy - The Kroger Company. You won't want to miss this meaningful conversation on how collaboration can help accelerate success in diversifying the supplier rosters of large electric power users. You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in... Backgrounds and current roles [02:31] Challenges in engaging large customers [06:35] The importance of collaboration [12:53] Volt Energy's community efforts [16:36] What is DiCE? [18:49] Environmental Justice PPAs [26:46] Collaboration for new ideas Humankind is in a race against time to save the planet. Innovation and transformation need to happen. Different mindsets and thought processes working together bring value and best-in-class ideas to the table. Collaboration provides an excellent opportunity to get to know key stakeholders in other communities and become exposed to new ideas. For example, social justice and a PPA would never have been correlated before, but amazingly and effectively, they are now. Diversity focuses on connecting people in various communities so such ideas can develop and expand. Diversity in Clean Energy (DiCE) The creation of DiCE was prompted when T Mobile became one of Cheryl's strategic accounts. Amy Bond, Energy Procurement Program Manager - T Mobile, asked Cheryl how Duke Energy interacts with diverse suppliers. In response, Duke Energy held a two-day roundtable discussion about tracking diverse suppliers. They realized that corporations don't usually share contacts when they have them. The communication that did happen was limited to word of mouth. Duke's vision of DiCE is to open doors, utilize, and amplify the stories of diverse suppliers. One of DiCE's key objectives is to create a database or repository for diverse suppliers, which is being sponsored by Microsoft. They want to ensure that the energy industry has a good database without systemic barriers. While DiCE is growing, it's running on a two-year pilot in a smaller nexus with Kroger, T Mobile, Microsoft, and diverse suppliers. There is significant interest from organizations that want to join. Meanwhile, they can raise awareness and take action in their own space. Justice in the environment Environmental Justice PPAs are Volt Energy's response to ensure that rural communities aren't left behind in the transition to clean energy. Volt Energy prioritizes developing projects in economically disadvantaged rural areas, particularly where fossil fuel plants have been shut down, to help with economic revitalization. They also recognize the plight of many minority communities that haven't had access to participate in the clean energy boom. Volt Energy explains that these communities have risked their lives for the last 100 years to ensure everyone has power. They've dealt with environmental injustice in basic necessities like clean water and air. As power plants are shutting down in a transition to clean energy, it's fair to prioritize those communities. There are many great environmental justice organizations doing great work both at the national and local levels. Volt Energy invests in programs and projects conducted by these organizations to continue this good work. Volt also works with small businesses. One of the major barriers for small businesses, particularly diverse small businesses, is capital. Volt Energy is looking into providing microloans to businesses to help reduce some of the financial burdens. These loans offer an avenue for scaling diverse businesses. Resources & People Mentioned Solar Energy Industries Association American Association of Blacks in Energy Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance Dice ESG Report - The Kroger Co. Environmental Justice PPA Connect with Gilbert Campbell On LinkedIn Gilbert Campbell is the Founder and CEO of Volt Energy Utility, a national renewable energy firm that finances and develops utility-scale solar and energy storage projects for large corporate clients, municipalities, and other institutions. Gilbert serves on the Board of Directors at The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), The Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA), The American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE), is an Advisory Board Member at 3Degrees, and is a Founding Member of Renewables Forward. Gilbert also co-founded Volt Energy, a national distributed generation solar development company. Under Gilbert's leadership, Volt Energy successfully developed solar projects for numerous public and private sector clients including, Accenture, Exelon/Pepco, The Cheesecake Factory, Subaru, District of Columbia Government, Howard University, and Wake Forest University. Gilbert is an advocate and spokesperson for diversity, equity, and inclusion in clean energy, environmental justice, and sustainability; and regularly advises federal and local officials, corporations, and other key stakeholders on policies and best practices. Gilbert has been nationally recognized for his efforts and has testified before Congress regarding the need for increased minority participation in the renewable energy sector. In 2016, the Obama Administration presented Gilbert with the White House Champions of Change Award for his leadership in advancing climate change equity. Gilbert was named to EBONY magazine's 2014 Power 100 List, which recognizes influential achievements by African Americans annually. Under Gilbert's leadership, Volt is a 2014 recipient of Amtrak and The Washington Wizards Pioneer Award, which honors companies that have made a positive impact in their community. Realizing that change begins with preparation Gilbert has been a vocal proponent of STEM education and outreach opportunities for young people across the country. ‍ Gilbert graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.B.A in Finance from Howard University and has done post-graduate leadership training at Harvard University. Connect with Cheryl D. Comer On LinkedIn Cheryl Comer is a Strategic Account Manager in the Sales and Relationship Management organization at Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions. She is responsible for developing and sustaining long-term strategic customer relationships for mutual growth, profitability, trust, loyalty, and risk management. Her assigned strategic accounts are FedEx, Kroger, Microsoft, and T-Mobile. Cheryl brings a wealth of experience from the education and legal industries. In addition to teaching middle school and high school students music theory, solfeggio, string, symphony orchestra, and music history, Cheryl served as a high school principal of an alternative school in Phoenix, Arizona. She managed a school of 350 students and 30 staff members. During her tenure as principal, she learned to effectively balance considerations from competing stakeholders such as state mandates, instructional and support staff, parents, students, and community. Under her leadership, graduation rates and test scores increased. Cheryl is also a licensed attorney in North Carolina and Louisiana and practiced law at a mid-sized litigation boutique in downtown New Orleans before joining Duke Energy in 2018. She continues to practice law in the capacity of a pro bono attorney with Legal Aid of North Carolina and often lends a hand to family and friends when in need of sound legal advice. She is a community activist in Gaston County and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion champion. Cheryl's first love, however, is the cello. She began playing in an exploratory program in the 4th grade and never stopped! She plays the violin, viola, cello, and bass but is proficient on cello. Cheryl is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and the University of Michigan (where she won principal cellist of the most advanced orchestra). She earned a master's degree in Educational Leadership from Western Michigan University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Detroit School of Law. She has been a licensed attorney since 2009. Cheryl's passions include international travel, spending time on the beach with her family, and enjoying the zest of life. She grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, has three children, and resides in Charlotte, N.C. Connect with Denis George On LinkedIn As Category Manager - Energy for The Kroger Co.– one of the Nation's largest grocery companies with well over $110B in annual revenue - Denis George manages the Company's renewable energy acquisition, energy contracts, regulatory intervention, as well as construction material & equipment sourcing. From 1998 to 2015, Denis served as Kroger's corporate manager – energy with responsibilities that included energy efficiency initiatives, carbon footprint calculations, mechanical system design, and Energy Star program compliance. During this time, Kroger has also received numerous national and regional awards for energy efficiency and sustainability, including in 2015 the Energy Star “Partner of the Year” Award, in 2012 the Alliance to Save Energy's top award, the “Galaxy” Star of Energy Efficiency, and an “Award of Excellence” from Platt's Publications. Mr. George has presented before numerous Commissions and Associations, including the Edison Electric Institute, Touchstone Energy Partnership, Green Retail Decisions, and the Critical Consumer Issues Forum. Mr. George received a Juris Doctor Degree in 1985 from The University of Cincinnati College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics/Business Administration, cum laude, from Wittenberg University in 1980. Denis and his wife, Alice Sutherland George, live in Loveland, Ohio. Connect With Smart Energy Decisions https://smartenergydecisions.com Follow them on Facebook Follow them on Twitter Follow them on LinkedIn Subscribe to Smart Energy Voices If you're interested in participating in the next Smart Energy Decision Event, visit smartenergydecisions.com or email our Event Operations Director, Lisa Carroll at lisa@smartenergydecisions.com

Late Friday night, November 5, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on a bipartisan basis in favor of the Senate-passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, sending the landmark and signature piece of legislation to President Biden for his signature.  The $1.2 trillion bill includes $550 billion in new spending, touching all aspects of infrastructure in America.  And the growing hydrogen industry is a big winner in the IIJA.  In this episode of Hydrogen Rising, co-hosts David Wochner from K&L Gates and Sandra Safro from the Edison Electric Institute are joined by Laurie Purpuro, Government Affairs Advisor at K&L Gates and former Senior Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Energy, to discuss the politics of what just happened, and to review each provision of the IIJA that will benefit the hydrogen industry.  From clean buses and ferries to electrolyzer investment to $8 billion for clean hydrogen hubs to vehicle fueling infrastructure, there is something in the new law that will benefit nearly every aspect of the hydrogen value chain.  Importantly, the new law includes a definition of “clean hydrogen” that will lead some industry participants to cheer, while likely igniting frustration in others.  It's all here!  Listen in as we walk through the new law provision-by-provision. 

Co-hosts David Wochner from K&L Gates and Sandra Safro from the Edison Electric Institute sit down with Jim Sartucci and Elle Stuart, members of the K&L Gates Maritime and Public Policy teams, to discuss how the maritime industry is considering policy and regulatory changes, the most important issues for the industry in the energy transition, and the potential role that hydrogen can play in helping the sector decarbonize. 

In our Talking ESG podcast series, we will give an end-to-end look at what it takes to build effective ESG reporting in today's environment. From investor expectations, to global frameworks, to data, process, and controls—there's something in it for everyone.In this week's episode, Heather Horn sat down with Casey Herman, PwC's US ESG leader, to talk through the current landscape of ESG reporting and how an in-depth understanding of your business's purpose, strategy, and stakeholders can empower your messaging.Topics include:3:51 - What is the current state of ESG? Companies will likely have to make changes to their businesses to meet their ESG-related commitments. Casey lays out what stakeholders are looking for and how you can tie these expectations into your strategy.7:45 - Complexities of ESG reporting. Stakeholders are beginning to put pressure on companies to report more on ESG. Casey walks us through the challenges that companies are facing and some potential solutions.22:36 - How is finance getting involved? As companies begin migrating their ESG reporting into the finance function, Casey explains some of the core competencies they should be looking to develop.29:38 - How to get up to speed. Heather and Casey discuss some of the ways the finance teams can move from theory to action on ESG reporting, and close with advice on how companies can stay ahead of the curve in the face of rapid developments.Want to learn more?Check out our ESG: What finance teams need to know webcast, and hear more from Casey in his earlier podcast Forecast 2021: The “E” in ESG, spotlight on achieving net zero.Casey Herman is PwC's US ESG Leader. Casey has over 35 years of experience leading and working on the audits of many significant, complex clients and is a member of the Edison Electric Institute's Wall Street Advisory Group, the Electric Power Research Institutes Advisory Council, and the NYU Stern Business School Center for Sustainable Business Advisory Council.Heather Horn is a Deputy Chief Accountant in PwC's National Office and leader of the thought leadership group, responsible for developing our communications strategy and conveying firm positions on accounting and financial reporting matters. She is the engaging host of PwC's accounting and reporting weekly podcast and quarterly webcast series, as well as periodic webcasts for the power and utilities industry. With over 30 years of experience, Heather's accounting and auditing expertise includes financial instruments and rate-regulated accounting.

In this episode, Sandi Safro of the Edison Electric Institute and guest co-host, K&L Gates partner Buck Endemann, speak with Ben Gerber, President and CEO of M-RETS, about Renewable Thermal Certificates (RTCs) and their application to molecule-based components of a clean energy economy, like hydrogen.  Ben shares his thoughts on how the flexibility of hydrogen end-uses in both the fuel and power generation spaces overlay with RTCs and Renewable Energy Credits for project developers and what changes policymakers can advance that would aid the development of a hydrogen economy.

This is the third presentation of the 2021 lecture series Rethink Energy: Countdown to COP26, which is co-organised by the IIEA and ESB. On this occasion, Thomas R. Kuhn, President of the Edison Electric Institute and Pat O'Doherty, CEO of ESB deliver keynote remarks. The two expert speakers assess the integral role of secure and clean electricity in the transition to a net-zero future. Both the USA and EU have set ambitious targets to become net-zero emitters by 2050 and realising this goal is dependent, in large part, on the production and distribution of carbon-free electricity. Both speakers reflect on the pathway to a decarbonised electricity industry. They also address the importance of maintaining security of supply, ensuring customer affordability, and managing the intermittency of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power in the context of the transition to net-zero emissions. About the Speakers: Thomas R. Kuhn is President of the Edison Electric Institute, the association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies. EEI's members provide electricity for 220 million Americans, operate in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and directly employ more than 500,000 workers. In addition, EEI has 70 international electric companies as International Members, and 270 industry suppliers and related organisations as Associate Members. Prior to joining EEI in 1985, Mr Kuhn was president of the American Nuclear Energy Council. Mr. Kuhn served on the Secretary of Energy's Advisory Board and the Board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Pat O'Doherty was appointed Chief Executive of ESB in 2011 and appointed to the ESB Board in 2013. Mr O'Doherty completed his tenure as President of Eurlectric in May 2021. Eurelectric is the sector association which represents the common interests of the electricity industry at across 32 European countries, and covers all major issues affecting the sector, from generation and markets to distribution networks and customer issues. Mr O'Doherty holds a primary and master's degree in Engineering from University College Dublin and completed the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School. Mr O'Doherty is also Director of Energy UK and a former trustee of The Conference Board of the United States.

Llewellyn King talks about the megadought in the West and how autonomous technology can aid electric grid resilience with guests Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute and Jeffrey DeCoux, chairman of the Autonomy Institute.

As official hurricane season barrels down on the Caribbean, this month the LUMA Energy consortium embarks on an unprecedented $20 billion, 15-year project to rebuild the damaged, long-neglected electric infrastructure on Puerto Rico. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg follows up with two former guests to get an update on the project. Wayne Stensby is the President and CEO of Luma Energy. David Owens is the Vice-Chair of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority.“We will be administering the deployment of the FEMA funding to rebuild what is desperately needed here in Puerto Rico in terms of a badly dilapidated and damaged… transmission and distribution…and kind of all the elements of technology in the power system,” said Wayne Stensby. FEMA, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, is providing $10 billion to support the effort, one of its largest undertakings ever. “We interact extremely well with the FEMA, with the Department of Energy, with other agencies who have a keen interest in the work that Wayne is going to be doing to rebuild the grid, so I think we're on target,” Owens said. David K. Owens is an accomplished executive with extensive experience in public policies surrounding utility operations, strategic planning, technology development, rate making and regulation. He is recognized as one of the foremost authorities on electric utility issues, industry restructuring, and transformation. His experience in the electricity sector includes leading the Edison Electric Institute's (EEI's) efforts over a broad set of issues that affect the future structure of the electric industry and new rules in evolving competitive markets.He spearheaded efforts to enhance the public policy climate for investments in America's electric infrastructure with emphasis on the role of new technologies to address climate change, and to enhance energy efficiency through smart buildings, smart appliances, smart meters, and smart electric grids.Mr. Owens is a graduate of Howard University with a Bachelor and Master of Engineering degrees. He also has a Master in Engineering Administration from George Washington University.Luma Energy was formed Quanta Services, ATCO, and Innovative Emergency Management to rebuild Puerto Rico's electrical grid.Mr. Stensby joined ATCO in 1988 and has held a variety of leadership positions, including assignments in Canada, the U.K. and Australia. Most recently, in mid-2019, Mr. Stensby was appointed Executive Vice President, Corporate Development, where he was responsible for the growth of Canadian Utilities' global portfolio of investments in premier energy infrastructure. Mr. Stensby holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alberta and is registered as a Professional Engineer with APEGA.

