When more than 300 leaders from business, government, and
the nonprofit sector descend on Washington, D.C. for three intense days of
meetings with their representatives each spring, the issues they raise tend to
get noticed.
That fact was on full display for the 40th
Capitol-to-Capitol trip, the largest program of its kind in the United States,
hosted by the Sacramento Metro Chamber. The delegation has shrunk a bit
since its peak of 400 attendees several years ago, but its impact is no less
felt on Capitol Hill. And what was the most valuable aspect of the trip
this year for the nine-member Air Quality Team?
According to Becky Wood, Environmental Manager for
Teichert Materials and a co-chair for Air Quality Team, the trip deepened the bonds of the Cleaner Air Partnership. "By having many members of the Partnership
together back in D.C. working on these regional issues it strengthens the
Partnership for the work we do all year long. It gives a voice to the
reality that public health and good business do go hand in hand and that we can
find common ground."
The Air Quality Team took seven issues to Washington, D.C.
this year, having vetted them with experts and advocates back home over several
months. Issues included (1) encouraging the U.S. EPA to act on our
"Regional Exceptional Event" request by May 2010; (2) supporting integrated
transportation, economic, and land use models being piloted in our region; (3)
maintaining current funding levels for the Congestion Mitigation Air Quality
(CMAQ) program; (4) maintaining funding levels for air quality grants for state
and local agencies; (5) appropriating $3 million for incentive programs to help
retire older wood stoves; (6) supporting state and local flexibility in
developing greenhouse gas regulations; and (7) advancing policies that improve
waste-to-biomass opportunities on public lands.
The Air Quality Team had some 20 meetings in two days
involving Senate, House, and Administration leaders and their staff. The
results were favorable. "Two of our three meetings with EPA were very well
received and provided some great opportunities for future collaboration.
It was important for EPA leadership to see the cross level coordination
of Cap-to-Cap," said Larry Greene, Air Pollution Control Officer for the
Sacramento Metro Air Quality Management District and a team co-chair.
Becky Wood agreed.
"The most significant outcome was the
bipartisan commitment from our Representatives to help us with our policy
issues if we need them to weigh in with the agencies. The current
partisan nature of Washington was transcended in our meetings with members from
both sides of the political spectrum who could see the wisdom of supporting our
issues because we had brought together the major parties from the region
(regulator, nonprofit, and business) to make improvements for both public
health and business," said Wood.
So what's next? "I think we set the stage for a number
of issues that will come up in future legislation on climate change and
transportation reauthorization and have good buy-in from our Congressional Representatives for future support on those issues," Greene concluded.
For more information about the trip, contact Cleaner Air
Partnership manager Bill Mueller, one of the three Air Quality Team co-chairs,
at bill.mueller@valleyvision.org.
Bill
Mueller
CEO
& Managing Partner
Valley
Vision, Inc.
916.865.8204
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