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Dell Recycling Program Provides Jobs

Press Release: Ferenbach to Become New Chair of Environmental Defense Fund
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
Contact:
Stuart Ross, 202-572-3235, or 202-560-6610 (cell), sross@edf.org
Charles Miller, 202-572-3364, cmiller@edf.org
 
(New York, NY – June 25, 2008) Carl Ferenbach, managing director and co-founder of Berkshire Partners LLC, a Boston-based private equity firm, has been named Chairman-elect of the Board of Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Mr. Ferenbach will take office in May, 2009. Ferenbach, an EDF board member since 2000, will succeed Nick Nicholas, former CEO of Time Warner, who has served as board chair since 2002.
 
Mr. Ferenbach co-founded Berkshire Partners in the early 1980s. Berkshire Partners presently manages approximately $6.5 billion in private equity capital contributed by institutions and individuals around the world. Previously, Ferenbach was a Managing Director of Merrill Lynch, where he headed its Mergers and Acquisitions Department.  
 
In addition to his business commitments, Mr. Ferenbach is the founder of the High Meadows Foundation and the High Meadows Fund.  Established in 2004, both foundations address environmental sustainability and seek to support organizations and programs that are committed to a better environment.  Mr. Ferenbach is a trustee of Princeton University and serves on the Board of Dean’s Advisors at Harvard Business School.
 
“EDF’s pragmatic approach to policy, supported by solid science and an in-depth understanding of economics, has made it a highly effective advocate for environmental progress,” said Ferenbach. “I welcome the opportunity to support EDF and its President Fred Krupp in achieving great things in the next few years.” 
 
According to EDF President Fred Krupp, “Carl combines the business acumen and passionate commitment to the environment that we need to advance as an organization. He’s made a tremendous contribution to EDF during a period of very exciting growth, and I’m completely confident that the organization will be in good and capable hands as we pass the reins.”
 
Krupp also saluted current board chair Nick Nicholas, saying, “Under Nick we have grown from 250 employees to 360, and our budget has grown from $44 million to $100 million. We were recently called ‘America’s most economically literate green campaigners’ by The Economist magazine, a tribute to Nick’s management of EDF. He has a tremendous record of accomplishment, and we’re all grateful for the vision he has provided.”
 
Dell Recycling Program Provides Jobs
Dell is teaming up with the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired-Goodwill of Greater Rochester, New York, to start a free computer recycling program that will create jobs for ABVI workers and keep unwanted electronic devices out of local landfills, reports the Democrat and Chronicle.
Egyptian centre to push Middle East renewables
Egypt has established a US$30 million centre for renewable energy for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
Press Release: Statement from Environmental Defense Fund on House Carbon Capture Legislation
Contact:
Tony Kreindler, EDF, 202-572-3378 or 202-210-5791 (cell)
  
(Washington, DC - July 10, 2008) The House Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality today held a hearing on H.R. 6258, a bill intended to spur the development and deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies to reduce global warming pollution from coal-fired power plants.
 
EDF recognizes that coal will continue to be an important part of the U.S. energy supply for the foreseeable future, and that CCS technologies are needed to help electric utilities meet energy demands while protecting the climate. EDF believes the most effective way for Congress to promote the rapid commercialization and deployment of CCS technology is to create a market for it by enacting a national cap and trade program.
 
“The single best thing Congress can do for CCS is enact a national cap on greenhouse gas emissions. Funding for CCS development will only do so much – we need the cap to pull the technology into the marketplace,” said Scott Anderson, energy policy specialist at EDF.
 
EDF looks forward to working with Chairman Boucher on practical CCS incentives as part of national cap and trade legislation. As Congress considers proposals to advance CCS technologies, it should adhere to the following principles: 
  •  Be comprehensive.  In addition to providing incentives to drive CCS technology development, Congress can and should create the demand necessary to pull the technology into the marketplace by enacting comprehensive climate legislation.  Any new incentives to advance CCS technology should complement, not substitute for, comprehensive action. 
  •  Ensure that public monies are spent with public oversight and accountability.  H.R. 6258 would establish a Carbon Storage Research Corporation to raise $1 billion a year from the public to award grants to fund CCS technology projects.  The Corporation would be governed exclusively by representatives from the utility and fossil fuel industries, without any representatives from the public or environmental interests.  Neither the Congress nor federal or state electricity regulators would oversee the board or its decisions.  Congress should ensure that the public is adequately represented in any federal program to promote CCS technology and that it is ultimately accountable to the public.
  • Incentives to promote CCS technology should follow strong and effective standards.  The bill attempts to accelerate the commercial availability of CCS technology, but offers little guidance on how grants should be awarded to maximize the likelihood of that outcome.  The bill also lacks standards to ensure that grants go to those technologies with the greatest promise of delivering deep emissions cuts from the utility sector.  Strong standards can guide grant-making and increase the likelihood of success.
  •  Maximize the use of existing federal programs to promote CCS technology.  Congress has already established CCS research and deployment programs at the Department of Energy, which have already identified and tapped into expertise on the subject at the national labs, industry and universities.  It is unclear whether the efforts under H.R. 6258 would be redundant or complimentary to existing efforts or how all CCS technology programs should be coordinated.  Any additional incentives to advance CCS technology that Congress wishes to pursue should take full advantage of all these programs have to offer. 
  • Don’t forget other essential issues associated with CCS.  The commercial availability of CCS technology depends on more than technology development.  It also requires that standards and rules be put in place to protect potentially vulnerable water supplies, to help site CO2 pipelines, and to establish liability should projects fail.  Advances on all these fronts will be necessary if we are to accelerate the deployment of CCS technology. 
  • Consider the rights of state and local governments.  The Carbon Storage Research Corporation created by this legislation is allowed to levy fees on local electric utilities, and would require local and state regulatory commissions to allow utilities to fully recover those costs from ratepayers. Congress should exercise great caution in deciding whether and to what degree to preempt the rate-setting authority of state and local regulators, who are better situated to determine how costs should be shared between utilities and ratepayers.
 
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About Environmental Defense Fund
A leading national nonprofit organization, Environmental Defense Fund represents more than 500,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. For more information, visit www.edf.org
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