The Biden administration wants the transition to electric vehicles to pick up speed. But there are some big road bumps, including the nation's fragmented charging situation. Llewellyn King discusses this transition with the Edison Electric Institute's Emily Fisher, Kellen Schefter and Kwame Canty.

Llewellyn King and Lawrence Jones, vice president of international programs at the Edison Electric Institute, discuss global electricity, and resilience after Texas.

In our Forecast 2021 podcast series, we’re focused on preparing you for the year ahead by offering insights to help you better understand and manage some of the opportunities and challenges that your company might face—think policy, technology, and other big picture topics. This week, we continue our deep dive into ESG with a talk on the “E,” the environment. As more companies are announcing their commitments to reach net zero emissions, Heather Horn sits down with Casey Herman, PwC’s US Power & Utilities leader, and Ron Kinghorn, PwC’s ESG platform leader, to zero-in on how companies are developing their net zero strategy. Topics include:1:05 - Timing is everything. While it is possible for companies to reach low carbon or zero carbon energy, the question is how long it will take. We begin by looking at the pace of technology and where different types of companies— producers, industrial users, and non-industrial users—are on the journey to net zero.7:57 - The role of regulation. Investors and consumers are pushing for change. What is the impact of regulation? Casey explains how the role of public policy affects the pace of change, but not the path.11:09 - The ROI on necessary investments. As companies invest and assess the feasibility of new technologies, we look at how they need to turn long-term goals into measurable milestones. 19:36 - Managing risk. It is important to be appropriately aggressive, but appropriately thoughtful when developing the right policies and procedures.28:18 - Best practices. Decarbonization is a transformational project. We look at the hard work companies are doing to manage challenges and implement the right plans. 30:48 - Future views. There’s a lot left to do. Regardless of the progress made in five years, how satisfied will we be? We close with thoughts on what can be accomplished and how companies leading in reducing their carbon footprint will have a competitive advantage.Casey mentions the “duck curve.” Want to know more? Check out What the duck curve tells us about managing a green grid.Want to learn more about ESG? Check out our C-suite summary, Making sense of ESG. Casey Herman is PwC’s US Power & Utilities Practice leader and heads up the firm's Power & Utilities Practice in the US. Casey has over 30 years of experience leading and working on the audits of many significant, complex clients and is a member of the Edison Electric Institute's Wall Street Advisory Group and the Electric Power Research Institutes Advisory Council.Ron Kinghorn is PwC’s Consumer Markets consulting leader for the US, Mexico, Japan and China; he also leads the firm’s ESG platform. Ron and his team help clients navigate what's next across the food and beverage, consumer products and retail industries to find growth, capture value, execute deals and win with digital and analytics. Heather Horn is PwC’s National office thought leader, responsible for developing our communications strategy and conveying firm positions on accounting and financial reporting matters. She is the engaging host of PwC’s accounting and reporting weekly podcast and quarterly webcast series, as well as periodic webcasts for the power and utilities industry. With nearly 30 years of experience, Heather’s accounting and auditing expertise includes financial instruments and rate-regulated accounting.

Arnold Sanow works with companies, associations and governmental organizations to strengthen customer and workplace engagement and relationships by improving communication, interpersonal relationships, emotional intelligence and presentation skills. He accomplishes this through keynotes, workshops, training, facilitations, coaching and consulting. He has delivered over 2,500 interactive, entertaining, engaging, thought provoking and content rich presentations to more than 500 different types of organizations throughout the world. Over 90% hire him again or refer him to others. A few of the groups he has worked with include; Kaiser Permanente, Bristol Meyers Squibb, Outdoor Recreation Association, Ski Industries of American, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Lockheed Martin, Lexus/Toyota, The National Automobile Dealers Association, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Institutes of Health, Homeland Security, The National Association of Counties, Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals, Precision Tune Auto Care, Choice Hotels, Inter-American Development Bank, Edison Electric Institute, International Nanny Association, International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, Live Nation, Skadden Arps Law Firm, U.S. Department of the Treasury, U.S. Airforce, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Army, National Association of Credit Management, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bremer Bank, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Trial Lawyers Association, Forrester Construction Company, Aspen Institute, National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, British Telecom, Panhandle Telephone Cooperative, Advanced Medical Technology Association, Cobham, Public Risk Management Association, Project Management Association, Forever Broadcasting, Andrews Federal Credit Union, American Bus Association, Black Achievers in Industry Annual Summit, Commencement Speaker for Stratford University and over 500 others. He is the author of 6 books to include: Get Along with Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere Present with Power, Punch and Pizzazz Marketing Boot Camp Nobody to Somebody in 63 Days or Less (Networking and Word of Mouth Advertising) You Can Start Your Own Business Entrepreneur Boot Camp A National Authority in Business Communications Arnold is a frequent guest in the media including the CBS Evening News, ABC World Morning News, Wall St. Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, and Time Magazine. He has been a National Spokesperson for AT&T and Intuit and is the President of the Sanow Professional Development, LLC a business development and training firm since 1985. He is also a former adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Arnold was recently named by Successful Meetings Magazine as one of the top 5 best “bang for the buck” speakers in the USA and was voted best speaker of the year by the Washington, DC, Meeting Planners International Association as well as by his peers at the National Speakers Association, Washington, DC, chapter. Why Hire Arnold Sanow?  Arnold Is a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional)  Arnold Has a Proven Track Record and Experience  Arnold Will Help You Increase Attendance  Arnold Is Prepared  Arnold Gives Extras  Arnold Is Affordable  Arnold Is Easy to Work With  Arnold Is An Author  Arnold Has Real Life Experience  Arnold Will Be Your Insurance Policy --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivalguidetolife/support

A new paper from the Alliance for Transportation Electrification and Plug In America calls consumer education and outreach by electric utilities the “missing piece” for transportation electrification. The paper shares eight reasons why utilities should be enabled to invest in education and outreach programs and how these programs can help close the awareness gap and spur more electric vehicle adoption.In this episode of EV Hub Live, Nick Nigro will sit down with Katherine Stainken of Plug In America and Kellen Schefter of the Edison Electric Institute to discuss this new research and what we should expect from utilities and other stakeholders on education and outreach in the near term.

New U.S. President Joe Biden has made climate change a priority and is setting the nation on a much more sustainability-focused path than his predecessor. Just days into his term, Biden had already has taken dozens of executive actions, including rejoining the Paris agreement on climate change and ordering a review of rules the Trump administration finalized in the last days of its term. In the latest episode of S&P Global podcast ESG Insider, we talk to experts about what the change of administration and the inherent regulatory uncertainty mean for sustainability-minded companies and investors. We hear from Josh Zinner, CEO of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. ICCR, a global coalition of institutional investors, engages with corporations on a wide range of ESG issues. Zinner said climate-minded investors take the long view and ignored the Trump administration's deregulatory agenda in the expectation that the pendulum would eventually swing back in their favor, which it now has under Biden. We talk to Alex Bond, one of the regulatory leads at the Edison Electric Institute, a trade group for investor-owned electric utilities in the U.S. Bond said the sector has been focused on climate for years and that utilities, like investors, take a long-term view. And we interview former bank regulator John Geiringer, who said that the tone in the financial sector was already shifting to take climate risk more seriously, even before the administration change.   Photo source: Getty Images

The second season of Grid Talk kicks off with a discussion about rebuilding and modernizing Puerto Rico's electric grids after devastating hurricanes. Host Marty Rosenberg talks with David Owens who is the Vice-Chair of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. Mr. Owens talks about how his organization is working to use solar energy and microgrids to build a more resilient and reliable energy system. "A grid for renewable technologies is a grid very distinctly different in many respects from a grid that’s been built around central station facilities, which is traditionally how the Puerto Rican grid has evolved. So, you have to move from the kind of grid that we have today to one that has---that’s more digitized," said Owens.He also discusses why it's more than just building a new grid."This is really about the future of Puerto Rico. This is about bringing jobs back to Puerto Rico, enhancing economic development, re-establishing businesses in Puerto Rico, getting Puerto Ricans employed." David K. Owens is an accomplished executive with extensive experience in public policies surrounding utility operations, strategic planning, technology development, rate making and regulation. He is recognized as one of the foremost authorities on electric utility issues, industry restructuring, and transformation. His experience in the electricity sector includes leading the Edison Electric Institute’s (EEI’s) efforts over a broad set of issues that affect the future structure of the electric industry and new rules in evolving competitive markets.He spearheaded efforts to enhance the public policy climate for investments in America’s electric infrastructure with emphasis on the role of new technologies to address climate change, and to enhance energy efficiency through smart buildings, smart appliances, smart meters, and smart electric grids.Mr. Owens is a graduate of Howard University with a Bachelor and Masters of Engineering degrees. He also has a Masters in Engineering Administration from George Washington University.

While many people know Kroger as the nation’s largest traditional food retailer, few know that they are effectively the fifth largest consumer packaged goods manufacturer in the nation and have more than 2800 retail food stores under a variety of banner names. In this episode, we learn that Kroger is committed to protecting people and the planet by advancing positive change in their company and communities and realizing that they could have multiple environmental and social impacts through their own operations, through the supply chain, and in other areas. Zero Hunger, Zero Waste is what Kroger named their social impact plan to end hunger in their communities and to eliminate waste in their company by 2025. This plan was launched in September of 2017 and was inspired by their purpose to feed the human spirit. They are always looking to the future and have recently announced their new, and very ambitious, 2030 ESG Goals. Joining Smart Decisions Founder John Failla for this closer look are Kroger’s Lisa Zwack, Head of Sustainability, and Denis George, Category Manager – Energy.    You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in... [1:58] A brief scope & scale of Kroger and Lisa & Denis’ roles and responsibilities [5:00] Drivers and commitments related to Kroger’s sustainability and energy management [8:30] Drivers behind Kroger’s energy programs [10:50] Safety and quality are paramount [12:30] The role that investor interest has played [20:45] More about Kroger’s approach to Climate Impact [25:08] Two key ideas for  getting store-level associates to buy into the idea of saving energy [29:17] the La Habra Baking Project [34:01] What role, both internally and externally, do you see relationships playing in pursuit of your ESG goals? [41:45] What is unique about Kroger’s relationship with Duke Energy? [43:57] Talk about the future and where things are headed Stakeholder/Investor Engagement Stakeholder engagement is a great way for Kroger to learn what their key internal and external stakeholders think about what they are doing and what they think Kroger should be doing moving forward. Kroger engages with its stakeholders through its materiality assessment early in the year. It is a great focused opportunity to get input from their various stakeholders, investors, NGOs, and any number of people outside of the company as well as inside the company. Kroger wants to hear what is most important to their leaders as well. Investors are a key audience. There is increased investor interest in how companies are managing climate risk and climate impact and how they are reducing energy usage and moving to more renewables and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Kroger is generally always trying to increase and improve the amount of transparency that they use when they talk to their stakeholders as they know that they are trying to get more decision-useful information for their purposes of making investments in different companies. Kroger prides itself on being very in tune with what investors are looking for and being responsive to that. They also took part in a qualitative climate risk assessment late last year. Kroger assesses and manages risk as a company overall, but this assessment was a great foray into the more dedicated climate risk assessment process, which is something else investors are looking for companies to do.  Historically Driven by Expense Savings Twenty-some years ago, when Denis started with the company, they were more “Zero Energy, Zero Waste” before they were “Zero Hunger, Zero Waste.” Denis states that if they can fulfill their mission to their customers by using less energy, that is just a smart way to operate a business. They learned long ago that through energy efficiency they could achieve that very quickly and very uniformly. They have also found that one can achieve cost reduction in many other ways - through contract negotiations, better rates from utilities, items of that nature, and, as renewables continue to come on and there are more and different ways to engage in renewable energy acquisition those costs are coming down.  This is very consistent with Kroger’s desire to reduce expenses, to maintain reliable well-lit stores, keep food safe and tasty while ensuring the quality of their food, as well as to contribute to the environment. Denis comments that it is wonderful when all those goals that can sometimes seemingly conflict come together and, by doing what they have been doing with reducing the amount of energy and starting to bring on additional renewable purchases, that they are beginning to achieve a lot of the goals all at the same time.  Safety and Quality are Paramount Three of Kroger’s four drivers mentioned in this podcast come up in varying order. Cost reduction is number one nearly 80 percent of the time, followed by greening the environment, but the one most interesting point of the conversation is the notion of food safety because that is a unique and very important driver for the entire food industry. You could save a lot of money by turning everything off, but ice cream doesn’t work well in a zero-energy environment. Everyone’s been inside a grocery store and knows how much energy it uses, but milk has to maintain a certain temperature, the quality of ice cream depends on how cold you keep it - too cold is actually as bad as too warm. There are not only a lot of state, federal, and local food requirements to follow but a lot of other things Kroger wants to do to maintain freshness as well. Those are the rules by which Kroger must live that perhaps might not be needed in a clothing retail store or an auto parts place where humidity and temperature would not affect the product as much as it does fresh produce and fresh meat. Kroger must respect those guidelines and principles to sell their product to their customers in a very safe and comfortable environment. Resources & People Mentioned Duke Energy CDP Climate Questionnaire Kroger 2020 ESG Report Kroger Zero Hunger Zero Waste Sasb.org Standards Connect With Our Guests Lisa Zwack, Head of Sustainability Lisa is the Head of Sustainability at The Kroger Co., the nation’s largest grocery retailer, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. In this role, she leads and executes on Kroger’s sustainability strategy across a variety of topics, including the company’s progress towards its 2020 sustainability goals as well as goals for the next decade. Previously, Lisa served as Sustainability Manager for Staples, Inc. for nearly five years, where she played a key role in implementing and communicating the company’s global sustainability vision. She earned her MBA from the Ross School of Business and her MS and BS degrees from the School for Environment and Sustainability, all at the University of Michigan, during which time she worked with several leading companies on sustainability-related projects. Follow Lisa Zwack on LinkedIn Denis George, Category Manager – Energy As Category Manager — Energy for The Kroger Co. (www.thekrogerco.com) — one of the Nation’s largest grocery and retail companies — Denis George manages the Company’s renewable energy acquisition, gas & electricity contracts, utility agreements, regulatory intervention, and related matters. From 1998 to 2016, Denis served as Kroger’s Corporate Manager — Energy with responsibilities that also included energy efficiency initiatives, carbon footprint calculations, mechanical system design, and Energy Star program compliance. Over these years, Kroger received numerous national and regional awards for energy efficiency and sustainability, including the Energy Star “Partner of the Year” Award (twice), the Alliance to Save Energy's top award — the "Galaxy" Star of Energy Efficiency, and an “Award of Excellence” from Platt’s Publications. Mr. George has presented before numerous Commissions and Associations, including the Edison Electric Institute, American Public Power Association, Touchstone Energy Partnership, Green Retail Decisions, Smart Energy Decisions, and the Critical Consumer Issues Forum.  He serves on the Customer Advisory Board of Smart Energy Decisions and has previously served on numerous utility customer advisory groups. Denis also served two terms on the State of Ohio Public Benefits Advisory Board, a non-compensated Board advising the State of Ohio and utilities on low-income consumer energy needs. From 1980 to 1997, Denis worked at The Dayton Power and Light Company, serving in several legal and management positions that included appearances and representation before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio as well as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Mr. George received a Juris Doctor Degree in 1985 from The University of Cincinnati College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics/Business Administration, cum laude, from Wittenberg University in 1980. He remains a licensed Attorney at Law in the State of Ohio. Denis and his wife, Alice Sutherland George, live in Loveland, Ohio. Follow Denis George on LinkedIn Connect With Smart Energy Decisions https://www.smartenergydecisions.com/ Follow them on Facebook Follow them on Twitter Follow them on LinkedIn Subscribe to Beyond The Meter on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts

