The University of Texas’ Energy Institute invites you to participate in a national dialog on energy being hosted at universities across the United States.

The Power Dialog will engage approximately 10,000 students in face-to-face dialog with state-level regulators and policy experts in all fifty states. The topic? Implementing the Clean Power Plan, requiring 32% cuts in global warming pollution by 2030.

The recent U.S. Supreme Court action questions the legality of the Clean Power Plan (CPP). The State of Texas was one of the lead states (among 26 total) that challenged the Clean Power Plan. Texas is one of the most important states for energy technology and policy. As institutions of higher learning, it is the responsibility of Texas’ Universities to help our students understand energy and environmental issues that will affect their future. 

This is not a lobbying or advocacy event, but rather a way to engage our students in a unique and important learning opportunity. Thus, the purpose of this dialog is to understand the reasons and justifications for and against the Clean Power Plan. Why does Texas oppose the CPP? Why should Texas support it?

The participants leading the Dialog

• Dr. Bryan Shaw, Chairman of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
• John Hall, Texas State Director, Clean Energy, for Environmental Defense Fund
• Dr. Carey King (moderating), Research Scientist and Assistant Director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin

The dialog model is as follows: A two-hour conversation. The first hour will involve presentations from the two invited speakers. The second hour will be moderated by Dr. King as a question, answer, and dialog session with questions from the audience. Dr. Shaw leads the Texas agency that would be a large part of implementing planning for the Clean Power Plan, but that does not support the CPP.  At EDF, John Hall works for an organization that supports the Clean Power Plan. 

How you can participate

Students from colleges and universities across the state of Texas studying energy and environmental policy are invited to attend and participate in this important discussion. You can participate in person or watch via an online stream. We ask faculty to register the number of students from their class who plan to attend.   REGISTER HERE: http://tinyurl.com/PowerDialogTexas   

Attend in person:  Texas’ Power Dialog event will be hosted on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin). The event will take place on Monday, April 4, 2016, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. in the Will C. Hogg Building (WCH) Room 1.120 at UT-Austin. 

Attend online: This event will be streamed Live via UT’s Lectures Online system.  You can view the presentation via most browsers that handle HTML5 or Flash video.  

The full live link is: http://tinyurl.com/040416

More information about computer system requirements is available here: http://sites.la.utexas.edu/lecturesonline/students/system-requirements/.   

Please feel free to share this information with others in your institution that you think might be interested.

Further information

More detail on the national event can be found at http://www.bard.edu/cep/powerdialog/