New IWF Center, Campus Tour, Dunleavy Interview
Here's the latest dispatch.
Good evening,
For you newbies out there, welcome to Outsider on the Inside. I hope this dispatch from in and around the nation’s capital on underreported topics finds you well.
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Introducing IWF’s Center for Energy & Conservation
On Monday, Independent Women’s Forum launched its new center: the Center for Energy and Conservation (CEC).
The center, the fifth of its kind, is being helmed by Mandy Gunasekara—my colleague and former EPA Chief-of-Staff. I’ll be the center’s first official fellow.
Here’s the gist on the CEC and our goals:
IWF’s Center for Energy and Conservation (CEC) will reshape the conversation about American energy and conservation. The center will educate the public about the benefits of modern energy, including thriving economies and healthy communities. The center will also level-set fear-based rhetoric surrounding the climate and cultivate meaningful policies that lead to cleaner air, cleaner water, and a lower-emissions future. Importantly, the center will connect the role our modern energy industry has played in successful environmental outcomes and a better, more prosperous way of life.
And a press release announcing the CEC:
“The most effective path to a cleaner planet alongside thriving communities is through balanced environmental standards,” said Gunasekara. “The Center for Energy and Conservation will advance a better, more prudent path on these issues. It will also change the public discourse that has been largely defined by extremists using the environment as a tool to push bad ideas that make us poorer, more vulnerable, and sadly, don’t even deliver in terms of environment.”
“Our country is blessed with the resources and the innovative spirit to build a better environmental future,” added Gunasekara. “This does not require banning gas stoves, shutting down the fossil fuel industry, or villainizing hard-working Americans. It will be built on the conservative principle of doing more with less, strengthening our energy systems, supporting innovation, and celebrating the men and women that make our modern life possible.”
The launch event received coverage in POLITICO Playbook, E&E News, and Bloomberg.
If you wanted to see some pictures from Monday’s launch event at the Capitol Hill Club, I’ve included some below. (Fun fact: I had the privilege of introducing our guest speakers.)
Governor Dunleavy Interview
"To me, it's an amazing place," Dunleavy said during our recent interview. "I grew up in Pennsylvania—in Scranton, Pennsylvania—and left in 1983 to go to Alaska right out of college, and I thought I died and went to heaven."
He continued, "It's a place where even today I still say to myself, 'I need eight lifetimes to see the entire state and understand it.'"
The Alaska model of balancing natural resource development with conservation stewardship has worked for decades. But the model is now threatened by radical preservationist policies emanating from the White House.
"We have tremendous resources," stated the 12th Alaska governor. "Alaska was probably the only state in the country in which its admittance into the Union as the 49th state was predicated upon its ability — and a compelling argument — that they must develop their resources. The irony today is that the federal government is doing everything possible, from our perspective, to stop that view [and] that approach to resource development from occurring."
Spring 2023 Speaking Tour
I’m hitting the road this spring! I’ll be speaking at Tulane University, Texas A&M, and University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
Watch the announcement below to know when I’m speaking at these campuses:
ICYMI
Articles/ commentary/media appearances from the past week.
MEDIA MENTIONS
I was interviewed by NDTV/AFP at CPAC 2023 about climate.
And I was also featured in POLITICO Playbook, Based Politics, and IWF on an assortment of issues.
ARTICLES/BLOGS
Podcasts You May Have Missed
Catch up on District of Conservation episodes below.
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—Gabriella