Digital Discussion: An Outlook for Bipartisan National Climate Action
Join us for an SOF Digital Discussion produced in collaboration with the Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Program featuring Representative Kathy Castor (D-FL), Chair of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, and Representative Garret Graves (R-LA), Ranking Member of the Select Committee on Climate Crisis, in conversation with Justin Worland from TIME about the future of climate policy in the United States. Guided by Worland, Castor and Graves will share insights into the Committee’s progress over the last year, the Majority plan released in June, their expectations and outlook for climate action, and where opportunities for collaboration across the aisle exist.
*This digital discussion is open to members of the Society of Fellows and guests of the Energy and Environment Program. If you are not a member of the Society of Fellows, and are interested in joining, please contact the SOF Team at sof@aspeninstitute.org.
Presenters:
Chair Kathy Castor is a national leader on clean energy, environmental justice, coastal protection and addressing the climate crisis. She’s represented Florida’s 14th District since 2006.
Rep. Castor (FL-14) has a long-established track record of standing up for a clean and healthy environment, supporting clean energy jobs and promoting environmental justice. She started her professional career enforcing environmental and growth management laws to protect Florida’s wetlands, coastline, endangered species and sensitive lands. As a Hillsborough County Commissioner in Tampa, Florida, Castor served as chair of the Environmental Protection Commission (EPC), which is charged with protecting the air, water, wetlands and lands of the large and diverse county, including delegated elements of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.
Congressman Garret Graves represents Louisiana’s Sixth Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. More than 750,000 people live in the 13 parishes that make up the sixth district, which includes most of Garret’s hometown of Baton Rouge, the bulk of the Capital City’s suburbs, parts of parishes along both sides of the Mississippi River to the western shores of Lake Pontchartrain and continues south through Thibodaux to Houma.
For the 116th Congress, Garret is the Ranking Member for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation and is the Ranking Member for the new Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. He also serves on the House Natural Resources.
Last Congress, Graves chaired the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment and was instrumental in the development, passage and enactment of a range of policy wins on rivers, levees, flood protection, coastal issues and Corps of Engineers reforms. He also brought about critical upgrades to federal disaster response and recovery programs, streamlining FEMA operations, creating faster recoveries and helping make communities across the nation more resilient to disaster.
Justin Worland is the energy and climate correspondent at TIME based in Washington, DC. He has covered everything from grassroots climate activism to the behind-the-scenes negotiations that led to the Paris Agreement, to the ups and downs of the oil and gas industry. His recent cover stories include Greta Thunberg’s “Person of the Year.” Worland has received multiple awards for his coverage, including the SEAL award for environmental journalism. He joined TIME in New York covering breaking news and health before settling into the climate beat in DC.