the Olive Tree
Summer 2006 Volume 14 Number 1

The Promise of Energy Independence: Examining National Policy and Regional Action

 
In this issue: Energy policy is really made up by actions of millions of people, in this country and internationally, stated Susan Tierney of the bi-partisan National Commission on Energy Policy in her opening remarks at Fogler’s William S. Cohen Papers Forum, October 5, 2005.
Dr. Tierney delivered an energetic and comprehensive illustrated keynote address entitled “Ending the Energy Stalemate” for the daylong program. A managing principal with a Boston consulting firm, she is chair of the board of the Energy Foundation, director on the boards of several organizations focused on regional energy and climate change, and a member of the Advisory Committee of ISO New England. Dr. Tierney served as Assistant Secretary for Policy in the U.S. Department of Energy and Secretary of Environmental Affairs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Dr. Helena Chum of the National Bioenergy Center of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory followed Dr. Tierney with “Biofuels in the Energy Mix.” Her presentation was a research-rich description of both the technical challenges and the promise of alternative fuels in the context of national energy policy.
Governor John E. Baldacci provided the luncheon address and took questions from the audience of over 100 faculty, students, industry leaders, legislators, and the general public gathered in the Buchanan Alumni House.
Following Governor Baldacci, Denis Bergeron, director of the Efficiency Maine program at the Maine Public Utilities Commission, answered the question "What more can Maine do with energy efficiency?" The Maine presentations continued with Beth Nagusky, Maine’s Director of Energy Independence and Security; Dave Wilby, executive director of the Independent Energy Producers of Maine and a staff member for Bill Cohen throughout his last term in the Senate; and Rob Gardiner of the Conservation Law Foundation, a New England environmental advocacy organization, who spoke about the siting of LNG terminals. The forum concluded with a lively question/answer period and discussion among the Maine panelists and the audience.
The William S. Cohen Papers Forum provides a setting for public discussion of current affairs and raises awareness about the diverse research material in the collection. Please visit Fogler’s website to see a summary of the Forum with links to the lecture slides, audio versions of the talks, transcripts of all the presentations and a photograph gallery at www.library.umaine.edu/cohen/forum/energy.htm.
At the conclusion of his remarks, Governor Baldacci said of the energy issue and the forum, “It is a big deal; it's a big opportunity, and no better place than right here at the University of Maine to start solving the problems for the state of Maine and for the country.”
 

 

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