Developing Clean Energy Solutions for the Seneca Nation - Matt Renner

02/02/24 • 53 min

Matt Renner serves as Vice President of Seneca Environmental, a tribally owned and controlled Earth-healing solutions company focused on helping commercial customers achieve ambitious climate goals while supporting the long-term well-being of the Seneca Nation and other Indigenous people. His work focuses on partnership development and customer acquisition to create unprecedented collaboration and profitably accelerate climate action.

Matt has worked as a nonprofit executive in clean energy, climate policy, and journalism for over a decade, focusing on the near-term social and economic impacts of climate change. He was the head of Climate Mobilization and now serves on their board of directors. He began his career as an investigative reporter and later became the Executive Director of the World Business Academy to focus on the transition to a climate-constrained economic paradigm.

Matt has a BA degree in Political Science and Government from the University of California, Berkeley.

Topics Discussed Include:

· How Seneca Environmental is set up and its main goals.

· Why the Seneca Nation set up a specific section to invest in clean climate change solutions.

· How Seneca Environmental made the 2023 Time100 List and what Matt has done to make Seneca Environmental unique.

· An outline of the work Renner has done for the Native American community and for corporate businesses on producing clean energy.

· Why Seneca Environmental’s business model is working for both the Native American community and corporate businesses.

· How Seneca Environmental’s model and efforts can be replicated with other tribes and businesses to help the clean energy movement going forward.

Further Reading:

· The Seneca Environmental web site

· Video overview of the Seneca Nation

· Federal Tax Credits for Businesses

· Department of Energy Loan Programs

Support the show

Visit us at climatemoneywatchdog.org!

Matt has a BA degree in Political Science and Government from the University of California, Berkeley.

Topics Discussed Include:

· How Seneca Environmental is set up and its main goals.

· Why the Seneca Nation set up a specific section to invest in clean climate change solutions.

· How Seneca Environmental made the 2023 Time100 List and what Matt has done to make Seneca Environmental unique.

· An outline of the work Renner has done for the Native American community and for corporate businesses on producing clean energy.

· Why Seneca Environmental’s business model is working for both the Native American community and corporate businesses.

· How Seneca Environmental’s model and efforts can be replicated with other tribes and businesses to help the clean energy movement going forward.

Further Reading:

· The Seneca Environmental web site

· Video overview of the Seneca Nation

· Federal Tax Credits for Businesses

· Department of Energy Loan Programs

Support the show

Visit us at climatemoneywatchdog.org!

Previous Episode

Problems with Q45 Tax Credits for Carbon – Paul Blackburn

Our guest tonight is Paul Blackburn of Pipeline Fighters’ Hub. Paul provides legal services on pipeline and renewable energy matters. He has worked on crude oil pipeline issues since 2008, and has experience in renewable energy policy and development. Paul represented nonprofit clients in the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission hearing on the Keystone XL Pipeline, and in the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission hearing on expansion of Line 67, another Enbridge pipeline. He has provided policy analysis and strategic advice on a variety of pipeline matters and authored reports on pipeline safety and oil spill response.

Paul started his legal career in Washington, DC, at the law firm of Van Ness Feldman, where he assisted clients in renewable energy and coal-fired power plant development, a variety of regulatory, legislative, and litigation matters, and Native American commercial law. After leaving private practice, he began a career in the nonprofit sector, including employment by the Sierra Club, the National Environmental Trust, and Oceana in organizing and media. He also has experience in community wind and solar energy development. Paul holds a B.A. in Biology from Macalester College and a J.D. from Boston College Law School.

In this episode we discuss topics including:

· An overview of the Q45 Carbon sequestration tax credit program

· Who benefits from the Q45 Tax Credit Program?

· How Fossil Fuel companies take advantage of the Q45 program and use it to continue to justify producing more fossil fuel

· Problems with the reporting system for 45Q to the EPA and IRS

For more information, see:

· The Pipeline Fighters Hub web site

· The Congressional Research Service’s page on the Q45 program

Support the show

Visit us at climatemoneywatchdog.org!

Next Episode

How Fossil Fuel Subsidies Affect the Environment - Doug Koplow

Doug founded Earth Track to more effectively integrate information on energy subsidies. For the past three decades, he has written extensively on natural resource subsidies for organizations such as the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Stockholm Environment Institute. He has analyzed scores of government programs and made important developments in subsidy valuation techniques. He has provided input on subsidy reform legislation, served as a peer reviewer on subsidy papers from all over the world, and has published his own work in major journals and as book chapters. In recent years, his work has focused on subsidies to fossil fuels, nuclear power, and the impact of multi-sector natural resource subsidies on biodiversity and critical habitats.

Working collaboratively with other organizations, Earth Track focuses on ways to more effectively align the incentives of key stakeholder groups and to leverage market forces to help address complex environmental challenges.

He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BA in economics from Wesleyan University.

Topics Discussed Include:

Government subsidies - why they are important to think about as we try to decarbonize our economy.
How oil and gas subsides work in general and why they are outdated and harmful to climate goals.
How taxpayers’ subsidies distort the market for oil and gas produced in Permian Basin.
The role of different levels of government in supporting oil and gas and whether there are specific challenges trying to reform state-level policies.
How some subsides were passed in the 1920s when oil extraction was a new industry and haven’t been changed to match the times.
How three quarters of the subsides support exploration and production, potentially creating a disincentive to phasing out fossil fuel energy.
How transparency of information on costs and how is paid is often lacking
Particularly egregious subsidies in the federal realm, in Texas, and New Mexico.
Examples of federal and state regulations and environmental exemptions that allow the fossil fuel production pollution to walk away from their production pollution and how that is affecting the Permian Basin’s environment for the people.

Further Reading:

· The High Cost Well subsidy

· The Good Jobs First organization

Support the show

Visit us at climatemoneywatchdog.org!

Climate Money Watchdog - Developing Clean Energy Solutions for the Seneca Nation - Matt Renner

Transcript

Gregory A. Williams00:00:10.740

Thanks for joining us for another episode of climate money watchdog where we investigate and report on how federal dollars are being spent on mitigating climate change and protecting the environment. We are a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that does not accept advertisers or sponsors. So we can only do this work with your support. Please visit us at climate money watchdog.org To learn more about us and to consider making a