Press Conference hosted by the Center for Biological Diversity
Remarks from Barry Vesser, Chief Operating Officer for The Climate Center:
“Good afternoon everyone. My name is Barry Vesser. The election of a climate denier to the White House is a setback for some of our climate protection ambitions, and we need to be honest about that. But a setback is not a catastrophe. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said at COP last week that the Inflation Reduction Act, which is the Biden Administration’s big climate spending initiative — $364 billion worth of big — has already created 900 new factories in the United States, 400,000 jobs, and by the end of the year, 60 gigawatts of new clean energy will be developed from its investments. Eighty-one percent of these investments went to states with a Republican majority, so it is unlikely that the governors and representatives of these states will want to stop these investments that have been so good for their local economies. It will be interesting to see how this plays out politically, but I suspect that there will be a further shift rhetorically away from climate investments and toward economic development.
California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot also delivered a message last week on California staying the course on climate ambition. Sam Assefa, Director of the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, just arrived today to deliver the same message and is with us in the audience. He will be giving a press conference later this week.
Meanwhile, what state governments in the United States do matters. California is the world’s fifth-largest economy and New York is the tenth-largest. As these and other states implement intelligent climate policy, they will show the rest of the nation that these investments are not only good for the economy, but also better for air quality, public health, and, in short, better for everyone. Today we have representatives from four states who are going to share news of recent climate accomplishments and/or things that they are working on that are promising. The underlying message is that a huge segment of the United States remains committed to ambitious climate goals, regardless of who is in the White House.”
Speakers
Barry joined The Climate Center in 2005 and has held positions as Deputy Director and Financial Officer. He currently leads The Climate Center’s program and policy development and implementation teams. In 2018 Barry began working with a group of energy experts and advocates envisioning a more decentralized energy system that was clean, affordable, resilient, and equitable. He then championed the development of The Climate Center’s Community Energy Resilience project, which has culminated in the creation of a new $170 million Community Energy Resilience investment program by the California Energy Commission in August of 2022.
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California State Senator Melissa Hurtado is the youngest woman ever elected to the California State Senate. Her District — in California’s Central Valley — is home to some of the richest and most fertile farmland in the world, and one of the top oil-producing counties in the United States.
The Senator is the first from her family to graduate from college—she attended Sacramento State University, where she received her degree in Political Science. In the Legislature, Melissa is known as a thoughtful policymaker who works across party lines to improve the quality of life for residents and to ensure rural voices are heard at all levels of government. She focuses on rural community issues that often go unheard in the State Capitol — access to clean air and water, food insecurity, inequities in environmental policies, agriculture and access to health care in rural communities. This is her third time attending COP.
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Assemblymember Matt Haney represents California’s 17th Assembly District encompassing the Eastern side of San Francisco and serves as the Assembly’s Majority Whip; the chair of the Fentanyl, Opioid Addiction, and Overdose Protection select committee; and on the Local Government, Government Organization, Health, Judiciary, and Appropriations committees.
In his first full year in the State Legislature, Assemblymember Haney successfully sent 12 bills to the governor’s desk to be signed into law. Several of these bills worked to tackle the addiction and opioid crisis. Prioritizing housing, he created the “Rental Deposit Fairness Act”, limiting security deposits to a maximum of one month’s rent. This is his third time attending COP.
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Dr. Pat Spearman is President Pro-Tempore of the Nevada State Senate, Co-Majority Whip, and a retired US Army Lt. Colonel, Veteran. Senator Spearman is regarded as one of the most progressive members of the Nevada Senate and has introduced bills that provide equal pay for women, support LGBT rights, and support veterans. Before being elected senator, Spearman served in the United States Army for 29 years, was a pastor, and held several public service positions.
Dr. Spearman is a member of the Elected Officials to Protect America National Climate Emergency & Energy Security Task Force. The goal of the Task Force is to mobilize lawmakers in disadvantaged communities, corporate and government financing, businesses, and NGOs on the ground who have proven climate solutions to equitably implement climate opportunities offered by the Inflation Reduction Act.
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New Mexico State Representative Andrea Romero’s district represents Española and Pojoaque Valleys, northwest Santa Fe, and four sovereign Pueblos.
Representative Romero is a lawyer, and entrepreneur who supports small businesses. She is a member of Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA) New Mexico Leadership Council, actively working to phase out fossil fuels in the state to ensure New Mexico transitions to 100% clean energy.
She’s working to increase job training and apprenticeships, create wind and solar jobs and expand broadband. She’s a defender of water resources, the environment and underserved populations, immigrant rights, and survivors of sexual violence. She sponsored the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women bill that developed a task force in 2019.
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Washington State Senator Joe Nguyễn is a leader in Washington state’s clean energy transition, championing policies like the Climate Commitment Act and investments in renewable energy, EV infrastructure, and grid modernization. As Vice Chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, he prioritizes bold, equitable climate action, demonstrating how states can lead on decarbonization when federal progress stalls.
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