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Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment and The Clark Group Team Up to Help Sustainable Businesses Navigate Capitol Hill

Environment, Sustainability and Capitol Hill: Breaking Developments and Essential Strategies: New Course Offered at Duke May 30 - June 1, 2007

April 15, 2007

The Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment and The Clark Group are teaming up to offer businesses and local governments an inside view of Capitol Hill and practical suggestions on how to bring federal policies into alignment with sustainability goals.

*Please register by May 8, 2007

For full course description and registration click here

Program Description:

Leading businesses and governments know that economic success depends upon alignment of economic, environmental and social goals. Businesses and governments can gain key competitive advantages by positioning their sustainability strategies to take advantage of, and indeed to help shape, emerging federal policy and funding priorities.

Environment, Sustainability and Capitol Hill introduces business and government leaders to the latest Congressional developments related to climate change, clean energy, and environmental funding and tax incentives. The course provides key insights about how businesses and state and local governments can productively shape federal policies and priorities to support their efforts to create economic value by benefiting the environment.

Through this two and one-half day course, participants will interact with key Congressional staff and learn first-hand about breaking environmental developments on Capitol Hill. Working with experienced Hill veterans, participants will be guided through an overview of the history and structure of the federal legislative process, a discussion of the technical aspects of moving a bill through Congress to better understand how the legislative process really works, a survey of relevant political considerations, and a discussion of how participants can use the legislative process to support their alignment of economic and environmental goals. Included in this course are such practical lessons as how to identify an appropriate Congressional champion and how to frame a legislative strategy.

Participants will learn through presentations, discussions and case studies the various avenues to accomplish sustainability goals, including federal appropriations, the use of committee hearings and creating policy through stand-alone bills and legislative riders.

This course is designed for businesses and governments seeking federal support for environmental projects and is structured to benefit both newcomers and those with previous Congressional experience.

Course Facilitators:

Brian Kuehl is Partner and General Counsel in The Clark Group, a Washington, DC-based environmental consulting firm. He is also a 2007 Harvard Loeb Fellow researching business and environmental sustainability. From 1998 to 2000, Brian served as Legislative Director to U.S. Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), Chair of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and formerly Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. From 1997 to 1999, Brian served as Acting Chief of Staff to Senator Baucus and as Senior Legislative Assistant to Senator Baucus on environmental, energy and judiciary issues. Prior to working for Senator Baucus, Brian served as Project Director and Staff Attorney for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition based in Bozeman, Montana. Brian received his law degree from the University of Colorado in Boulder, his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Davis, and in 2000-2001 served as a Leadership Fellow with the U.S.-Japan Foundation.

Timothy Profeta is the Founding Director of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. Prior to his arrival at Duke, he served as Counsel for the Environment to Sen. Joseph Lieberman. As Lieberman's Counsel, Profeta was a principal architect of the Lieberman-McCain Climate Stewardship Act of 2003. He also represented Lieberman in legislative negotiations pertaining to environmental and energy issues, as well as coordinating the senator's energy and environmental portfolio during his runs for national office. Profeta has served as a visiting lecturer at Duke Law School, where he taught a weekly seminar on the evolution of environmental law and the Endangered Species Act. Before joining Lieberman's staff, he was a law clerk for Judge Paul L. Friedman, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Tim received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Yale University in 1992, and earned a Master of Environmental Management degree at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences concurrently with a J.D. in the Duke Law School in 1997.