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Hello! TGIF! What fun do you have planned for the weekend? We have pumpkin carving, baseball, and gardening.

Spotlight on the EcoRight: We love to see a good collab and are even happier when the effort involves our favorites. Cheers to our ED, Bob Inglis, and our Spokesperson, John Sweeney, for their joint op-ed in Real Clear Energy. In It’s Time for America to Embrace Carbon Border Adjustments, they write: “The carbon border adjustment (CBA) offers the U.S. a real opportunity to embrace a policy mechanism that will not only reduce carbon emissions, but also position some key U.S. industries (like steel) to benefit….A CBA would prevent countries with carbon pricing mechanisms from being unfairly penalized for their climate efforts, while also establishing a clear financial incentive for businesses to minimize carbon emissions.”

With the CBA on the table for the upcoming COP-26, this piece deserves your focus! 

EcoRight Speaks, season 3, episode 13: This week’s guest came via the Ask Bob Anything feature we have been promoting. One of our listeners asked for an episode about nuclear energy and another listener recommended Steven Nesbit, President of the American Nuclear Society. Steve had a long and distinguished career with Duke Energy Corporation where he performed safety analyses in support of nuclear power plants. Between 1996 and 2005, he led Duke Energy’s efforts related to the use of mixed oxide (MOX) fuel in its nuclear power reactors as a part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) project to dispose of surplus plutonium from nuclear weapons. 

He also managed used nuclear fuel activities for Duke Energy. For nine years prior to retirement from Duke Energy, he was responsible for developing the company’s policy positions related to nuclear power, and interacting with industry and government groups on used fuel management and related issues. 

In addition to nuclear utility activities, during his career Steve worked on several DOE projects including the New Production Reactor Project, the Yucca Mountain Spent Nuclear Fuel Disposal Project, and the Centralized Interim Storage Facility Project. He supported the U.S. Department of State on outreach to countries with developing nuclear power programs. He also served on the International Panel of Experts for the Nuclear Threat Initiative’s 2016, 2018 and 2020 Nuclear Security Index reports. 

As you will hear, he has decades of experience and expertise and we really just covered a little of everything so I promise, if you have questions about specific topics you hear us touch on in the episode, let me know and we will have him back.

Coming up next week, my chat with the man who coined the term EcoRight, my friend and our steadfast ally, Alex Bozmoski.

Romney calls for price on carbon: In an interview this week, Senator Mitt Romney called a carbon tax “the one change that dramatically affects the amount of global emission.” See it for yourself (and thanks to our EcoRight friend Tom Moyer in Utah for highlighting this conversation).

Of course, we are asking the same question about Budget Reconciliation that the Senator from Utah is! And we want to applaud Senator Romney for his efforts. If you haven’t already, consider signing this letter to let him know the EcoRight has his back.

You’re invited: OurEnergyPolicy invites you to their webinar on free markets in context of COP26 and global efforts to decarbonize, with opening remarks by Rep. Garret Graves, who will be leading the conservative delegation at COP26 with Rep. John Curtis. Register here.

Quote of the week: From the former chair of FERC and one time EcoRight Speaks guest Neil Chatterjee.

“There’s a lot of thoughtful, pragmatic, conservative leaders out there who feel that we need to tackle climate change, but they don’t believe in regulations or subsidies or mandates to do it, and are focused on smart, market-driven solutions to do it…I remain hopeful that that constituency is only going to continue to grow.”

So. Do. We.

That’s it for me. Get your Halloween costumes ready and see you next week.