Pickens Plan District Group TN-02

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Comment by Jonathan Overly on June 30, 2009 at 8:11am

All,
We have a new ally on the propane front in East Tennessee - Bob Giltnane of American Alternative Fuel. He will be coming to our meetings and working with the ETCFC to make connections to East TN fleets to work to move propane into greater transportation fuels use. Also, looks like Knoxville's potential foray into CNG as a trans. fuel is waning, and we are still working with Chattanooga to see what could be started there that would give them refueling infrastructure while setting up public refueling infra. for CNG.
We welcome any district 2 folks attendance at our regional meetings if they want to join in the conversation on these actions or other transportation-based changes. See meetings info here: http://eerc.ra.utk.edu/etcfc/mtgs.html

Comment by Eric Lykins on June 24, 2009 at 10:20pm

The American Clean Energy And Security Act of 2009 is up for a full House vote this Friday which has a Renewable Energy Standard that faces opposition from District 2 Representatives, especially Senator Lamar Alexander who is possibly Congress' most outspoken detractor of wind power.You may have talked to Alexander or his staff until you were blue in the face and written emails and letters until your fingers bled, but that's not going to convince Tennessee Republican (and some Democrat) legislators that any new infrastructure that competes with coal and/or nuclear energy will get them reelected.

Furthermore, do we really want to be the state with the "big oil" executive in the state's executive office, or would we rather continue the legacy of competitive 21st century technology that Governor Bredesen has been working hard to build by bringing $3 billion in new investment commitments into our state this past year alone. Bill Haslam is one heck of a nice guy and very popular in his hometown, but I'd let for you to check out Ward Cammack, the frontrunner to challenge Haslam in 2010. Tennessee has immense potential for leadership toward new energy infrastructure, and Ward seems to fully grasp the directions we need to take to fulfill that role. I would also like to invite you to the Tennessee Democratic Party's fairly new site which is set up on a Ning social networking platform just like Pickensplan.com at tndp.org where there is a featured group, Energy Independence. (Add me as a friend if you do.)

While Lamar rants against unsightly windmills for which Tennessee doesn't have the wind, Ward Cammack likes to talk about how Tennessee has more solar capacity than Germany, and that "We have so many opportunities and if we can get off the environment argument and get on to business facts there's a lot we can do. We can create jobs and we can take care of our health care situation and we can turn our budget around."

Ten percent of people are opposed to any change, ever, and politicians such as Lamar Alexander and John Duncan, Jr. have made lucrative careers exploiting that sentiment which seems to be much higher in Tennessee. During this past year of reaching out to leaders, making friends, and sharing ideas I have come to the conclusion that the thing to do to secure the future of Tennessee's economic growth is to replace these two particular legislators who are stifling our growth, but Alexander is in office until 2014 and Duncan also just got reelected in 2008, so it's going to take a LOT of US to change the supply/demand curve for political will. Once again, the TN-02 list including names of energy related legislative assistants:
Tennessee's 2nd district
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-TN-02)
CALL: 202-225-5435 (D.C. Office)
None of Rep. Duncan's legislative staff in Washington are listed as working on energy
Knoxville District Office
800 Market Street, Suite 110
Knoxville, TN 37902
Phone: (865) 523-3772
Fax: (865) 544-0728
Jonathan Griswold
Legislative Assistant Energy
Defense
Intelligence
Homeland Security
Science
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Budget
SENATE

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
CALL: 202-224-4944
Morgenstern, David Legislative Director
Craig, Tom Projects Coordinator/Legislative Assistant
Knoxville Office contact and staff directory
Howard H. Baker, Jr.,
U.S. Courthouse
800 Market Street, #112
Knoxville, TN 37902
Phone: (865) 545-4253
Fax: (865) 545-4252
Chedester, Jane Field Representative
Downs, Heather Constituent Services Representative
Howell, Elizabeth Constituent Services Representative
Jaynes, Patrick State Director

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)
CALL: 202-224-3344 (D.C.)
Ashley Palmer, Legislative Assistant (Energy/Environment/Agriculture)
Justin Spickard, Legislative Assistant (Agriculture/Energy/Environment)
Knoxville Office
800 Market Street, Suite 121
Knoxville, TN 37902
Main: 865-637-4180
Fax: 865-637-9886
David Leaverton, Field Director
Rhonda Smithson, Constituent Services Representative :

Let them know what YOU want out of this year's energy legislation.