Electric utility engagement in transportation electrification has been rapidly expanding in recent years. As the role of the utility in advancing EVs comes into focus, the extent to which they will accelerate EV deployment is a hot topic. Investments alone are up more than three times compared to 2019 with two recent approvals in New York and California. On July 16, 2020, six utilities across New York were approved to invest $700 million in EV charging throughout the state. This could support more than 53,000 Level 2 and 1,500 DC fast charging stations. On the other side of the country, Southern California Edison got the green light to invest $436 million in their Charge Ready 2 program on August 27, 2020. This approval clears the way for an additional 40,000 Level 2 and 200 DC fast charging stations to their service territory. In this episode of EV Hub Live, we’ll talk with Patty Monahan from the California Energy Commission and Phil Jones from the Alliance for Transportation Electrification about the role of the utility in advancing transportation electrification and where they see things headed in the near term. This episode will be co-hosted by our founder, Nick Nigro, and Kellen Schefter of the Edison Electric Institute.

Xcel Energy delivers power to homes and businesses in eight states in the Midwest and West. In this episode of Grid Talk, we hear from the Chairman and CEO of Xcel, Ben Fowke. Mr. Fowke discusses his company’s goal of being carbon-free by 2050 and what we need to invest in now to accomplish the last 20%.“The technologies that I think about to get that last 20% out are things like the hydrogen-- development of hydrogen fuel as well as storage, advanced nuclear, carbon capture, dispatchable renewable generation, and of course additional storage and demand side management type opportunities.”Mr. Fowke also predicts a more and more customer-centric grid.“Customers want to understand more increasingly where their energy is coming from. They want different billing options. They want you to assist with them on electric vehicles. We have some great programs that basically allow for a more seamless transaction through customers that are electing to buy an EV and then giving them billing opportunities that help them save money and actually support the entire grid.”Mr. Fowke has been Chairman and CEO of Xcel Energy since 2011. He has been with the company for more than 20 years. During that time, he has held a variety of executive positions including Chief Operating Officer (COO) vice president and chief financial officer (CFO) and vice president and CFO of Energy Markets.He has a Bachelor of Science in accounting and finance from Towson University. He is the current Chairman of Chairman of Edison Electric Institute, the national association of investor-owned electric companies.Snippet: On investing in technologies to ensure grid reliability, while meeting carbon-free goals “I think it's important that we preserve the existing nuclear fleet and seriously invest in what could be the next generation of nuclear.”

Recorded on Zoom in mid-July 2020, episode 23 is the third podcast in a series on preparation for and response to the challenges of Covid-19, featuring a discussion with Scott Aaronson, Vice President of Security and Preparedness at the Edison Electric Institute in Washington and secretariat to the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC). Scott and I talk about the evolution of the ESCC, how industry came together to tackle pandemic challenges, issue spotting and Tiger Teams, preparing for the next pandemic, and mutual assistance.

The US power sector is known for its high level of reliability and focus on contingency planning and redundancies, but what happens when working next to your colleague suddenly becomes a health hazard? Scott Aaronson, vice president of security and preparedness for the Edison Electric Institute, talks with Jasmin Melvin of S&P Global Platts about emergency preparedness for utilities and the challenges ahead for the industry.

FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee discusses the electric utility industry’s extensive preparations for, operations during and plans for re-entry after Covid-19 with Phil Moeller, executive vice president of the Edison Electric Institute and a former member of FERC.

In this episode of Stronger By Association, we speak to four association leaders, among the many, who are on the forefront of helping America and the world fight and respond to COVID-19. Host Mary Kate Cunningham, CAE, Vice President of Public Policy, opens the episode with ASAE President & CEO Susan Robertson, CAE, and welcomes heads of the paper, distilled spirits, power, and blood bank industries and sectors. Tom Kuhn, President, Edison Electric Institute, Chris Swonger, President & CEO of DISCUS, Debra BenAvram, CEO of AABB, and Heidi Brock, President and CEO of AF&PA join the discussion to describe ways in which their members are responding to the needs to the public during the pandemic and beyond.

As we fight on during the COVID-19 pandemic, the private sector has stepped up to support consumers. Utility companies are just one, but they have an important role to play. To discuss the topic, host Dan Reynolds is joined by Grant Kidwell, ALEC Director of the Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force; Laura Schepis, Senior Director of National Security at Edison Electric Institute (EEI) and David Batz, Senior Director of Cyber and Infrastructure Security at EEI. Learn more about Edison Electric Institute: https://www.eei.org/ma/Pages/default.aspx Learn more about the ESCC: https://www.electricitysubsector.org/

Sponsored by: Fairfax City, VA; LookingGlassCyber; Scientific Logic ZOLAIKHA STRONG Director of Energy Policy and Electrical Markets for the Copper Development Association (CDA) Zolaikha Strong serves as the energy expert on sustainable energy markets for the copper industry. She supports policy makers in the development of energy policies and regulations, collaborates with manufacturers on the development of new technologies, promotes the value of copper related solutions in energy efficient systems, and builds partnerships with sustainable energy advocates. Among her many activities, Strong recently hosted an electric vehicle summit in Washington, D.C. entitled, “EVs: Navigating the Road Ahead, an industry event powered by CDA.” The event gathered industry stakeholders for two robust panels featuring key leaders discussing the technology and policy advancements needed to accelerate the EV market. Among her many speaking engagements and presentations, Strong has presented at the American Solar Energy Society's Solar Conference, the TechConnect World Innovation Conference, the Alliance to Save Energy's Energy 2030: On the Road events, the Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES) – Policy Forum and the GLOBALCON Conference. Strong has also commissioned industry studies on electric vehicles, energy storage, solar energy and wind energy. Strong served on the U.S. Department of Commerce's Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (REEEAC) and as co-chair of the Outreach and Education Sub-Committee. She is also a member of the Edison Foundation Institute for Electric Innovation Technology Roundtable, and an active participant and contributor to policy initiatives for the Alliance to Save Energy, the American Wind Energy Association, Energy Storage Association, American Copper Policy Council and the High Performance Building Congressional Caucus Coalition. A regular contributor to many energy and policy publications, Strong has been recently published in The Hill, The Washington Times, ElectroIndustry Magazine, Renewable Energy World, Metal Center News, Wind Systems Magazine, IAEI Magazine and Energy & Mining International as well as Wind Power Engineering and Development's Wind Talks podcast. Prior to her work at the Copper Development Association, Strong was the Manager of Federal Regulatory Affairs at the Edison Electric Institute in Washington, D.C. During her time at Edison Electric Institute, Strong developed, analyzed, and advocated the Institute's positions for federal and state energy regulation and legislation. She also has served as an Energy Analyst with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, where she developed and implemented regulatory policy to foster nationwide competitive energy markets. Zolaikha was the International Policy Fellow and directly reported to President Clinton during his post Presidential transition while he was establishing the Clinton Foundation. Zolaikha was also an intern at the White House during the Clinton Administration. Zolaikha holds a graduate degree in Public Administration from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Seton Hall University

A CEO’s Virtual Mentor Episode 16 "Turnarounds, Veterans, and a Tribute to Senator John McCain" with Don Brandt, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle West  Interview with Don Brandt, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle West (Ticker: PNW) and the turnaround of the company’s principal subsidiary, regulated utility Arizona Public Service through regulatory processes; also hiring military veterans and reservists; and, a tribute to the late Senator John McCain.  This episode is dedicated to our military veterans and to the memory of Senator John McCain of Arizona. Welcome to Episode 16. I joined Don Brandt, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle West, more commonly known as Arizona Public Service, under azure Phoenix skies in early March of 2018. $3.5 bln revenue Pinnacle West Capital Corp. is an energy holding company based in Phoenix, Arizona, has consolidated assets of about $17 billion, about 6,200 megawatts of generating capacity and 6,300 employees in Arizona and New Mexico. Through its principal subsidiary, Arizona Public Service, the Company provides retail electricity service to nearly 1.2 million Arizona homes and businesses.  This episode is dedicated to our military veterans and to the memory of Senator John McCain of Arizona.  Arizona Public Service has its origins within a storied past. Natural and man-made infrastructure were key to the settlement of the western US and provide the backdrop or dramatic context for wild west legend and lore. Railroads access, river crossings, mining, water resources, and power generation were antecedent admixtures to the conditions for statehood in the west. Arizona Public Service was founded five years after the infamous gunfight at OK Corral and a quarter century before Arizona became a state. The company has served Arizona for more than 125 years.  Thanks for listening.  We can’t improve without your feedback – write us through our website www.LeadershipLyceum.com and subscribe on iTunes.  See you next time. Program Guide Episode 16 Turnarounds, Veterans, and a Tribute to Senator John McCain with Don Brandt, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle West  0:30     Introduction to Episode 16 2:12     Leading a turnaround of the utility through more effective regulatory processes 5:17     Break 1 5:33     Broader historical context for the setting of the turnaround 12:06   Break 2 12:23   Managing decisions and divestiture of non-regulated diversified assets 14:47   Hiring Military Veterans and Reservists 18:30   Break 3 18:53   Don Brandt and Tony Orlando - Tribute to Senator John McCain 26:31   The End Biographies of Guests Mr. Donald Brandt Donald Brandt is Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle West and Arizona Public Service (APS). In 2009, Brandt was elected to Pinnacle West’s board of directors and promoted to Chairman, President and CEO of Pinnacle West and Chairman and CEO of APS. Before assuming these responsibilities, Brandt held several leadership positions with the company, including APS president, executive vice president and chief financial officer. He again added the title of president of APS in 2013. Prior to joining Pinnacle West in 2002, Brandt gained 20 years of power industry experience. He served as senior vice president and chief financial officer at Ameren Corporation, a St. Louis-based energy company. Prior to Ameren, he was at Price Waterhouse & Co., where he provided accounting, audit and consulting services to Fortune 500 public companies.  A recognized industry leader, Brandt currently serves as chairman of the Nuclear Energy Institute and vice chairman of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations. He also sits on the board of the Edison Electric Institute. Brandt is a leader in the community as well, serving on the boards of the McCain Institute, the Phoenix Art Museum and the Nature Conservancy in Arizona.  Brandt earned his Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from St. Louis University.   Mr. Tony Orlando Tony Orlando is one of America’s most endearing and enduring iconic stars.  2017 finds Tony bringing his exhilarating energy, warmth and humor to a tour of live concert shows across the nation as he celebrates over five decades as a beloved entertainer. 2016 found Tony collecting a dizzying number of top honors. These include the Casino Entertainer of the Year Award, recipient of the “Best All Around Entertainer” Las Vegas which he has won a total of four times, and previously three times in Atlantic City; Jukebox Artist of the Year Award from the Amusement and Music Owners Association of New York; The Ellis Island Medal of Honor one of the nation’s most prestigious awards; The Bob Hope Award for excellence in entertainment from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society honoring his efforts on behalf of our nation’s veterans. Tony’s tireless work on behalf of our veterans led to his being named Honorary Chairman at the 40th Anniversary at the NAM-POW’s Homecoming Celebration at the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library in 2014. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Eisenhower Foundation as well as Honorary Chairman of Snowball Express, an organization that serves the children of our fallen military heroes. Tony also hosts the Congressional Medal of Honor dinner every year in Dallas to honor our Medal of Honor recipients. He has also served as the Master of Ceremonies at the Secretary of Defense Freedom Awards at the Pentagon.  Few entertainers have excelled in so many realms as Tony has: a top selling recording artist, songwriter, concert headliner, network television star, Motion Picture actor, Broadway performer and author. Tony was also GM and Vice President of CBS-Music Division April-Blackwood Music from 1966-1970. He represented such songwriters as James Taylor, Laura Nyro, Blood Sweat and Tears and signed and produced Barry Manilow’s first recording while working for the legendary Clive Davis. Grammy Nominee Tony Orlando has sold millions of records, including five number one hits: “Tie A Yellow Ribbon ‘Round The Ole Oak Tree,” “Knock Three Times,” “Candida,” “My Sweet Gypsy Rose” and “He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You).”  “Tie A Yellow Ribbon” was the number one Billboard Song of 1973 and became Orlando’s theme song, and grew into an American anthem of hope and homecoming, reunion and renewal. He has 2 Platinum albums, 3 Gold albums and 15 Top 40 Hits. Tony Orlando and Dawn rank among the Top 100 Billboard Magazine artists of all-time.  The enormously popular Tony Orlando and Dawn television variety show ran for four seasons, from 1973 to 1977, on CBS.  The show catapulted Tony Orlando and Dawn from popular recording artists into major stars. Tony Orlando and Dawn was the first multi-racial singing group to star in a network television series.  Tony is still one of the most popular live concerts artists, and has headlined around the world and entertained for five US Presidents.  Like a painter, Tony is an artist who steps onto a stage as if it were a blank canvas. Each show he weaves colorful emotions set to music touching the deepest part of a person’s heart. A 2016 review says it best, “The truth is: Tony Orlando is more than a singer. He has the ability to reach an audience, touch us inside, and connect with us on a higher level with his voice, style, and values.” Tony is a recipient of three American Music Awards and two People’s Choice Awards for best male entertainer. For outstanding achievements to the entertainment industry Tony was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Orlando has a wife Francine, a daughter Jenny and a son Jon.   Thomas B. Linquist Your host Thomas B. Linquist is the Founder and Managing Partner of Lyceum Leadership Consulting and Lyceum Leadership Productions. Over his 16 years in management and leadership consulting he has served a wide array of industrial clients.  This includes leadership assessment and search for chief executive officers, chief financial officers, chief operating officers and boards of directors.  He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and over his 27-year career has served in a variety of roles: as an engineer with Shell Oil Company, a banker with ABN AMRO Bank, and as treasurer was the youngest corporate officer in the 150+ year history at Peoples Energy Company in Chicago.  He is an expert on hiring and promotion decisions and leadership development.  Over the course of his search career, he has interviewed thousands of leaders.  Please subscribe to the Leadership Lyceum in the podcast section at iTunes which will enable future content to come to you automatically. Rate us and spread the word among your fellow executives and board colleagues. Subscribe to the podcast at iTunes: https://t.co/a70rtSiQnW or SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/thomas-linquist Follow Leadership Lyceum on:          Our website: www.LeadershipLyceum.com          LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-linquist-682997          Twitter: @LeaderLyceum https://twitter.com/LeaderLyceum Email us: info@LeadershipLyceum.com Please subscribe to the Leadership Lyceum at iTunes which will enable future content to come to you automatically.  Rate us and spread the word among your fellow executives and board colleagues.   Your host Thomas B. Linquist is the Founder and Managing Partner of Lyceum Leadership Consulting and Lyceum Leadership Productions. Over his 16 years in management and leadership consulting he has served a wide array of industrial clients.  This includes leadership assessment and search for chief executive officers, chief financial officers, chief operating officers and boards of directors.  He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and over his 27-year career has served in a variety of roles: as an engineer with Shell Oil Company, a banker with ABN AMRO Bank, and as treasurer was the youngest corporate officer in the 150+ year history at Peoples Energy Company in Chicago.  He is an expert on hiring and promotion decisions and leadership development.  Over the course of his search career, he has interviewed thousands of leaders.  Please subscribe to the Leadership Lyceum in the podcast section at iTunes which will enable future content to come to you automatically. Rate us and spread the word among your fellow executives and board colleagues.   Program Disclaimer The only purpose of the podcasts is to educate, inform and entertain. The information shared is based on the collection of experiences of each of the guests interviewed and should not be considered or substituted for professional advice. Guests who speak in this podcast express their own opinions, experience and conclusions, and neither The Leadership Lyceum LLC nor any company providing financial support endorses or opposes any particular content, recommendation or methodology discussed in this podcast. This podcast Leadership Lyceum: A CEO’s Virtual Mentor has been a production of The Leadership Lyceum LLC. Copyright 2018. All rights reserved.

