March 31, 2015 President Barack Obama The White House 1600

March 31, 2015
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President,
As members of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2)[i], we recognize that carbon
pollution is creating economic and environmental disruptions, that strong climate
policies will create jobs, and that U.S. leadership is essential to secure aggressive action
by other countries. Therefore, we write in support of your proposal to commit the U.S.
to further reduce its emissions by up to 28% below 2005 levels by 2025 as a part of the
new international agreement to be adopted this December.
Your Administration has finalized or begun to implement a number of measures to
reduce America’s emissions that are driving climate change. These are important efforts
to meet the U.S. commitment to cut emissions 17% below 2005 levels by 2020.
Continued robust action on carbon pollution standards from power plants, oil and gas
methane, and super-potent heat trapping HFCs will be critical.
The commitment to further cut U.S. emissions by 2025 will send an even stronger
market signal than existing policies can do alone. It will build upon these current efforts
and help drive even more innovation, job creation, and pollution reduction. We have
seen first-hand the ability of robust U.S. policies to spur clean energy deployment.
Although clean energy is still an emerging energy sector, representing only 6 percent of
generation, it is a strong economic growth sector. Including all clean energy sectors, the
U.S. has an estimated 3.4 million clean jobs as of 2013 – a number which is steadily
growing.[ii] In the last two years E2 has tracked nearly 700 clean energy and clean
transportation project announcements that could create more than 233,000 jobs when
completed.[iii] Well-designed additional measures will capitalize on these existing
investments in clean energy and support new investments that create more opportunities
to unleash America’s clean energy economy.
The innovations we develop domestically will also help American entrepreneurs export
to the expanding international market for clean energy - a multi-trillion dollar
opportunity. U.S. manufacturers can be the leading global suppliers of cleaner cars,
cleaner fuels, cleaner power, and technologies that improve industrial, power plant and
building efficiency.
Our actions at home also send a powerful signal abroad by helping spur action in other
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countries, helping to create the necessary global action and stimulating new clean
energy markets throughout the world. The recent joint announcement between the U.S.
and China demonstrates that when the U.S. shows it is prepared to act at home it can
help secure strong commitments in other major emitters. As the world’s strongest
economy, America can and must lead in this arena.
For all of these reasons, we strongly support your goals to cut U.S. emissions 26-28
percent below 2005 levels by 2025. We are ready to work with you to ensure this plan
works for our communities to protect them from the risks of climate change while
providing new economic opportunities and helping spur global action.
Sincerely,
Dan Abrams (California)
President/CEO, Wynkoop
Properties
Clifford Adams (New York)
Managing Director, Coady
Diemar Partners
Dora Barlaz Hanft (New York)
Environmental Science Teacher,
Horace Mann School
Frederick Baron (California)
Partner, Cooley LLP
Mark Bauhaus (California)
Former Executive Vice President,
Juniper Networks
Elizabeth Bekiroglu
(Washington)
Pacific Northwest Director,
Environmental Entrepreneurs
Dave Belote (Virginia)
Senior Vice President, Cassidy
and Associates
Tod Bensen (California)
Director, WildAid
Laura Berland-Shane
(California)
Director, Utility Markets - West,
Comverge
Eric Berman (Washington)
Angel VC
Tony Bernhardt, PhD
(California)
Northern California Director,
Environmental Entrepreneurs
Maureen Blanc (California)
Director, CHARGE ACROSS
TOWN
Environmental Entrepreneurs
Stewart Greenfield
(Connecticut)
Chairman, Alternative Investment
Group
Eric Grunebaum
(Massachusetts)
Chief Business Development
Officer, Business Dev't. at
TeraCool & Producer ''The Last
Mountain''
Tom Haggin (California)
Co-Founder, Sybase and Tilden
Park Software
Berl Hartman (Massachusetts)
E2 New England Chapter
Director, Hartman Consulting
Carol Hazenfield (California)
Communications Coach
Sheryl Heckmann (California)
Events Coordinator, Law
Foundation of Silicon Valley
Mark Heising (California)
Managing Director, Medley
Partners
Ward Hendon (California)
Cofounder, Axiom Legal
Mitch Hescox (Pennsylvania)
President and CEO, Evangelical
Environmental Network
Shiela Hingorani (California)
First Vice President, Morgan
Stanley
Jerry Hinkle (California)
Northern California Regional
