RFF Director Lee Wasserman wrote an opinion piece, featured in the New York Times, describing a different litmus test to determine a candidate’s or elected official’s stance on climate change. Instead of focusing only on cutting emissions we should also be asking “Will [an official’s] policies lead to an increase or decrease in the amount of fossil fuels coming out the ground?” Read Lee’s take on the track records of California Governor Jerry Brown, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and New York Governor Cuomo against his proposed question here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/opinion/climate-change-fossil-fuels.html

The Center for Climate Integrity, an RFF grantee, released a first-of-its-kind report titled “High Tide Tax: The Price to Protect Coastal Community from Rising Seas.” The study found that coastal communities in the contiguous U.S. face more than $400 billion in costs over the next two years to defend coastal communities from inevitable sea-level rise. For hundreds of small costal and tidal communities identified in the report, the costs will far outstrip their ability to pay.

Read coverage of the report in the New York Times and Forbes.

This summer, Connecticut became the 8^th state to pass a statewide paid family and medical leave policy. Connecticut Working Families, an RFF partner, led the flight to establish the program and worked hard to continually push for stronger job protections and a more inclusive definition of who constitutes a family member.

RFF grantee, the Land Institute, is leading a research center to develop a number of perennial crops including an intermediate wheat grass called Kernza. Mainstream food producers, including General Mills, are anxious to use Kernza. Hear more about it on this NPR report.

Nonprofit VOTE released a report called “Engaging New Voters” which shows that nonprofits who encourage the community they serve to get registered to vote, through nonpartisan voter engagement efforts, play a critical role in narrowing voter turnout gaps and fostering a more representative electorate. RFF’s Institutional Accountability and Individual Liberty program area supports various independent civic engagement groups filling in the gaps of serving young, low-income voters who are often left out of the engagement process by political parties and candidates.

Tom Sanzillo, director of finance for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, testified on April 9 at a hearing before the House Committee on Natural Resources on Rebuilding and Privatization of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA). Sanzillo’s testimony called for the appointment of an Independent Private Sector Inspector General to investigate PREPA’s operations and implement reforms to eliminate wasteful and illegal activity and for a substantial reduction in PREPA’s debt burden. His full testimony can be found here: https://naturalresources.house.gov/imo/media/doc/Testimony%20Sanzillo%204.9.19.pdf