Weekly Briefing: Climate Caucus Sends Letter To Leadership Urging Cooperation On Permitting
November 15, 2023
Last week, a group of lawmakers in the House Climate Solutions Caucus sent a letter to House leadership urging bipartisan climate cooperation and specifically highlighting permitting reform as an area of opportunity. The 26 members who signed the letter are 13 Republicans and 13 Democrats. (One of the signatories is Rep. Young Kim, pictured above speaking at CCL's 2022 conservative conference.) 
Addressed to newly elected Speaker Johnson and to Minority Leader Jefferies, the letter opens by saying, “We write to express our interest in working with you to advance bipartisan climate policies during the 118th Congress.”
Ben Pendergrass, CCL’s Vice President of Government Affairs, says the letter sends “an important message” because it “is the first statement that includes Republicans saying any reform package must address transmission.” Before now, the issue of transmission was cast as a Democratic issue, so this letter represents concrete evidence of growing common ground.
The letter comes just weeks after CCL staff delivered a briefing to the staff of Climate Solutions Caucus members about clean energy permitting reform and the need for increased transmission. That briefing, and the outreach of CCL liaisons, were directly responsible for some of the members of Congress joining the letter.
Get all the details on this encouraging development in today’s blog post.
In other news this week:
• New climate report just dropped: The Fifth National Climate Assessment was just released yesterday, outlining climate trends, impacts, and solutions in each region of the United States. Check out the report and plan to join CCL Research Coordinator Dana Nuccitelli on Dec. 15 for a discussion of its findings.
• ICYMI: Republicans introduce foreign pollution fee: Sens. Cassidy and Graham recently introduced the Foreign Pollution Fee Act of 2023. This is an encouraging development after years of CCL volunteers lobbying on this type of policy idea!
• Open positions: CCL is hiring a Senior Development Officer and a Development Coordinator. Please share the job listings with anyone in your network who may be interested.
Amplify your impact on Giving Tuesday
Giving Tuesday is right around the corner — on Tuesday, Nov. 28. We aim to raise $300,000 in donations on this day and $1.25 million by year end. And this year: if we achieve our milestone goal on Giving Tuesday, we’ll unlock an extra $125,000 bonus gift! Your contribution will help us recruit and retain even more volunteers in 2024. It will also ensure we're able to deploy effective and timely grassroots advocacy tools to help our volunteers advance climate legislation. Mark your calendar for Tuesday, Nov. 28 or give today!
Take action this week
If you have a little time: Share this explainer post about BIG WIRES. As we build more support for the BIG WIRES Act in Congress and in our communities, this new explainer post on CCL's Instagram will help you simplify some of the concepts behind the legislation. Like, comment on, or share it!
If you have more time: Plan to act on what you learned at the Fall Conference. At our Fall Conference earlier this month, you undoubtedly heard some fresh ideas and tips for how to make change happen in your community and with your members of Congress. (If you didn't, catch up on the conference highlights.) Talk to your volunteers and friends about your takeaways, and start making plans to act on them.
Featured chapter: CCL Eastern Panhandle
CCL Eastern Panhandle is a relatively new chapter, kicking off with a Climate Advocate Training workshop in September. Mikayla Hamrick (above, second from right) and Austin Gregoryk (above, right) co-lead this new chapter, which is the third CCL chapter in West Virginia.
“So many people want to see action on climate, but they are at a loss as to what they can do,” Mikayla said in an interview with the Shepherdstown Chronicle promoting the event. The group’s recent workshop helped “to show our community that we can make a difference by advocating for achievable climate solutions.”
The issue of climate change feels particularly relevant with heavy rains and flash flooding affecting West Virginians in Upper Kanawha Valley recently. “This workshop [hoped to] break the myth that we can’t make a difference and inspire attendees to be the change they want to see in the world,” Mikayla said.
Welcome to the team, CCL Eastern Panhandle!
Have you logged your recent activities in the Action Tracker? Tell us what your chapter has been up to lately.
Want your chapter to be featured? Share your info and photos with us.
Upcoming trainings
11/16: Hosting A Film Screening - Learn how CCL chapters have used film screenings to engage their communities around climate and clean energy solutions. We'll be reviewing the basics, highlighting the CCL Film Screening Guide resource, and previewing upcoming films your chapter can screen. Join us!
11/23: Thanksgiving holiday - No training session tonight
Need training on the basics? Catch our next session of Core Volunteer Training, made for newer volunteers:
11/21: Grassroots Outreach Basics - This training highlights the bite-sized best practices of tabling and presentations. Join us!
To see other topics and past trainings, visit the Training Topics page of CCL Community.
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