Coordinator, Citizens Climate
Lobby
David O'Leary (Maryland)
Technology Strategy, Better World
Telecom
Doug Ogden (California)
CEO, North Ridge Investment
Management
Michael Brian Orr (Washington)
Senior Computer Scientist, Adobe
Systems
Lyn Oswald (California)
E2 Membership Director
Peter Papesch (Massachusetts)
Architect, Papesch Associates
Vic Parker (California)
Managing Director
Neela Patel (California)
Director, Biology, Poniard
Pharmaceuticals
Rebecca Patton (California)
Ethan Podell (New York)
President, Babel Networks Limited
Christopher Pribe (California)
Emily Rice (Iowa)
Business Development Manager,
The Energy Group
Kate Ridgway (California)
Real Estate Professional
Jamila Rockette (Colorado)
Consultant
Laurie Rothenberg (New York)
Jacqueline Royce
(Massachusetts)
Independent Scholar
Paul Salinger (California)
VP, Marketing, Oracle
John Santoleri (New York)
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Barbara Blumenthal (New
Jersey)
Executive Coach, Leaders In
Motion
Julie Blunden (California)
Former CEO, ClimateWorks
Foundation
Bill Boyk (Oregon)
CEO/Founder, GyroVolts by
Ameristar Solar, LLC
Tim Brummels (California)
CEO, Canergy LLC
Reid Buckley (California)
Principal, Orion Renewable
Energy Group
Barbara Brenner Buder
(California)
CFO, San Francisco Theological
Seminary
Dianne Callan (Massachusetts)
Independent Legal Consulting,
Green Tech Legal
Hamilton Candee (California)
Partner, Altshuler Berzon LLP
Peter Carson (California)
Partner, Sheppard Mullin
Hampton & Richter LLP
Pete Cartwright (California)
CEO, Avalon Ecopower
Steve Chadima (California)
Senior Vice President,
Communications & Director of
California Initiatives, AEE
Advanced Energy Economy
Michael Cuddehe (New York)
Principal, Strategic Global
Advisors, LLC
Andrew Currie (Colorado)
Investor, Active Minds LLC
Mary Ann Cusenza (California)
Independent Consultant for high
tech and cleantech companies
Vincent Cushing (Illinois)
President & CTO, QCoefficient,
Inc.
Peter Davis (California)
Retired Attorney
Michael Delapa (California)
DeLapa Consulting
Chris Dennett (Oregon)
Environmental Entrepreneurs
David Hitchcock (Virginia)
Senior Vice President, Corporate
Operations, Harvest Power
Wendy James (California)
President, Better World Group
Delayne Johnson (Iowa)
CEO & Founding Board Member,
Quad County Corn Processors
Nicholas Josefowitz (California)
Executive Director, Leadership
For A Clean Economy
Derry Kabcenell (California)
Former Executive Vice President,
Oracle Corporation
Jerome Kalur (Montana)
Attorney at Law
Ron Kamen (New York)
CEO, EarthKind Solar Energy
Christopher Kaneb
(Massachusetts)
Principal, Catamount
Management Corporation
Arthur Keller (California)
Managing Partner, Minerva
Consulting
Will Kenworthy (Illinois)
Vice President, Regional
Operations - Midwest, Microgrid
Solar
Charly Kleissner (California)
Co-Founder, KL Felicitas
Foundation
Stephen Koch (California)
Portfolio Manager, AIG Global
Real Estate
David Kolsrud (South Dakota)
President, DAK Renewable
Energy
Philip Korsant (Florida)
Managing Member, Korsant
Partners
Felix Kramer (California)
Founder, California Cars Initiative
Chip Krauskopf (California)
Chief Operating Officer,
Chromasun Inc.
Pete Krull (North Carolina)
President and Founder, Krull &
Company
DC Kuhns (Delaware)
Partner, StoneWork Capital
Tedd Saunders (Massachusetts)
CSO, The Saunders Hotel Group
David Schwartz (California)
Kathleen Scutchfield (California)
Lt Gen (ret) Noman Seip
(Virginia)
Owner, NS Solutions, LLC
Laura Shenkar (California)
Principal, The Artemis Project
Barbara Simons (California)
Research Staff Member, Retired,
IBM Research
Jon Slangerup (California)
CEO, Port of Long Beach
Sandra Slater (California)
Owner, Sandra Slater
Environments
Bryce Smith (Washington)
CEO, OneEnergy Renewables
Gregrey Smith (Ohio)
President, Energy Optimizers
Peter Sullivan (California)
Founder, Clear Light Ventures
Sally Supplee (California)
Former Chief Financial Officer,
various companies
Todd Thorner (California)
CEO / Founder, JTN Energy
John Tourtelotte (Massachusetts)
Managing Director, Rivermoor
Energy
Mike Ubell (California)
Architect, Oracle
Bill Unger (California)
Partner Emeritus, Mayfield Fund
Thomas Van Dyck (California)
Sr. Vice President, RBC Wealth
Management
Mark Vander Ploeg (California)
Retired, Investment Banker
Alex Wall (Oregon)
Attorney, Wall at Law
Bill Weihl (California)
Sustainability guru, Facebook
Jeffrey Weiss (Rhode Island)
Member, Clean Energy Venture
Group
Eric Wepsic (New York)
Managing Director, D. E. Shaw &
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Manager, ACME Business
Consulting
Ted Driscoll (California)
Partner, Digital Healthcare Lead,
Claremont Creek Ventures
Tim Dwight (Iowa)
Business Development, Integrated
Power Corporation
Niko Elmaleh (New York)
Vice President, World-Wide
Holdings Corp.
