Governor Rell Pledges Support to President

in Building Clean-Energy Economy

            Governor M. Jodi Rell has joined 11 other governors in a letter to President Barack Obama expressing her willingness to help build a national program to address climate change and lead the country to a clean-energy economy.

            The signees are governors of states that have been leaders on clean energy initiatives. In November, then President-Elect Obama addressed the Governors’ Global Climate Summit, where he said “any governor willing to promote clean energy will have a partner in the White House.”

            In their letter of January 29, the governors write: “We welcome the opportunity to take you up on that offer. We ask to meet with you and your energy and environment leadership team as soon as possible to forge a new, dynamic partnership of state, local and federal leaders that will be critical to addressing climate change and leading our country toward a clean energy economy.”

            Many of the governors joining Governor Rell in the letter also took part in the April 2008 environmental conference at Yale where they signed a historic Declaration of Climate Change.

            “It is crucial to build on our states’ momentum,” the governors told the President. “In the absence of federal leadership, we led the way in building an American climate change and clean energy policy from the ground up.”

            Under Governor Rell’s leadership, Connecticut has been consistently recognized as a national leader in green technology. Among the efforts under way in Connecticut to confront climate change include:

• Adopting a Climate Change Action Plan – Connecticut was one of the first states in the nation to do so
• Participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative – A first-in-the-nation cap and trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Spearheading the Climate Registry – A multi-state initiative to develop and manage a common greenhouse gas emissions reporting system
• Green Building Requirements – Setting standards and requirements for new public and private construction costing in excess of $5 million. 

      Also signing the letter were: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, California; Governor Charlie Crist, Florida; Governor Martin O’Malley, Maryland; Governor Kathleen Sebelius, Kansas; Governor Deval Patrick, Massachusetts; Governor Jon S. Corzine, New Jersey; Governor David Patterson, New York; Governor Christine O. Gregoire, Washington; Governor Bill Richardson, New Mexico; Governor Theodore R. Kulongoski, Oregon; Governor Jim Doyle, Wisconsin.