A Sunny Future: Developing State Solar Markets
January 30, 2008, 1:30pm – 3:00pm
About This Event
Solar photovoltaic (PV) energy is an established technology that has proven its ability to improve our national security and boost the economy. Photovoltaics produce energy that is both domestic and emission-free, making it key to weaning the United States off our dependence on polluting fossil fuels and helping curb the effects of global warming. Solar PV also bolsters our economic security by creating more new jobs than any other energy technology.
Colorado has been a leader in developing policies to encourage investment in solar PV. This kind of leadership is instrumental in creating a policy environment friendly to solar generation, as energy policy is largely determined at the state level through laws and utility regulation. Please join us for the release of a new report from the Center for American Progress that highlights model state policies and case studies of four states, including Colorado, that have effectively developed thriving solar markets.
Governor Bill Ritter, Governor of Colorado
Featured Panelists:
Adam Browning, Executive Director, Vote Solar Initiative
Tom Kenworthy, Senior Fellow, Western Progress
Pam Kiely, Legislative Program Director for Environment Colorado
Alice Madden, Majority Leader, Colorado General Assembly
Tom Plant, Director of the Governor’s Energy Office
Moderated By:
Bracken Hendricks, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
Location
Old Supreme Court Chambers
Colorado State Capitol
200 East Colfax
Denver,
CO
80203
Biographies
Governor Bill Ritter, Jr. was elected as Colorado's 41st governor in 2006 - the first Colorado-born governor in more than 35 years. Gov. Ritter has quickly established Colorado as a national leader in renewable energy by creating a New Energy Economy and doubling the state's renewable energy portfolio.
He is reforming natural resource issues, bringing greater balance, requiring responsible development and ensuring the protection of our air, land, water, wildlife, and communities. Gov. Ritter also is working toward creating a 21st century transportation system and is leading efforts on statewide health-care, economic-development and education reform, both at the K-12 and higher-ed levels, through his P-20 Education Council and Jobs Cabinet.
In addition, Gov. Ritter is changing the fundamental way state government operates. He is creating stronger partnerships with employees and finding efficiencies that will result in more effective services for the taxpaying public and a more accountable government.
The sixth of 12 children, Gov. Ritter was raised on a small farm in Arapahoe County. He was a member of the first graduating class of Gateway High School (1974), and he earned his bachelor's degree in political science from Colorado State University (1978) and his law degree from the University of Colorado (1981).
His first job out of law school was as a deputy district attorney in Denver. In 1987, Gov. Ritter and his wife, First Lady Jeannie Ritter, left Denver to run a food distribution and nutrition center in Zambia, Africa. They returned home in 1990, and three years later Ritter was appointed as Denver's top prosecutor, a position he held until January 2005. He earned a national reputation as one of the country's most effective and innovative prosecutors, and several of his programs continue to serve as state and national models.
Adam Browning co-founded the Vote Solar Initiative in 2002, and has been working as Executive Director to bring solar into the mainstream since then. Previously, Adam ran the Toxics Release Inventory Program for the U.S. EPA’s San Francisco office (1995-2002), winning the Agency’s top pollution prevention award for developing an innovative program that resulted in annual reductions of approximately 7,000 pounds of mercury air emissions from Nevada gold mines. A native of
Bracken Hendricks is a Senior Fellow with the Center for American Progress where he works on issues of climate change and energy independence, environmental protection, infrastructure investment, and economic policy, with a focus on broadening progressive constituencies and message framing. Hendricks served in the Clinton Administration as a Special Assistant to the Office of Vice President Al Gore and with the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where he worked on the Interagency Climate Change Working Group, the President’s Council on Sustainable Development, and the White House Livable Communities Task Force on issues of public safety, electronic government, oceans policy, trade and the environment, and smart growth.
Hendricks was the founding Executive Director and is currently a National Steering Committee member of the Apollo Alliance for good jobs and energy independence, a coalition of labor, environmental, business and community leaders dedicated to changing the politics of energy independence. Hendricks served as a Consultant to the Office of the President of the AFL-CIO and as an Economic Analyst with the AFL-CIO Working for America Institute. He has been a member of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell’s Energy Advisory Task Force, the Cornell University Eco-Industrial Round Table, and the Energy Future Coalition. He is also a philanthropic advisor to the Wallace Global Fund on matters of Civic Engagement and Democratic Participation. Hendricks serves on the board of Green HOME, a
Bracken received his Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts with a Minor in Sociology from
Tom Kenworthy spent 15 years covering the West as a national correspondent for The Washington Post and USA Today. For most of that time he specialized in public lands, natural resource and energy issues. He began his newspaper career in 1975 with the Lowell (Mass.) Sun, moved on to The Washington Star shortly before it folded in 1981, and then the Baltimore Evening Sun. At the Washington Post he covered state politics and government in Maryland, Congress and congressional politics, and the Interior Department. Tom is now a Senior Fellow at Western Progress. He has lived in Golden, Colorado since 1995. He is a graduate of Cornell University.
Pam Kiely joined Environment Colorado as the Land Use Associate in 2005, where she advocated for smarter choices about how and where we are growing in order to protect
Representative Alice Madden, first elected in 2000, is serving her fourth term for House District 10 which consists of central Boulder, Gunbarrel and Niwot as the Majority Leader of the Colorado General Assembly.
Generally recognized as the architect of the stunning victory for House Democrats in 2004 and in 2006, Representative Madden serves as the Majority Leader. Democrats had not held majority in the House since the 1970’s, and Rep. Madden is the first Democratic woman to ever hold that position. She made history by ending the 120 day session two days early, two years in a row—saving the tax payers tens of thousands of dollars.
Over the past two years, she helped negotiate and pass Referendum C—the much needed TABOR reform. She is now focusing on lowering the costs of prescription drugs and expanding the New Energy Economy.
A graduate of University of Colorado School of Law, Rep. Madden practiced employment law at Fairfield & Woods, one of Denver’s finest law firms. Prior to running for office, she taught legal writing and was the Director of Alumni Relations for the CU Law School. A longtime community activist, Rep. Madden has focused on creating stronger communities through improving the economy and access to quality education and health care.
Tom Plant is the Director of the Governor’s Energy Office and was appointed by Governor Bill Ritter in 2007. Prior to GEO, Tom served as the executive director of the Center for ReSource Conservation. The nonprofit implements a variety of programs focused on energy efficiency, renewable energy, water conservation, green building and construction waste reduction.
Tom served as Colorado House District 13 Representative from 1998 through 2006 including two years as Chairman of the House Appropriations committee and one year as Chairman of the Joint Budget Committee. Among the key pieces of legislation he sponsored: Prescription Drug Fairness Act; the Colorado Renewable Energy Act, which later formed the basis for Amendment 37; and energy efficiency tax-incentive legislation. He was named Legislator of the Year by organizations such as the University of Colorado and the Sierra Club of Colorado, was the recipient of Colorado Conservation Voters’ “Green Sense Award for Environmental Leadership” and received the “Champion of the Family Farmer” award from the Rocky Mountain Farmers’ Union.
Tom worked in the Climate Change department of the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, DC. At UCS, he explored the causes of global climate change and examined transportation and energy solutions to reduce the emissions contributing to climate change. Prior to UCS, and after graduating from Colorado State University, Tom worked as an exploration Geologist.
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