New America Launches Climate Policy Program
(WASHINGTON, DC, 3/30/07) — The New America Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of its Climate Policy Program, directed by Terry Tamminen, well-known architect of California’s landmark global warming legislation. Tamminen, former special adviser to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) and the Secretary of California’s Environmental Protection Agency, is widely credited with developing an innovative model for state-based emissions reduction that is currently catalyzing state-based efforts across the nation.
Terry Tamminen will join the New America Foundation on April 1, 2007 as both the Cullman Senior Fellow and director of the Climate Policy Program. “We are extremely grateful to Lewis and Dorothy Cullman, whose generosity has made Terry’s new position at New America possible, and whose dedication to improving our nation’s environment is an inspiration to us all.” said Ted Halstead, President and CEO of the New America Foundation. “Addressing climate change is a paramount challenge that transcends political parties and requires out-of-the-box thinking. We could not imagine anyone more qualified to direct our new Climate Policy Program than Terry Tamminen, whose vision and leadership has already done so much to successfully tackle the climate challenge at the state level.”
“The world will not meet the climate challenge without immediate, bold action from the United States,” Tamminen said. “Today, that action is happening in states and cities with visionary bipartisan leaders. I am honored to become the New America Foundation’s first Cullman Senior Fellow and to become part of a very dynamic organization that is well known for promoting bold yet pragmatic solutions to our nation’s most complex policy challenges.”
In his role as Secretary of the Environmental Protection Agency in the State of California, Tamminen is largely credited for California’s global warming policies, which led to the landmark legislation in 2006 and the climate pact between the state of California and the United Kingdom that same year. The California legislation, which will ultimately reduce California’s greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by the year 2020, offered a “first-in-the-world” comprehensive program of regulatory and market mechanisms to achieve real, quantifiable, cost-effective reductions of greenhouse gases.
The Climate Policy Program, which is supported by a grant from the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and other individual donors, will work to build a national response to climate change through the establishment of state and local action plans. A web site with templates, toolkits and interactive feedback will drive this national effort. Tamminen is already working with a wide range of states to experiment and share best practices, with the ultimate goal of creating a national greenhouse-gas policy to leverage federal and international climate change policy.
In 1993, Mr. Tamminen founded the Santa Monica BayKeeper and served as its Executive Director for six years. He co-founded Waterkeeper programs in San Diego, Orange County, Ventura and Santa Barbara. He also served for five years as Executive Director of the Environment Now Foundation in Santa Monica, CA and co-founded the Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic at the School of Law, University of California Los Angeles. Most recently, Mr. Tamminen is author of the book Lives Per Gallon: The True Cost of our Addiction to Oil which assesses the many costs of our oil-dependent economy and proposes practical, creative strategies to guide our economy towards a cleaner, safer, and more productive future.