Bob Epstein (California)
Co-founder, Sybase, New
Resource Bank, Environmental
Entrepreneurs
Rob Erlichman (California)
Founder & President, Sunlight
Electric, LLC
Lynn Feintech (California)
Anne Feldhusen (California)
Consultant, Green Business
Technology Marketing
Steve Flick (Missouri)
Principal, Environmental
Ecologist, Flick Seed Company
Nancy Floyd (California)
Founder and Managing Director,
Nth Power
Jon Foster (California)
Chief Financial Officer, Nexant
Chris Fowle (New York)
VP, Investor Initiatives, CDP
Nell Freudenberger (New York)
Author
Rona Fried (New York)
President,
SustainableBusiness.com
Guillaume Gauthereau (New
York)
Founder and Chairman, Sequoia
Lab
Nancy Gail Goebner
(California)
Owner, Gardenpeach Place
Mitchell Golden (New York)
Principal, Jun Group
Susan Goldhor (Massachusetts)
Biologist, C.A.R.S.
Ken Goldsholl (California)
CEO, x.o.ware, Inc.
Environmental Entrepreneurs
CEO, Executive Director,
Founder, EDEN Delmarva
Susan Labandibar
(Massachusetts)
President, Tech Networks of
Boston
Nicole Lederer (California)
Chair and Co-Founder,
Environmental Entrepreneurs
Waidy Lee (California)
Advisory Board Member,
Sustainable Silicon Valley
Sam Leichman (California)
Co-Founder, LivingPlug
Florence W. Liddell (New York)
Environmental Advocate
Mark Liffmann (Washington)
Vice President of Business
Development, Clean Power
Research
Steve MacKay (California)
Principal, Scourie Network
Partners
Ryan Martens (Colorado)
Founder, CTO & CSO, Rally
Software Development
James Marvin (Massachusetts)
Regional Manager, East &
Canada, Expeditors
Andy Mendelsohn (California)
Sr. Vice President, Server
Technologies, Oracle
David Miller (Massachusetts)
Executive Managing Director,
Clean Energy Venture Group
Carol Moné (California)
Producer, Our Earth Productions
Jay Morrow (Pennsylvania)
Senior VP, AIG Property
Casualty
Liz Muller (California)
Director of Sustainability, U.S.
Biodiesel Group
Susan Nedell (Colorado)
Consultant
Carl Nettleton (California)
President, Nettleton Strategies
LLC
Armand Neukermans
(California)
Co.
Bonni Widdoes (Massachusetts)
President, Gladden House
Erik Wohlgemuth (Oregon)
COO, Future 500
Gary Wolff (California)
Former Vice Chair, CA State
Water Resources Control Board
Ion Yadigaroglu (California)
Managing Partner, Capricorn
Investment Group
George Yandell (California)
Director of Real Estate, Nature
Conservancy
Mary M. Yang (California)
Scientist and Entrepreneur
Daniel Yost (California)
Partner, Orrick, Herrington &
Sutcliffe LLP
Paul Zorner (California)
Venture Partner, Finistere Ventures
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Founder, Xros
Wes Goldstein (California)
Senior Partner, Hobbs & Towne, Al Nierenberg (Massachusetts)
Inc.
President, Evergreen Consulting
& Training
Standish O'Grady (California)
Managing Director, Granite
Ventures, LLC
144 members
[i] E2 is a nonpartisan, national community of business leaders who promote sound
environmental policies that grow the economy. We are entrepreneurs, investors, and
professionals from every sector of the economy who collectively have been involved in
the financing, founding or development of more than 1,700 companies that have created
more than 570,000 jobs. Our members manage billions of dollars in venture and private
equity capital that will flow over the next several years into new companies.
[ii] “Employment in Green Goods and Services – 2011,” U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, March 2013.http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ggqcew.pdf
[iii] Available at http://www.cleanenergyworksforus.org.
Environmental Entrepreneurs
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