Hurricane Maria was one of the most devastating storms to ever hit the United States, leaving a path of death and destruction across Puerto Rico last September. The electric grid faced extensive damage that put virtually the entire population without power for weeks and months. On this edition of the Columbia Energy Exchange podcast, host Bill Loveless talks to Carlos Torres, a former official with Consolidated Edison in New York, and the man assigned by the Governor of Puerto Rico with the difficult task of coordinating the restoration of electricity for the island. Carlos spent more than 30 years at Con Ed managing emergency management and storm restoration efforts, including overseeing the utility’s response to major storms like Super Storm Sandy and Hurricane Irene, and emergencies like the September 11 attack at the World Trade Center and the 2003 Northeast Blackout. But putting the lights back on in Puerto Rico was the most challenging mission of his career, Carlos says. In fact, he told a congressional committee that the damage caused by Hurricane Maria on the island was unlike anything he and others in the industry had ever seen on the U.S mainland. Bill and Carlos met recently in Washington, D.C. at the Edison Electric Institute, the trade association for investor-owned utilities in the United States where Carlos has worked as a consultant since October. With electricity now nearly restored in Puerto Rico after a year, Carlos talks about the difficulties of achieving that goal, and lessons learned regarding making electric grids resilient to Mother Nature in Puerto Rico and other parts of the United States. He and Bill also touched on the role public policy plays in promoting such resilience, especially now as we find ourselves in the midst of another hurricane season. 

