Weekly Briefing: CCL’s Fall Lobbying Asks

November 27, 2024

We’re excited for CCL’s Fall Virtual Conference coming up next weekend, Dec. 6-7 — but the conference itself is just the beginning of the action! The following week, CCL chapters across the country will hold hundreds of virtual meetings with congressional offices for our annual fall lobbying push.

This year’s fall lobbying comes at a critical time: the lame duck period. “The lame duck is always a unique opportunity at the end of a Congress,” explained Ben Pendergrass, CCL’s VP of Government Affairs, in a recent training. Some members of Congress are on their way out of office, but “Congress usually still has stuff they need to do — and the election has an impact on what’s doable.”

Luckily, Ben said, “We have an opportunity in the lame duck to still get some climate wins.”

One of those potential wins is the Energy Permitting Reform Act. Our volunteers will bring this ask to all offices they meet with: both Democrats and Republicans, and in the House and Senate. “We want every single member to hear why this is an important bill and why this is an important opportunity,” Ben said.

Our lobby meetings will also lay groundwork to defend the climate provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, and we will also help build more support for the RISEE Act to support offshore wind and funding for coastal resilience.

Watch the training to hear the full presentation from our Government Affairs team and get up to speed on all our asks.

In other news this week:

• Send well wishes to Brett: CCL's VP of Programs, Brett Cease, is moving on to his next adventure! His last day on staff will be Dec. 15, and longtime CCL staffer Ricky Bradley will step into his role. Let’s shower Brett with all our appreciation and well wishes on this Kudoboard as he moves into this next phase of his career and family life.

Take action this week

If you have a little time: Remind Congress to prioritize climate. Whether or not you’re on a lobby team for our upcoming fall lobby meetings, you can make your voice heard with a message to Congress right now. If you haven’t already, use our online tool to send a message asking your representative and senators to prioritize climate policy in the final weeks of this Congress. Your messages will help make lawmakers even more receptive to our upcoming lobby meetings.

If you have more time: Plan to join CCL’s Fall Virtual Conference. The conference is just over a week away, and you won’t want to miss the expert insights from folks on our permitting session. CCL’s own Dana Nuccitelli will be joined by Rob Gramlich, President of Grid Strategies LLC, and Shane Londagin, Senior Policy Advisor for Innovation at Third Way (pictured above). After hearing their discussion, you’ll be fired up and ready to tell Congress to pass the Energy Permitting Reform Act! Join us next weekend.

Featured chapter: CCL Durango

It’s not every day that a congressional aide tells a CCL chapter, “Keep up the incredible work — it’s helping!” But that’s exactly what happened to our Durango, Colorado, chapter recently.

Chapter member Kathy Fackler does outreach to conservative leaders on Colorado’s Western Slope and has built a relationship with a conservative county commissioner. Together, Kathy says, “We’ve been tag-teaming on the media, lobbying, and grasstops levers for 18 months.” They first published a joint op-ed last year, and earlier this fall, they published a second in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.

When a congressional aide spotted the op-ed, he reached out to Kathy praising her ability to build bridges across ideological lines and encouraging the chapter’s work. He said, “I'm truly impressed — and deeply grateful — for your work on that.”

The rest of the chapter is hard at work and getting results, too. Chapter lead Gail Harriss organizes the city-wide Earth Day celebration every year and maintains alliances with League of Women Voters and local environmental organizations. Susan Atkinson is a prolific op-ed writer, published nationally and regionally. Susan and John Purser gave a talk on carbon footprints and carbon pricing at Fort Lewis College earlier this fall. Andrew Zeiler and Wendy Pollak table for CCL at various community events and help with event promotion. Mark Fackler, Kathy’s husband, served as the liaison to Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO-03), and will be liaison to newly-elected Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-CO-03) starting in January.

Kathy, Mark, Andrew, John, Gail, and Susan are pictured above. Way to go, CCL Durango!

Want to chat with the CCL Durango volunteers about their work? Join the conversation on CCL Community. Join the Conversation

Upcoming trainings

12/3: Climate Science Basics - Join CCL Research Coordinator Dana Nuccitelli to learn about the scientific evidence for climate change and answers to common questions. Join us!

12/5: Lobby Lead Training - Want to learn more about leading a lobby meeting with a member of Congress or staff? In this training, we review the role of a lobby team leader, how they assign team roles, coordinate practice times and how to handle other special situations. Join us!

12/10: Telling Compelling Stories - Join Citizens' Climate Radio host Peterson Toscano for a training focuses on the value of storytelling. For this training, it will be helpful to have a notebook handy in order to capture details of what you might include in your personal story. Join us!

To see other topics and past trainings, visit the Training Topics page of CCL Community.

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