Comment by Mike Pickens on June 24, 2009 at 12:38pm

I am your new regional leader, please let me hear from you !

Comment by Jonathan Overly on May 22, 2009 at 5:53am

Hey Eric -- hope you are doing well!

Comment by Jonathan Overly on May 22, 2009 at 5:53am

I'm doing my part. Just finished several rounds of discussions with cities of Knoxville and Chattanooga to get them using CNG and propane in their fleets. They were not able to get their ducks in a row in time for the current round of funding through the DOE-Clean Cities program, but we expect to continue discussions to be prepared for future rounds. In addition, I/we (the East TN Clean Fuels Coalition - ETCFC) will continue bringing CNG and propane vehicles to these cities (and to other fleets) to help them learn about the benefits of these fuels and vehicles. Visit the ETCFC to learn more about our local meetings where you can come and join in the conversation... and the action! [http://www.ETCleanFuels.org]

Comment by Eric Lykins on April 23, 2009 at 6:37am

The City of Knoxville's Energy Inventory: Government and Community Analysis and Strategic Plans is now complete and available right here.

Developed by the City of Knoxville Policy & Communications Department
Many thanks to everyone who assisted with the development of the inventory and report, especially staff from each department within Knoxville City Government, the Energy & Sustainability Task Force, Knoxville Utilities Board, the Tennessee Valley Authority, Knox County, the Public Building Authority, the Metropolitan Planning Commission, Knoxville Area Transit, the Transportation Planning Organization, Chestnut Ridge Landfill, Lenoir City Utilities Board, Southern Management Group, East Tennessee AAA.

Comment by Renee Klink on April 3, 2009 at 11:28am

District members, we’re at the third and final day of the Virtual March, and today we are focusing on getting action on a bill to establish a 21st century transmission system and a National Renewable Electricity Standard (RES). As Boone points out, twenty-eight states now have an RES – which directs electric utilities to produce a set percentage of their power using alternative sources by a date certain.

Let’s make a great final push. Please use this link to contact Congress and the President again today and send a message to them about renewable energy! Thanks to all who have participated in the Virtual March this week!

Comment by Eric Lykins on April 3, 2009 at 11:03am

T. Boone Pickens brings energy plan to East Tennessee
He’ll speak on "The Pickens Plan: mobilizing a new energy army," at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 15, in Guerry Auditorium on the campus of Sewanee: The University of the South. The event is open to the public.

Comment by Renee Klink on April 2, 2009 at 8:59am

Thanks to all of you who have taken action in the Virtual March so far! It’s Day Two, and the focus today is on oil imports -- the March 2009 numbers show we imported 65 percent of the oil we used -- so let’s contact our Members of Congress again today about reducing America’s dependency on foreign oil. You can do this by phone, of course, and we have also set up links to e-mail Congress or contact your members via Facebook and Twitter about today's issue.

When you’ve done this, please leave a note here on our group page to let other members know you’ve taken action, and tell us if you received any information or feedback from the members’ offices.

Also, if you are a business owner or part of an organization that would like to take part in the Virtual March, please let me know and we’ll recognize you as a partner on the Pickens Plan Virtual March page!

Comment by Renee Klink on April 1, 2009 at 1:13pm

The first day of the three-day Pickens Plan Virtual March on Washington is here!

Among other actions, I’m encouraging everyone to send a single e-mail today, tomorrow, and Friday. It’s a simple thing to do, but it has tremendous impact.

Click here to ask Congress and President Obama to support the NAT GAS Act of 2009.

Thank you for your support.

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