On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria wiped out the electricity on the entire island of Puerto Rico. Six months later the lights are still off for too many people. In this episode, by hearing highlights of Congressional testimony from Puerto Rico's government officials and through stories of Jen's recent trip to the island, learn the good news and the bad news about life right now on Puerto Rico. Please Support Congressional Dish Click here to contribute using credit card, debit card, PayPal, or Bitcoin Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Mail Contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD028: Crisis in Puerto Rico CD147: Controlling Puerto Rico Additional Recommended Listening The David Pakman Show Additional Reading Article: Needs go unmet 6 months after Maria hit Puerto Rico by Danica Coto, AP News, March 20, 2018. Article: Six months after Maria, the hardest hit city in Puerto Rico is still being ignored by AJ Vicens, Grist, March 20, 2018. Article: The battle for paradise by Naomi Klein, The Intercept, March 20, 2018. Report: U.S. executive appointed head Puerto Rico power company by Dalissa Zeda Sanchez, Caribbean Business, March 20, 2018. Report: Puerto Rico legislature sends education reform to governor's desk for enactment by Genesis Ibarra, Caribbean Business, March 20, 2018. Report: Gov presents Puerto Rio justice, agriculture reorganization plans, Caribbean Business, March 20, 2018. Article: 'We are the forgotten people': It's been almost six months since Hurricane Maria, and Puerto Ricans are still dying by John D. Stutter, CNN, March 15, 2018. Article: Puerto Rico reforms could boost GNP by 1.5 percent: Jaresko by Daniel Bases, Reuters, March 14, 2018. Press Release: Committee seeks answers on corruption at Puerto Rico Power Utility, House Committee on Natural Resources, March 12, 2018. Report: Recycled proposals in Puerto Rico's fiscal plans by Luis J. Valentin Ortiz, City & State New York, March 11, 2018. Article: 'This city has been ignored': Yabucoa, ground zero for Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, still reeling by Rick Jervis, USA Today, March 11, 2018. Article: The role of private investment in rebuilding Puerto Rico by The Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC, March 8, 2018. Opinion: Puerto Rico? Guinea pig for water privatization by Britt Fremstad, Public Citizen, 2018. Article: Why Puerto Rico is pushing to privatize its schools by Mimi Kirk, City Lab, February 27, 2018. Report: Citigroup drove Puerto Rico into debt. Now it will profit from privatization on the island by Kate Aronoff, The Intercept, February 21, 2018. Report: Hedge fund-driven austerity could come back to bite the hedge funds driving it in Puerto Rico by Kate Aronoff, The Intercept, February 3, 2018. Article: Privatization won't fix Puerto Rico's broken power utility by Lara Merling, NACLA, February 1, 2018. Press Release: Bishop statement on Puerto Rico fiscal plans, PREPA privatization by House Committee on Natural Resources, January 25, 2018. Report: Puerto Rico governor seizes opportunity created by Hurricane Maria, plans to privatize electric power by Kate Aronoff, The Intercept, January 24, 2018. Article: The peril of privatizing PREPA by Vann R. Newkirk II, The Atlantic, January 24, 2018. Report: Puerto Rico to sell off crippled power utility PREPA by Daniel Bases, Reuters, January 22, 2018. Report: Puerto Rico utility workers charge that federal government is hoarding reconstruction supplies by Kate Aronoff, The Intercept, January 16, 2018. Article: PREPA "Warehouse 5" was no secret by Alex Figueroa Cancel, El Nuevo Dia, January 16, 2018. Article: Energy answers marchincinerator: the struggle continues by Leysa Caro Gonzelez, El Nuevo Dia, January 16, 2018. Report: Armed federal agents enter warehouse in Puerto Rico to sieze hoarded electric equipment by Kate Aronof, The Intercept, January 10, 2018. Article: Puerto Rico said 64 people died in Hurricane Maria. A new report puts the death toll over 1,000 by Aric Jenkins, Time.com, December 19, 2017. Report: Nearly 1,000 more people died in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria by Center for Investigative Journalism, Latino USA, December 7, 2017. Law Firm Post: Did you lose money investing in Puerto Rico bonds with Morgan Stanley financial advisor Robert Dennison? by Erez Law Firm, December 6, 2017. Article: The lineman got $63 an hour. The utility was billed at $319 an hour. by Frances Robles, The New York Times, November 12, 2017. Article: Ex-Morgan Stanley broker at center of Puerto Rico bond disputes by Bruce Kelly, Investment News, September 28, 2017. Report: Maps: Hurricane Maria's path across Puerto Rico by Sarah Almukhtar, Matthew Bloch, Ford Fessenden and Jugal K. Patel, The New York Times, September 26, 2017. Article: Incinerating the future: Austerity crisis threatens wetlands and economic opportunity for Puerto Rico by Adriana Gonzelez, The Planet: Sierra Club, August 14, 2017. Report: Puerto Rico's Fiscal Control Board spent $31 million in fiscal year 2017 by Julio Ricardo Varela, Latino USA, August 2, 2017. Report: SEC probes Barclays, Morgan Stanley bankers over Puerto Rico by Martin Z. Braun, Bloomberg, June 28, 2017. Report: Puerto Rico Senate approves bill to eliminate debt audit commission by Cindy Burgos Alvarado, Caribbean Business, April 18, 2017. Article: A glimpse of Natalie Jaresko by Jose A. Delgado Robles, El Nuevo Dia, March 29, 2017. Article: Ukraine must fully implement IMF Program, says former finance minister by Mitch Hulse, Atlantic Council, April 14, 2016. Article: How free electricity helped dig $9 billion hole in Puerto Rico by Mary Williams Walsh, The New York Times, February 1, 2016. Article: Puerto Rico - a way forward by Anne O. Krueger, Ranjit Teja, and Andrew Wolfe, GDB.PR.GOV, June 29, 2015. Article: Meet the woman overhauling Ukraine's economy - and born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago by James Ellingworth, Business Insider, March 1,2015. Article: Proposed Arecibo waste-to-energy plan gets EPA nod by Michelle Kantrow, Energy Answers, May 10, 2012. Research Paper: Does private management lead to improvement of water services? Lessons learned from the experiences of Bolivia and Puerto Rico by Susana Maria Cortina de Cardenas, University of Iowa Research Online, Spring 2011. Resources DESMOG Blog Info: Edison Electric Institute Energy Answers Resources: Puerto Rico Resource Recovery and Renewable Energy Project International Monetary Fund Bio: Anne O. Krueger International Monetary Fund Blog: Ranjit Teja LinkedIn Profile: Noel Zamot, Federal Oversight Management Board USDA Report: Arecibo Waste to Energy Generation and Resource Recovery Facility Arecibo, Puerto Rico Sound Clip Sources Hearing: Hurricane Recovery Efforts in Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands, Power Utility Officials; Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, November 14, 2017. Witnesses: - Natalie Jaresko - Executive Director of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico - Jose Roman Morales - Associate Commission and Interim President of the Puerto Rico Energy Commission - Ricardo Ramos - Executive Director of Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority - Julio Rhymer - Executive Director of the US Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority 53:40 Ricardo Ramos: Many of the fallen poles fell because of the additional weight of infrastructure that originally was not supposed to be there, so the grid itself is old—are new. Design standards account for an amount of additional infrastructure for communications and other, but many of the poles were—they had communications because some local law of Puerto Rico permitted the common right-of-way usage, so we had to allow telecom companies to put the telecommunications cables there—but the pole itself not necessarily was designed to those standards. 59:10 Natalie Jaresko: So, as you know, Madame Chairman, the board took an action and filed in the Title III court to name a chief transformation officer. The court ruled yesterday against us in that action, although we have not yet seen the written judgment, so I can’t comment on it in detail. Hearing: Hurricane Recovery Efforts in Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands, Governors; Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Witnesses: - Donald Jackson - Deputy Commanding General of the US Army Corps of Engineers, Civil and Emergency Operations - Kenneth Mapp - Governor of US Virgin Islands - Jose Roman Morales - Associate Commission and Interim President of the Puerto Rico Energy Commission - Ricardo “Ricky” Rossello - Governor of Puerto Rico - Bruce Walker - Assistant Secretary of the Department of Energy, Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability 38:20 Assistant Secretary of the Department of Energy Bruce Walker: PREPA, with the limited crews that it had—I will point to this map over here—made an early decision to have to tie the southern portion, where the generation is, to the northern portion, where the load is. And in doing so, they made a key decision to construct the 230 kV line from the south, bringing it up to the San Juan area, the Bayamon substation. On the map, you can see here, from down here, wrapping up through here, that that align is going to appear all the way over to here. What was important about that was that one decision and the efforts made by PREPA, with limited staffing, enabled the power to be distributed to where the load was and in conjunction with the other big decision, which is the next slide, Jennifer, the Army Corps, working with PREPA, installed two 25-megawatt generators at the Palo Seco generation plant, and that, in conjunction with the rebuild of the 230 line, enabled power to be distributed to the northern portion to start picking up commercial and residential customers. Those two efforts were monumental, given the facts and circumstances. The installation of this generator was, with the letting of the contract and the install—and I was at Palo Seco when this was being put in—and the work that had to be done was really incredible—we had fantastic support from PREPA in coordinating it particularly with the re-laying and the coordination with the Army Corps. 1:10:00 Governor Ricardo Rossello: We have several flaws in terms of the design, aside from having antiquated power plants. Most of our generation was done in the south, yet most of the people and most of the consumption is done in the north, so you lose about 12 to 15% in the transmission, going northward. It is time, it is an opportunity, to rethink that, where do we have that generation and make it better? Piggybacking on Senator Cassidy’s comments, I think it is an opportunity also to leapfrog in renewables. I’ve envisioned us leapfrogging to 25% renewables in Puerto Rico and recognizing that there are some mitigation strategies that we need to put in place. That is why we have worked with the PREPA governing board to have a group of thought leaders that can actually help us in the design, looking forward, and specifically looking where this could happen. Last-mile events in Puerto Rico are very important. It’s important to consider the terrain. Puerto Rico’s not flat; it’s got a mountainous region. And so we will be very aggressively pursuing that we get to 90, 95% of energy consumption and energy generation, but that last mile always takes more time because there are sort of remote areas of the island. This is an opportunity to make microgrids in Puerto Rico so that they can be sustained in different areas. And, lastly, adding to this whole component of renewables, I think it is an opportunity to look at this from a bottom-up-and-a-top-down approach. With the collaboration of FEMA, we were able to, for the first time in the STEP program, allow that either a power plant generator be added to the house or a renewable battery-pack solar combo be added to those homes in the STEP program. Now, we expect that there will be about 80,000 homes that will be introduced in the STEP program. Think about what that means if half of them decide to go with the renewable battery-pack route. It means that now you have the starting conditions to actually think about things like a virtual power plant in Puerto Rico, where you can have smart distribution of the energy; and where some days it might be cloudy in some areas in Puerto Rico—it’ll be sunny, certainly, in others as well—and that energy can be distributed alongside, of course, a complement of utility-size and industrial-size generation, which I envision, Senator, should start transitioning from petroleum-based generation, which is costly and, of course, more harmful, to liquid-gas and so forth generation. So, those are, in a nutshell, what we envision the sort of future grid of Puerto Rico looking like. 1:34:15 Senator Catherine Cortez Masto: It’s my understanding under the Stafford Act, it’s Section 406(e), that limits the use of federal disaster-relief funds for repairing, restoring, reconstructing, or replacing a public facility or private nonprofit facility on the basis of the design of the facility as the facility existed immediately before the major disaster. Now, my understanding of that, then, is that all of the talk that I’ve heard today, which is important talk about new infrastructure—burying lines, looking at how we add renewable capacity—that is something that is not going to be addressed through the funding, through the relief, that comes from the federal government. Is that correct? And I guess I’m asking Mr. Walker and General Jackson, is that your understanding? Assistant Secretary of the Department of Energy Bruce Walker: That is my understanding. As I mentioned earlier, we’re doing emergency restoration work now. A number of the things that have been mentioned here, if the Congress approves additional appropriations, those would be opportunities that we could further, you know, build into— Masto: And that’s—are you asking today, then? That’s what you’re asking Congress today, additional appropriations outside of the Stafford Act be able to set up new infrastructure and do just what we’ve heard today, because we know another hurricane’s going to come through, or some other disaster. I think it’s just the way the climate is today. Is that the ask today from the governors? Governor Ricardo Rossello: To amend that, could you repeat the question, Senator? Masto: Sure. So, the Stafford Act limits the amount of— Rossello: Yeah. Masto: —money that you’re getting from the federal government for disaster relief to repair and reconstruct. Rossello: Yeah. Masto: It is not for new construction or new types of renewable energy or burying lines. So, are you coming today for additional funds outside of the Stafford Act, outside of disaster relief? Is that what I’m hearing today? Governor Kenneth Mapp: Yes. Yes, because under Stafford, if a system connected to the power generation isn’t damaged, it can’t be touched. If it’s cost effective, it can be mitigated, but the whole power system is all connected, and so if we want to change to more-efficient renewables—wind, solar—if the generation system hasn’t been damaged, then we can have an exclusion. So we will need changes in the language to permit that. Rossello: Yes. We are, we recognize what the limitations of FEMA funding are within this, so we’re asking for additional funding so that we can get that flexibility as well and actually rebuild better. I mean, again, you can discuss whether it’s a good idea or not on the context of the merit of the energy and the structure, but it is really just a bad idea to rebuild a system that is frail over again, spend good taxpayer money in that, because you’re going to have to do it once over again. 1:44:34 Senator Mazie Hirono (HI): Based on your estimates, how much are you asking Congress to fund in terms of the kind of modernization, resilience, etc. that you would like to see in Puerto Rico? Governor Ricardo Rossello: Yeah. It’s about $17 billion in damage estimates. Hirono: One year? Rossello: No. For the bulk of the process. Hirono: Seventeen billion dollars? Rossello: Yes, that’s right. Hirono: And is it your—well, I know that you hope that Congress will authorize that, and do you think that authorization or the funding to occur in one year, or is it over a period of time? Rossello: No, it would be over a period of time, of course. 1:53:28 Senator Bernie Sanders (VT): Puerto Rico is struggling with an unsustainable 75-billion-dollar debt and $49 billion in pension obligations. More than one-third of that debt is held by Wall Street vulture funds that are getting interest rates of up to 34% on tax-exempt bonds they purchased for as little as 29 cents on the dollar. Is that correct, Governor? Governor Ricardo Rossello: Yep. Hearing: Puerto Rico Recovery Challenges; House Natural Resources Committee, November 7, 2017. Witnesses: - Natalie Jaresko - Executive Director of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico - Angel Perez Otero - Mayor of Guanynabo, Puerto Rico - Noel Zamot - Revitalization Coordinator of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico 22:30 Natalie Jaresko: As the committee is aware, the board has recently named Noel Zamot as chief transformation officer of PREPA, with all the powers of a CEO and reporting to the board. We believe this is absolutely essential both to restoring service as soon as possible and to creating a sustainable, efficient, resilient, and fiscally accountable power system for the island. While the board is confident, the PROMESA, coupled with fundamental aspects of bankruptcy law, gives us the power and responsibility to do as we have done. Some parties are vigorously contesting our authority in proceedings before the Title III judge. To avoid uncertainty and lengthy delays and litigation, congressional reaffirmation of our exercise of our authority is welcome. 23:08 Natalie Jaresko: We have also implemented a contract-review policy as a tool to ensure transparency throughout the government, for the benefit of the people of Puerto Rico and all stakeholders. The policy applies to all contracts in which the commonwealth or any covered instrumentality is a counterparty, including those with the federal government, state governments, and private parties. The policy provides that all contracts of 10 million or more must be submitted to the board for its approval before execution. In addition, the board retains the authority to adopt other methods, such as random sampling of contracts below that 10-million-dollar threshold, to assure that they promote market competition and are not inconsistent with the approved fiscal plan. 26:48 Noel Zamot: I will retain key leaders on my staff to enable speed and effectiveness in our decision-making. I’d like to highlight two key roles. The chief operations officer will be responsible for day-to-day operations of the utility. This will initially be a senior leader from within PREPA but will be augmented by an industry executive identified in conjunction with input that we are receiving from the Edison Electric Institute. 27:41 Noel Zamot: I’ve also identified key executives to serve on a board of advisors. These are CEOs from public and private utilities who have generously volunteered to bring their considerable expertise to help with this task. I will also rely on an internal group of world-class experts from multi-national utilities, the energy sector, academia, and more. 28:22 Noel Zamot: Puerto Rico’s energy strategy calls for 50% renewables by 2040, with a balance of natural and LP gas mix; regional grids, with generation close to demand; physical hardening and control systems to provide resiliency; and widespread distributed generation, all wrapped by an empowered and accountable energy regulator. PROMESA is clear in its guidance to attract private capital to achieve this end state. We need to do just that, not only for generation but to attract innovative capital solutions from the private sector for transmission and distribution as well. 43:42 Representative Raul Grijalva (AZ): Do you or the board hold a view that, relative to Title V, waiving or eliminating additional federal environmental safeguards like NEPA or regulations will accelerate the recovery in Puerto Rico? Ms. Jaresko, you and then Mr. Zamot, if you don’t mind, as well, answering the question. Natalie Jaresko: I certainly believe that further expeditious permitting is a requirement. I’m not an expert on the individual sets of permitting, but I want to underline that it’s both federal, commonwealth, and municipality permitting at all levels. It needs to be expedited for any private-sector investment to become a quick recovery. Grijalva: Okay. Mr. Zamot, do you think that’s needed? Noel Zamot: Thank you, sir. My view is that economic growth and fast-tracking projects is not inconsistent with being good stewards of the environment, and we have a very robust process within Title V and within the working group that we have set with the government to ensure that we, the residents of Puerto Rico, are very respectful of that. Grijalva: If I may, sir, let me just follow up with you. You cite the proposed trash incinerators an example of a project Title V that could come to fruition, but I see an example of why Title V, in this instance, doesn’t work. Public comments about the project are overwhelming in opposition. It’s opposed by both mayors’ groups, representing all the mayors in the island. It was stalled in part because it couldn’t get a permit to drain 2.1 million gallons from a protected wetland. Farmers and residents concerned about the effects on their health, that it could undermine recycling programs that are in place. It flooded during the hurricane. We have a before-and-after situation, that’s up on the screen. It flooded during and released some of the hundreds of tons of toxic ash that could release, in the future, toxic ash into surrounding neighborhoods. And it requires a major loan from the federal government to go forward even though it’s fully privately funded for 67 megawatts of power. Is that what we can expect in terms of Title V critical projects? Zamot: Sir, there are many voices that, obviously, in a democratic process, voice their concern with such a project, but there are equal number of voices on the positive side. We don’t look at this project in Arecibo necessarily as even a power project. It is really a waste-management project. Puerto Rico has a critical, essentially a crisis, in waste management and landfill use that has been identified by the EPA, and that is why the EPA has actually been supportive of this program. 47:30 Representative Doug Lamborn (CO): Is it safe in assuming that pretty much 100% of the electricity generated in Puerto Rico today is from burning fuel oil? Noel Zamot: Sir, I would say it’s 96%. There is approximately 4% that is renewables in Puerto Rico right now. Lamborn: And as we know, fuel oil is very expensive and very dirty. Zamot: That is correct, sir. Lamborn: So, I like the plan. I think you said by 2040, 50% renewables, 50% natural gas through liquefied form. Zamot: That’s correct. Lamborn: Have you identified investors who are willing to make that huge investment in a LNG terminal? Zamot: Sir, there are a number of investors that are actually very bullish on Puerto Rico’s long-term prospects, and we and the board and specifically in my role as revitalization coordinator, we receive a lot of proposals, a lot of questions about how people can bring innovative capital solutions using private capital to bear, to benefit, the reconstruction of the grid and the people of Puerto Rico. Lamborn: Well, I would really urge you to keep pushing in that direction because I don’t think nuclear or coal is going to be a solution. Renewables are great, but to provide that much electricity in that short of time is unrealistic. So I welcome the discussion about LNG. 50:30 Representative Doug Lamborn (CO): And the last thing I want to ask you about is that 800-million-dollar project, and the ranking member referred to it: burning waste to create electricity. Is my understanding that that would be privately funded and would not need government subsidies of any kind? Noel Zamot: That is correct, sir. It’s entirely privately funded. Some of the capital structure includes some federal loans, but there is no money from Puerto Rico, and it relies on relatively new technology that is respectful of emissions. 51:53 Representative Grace Napolitano (CA): The incinerator would be built in an area in Arecibo previously contaminated by a battery recycling plant, and it was flooded during the hurricanes. Has the area been tested for lead, arsenic, and other contaminants? Noel Zamot: Ma’am, I do not have the specific details on what work has been accomplished to date, but we do know that the company that is planning that work has done extensive mitigation pre-work— Napolitano: How long has the plant been there, that it hasn’t been tested? Zamot: Ma’am, I do not have that information. Napolitano: Would you mind sending the answers to this committee— Zamot: Yes, ma’am. Napolitano: —so we can understand that. And how does the Energy Answers Arecibo, LLC plan to prevent their landfill from being flooded by future hurricanes? Zamot: Ma’am, could you repeat the question? Napolitano: How do you prevent landfill from being flooded by hurricanes? Zamot: That is an engineering question that I’m not prepared to answer right now. I would imagine that that has been looked at in the permitting that the company has received to date. Napolitano: Okay. When and—how and when does the company plan to bury the toxic ashes generated by the incinerator? Zamot: That is being currently discussed with the current Puerto Rico administration. Napolitano: Is, let’s see, how many Puerto Rico municipalities refuse to send trash to the plant incinerator? Zamot: I think the answer to that is many, because that represents a threat to current waste management in Puerto Rico, which the EPA has identified as a critical need to address. 1:19:36 Representative Steve Pearce (NM): Now, one of the problems that I see, just as a former business owner taking a look at it, one of the reasons that residents had to pay such a high rate is that certain entities didn’t have to pay for the electrical power. One of those would be the hotels. So are they still exempt from paying their power? Natalie Jaresko: Each of the economic development plans that Puerto Rico implemented over the years had individual tax agreements— Pearce: I’m just asking about the hotels. Jaresko: —between businesses and energy. Pearce: Are they still exempt? Are they not exempt? Jaresko: Some of them are, yes. Pearce: Some of them are exempt. Jaresko: That’s correct. Pearce: Now, also, cities were also exempt, and so city governments were exempt prior, according to what I’ve read. Noel Zamot: That’s correct, sir. 1:38:50 Natalie Jaresko: The board certainly considers privatization as one of the options going forward. There’s a question that remains open to see whether it’s privatization of the entire power sector, meaning generation transmission and distribution or some select part, or whether it just means bringing in private sector to compete and bring down the cost and bring up the efficiency of electricity. We’re looking at all of those as we define this fiscal plan for PREPA. 1:49:50 Representative Raul Labrador (ID): You stated that prior to the hurricane that the board possessed the authority to execute its mission and deliver on the underlying mandate Congress set with PROMESA, but with the devastation, you allude that those tools may be inadequate. So please tell us why does the board currently have—does the board currently have the tools necessary to facilitate efficient and effective recovery? Natalie Jaresko: I will try to be clear. I believe the board has the tools, that PROMESA gives us the tools. That said, when there are disagreements, the use of those tools ends up in costly and time-consuming litigation. Today more than ever that time and that cost is not helping Puerto Rico, so we asked for clarity of the tools that we have—whether it is in the appointment of a CTO through Title III, whether it is the implementation of our contract-policy review, or whether or not it is the implementation of the fiscal plans in full when certified. Labrador: So, what else do you need to be successful? Is there anything else that we need to give you to be successful? Jaresko: I think we would appreciate a legislative affirmation of those and/or conditioning of appropriations on those powers as you see fit. 2:11:11 Representative Garret Graves (LA): The governor recently proposed a law to address emergencies and disasters. Part of that law would allow, basically, eliminating or waiving sales tax in Puerto Rico. Are you aware—is that proposal on your radar screen? Were you consulted? Natalie Jaresko: No, we were not consulted. And I am aware that there has been a problem because of the lack of electricity and the collections of the sales-and-use tax. However, as electricity comes back, the collection process should also return. Graves: So you were not consulted. You were not aware on the front end. If ultimately the governor certifies that this is in compliance with the fiscal plan and you determine otherwise, what happens then? How does that play out? Jaresko: Well, I would hope that they would consult prior to putting that policy in place because it is something that can have a direct adverse fiscal effect, and it could be not in compliance with the fiscal plan. If they certify that it is, as you described, then we have a situation which could potentially, again, lead to difference of opinion in terms of what our role is in PROMESA. And it is very difficult for us, once it is certified by the government as being in compliance, if we disagree, to reverse that. Graves: I’m sorry. Say that last part again. Jaresko: If the government certifies that the executive order or law is in compliance with the fiscal plan, it is difficult for us to reverse that. Graves: Your hands are effectively tied. Do you think Congress should revisit that in terms of something that you believe causes economic harm or undermines the objectives of the fiscal plan but you don’t have the ability to actually help reset that? Jaresko: I think it should be very clear that the intent of PROMESA was for us to be able to stop things that were having an adverse effect on the fiscal plan, yes. 2:26:37 Representative Luis Gutierrez (IL): Arecibo incinerator, Mr. Zamot, I would hope you would talk to Secretary Vilsack because you seem to have a different perspective than he does, since the loan from the USDA is through the Rural Utilities Services. In other words, the money is not in order to do something with waste management; the money is to create energy. But you said to us earlier—and correct me if I’m wrong, if I misunderstood—that the purpose is one of for garbage, basically, disposal, and not for energy. How do you see it? Is it garbage disposal or energy? What is the primary purpose of it? Noel Zamot: Sir, the government of Puerto Rico has a letter out, and they consider that plan in Arecibo to be both a provider of energy— Gutierrez: But when you said primarily, you said primarily. Zamot: The plan at Arecibo, where about 2% of the aggregate electrical demand— Gutierrez: Okay. So primarily, I heard you—and we can go back to the record—you said that it was primarily; yet, they are asking for a loan between half a million and 750 million dollars. And let me just assure you and everybody here: Given the fact that the government of Puerto Rico already owes over $2 billion, unless Mrs. Jaresko’s going to use some of her skills to eliminate that debt, I don’t see how we’re going to do that. And in the last 25 seconds, because I want to focus on this issue with you, do you believe that the control board has such power that you do not have to take into consideration the concerns of the duly elected mayors of the cities that will be affected by the incinerator? Or do you feel you need to consult with them before you make a decision going forward? Zamot: Sir, in 9 seconds, the statute provides for a public comment period that in conclusion— Gutierrez: So, you don’t believe. You do believe that you’re supreme. You’re kind of a dictator over everything. 2:32:05 Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez (PR): You say that the board has the power to name a chief transformation officer to take over the management of PREPA, and at the same time, I know the state government, state legislator, the governor is against that. And you filed a motion in the court to allow that to happen. Do you have the power or you don’t have the power to actually name the coordinator board? Natalie Jaresko: Thank you. We believe we do have that power, and that’s why we filed that petition in court. We believe we have that power under Title III as any representative of a debtor, and the board is named the representative of the debtor, in the law in PROMESA, to name a chief restructuring officer, a receiver, a chief transformation officer, as we call it. Gonzalez: So, sorry to interrupt you, but then you don’t need any change in the PROMESA law? You don’t need any power to make that happen, because that’s the question this committee is doing. What do you need in terms of helping the people of Puerto Rico to recover power? I think that’s the main question. If we were a state, we will not have you. If we were a state, we will have full funding in all federal programs, and now that’s a problem all territories got. Jaresko: The board believes that in appointing this CTO will help us move more quickly to restoration of power. That is the only reason the board took this position, and they took it at this time. 2:43:30 Representative Luis Gutierrez (IL): Mayor, thank you very much for being here with us. Could you tell us your annual salary? Mayor Angel Perez Otero: My? Gutierrez: Yes. *Otero: 96,000. Gutierrez: $96,000. Mr. Zamot? What’s your annual salary? Noel Zamot: That’s a matter of— Gutierrez: I’m sorry? Zamot: Sir, that’s a matter of public record. Gutierrez: How much is it? Zamot: I think it’s in the record, sir. Gutierrez: Just—can’t you tell us how much it is? You know how much you’re getting paid. Why are you so reluctant to give us—this is a committee. Just want to know how much you’re getting paid. The mayor was very forthcoming. Zamot: The board found a competition competitive compensation of $315,000. 2:55:30 Representative Luis Gutierrez (IL): So, I’ll ask Mrs. Jaresko—I didn’t get to ask you—what’s your annual salary? Natalie Jaresko: $625,000. Gutierrez: $625,000. Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)  

