Weekly Briefing: CCLers Are On Capitol Hill This Week
March 29, 2023
CCLers are on Capitol Hill this week
As a nonpartisan organization, we believe it is vital to hear from voices all across the political spectrum. But voices on the left tend to dominate the climate discussion — we don’t hear as much from political conservatives. That’s why we’re hosting CCL’s Conservative Climate Leadership and Lobby Day this week.
CCL Executive Director Madeleine Para kicked off the event yesterday with this idea, saying, “We all unanimously agree that we could use more conservatives in Congress working on climate. And I'm glad you're all here to work on that.”
Yesterday, more than 120 right-leaning CCL volunteers, CCL staff, partners, and members of the media enjoyed keynote addresses, panel discussions, and trainings. Today, our volunteers had dozens of lobby meetings with Republican congressional offices discussing clean energy permitting reform, climate-smart forestry investment, and offshore wind legislation.
Want to get in on the conference action yourself? Join us at our annual summer conference, June 10-13, open to people of every political stripe! Register by April 3 to get the early bird rate and save $50 on your ticket.
In other news this week:
• CCL signs coalition letter on permitting: Led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 350 organizations including CCL have signed onto a letter urging Congress to pass a permitting bill. “Our organizations will not agree on every issue,” the letter says. “We are committed, however, to working with Congress to find solutions and pass meaningful and durable legislation.” Read more in this Washington Post newsletter.
• Permitting reform comes to the floor: A vote is expected this week on H.R. 1, House Republicans’ energy and permitting reform package. This package doesn’t include all the measures we need, such as faster transmission lines for clean energy and measures to ensure community input, but it is encouraging to see engagement on the permitting reform issue generally. This is still just the beginning of the permitting discussion in Congress. Watch last week’s 3-minute video update for more context.
• Last chance to unlock $100K: There’s just a few more days to give and we’re almost there! If we raise $10,000 in new monthly donations by March 31, we’ll unlock a $100,000 bonus gift from a generous angel donor. We think of it as donating “smarter, not harder.” Can you help pitch in?
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Take action this week 
If you have a little time: Sign up for CCL’s Climate Action Program to receive a timely action each month that has a high impact on climate legislation under consideration in Congress. More information about how the program works and how to sign up can be found here.
If you have more time: To achieve durable bipartisan climate legislation, we need Republicans on board. That means conservative voices and outreach to conservatives are critical parts of CCL’s work. Check out our new action teams designed with that in mind: the Conservatives Action Team, created specifically for right of center volunteers, and the Conservative Outreach Action Team, for folks who want to bring more right of center volunteers into CCL.
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Featured Chapter This Week 
With Earth Month coming up, CCL chapters are getting out in the community to engage the public with in-person outreach. The Nevada County chapter has been busy planning Climate Roadshow 2023, a series of presentations to inform people about CCL’s four policy initiatives. They also tabled at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival in February and will participate next month at the Home and Garden Show at the local fairgrounds.
During the pandemic, the group constructed a large carbon-footprint shoe out of recycled materials that showed home much CO2 is emitted by burning a gallon of gasoline. The shoe got a lot of mileage at tabling events at local supermarkets, summer street festivals and the Nevada County Fair. It even got second place as a float in a Fourth of July parade. Their outreach efforts paid off with more than a 100 conversations with residents about the impact of climate change in their area and 150 postcards sent to the president, senators and the local U.S. House representative.
Hats off to the Nevada County chapter for getting the word out about CCL and what people can do about climate change.
Have you logged your latest activities in the Action Tracker? Tell us what your chapter has been up to lately!
Find your CCL chapter | Check out our Action Teams | Browse upcoming events
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Upcoming Trainings 
3/30: Welcoming New Volunteers To Your Chapter - April is Earth Month, which usually brings lots of interest from new potential volunteers. Attend this training to learn effective strategies for bringing new people aboard CCL. Join us!
4/6: How to Create a Clean and Stable Electric Grid - Part One - Join CCL Research staff for the first of a two-part training about what kinds of energy and infrastructure will be needed for a stable, clean energy electric grid and the main technologies that are most likely to get us there. Join us!
Need training on the basics? Catch our next session of Core Volunteer Training, made for newer volunteers:
4/4: Communicating With Conservatives - Nate Abercrombie, CCL’s Conservative Outreach Coordinator, will review conservative messaging on climate change and how CCL’s policy areas align with conservative values. RSVP here.
To see other topics and past trainings, visit the Training Topics page of CCL Community.
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