Posted by
Dan Fine on Sunday, May 18, 2008 9:28:24 AM
First ever Energy Security conference honoring Senator Pete Domenici
Please call or sign up online now
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The
New Mexico Center for Energy Policy (NMCEP) invites you to attend “The
Making of Energy Policy: Where Are We Going?” conference May 27, 2008,
at the Lea County Event Center in Hobbs, New Mexico.
Registration will begin at 10 a.m., with the conference beginning at 11:30 a.m.
U.S. Senator Pete Domenici will deliver a dinner address at 6 p.m.
Senator Domenici will be honored with the National Energy Policy
Leadership Award for his service on
the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee. During the conference, cornerstone papers will be
presented by:
• The United States Chamber of Commerce
• The American Petroleum Institute
• The Electric Power Research Institute
Each presentation will be followed by commentary from
experts. Additional presentations will be made by:
• The U.S. Department of Energy Office of
Petroleum Reserves, which will address the
promise of unconventional fuels
• The New Mexico Center for Energy Policy,
which will report on “Energy Security:
Understanding it — Before And After”
• Brenda Brooks, communications director for the National Enrichment Facility at Eunice,
New Mexico, will tell “The LES Story”
New Mexico Tech, NMCEP and the Economic DevelopmentCorporation of
Lea County are conference sponsors. Cosponsors are the American
Petroleum Institute, the
Electric Power Research Institute, and the United States Chamber of Commerce.
To make reservations for the conference, call NMCEP at
(575) 492-2784 or register online at
http://nmcep.nmt.edu
About the New Mexico Center for Energy Policy --Mission Statement
Mission Statement/ Description
The New
Mexico Center
for
Energy Policy (NMCEP) is the first community-centered response to the
challenge
of national energy security in the United States. Its location in Lea
County
reflects the New Mexico Southeast as a historic and contemporary source
of
energy production and technology. Energy
policy-making in Washington
and in state capitals is often limited to “witness”
appearances from
“locals”. Energy
policy developed and
promoted by an energy production community has been non-existent until
now.
NMCEP (nim-sep) represents
a diversified energy production and infrastructure community (DEPIC). The economic reality in Lea
County
and the region includes natural gas, oil, wind, solar, bio-fuels and
nuclear
energy. There is
also presence of carbon
dioxide that can be transformed into feedstock for fuel from capture or
sequestered (stored underground). Diversified energy supply is a natural endowment: it rejects
“either /or” (renewable vs.
non-renewable) policy choices and mandates.
NMCEP will initiate a
process for facilitating energy economic development programs. This process will also
encourage local social
capital towards lowering political risk for energy. One of the critical elements of investor risk
assessment is community attitude towards energy technology, production
and
usage.
NMCEP recognizes that 80%
of CO2 emissions, the primary source of greenhouse gases and
projections of
climate warming in the United States,
result from electricity
production. Carbon-neutral
alternatives
include nuclear energy and renewable energy. Southeast
New Mexico merits consideration and site-selection
for these
carbon-neutral sources.
NMCEP will partner with New
Mexico Tech and NMJC in the competition for industry and state /
national
research grants and programs. Tech
offers a diversified energy technology, critical mass of research
faculty to
participate in energy community-energy engineering university
partnerships and
will coordinate with NMJC training and outreach resources.
NMCEP will establish
direct
private sector and government ties that will advance the potential of
energy
policy and development in a diversified energy production community. This will involve
developing policy and positions
on the energy regulatory process at all levels. The Center will address national energy security with an
enabling model
that other similarly endowed communities can follow. Lea County
participants will
become advisors and ambassadors.