A CEO’s Virtual Mentor Episode 11  Board Governance & Effectiveness, Shareholder Activism, and Utility Industry Consolidation and M&A Guests include: Corporate governance expert, Tanuja Dehne Paul Bonavia, Retired Chairman and CEO of UNS Energy Chris Young, Managing Director and head of the Contested Situations Group, Credit Suisse   If you did not join us for our last episode, Episode 10 which was a special podcast on Innovation, you may have missed the announcement that we formed two companies under Leadership Lyceum’s brand: Lyceum Leadership Consulting which provides executive and board of director’s search, board effectiveness review, and an array of services for successor development and board-readiness.  And Lyceum Leadership Productions which brings you this podcast.  We also announced that we would be expanding the programming of the episodes this summer.  Well happy summer!  This is the first of our expanded episodes.  Welcome to Episode 11 which expands the programming into three segments.  We will continue to bring you the in-depth CEO and Director interviews around compelling business situations as a main middle segment, Segment II.  That main segment will be bookended over the next three Episodes with shorter Segments I and III.  At least over the next three episodes, Segment I will cover Board and Corporate Governance Best Practices on one hand and Segment III will cover the consequences of deficiencies in corporate governance, namely shareholder activism, on the other.  We hope you enjoy this expanded coverage which we will be refining over the next few episodes.  So please subscribe through iTunes and give us feedback on the new programming.  Tell us about leadership situations and subjects that you are interested in us exploring.  Please visit our website www.LeadershipLyceum.com for all of our archived media and offerings.  We will be right back to start the program.   Welcome back to this newly expanded Episode 11 of the Leadership Lyceum: A CEO’s Virtual Mentor.  We welcome three fabulous guests to this Episode.    Introduction to Episode 11 Program In Segment I the first of a series on Corporate Governance and Board Effectiveness, we welcome governance expert Tanuja Dehne.  Tanuja serves on two public company boards and is a frequent speaker on board governance -- most recently she was part of the instructor panel for the NACD Advanced Director Professionalism program earlier this month.  In Segment II we welcome Paul Bonavia, retired Chairman and CEO of UNS Energy (better known as Tucson Electric Power).  We will explore the triggers and interconnected events that have led to remarkable levels of consolidation in the electric utility industry and Paul’s leadership of the sale of UNS to Fortis in August 2014. In Segment III, the first of a series on Shareholder Activism, we will be joined by Chris Young, Managing Director and Head of the Contested Situations Group at Credit Suisse.  In the first part of this series we will cover the history of activism and the market for corporate governance, growth in the asset class, and answer a fundamental question: what do activists want?  We will be right back with Segment one with Tanuja Dehne on Corporate Governance and Board Effectiveness.    Segment I: Governance & Board Matters “Corporate Governance and Board Effectiveness” I am delighted to be joined by Tanuja Dehne. Tanuja is a corporate governance expert and serves as an independent director on two NYSE-listed, company boards: Advanced Disposal Services, a $1.4 billion revenue environmental services company and newly IPO’d, Granite Point, a publicly-traded commercial mortgage REIT.  She also dedicates her time to not-for-profit board service including the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Young Audiences, HomeFront NJ, and Sustainable Jersey. That ends Segment I with Tanuja Dehne.  Join us for our continuing conversation with Tanuja next month in Episode 12 --- we’ll discuss derailers to effective boards and effective leadership styles in the boardroom.  And shall I say it?  Why not.  As a self-promoting reminder, the Lyceum Leadership Consulting does provide third party, Board Effectiveness Review.    Segment II:  Main Feature Interview “Special Guest Paul Bonavia, Retired Chairman and CEO of UNS Energy”  You may have read our article in the May 2017 issue of Public Utilities Fortnightly about our next guest - Paul Bonavia.  By sheer coincidence, I wrote that article for Fortnightly on April 1 of 2017 in Chicago Illinois.  Exactly ten years before that on April 1, 2007, the Illinois General Assembly passed a resolution designating April 1st as “Cheap Trick Day” in Illinois. I am giddy with delight to come as close as I can to a Rolling Stone reporter in featuring this conversation with drummer Paul Bonavia, who in his younger days was in bands with members that would go on to form Cheap Trick.   While I’m sure some subset of our listenership is interested in Paul’s pre-utility rock and roll lifestyle, this conversation was directed toward Paul’s “alternative” lifestyle as a CEO of an investor-owned utility and the sale of the company he led --- to Fortis in August of 2014.  Segment III: Special Subjects Segment “First of a Mini-Series on Shareholder Activism with Chris Young, Head of Contested Situations at Credit Suisse” Welcome to our final segment in this Episode on the dramatic, consternation-filled subject of shareholder activism.  That’s Orson Welles in his introduction to his panic-producing, 1938 radio masterpiece War of the Worlds. For the Lyceum, an allegorical backdrop of an environment well-suited to some “alien” form of activism perhaps? This is our mini-series on Shareholder Activism, and we are joined by Chris Young, Managing Director and Head of the Contested Situations Group at Credit Suisse.  In this first part of this series we will cover the history of activism and the market for corporate governance, growth in the asset class, and answer a fundamental question: what do activists want? As a backdrop, The Wall Street Journal reported recently that shareholder activism, which has been a perennial nuisance for chief executives, is now becoming an existential threat. Activists are going beyond just settling for board seats and are waging campaigns that target changes in top management at the outset. So far in 2017, and this is going back a few weeks right now, but so far in 2017 activists have started nine campaigns targeting top management. This is the fastest pace on record according to FactSet. I have represented two clients this year from the power and utility industry on board searches in the face of shareholder activism.  While two companies experiencing activism does not constitute a trend, my clients’ experience of late certainly seemed to warrant raising awareness with our CEO’s Virtual Mentor listenership by featuring this fascinating and informative conversation with Chris Young.  As we were in production on this podcast, Daniel Loeb, founder of activist investor Third Point, demonstrated this activism genius by accumulating a small 1.25% stake in Nestle, published a letter on a Sunday and two days later, Nestle announced a $20.8 billion share buyback as well as clarifying other strategic objectives. Closing of Segment III That ends Segment III.  We will continue this discussion with Chris Young in late July with Episode 12.  We’ll cover more on the “mainstreaming” of activism as an asset class and we will take apart the activist’s playbook and take you step by step through the Escalation Path.      Preview of Next Month’s Episode 12 We will be back with Episode 12 at the end of July featuring more on corporate governance with Tanuja Dehne and activism with Chris Young and an interview with Allen Leverett, President and CEO of WEC Energy Group in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  WEC has been highly acquisitive over the last decade, Allen and I will discuss the company’s significant growth that has led to a uniquely different collection of operating assets over that time period.  Final Spot: Famous Last Words As we sign off we wrap with another new spot on our program called “Famous Last Words”.  In keeping with our War of the Worlds – Shareholder Activism allegory we will leave you to be restored to the real world in the good hands of, an out-of-character, Mr. Orson Welles.    Thanks for joining us.  We can’t improve without your feedback – write us through our website www.LeadershipLyceum.com and subscribe on iTunes.  See you next time.   Informative and Helpful Links The Lyceum’s Well-Tuned Governance Model https://www.leadershiplyceum.com/lyceum-board-effectiveness   War of the Worlds Link to one the Lyceum’s favorite websites – archive.org. Click below to listen directly to the chilling and timeless October 30, 1938 CBS airing of Orson Welles’ The Mercury Theater on the Air adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds https://archive.org/details/OrsonWellesMrBruns Wiki links about the radio drama: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(radio_drama)   Program Guide Episode 11 “Board Governance & Effectiveness, Shareholder Activism Mini Series, Utility Industry Consolidation and M&A with Paul Bonavia, Retired Chairman and CEO of UNS Energy”  0:30     Introduction to new programming of Episodes  2:12     Introduction to specific programming in this Episode 11 3:47     Segment I: Corporate Governance and Board Effectiveness with Tanuja Dehne 6:15     Break 6:40     Segment I (cont.): Why should boards care about measuring effectiveness as a board? 14:05   Wrap up of Segment I on governance and preview of next month’s Episode 12 with Tanuja. 14:54   Introduction of Segment II: Interview with Paul Bonavia, Retired CEO of UNS Energy 16:13   Segment II: Interview with Paul Bonavia 33:06   Break 33:33   Segment II (cont.): Interview with Paul Bonavia 41:30   End of Interview with Paul Bonavia 41:53   Introduction to Segment III – Shareholder Activism and War of the Worlds allegory. 43:10   Segment III – Context for shareholder activism and introduction of guest Chris Young, Managing Director of Credit Suisse. 52:57   Break 53:20   Segment III (cont.): What do activists want? 56:30   End of Segment III and preview of next month’s Episode 12 with Chris Young 57:21   Conclusion and Famous Last Words with Orson Welles.   Biographies of Guests Ms. Tanuja Dehne  Tanuja Dehne is a public company director and former C-level executive of NRG Energy, Inc., a Fortune 250 power company. Tanuja brings perspective and experience from her cross-disciplinary roles to the C-suite and board room. She is a purpose-driven leader, cultivator of talent and proven strategist. She is an award winning corporate attorney, human resources professional and community volunteer who thrives when making a positive difference in the lives of others. During her tenure at NRG Energy, Inc., Tanuja had increasingly expansive roles: initially the company’s securities and finance lawyer, then Corporate Secretary and lead M&A attorney, before becoming the head of Human Resources. Ultimately, in her role as EVP, Chief Administrative Officer and Chief of Staff, she oversaw the company’s Human Resources, Information Technology, Communications, Marketing and Sustainability departments, the company’s charitable giving program, M&A integrations, as well as the construction of NRG’s sustainable corporate headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey. Tanuja also served as a sponsor, coach and “internal angel investor” of interdisciplinary innovation teams, including the team that created the “Path to Luma,” an environmentally conscious puzzle game launched in August 2015 with record breaking downloads in the Apple and Google stores. Tanuja is a director of Advanced Disposal Services (NYSE: ADSW) and Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp. (NYSE: SBY), and Board Trustee of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, HomeFront of New Jersey and Young Audiences New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania. She is a frequent speaker on topics including leadership, corporate governance, and the intersection of the law and human resources. She received a B.A. from Lafayette College, Master’s in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania, and Juris Doctor from Syracuse University College of Law.   Mr. Paul Bonavia  Paul Bonavia was Chairman and CEO of UNS Energy and its principal subsidiaries, Tucson Electric Power and UNS Energy Services, from January 2009 to May 2014. He served as Executive Chairman until the sale of the company to Fortis Inc. was completed in August of 2014. He had also served as President until December 2012. Mr. Bonavia worked to establish UNS Energy as a leader in renewable energy and energy efficiency while maintaining safe, affordable, and reliable service to nearly 640,000 utility customers across Arizona. Mr. Bonavia was named by Governor Jan Brewer to the Board of Directors of the Arizona Commerce Authority and has served as a director or trustee of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council (former chairman), Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities (former chairman), United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona (former chairman), University of Arizona Foundation, Tucson Airport Authority, Edison Electric Institute, Institute for Energy Efficiency and American Wind Energy Association. Before joining UNS Energy, Mr. Bonavia was President of the Utilities Group of Xcel Energy and held senior positions at Dominion Power.  He earned degrees from Drake University and the University of Miami School of Law and completed Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program.  Mr. Bonavia serves as chair of the board’s Human Resources Committee, and is a member of the Corporate Governance & Strategic Planning Committee and the System Planning Committee.   Mr. Chris Young Chris Young has been Managing Director and Head of the Takeover Defense Practice at Credit Suisse AG and Credit Suisse Group since June 1, 2010. Until May 2010, Mr. Young served as the Director of M&A and Proxy Fight at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). While at ISS, Mr. Young was responsible for analyzing contentious M&A transactions, proxy fights and corporate governance issues and providing proxy voting and tender offer recommendations for ISS institutional investor clients. Mr. Young also helped to facilitate a constructive dialogue between ISS institutional investor clients and senior executives and directors of public companies in the US and Europe. Mr. Young is regarded as a leading authority on contested M&A transactions and shareholder activism. Prior to ISS, Mr. Young was a member of the investment banking group at Bear Stearns and the M&A group at Sullivan & Cromwell. Mr. Young is a CFA charter holder, received his JD, magna cum laude, from Boston University and his BS from Georgetown University.   Subscribe to the podcast at iTunes: https://t.co/a70rtSiQnW or SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/thomas-linquist Follow Leadership Lyceum on:          Our website: www.LeadershipLyceum.com          LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-linquist-682997          Twitter: @LeaderLyceum https://twitter.com/LeaderLyceum          Email us: info@LeadershipLyceum.com Please subscribe to the Leadership Lyceum at iTunes which will enable future content to come to you automatically.  Rate us and spread the word among your fellow executives and board colleagues.    Your host Thomas B. Linquist is the Founder and Managing Partner of Lyceum Leadership Consulting and Lyceum Leadership Productions. Over his 15 years in management and leadership consulting he has served a wide array of industrial clients.  This includes leadership assessment and search for chief executive officers, chief financial officers, chief operating officers and boards of directors.  He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and over his 25-year career has served in a variety of roles: as an engineer with Shell Oil Company, a banker with ABN AMRO Bank, and as treasurer was the youngest corporate officer in the 150+ year history at Peoples Energy Company in Chicago.  He is an expert on hiring and promotion decisions and leadership development.  Over the course of his search career, he has interviewed thousands of leaders.  Please subscribe to the Leadership Lyceum in the podcast section at iTunes which will enable future content to come to you automatically. Rate us and spread the word among your fellow executives and board colleagues. Program Disclaimer The only purpose of the podcasts is to educate, inform and entertain. The information shared is based on the collection of experiences of each of the guests interviewed and should not be considered or substituted for professional advice. Guests who speak in this podcast express their own opinions, experience and conclusions, and neither The Leadership Lyceum LLC nor any company providing financial support endorses or opposes any particular content, recommendation or methodology discussed in this podcast. This podcast Leadership Lyceum: A CEO’s Virtual Mentor has been a production of The Leadership Lyceum LLC. Copyright 2017 All rights reserved                

Utility executives poured into Boston from across the country this week for the Edison Electric Institute’s annual conference. They talked about everything from crazy national politics to rate design to artificial intelligence and the future of workers. We brought our recording gear and tracked down some top names in the industry. In this episode, we hear what's on the minds of utility executives. Here are some highlights from the interviews: Tom Fanning, CEO of Southern Company, on why decarbonization will continue under Trump: "We don't chase fads. Our business approach, our strategies, our models, have a much longer life than any political party or any particular administration." Pat Vincent-Collawn, PNM Resources CEO, on automation and the future of work: "We're not thinking about that enough yet." Julia Hamm, the CEO of SEPA, on how distributed energy is wrapped up in smart cities and artificial intelligence: "Utility executives are really starting to think about how does that suite of distributed energy resources fit into an even bigger picture." David Owens, retiring VP of regulatory affairs at EEI, on the new priorities for investor-owned utilities: We've gotten very aggressive in the industry's vision. And that vision is focused around cleaner energy, a smarter energy infrastructure, and providing customized or individualized solutions so we can respond to customer needs." And here's our reading list mentioned at the top of the show: R Street Institute report on why baseload retirements don't necessarily mean unreliability: bit.ly/2sA7uAH Rocky Mountain Institute piece on outdated notions of baseload power: bit.ly/2swyRdY Researchers debunk the premise of Rick Perry's baseload report in The Conversation: http://bit.ly/2rnBH1k GTM article summarizing a report on why ARPA-E is a success so far: http://bit.ly/2sGFevU Wall Street Journal article on oil giants shifting their focus to electricity: http://on.wsj.com/2tuE2bL The Interchange is brought to you by AES Energy Storage. AES is helping utilities harness the power of battery-based energy storage to make the electric power system cleaner, more flexible, and more reliable. Find out more: http://bit.ly/2oxZ5dT Make sure to subscribe to The Interchange podcast via iTunes, SoundCloud or Stitcher, or integrate our RSS feed into the podcast app of your choice.

Utility executives poured into Boston from across the country this week for the Edison Electric Institute's annual conference. They talked about everything from crazy national politics to rate design to artificial intelligence and the future of workers. We brought our recording gear and tracked down some top names in the industry. In this episode, we hear what's on the minds of utility executives. Here are some highlights from the interviews: Tom Fanning, CEO of Southern Company, on why decarbonization will continue under Trump: "We don't chase fads. Our business approach, our strategies, our models, have a much longer life than any political party or any particular administration." Pat Vincent-Collawn, PNM Resources CEO, on automation and the future of work: "We're not thinking about that enough yet." Julia Hamm, the CEO of SEPA, on how distributed energy is wrapped up in smart cities and artificial intelligence: "Utility executives are really starting to think about how does that suite of distributed energy resources fit into an even bigger picture." David Owens, retiring VP of regulatory affairs at EEI, on the new priorities for investor-owned utilities: We've gotten very aggressive in the industry's vision. And that vision is focused around cleaner energy, a smarter energy infrastructure, and providing customized or individualized solutions so we can respond to customer needs." And here's our reading list mentioned at the top of the show: R Street Institute report on why baseload retirements don't necessarily mean unreliability: bit.ly/2sA7uAH Rocky Mountain Institute piece on outdated notions of baseload power: bit.ly/2swyRdY Researchers debunk the premise of Rick Perry's baseload report in The Conversation: http://bit.ly/2rnBH1k GTM article summarizing a report on why ARPA-E is a success so far: http://bit.ly/2sGFevU Wall Street Journal article on oil giants shifting their focus to electricity: http://on.wsj.com/2tuE2bL The Interchange is brought to you by AES Energy Storage. AES is helping utilities harness the power of battery-based energy storage to make the electric power system cleaner, more flexible, and more reliable. Find out more: http://bit.ly/2oxZ5dT Make sure to subscribe to The Interchange podcast via iTunes, SoundCloud or Stitcher, or integrate our RSS feed into the podcast app of your choice.

Special Podcast Episode 10 “The Electric Utility Industry’s Golden Age of Innovation: Now” Innovation Interviews with Eight CEOs After a bit of a hiatus, we are back.  I can assure we have been busy on your behalf in the interim.  We are delighted to announce that we formed two companies under Leadership Lyceum’s brand: Lyceum Leadership Consulting which provides executive and board of director’s search, board effectiveness review, and an array of services for successor development and board-readiness.  And Lyceum Leadership Productions which brings you this podcast.  We will be expanding the programming of the episodes this summer so please subscribe through iTunes and give us feedback.  Tell us about leadership situations that you are interested in us exploring.  Please visit our website www.LeadershipLyceum.com for all of our archived media and offerings.  Welcome to this Special Episode of the Leadership Lyceum: A CEO’s Virtual Mentor focused on innovation in an industry that many of us take for granted.  We take an in-depth look at innovation in the electric utility industry.  It’s the Leadership Lyceum’s opening act to Edison Electric Institute’s annual industry convention that starts this weekend, June 11th in Boston. In this Episode, we take a look back at last year’s convention in Chicago, where we conducted 10 interviews that included 8 CEOs from the electric industry covering all points along the electricity value chain from generation to transmission to distribution to the customer meter and beyond.  We also have the perspective of a President of a venture capital-backed, technology provider to the industry; as well as the critical viewpoints of the regulator -- with the President of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (or NARUC).  By way of context for our broad listenership, Edison Electric Institute (or EEI), is the association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies. EEI provides public policy leadership, strategic business intelligence, and essential conferences and forums for the industry.   As a bit of an appeal to our broad listenership --- why should you care about this industry?  Well its impact and influence is far-reaching and profound.  The member companies of EEI provide electricity for 220 million Americans, operate in all 50 states and the District of Columbia --- and directly and indirectly employ more than one million workers.  Our esteemed guests are all listed on the back of the album cover and on our website with links to their bios.  As a reminder, we conducted these interviews in June of 2016.  Our guests are as follows: Nick Akins, CEO of AEP in Columbus, OH; at the time, the outgoing Chairman of EEI. https://www.aep.com/about/leadership/profile.aspx?id=Akins Tom Fanning, CEO of Southern Company in Atlanta; at the time, the incoming Chairman of EEI. http://www.southerncompany.com/about-us/leadership/ceo.html Warner Baxter, CEO of Ameren Corporation in St Louis. https://www.ameren.com/about/warner-baxter Pedro Pizarro, CEO of Edison International; at the time, the President of Edison subsidiary Southern California Edison. https://www.edison.com/home/investors/corporate-governance/meet-our-board-of-directors/pedro-j-pizarro.html Jim Piro, CEO of Portland General Electric in Portland, OR http://investors.portlandgeneral.com/management.cfm Ralph Izzo, CEO of PSEG, in Newark, NJ; https://www.pseg.com/family/leadership/ceo.jsp Steve Berberich, CEO of California ISO; the ISO is one of the world’s largest transmission organizations, managing the electric grid and wholesale power markets for 30 million Californians. https://www.caiso.com/about/Pages/OurLeadership/StephenBerberich.aspx Tony Earley, Executive Chair of the Board of PG&E Corporation in San Francisco; at the time, was Chairman, CEO and President of PG&E http://www.pgecorp.com/aboutus/our_team/TEarley.shtml Alex Laskey, Co-Founder and President of Opower; Alex sold his company to Oracle while we were at the convention in June 2016 https://www.ted.com/speakers/alex_laskey Travis Kavulla, Commissioner, Montana Public Service Commission; and at the time, was serving a term as President of National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (or NARUC) http://psc.mt.gov/commissioners/District1/  Just prior to our interviews last year, Neil Irwin, senior economics correspondent for The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/by/neil-irwin) gave us inspiration in his walk down the memory lane of innovation in his May 15, 2016 “The Upshot” column titled “Tracking Down the Golden Age of Innovation”.    https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/upshot/what-was-the-greatest-era-for-american-innovation-a-brief-guided-tour.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share Twitter: https://twitter.com/Neil_Irwin He posited in that article that a better way to understand the significance of technological change may be to come as close as we can to actually walking through those time periods, from the end of the Civil War to present, and understand the way we lived, ate, traveled and clothed and entertained ourselves.  Through our conversation with these industry leaders, we will attempt to walk you through our current age of innovation in the electric power industry.   Segment 1: Opening Statements – The Structure of the Industry. Travis Kavulla, President of NARUC and Commissioner of the Montana PSC. Steve Berberich, CEO of California ISO, managing the transmission grid across the state of California. Tony Earley, CEO of PG&E in San Francisco. Ralph Izzo, CEO of PSEG in Newark. Nick Akins, CEO of AEP in Columbus Steve Berberich, CEO of California ISO    Segment 2: Interoperability, Data, and the Customer Steve Berberich, CEO of California ISO He expounds on the subject of interoperability of complex components of the electricity value chain. Nick Akins, CEO of AEP in Columbus Nick transitions into how technology has enabled customer relationships. Advanced Metering triggered proximity to the customer.  Tony Earley, CEO of PG&E in San Francisco. Alex Laskey, President of Opower Pedro Pizarro, CEO of Edison International   Segment 3: Boundary Conditions and how utilities are defining the boundaries of their service.  Warner Baxter, CEO of Ameren in St Louis Pedro Pizarro, CEO of Edison International Steve Berberich, CEO of California ISO Travis Kavulla, President of NARUC and Commissioner of the Montana PSC. Nick Akins, CEO of AEP in Columbus Ralph Izzo, CEO of PSEG in Newark. Tom Fanning, CEO of Southern Company in Atlanta Tony Earley, CEO of PG&E in San Francisco.   Segment 4: Collaboration with Disruptors and how utilities are partnering with the technologists on innovation and solutions. Warner Baxter, CEO of Ameren in St Louis Jim Piro, CEO of Portland General Electric   Segment 5: Regulatory Barriers and Enablers to innovation. Travis Kavulla, President of NARUC and Commissioner of the Montana PSC. Pedro Pizarro, CEO of Edison International Alex Laskey, President of Opower   Segment 6: Are We Pushing Hard Enough to Innovate? Travis Kavulla, President of NARUC and Commissioner of the Montana PSC. Nick Akins, CEO of AEP in Columbus Jim Piro, CEO of Portland General Electric Tom Fanning, CEO of Southern Company in Atlanta   Segment 7: Parting Thoughts and Advice to Stakeholders.  It’s fitting that our three guests with the parting words are those who have transitioned since my interview with them last year.  One through sale of company, one through executive retirement, and the other through expiration of term of service.  Tony Earley, CEO of PG&E in San Francisco - who has now turned the leadership of PG&E over to his successor Geisha Williams. Alex Laskey, President of Opower Travis Kavulla, President of NARUC and Commissioner of the Montana PSC in the anchor position with advice on the posture and approach of stakeholders to foster innovation from the regulatory point of view.   Our Parting Thoughts I can’t think of a more fitting way to close this retrospective than drawing from the opening of Neil Irwin’s NYT article that I mentioned at the outset of this episode.  Are you a skeptical economist who believes that we’re in a depressing era in which innovation has slowed and living standards are barely rising?  Or are you a techno-optimist who believes that that our era, in which digital technology is transforming the underpinnings of human existence, is the golden age of innovation?   Thanks for joining us.  We can’t improve without your feedback – write us through our website www.LeadershipLyceum.com and subscribe on iTunes.  See you next time.    Informative and Helpful Links Edison Electric Institute (EEI): http://www.eei.org/ Ameren Corporation: https://www.ameren.com/ American Electric Power: https://www.aep.com/ California ISO: http://www.caiso.com/ Edison International: http://www.edison.com/ Pacific Gas & Electric: https://www.pge.com/ Portland General Electric: https://www.portlandgeneral.com/ Public Service Enterprise Group: https://www.pseg.com/ Southern Company: http://www.southerncompany.com/ Oracle and Opower: https://www.oracle.com/corporate/acquisitions/opower/index.html Montana PSC: http://psc.mt.gov/ National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC): https://www.naruc.org/ New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/by/neil-irwin    Program Guide: Special Episode 10 “The Electric Utility Industry’s Golden Age of Innovation: Now” Innovation Interviews with Eight CEOs   0:30     Introduction to the Lyceum Leadership Consulting and Lyceum Leadership Productions 1:15     Introduction to “Innovation in the Electric Industry” through 10 interviews including 8 CEOs  4:05     Segment 1: Opening Statements – The Structure of the Industry 11:43   Break 1 11:57   Segment 2: Interoperability, Data, and the Customer 26:02   Break 2 26:24   Segment 3: Boundary Conditions - how utilities are defining the boundaries of their service.  36:50   Break 3 37:03   Segment 4: Collaboration with Disruptors 39:32   Break 4 39:49   Segment 5: Regulatory Barriers and Enablers 45:16   Break 5 45:31   Segment 6: Are We Pushing Hard Enough to Innovate? 51:12   Break 6 51:34   Segment 7: Parting Thoughts and Advice to Stakeholders 57:04   Lyceum’s Parting Thoughts 57:37   End of Episode     Subscribe to the Podcast at: iTunes or SoundCloud Follow Leadership Lyceum on: www.LeadershipLyceum.com LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Facebook   Email us: info@LeadershipLyceum.com Please subscribe to the Leadership Lyceum at iTunes which will enable future content to come to you automatically.  Rate us and spread the word among your fellow executives and board colleagues.    Your host Thomas B. Linquist is the Founder and Managing Partner of Lyceum Leadership Consulting and Lyceum Leadership Productions. Over his 15 years in management and leadership consulting he has served a wide array of industrial clients.  This includes leadership assessment and search for chief executive officers, chief financial officers, chief operating officers and boards of directors.  He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and over his 25-year career has served in a variety of roles: as an engineer with Shell Oil Company, a banker with ABN AMRO Bank, and as treasurer was the youngest corporate officer in the 150+ year history at Peoples Energy Company in Chicago.  He is an expert on hiring and promotion decisions and leadership development.  Over the course of his search career, he has interviewed thousands of leaders.  Please subscribe to the Leadership Lyceum in the podcast section at iTunes which will enable future content to come to you automatically. Rate us and spread the word among your fellow executives and board colleagues. Copyright 2017 by The Leadership Lyceum LLC

This special episode of More Power To You brings you Congressman Joe Barton's remarks at the United States Energy Association's 2017 Annual Membership Meeting and Public Policy Forum. The event was held at the National Press Club in downtown Washington, D.C. USEA presented Rep. Barton with its Annual Energy Award for his longtime contributions to the energy sector. Congressman Barton has served in Congress since 1985 and currently serves as Vice-Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Rep. Barton's comments span his three decades of service in Congress. As you might imagine, he shares some funny anecdotes about elected officials he's served with and covers topics ranging from the repeal of the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978; where the U.S. ranks globally for electricity generation in different sectors; the prospects for Congress taking up a new energy bill; and his role in—and the impact of—Congress prohibiting EPA regulation of hydraulic fracturing and repealing the 40-year old crude oil export ban. After Rep. Barton's remarks, the program continues with brief remarks from Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute, and Dave McCurdy, president and CEO of the American Gas Association. Recorded May 4, 2017 Published May 22, 2017

“Perpetuating the California Dream: Progressive Policy Meets Progressive Leadership” Interview with Pedro Pizarro, CEO of Edison International in Los Angeles, California Welcome to Episode 9 of the Leadership Lyceum: A CEO’s Virtual Mentor.  I had the pleasure of visiting Pedro Pizarro, CEO of Edison International in his Los Angeles office for this conversation as part of what will be a bit of a sub-series introducing some of the recently appointed CEO's in the utility industry. Edison International (Ticker: EIX) is the publicly-traded holding company for regulated utility Southern California Edison and a small array of non-regulated investments plus Edison Energy. At $11.5 billion in annual revenue, and serving 15 million customers, the company is one of the largest utilities in the country. Our interview will delve deeply into one of Pedro’s priorities for positioning their utility, Southern California Edison (SCE) to help the state of California achieve its very ambitious, legislatively-mandated targets for reducing greenhouse gases by 2030. The path ahead for Pedro and Edison with respect to his plan to: “help catalyze all the efforts to support reducing greenhouse gases” is uncharted and unprecedented.  To achieve the targets, it is not enough for California to decarbonize the electric power sector – they need cooperation and electrification from other sectors.    As fitting context for this interview, in our last podcast episode, Episode 8, we illustrated through our interview with Susan Story, CEO of American Water, how success in the public utilities industry requires industry leaders to lead “beyond their authority” – that is, leading beyond the boundaries of their corporations.  We discussed that continuously achieving safe, clean, reliable, affordable service is dependent upon public policy, legislation, and regulatory relationships which in turn require leaders to lead and influence beyond the boundaries of their corporations.  California legislation presents a stage set for leadership of this nature. This includes a plot thickened by the stark disparity between California and Federal, climate and renewable energy policy. But there are no scripts for this story.  The action will be carried out by a talented troop of improvisational actors.    Informative and Helpful Links A helpful summary of California Climate legislation called SB 32 which was promulgated on September 8, 2016.  We discussed this in detail in the interview. http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article100734142.html A helpful summary of California Climate legislation called SB 350 which was promulgated on October 7, 2015.  We discussed this in depth in the interview.  http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-jerry-brown-climate-change-renewable-energy-20151007-story.html LA 2024 – Los Angeles’s Bid for the Olympics.  LA is one of two candidate cities along with Paris. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_bid_for_the_2024_Summer_Olympics My LA Times source on legendary historian Kevin Starr from an obituary the day before my interview with Pedro. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-kevin-starr-obit-20170115-story.html Edison International Website: https://www.edison.com California is using more renewables and less natural gas in its summer electricity mix https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=27812 California has nearly half of the nation’s solar electricity generating capacity https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=24852#   Program Guide Episode 9 Pedro Pizarro Interview – “Perpetuating the California Dream: Progressive Policy Meets Progressive Leadership”  0:30     Introduction to Pedro Pizarro CEO of Edison International 1:19     Policy/legislative context for the interview 2:52     Start of interview – key areas of focus on Pedro’s leadership agenda 5:25     Break 1 5:46     Non-regulated Edison Energy focus on the Commercial & Industrial (C&I) market 8:20     Benefits of a dual platform: regulated and competitive businesses and two views 9:30     Use of electric storage/batteries (front-of-the-meter and behind-the-meter-applications) 13:00   Other state’s activity vs California: Community Solar in Minnesota 13:50   Pedro’s leadership as a relatively new CEO of an iconic California company 16:35   California’s unique position – the imaginative and the factual; the influence on the nation 19:30   Break 2 19:51   Leadership outside the walls of the company and LA 2024, LA’s bid for the Olympics 22:20   LA 2024 and strength of conviction and strength of the bid 23:48   Policy and Legislation: SB 350 (state renewable portfolio standard increase) and SB 32 (greenhouse gas emission reductions) 28:01   Striking balances on policy and legislation – Example: Net Energy Metering revisit in state in 2019 30:12   Break 3 30:34   SB 32 greenhouse gas emission reductions discussion and the task ahead in context 32:00   Accounting for greenhouse gas emissions by sector. Needs from sectors beyond the electric utility sector 33:46   Edison’s task in the future regarding SB 32 and implications on Edison’s grid 34:55   Break 4 35:07   Cross-economy/cross-government collaboration for SB 32 progress.  Example - ports and port transportation networks 38:21   Pedro Pizarro’s vision and approach for Edison International in cross-industry collaboration 40:26   Break 5 (Final Break) 40:44   Conclusion - LA 2024 “the first energy positive solar powered games” in history. Tying it all together. 44:01   Recap and end of Episode 9   Biography on Pedro Pizarro Mr. Pizarro has been the President and CEO of EIX since October 2016. Prior to that, he served as President of EIX from June 2016 to September 2016 and President of SCE from October 2014 to May 2016. Mr. Pizarro has held a wide range of executive positions at the EIX companies since joining EIX in 1999. From 2011 through March 2014, he served as President of EME, an indirect subsidiary of EIX that filed for bankruptcy in 2012.  Prior to that, Mr. Pizarro served as Executive Vice President of SCE from 2008 to 2011, responsible for SCE’s transmission and distribution system, procurement of conventional and renewable power, and gas-fired and hydroelectric power production facilities. He also previously served as Vice President and Senior Vice President of Power Procurement, and Vice President of Strategy and Business Development, among other executive roles. Prior to his work at the EIX companies, Mr. Pizarro was a senior engagement manager with McKinsey & Company, providing management consulting services to energy, technology, engineering services, and banking clients. He is a director of the Edison Electric Institute and the Electric Power Research Institute, and is a member of the Board of Governors of Argonne National Laboratory. Mr. Pizarro is a graduate of Harvard University and earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology.   Subscribe to the podcast at iTunes: https://t.co/a70rtSiQnW or SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/thomas-linquist Follow Leadership Lyceum on:          LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-linquist-682997          Twitter: @LeaderLyceum https://twitter.com/LeaderLyceum          Email us: Thomas.Linquist@LeadershipLyceum.com Please subscribe to the Leadership Lyceum at iTunes which will enable future content to come to you automatically.  Rate us and spread the word among your fellow executives and board colleagues.  Your host Thomas B. Linquist is a Partner at a leading global executive search firm. Over his 15 years in management and leadership consulting he has served a wide array of industrial clients.  This includes leadership assessment and search for chief executive officers, chief financial officers, chief operating officers and boards of directors.  He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and over his 25-year career has served in a variety of roles: as an engineer with Shell Oil Company, a banker with ABN AMRO Bank, and as treasurer was the youngest corporate officer in the 150+ year history at Peoples Energy Company in Chicago.  He is an expert on hiring and promotion decisions and leadership development.  Over the course of his search career, he has interviewed thousands of leaders.  Please subscribe to the Leadership Lyceum in the podcast section at iTunes which will enable future content to come to you automatically. Rate us and spread the word among your fellow executives and board colleagues. © 2017 The Leadership Lyceum LLC

Rooftop solar is the cheapest way to generate electricity for your home or business. That's good for you -- but not for your local utility. They lose revenue (selling fewer kwh) and profits (fewer assets on which they generate their guaranteed 10% profit). As a result of this competitive threat, utilities have implemented an organized, national campaign to slow down, and in some cases prevent, more rooftop solar installations. In almost all other cases of new technology displacing old technology, customers were free to choose the products and services that would benefit them the most. But in this case utilities are a monopoly. In effect, their anti-competitive behavior is sanctioned, and partially constrained only by state public utilities commissions. Utilities and their front groups (such as the Edison Electric Institute) have organized on a national basis, and are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to convince the public, legislators and regulators that rooftop solar is not in the best interests of the pubic and ratepayers. Their first argument, that rooftop solar is too expensive, has been proven to be false. Just about any homeowner with a sunny roof can generate their own power for less than the utility charges. Their second argument, that the grid can't handle all the power flowing backwards from rooftops, has never been close to a problem anywhere in the developed world. Moreover, this potential limitation can easily be addressed with new feeder equipment installed at local substations (on which utilities will get their 10% guaranteed profit). Their third argument, that solar shifts costs from ratepayers, has been disproved time and again (most recently in the Brookings Institute Net Metering Meta Study). Bottom line…it's all about the bottom line. Should customers get the benefit of cheaper electricity with rooftop solar, or should utilities be allowed to maintain their highly profitable monopoly while charging customers ever more for electricity? A quick comparison between Investor Owned Utilities (IOU) and Municipally Owned Utilities (MOU) shows just how expensive the IOU model is for ratepayers. For more about the specific efforts of utilities to limit customer choice, constrain rooftop solar, and profit at your expense, Listen Up to the Energy Show on Renewable Energy World. Copyright 2016 All Rights Reserved

On this extra episode of The Cybersecurity Podcast, reporter Jack Detsch brings you the highlights of a live discussion Passcode hosted in Washington on cybersecurity and the US power grid, featuring Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, deputy secretary of Energy; Thomas Fanning, chief executive officer of Southern Company; Congressman Will Hurd of Texas; and Robert Lee, cofounder of the cybersecurity firm Dragos Security. This bonus episode is sponsored by the Edison Electric Institute.

Utilities are often criticized for not connecting deeply enough with their customers. In a world where choice is becoming more important -- turning ratepayers into dynamic consumers -- power companies need to offer a wider range of services and communications outlets. One way to better connect: use more consumer-friendly language. According to a report in the Huffington Post this week, the Edison Electric Institute recently hired a marketing expert to help member companies better message themselves. “They view us a monopoly, no incentives to serve the customers. They view us as stuck in the past in terms of technology," said PR guru Michael Maslansky in a presentation to the EEI board this January on consumer focus groups. "We need to be able to think about something sustained, something repetitious, something ongoing.” Is this just a public relations ploy to improve the image of utilities? Or is it a serious attempt to engage with customers? We'll discuss in this week's show. In our second segment, we'll talk about the Energy Information Administration's new report defending its forecasting and data gathering. Finally, we'll discuss a new analysis from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory showing that America can technically get 39 percent of its electricity from rooftop solar. The Energy Gang is produced by Greentechmedia.com. The show features weekly discussions between energy futurist Jigar Shah, energy policy expert Katherine Hamilton and Greentech Media Editor Stephen Lacey.

When a disaster strikes, the first question everyone asks is, "When will the power be restored?" Chris Eisenbrey of the Edison Electric Institute explains the new processes being used by electric utilities to expedite power restoration.