Sharing the latest from Corporate Citizenre on the energy bill!

Here is an update from Erika:

Good morning, all,

Here is Vote Solar's review of yesterday's Senate Energy Bill vote. The next strategy is to attach the solar provisions to another, widely supported piece of energy legislation, to ensure passage. Then negotiate with the House again over any differences. Clearly, this is going to be "sausage-making" at its best.

Our job: stay the course. Make sure the Senators and Reps know that we are still watching, and that we want the strongest possible solar package. The changes in priorities that America has sought for many years simply MUST happen. You know all the reasons why; we can keep repeating them as long as necessary.

We also know that this is NOT a partisan issue. Ensuring future economic strength is not partisan; the health of our families, cities, towns and planet are things we all want, both parties. This is a debate about how best to ensure these things -- and we believe that the future is best served by clean energy and new industries.

Not all Republicans are "anti-solar". The five Republican Senators who voted FOR the Energy Bill included Maine's senators Snowe and Collins. They understand these issues very well, and are trying to find 'win-win' -- support for renewables that their R colleagues WILL support. (Collins faces a tough reelection fight next year. They both know that Maine won't stay in the R column much longer if issues like this don't go the right way.)

Please tell all Ecos to keep calling and generating calls from their lists/ families, contacts, etc. The outcry generated over the last two weeks has clearly made a huge difference. If that ends now, the negotiating ahead will suffer.

For those of you making or watching over direct calls to Congressional staffers, the next steps vary.

IF Energy staffers HAVE NOT been reached, please continue to try. We want to connect with these folks in as many states as possible. "Reaching them" means that you have the name of the energy staffer and have left a message for that person at least; better yet, you/an Eco has had a substantive conversation with that person.

When you reach the right person, make the following points:

* Stable long-term solar policy and incentives are critical to maintain the industry's growth; start-stop incentives hamstring the growth of companies like ours.
* Solar has huge bipartisan support. Please don't let partisan politics impede the will of the people. (Vote Solar's summary of the poll results www.votesolar.org/polls.html support this)

IF you HAVE made a staff connection already, sit tight, no need to call again right away. We will want to call again to support whatever comes out of this weekend's negotiations. By then, we'll know precisely how to describe what we want them to do.

Finally, please DO report any conversations with Congressional energy staffers. So far I have reports (and identified energy staffers) on 9 states. This is good however I suspect that there are other states where calls have been made but not reported. Here's the Form again: http://www.houseofsolar.com/action/

Thanks once more for all your help. Huge progress was made with the House vote. But the battle isn't over yet. Please know that the troops on the side of clean energy are stronger, and the future looks brighter, with every call you make. My best wishes,

Erika Morgan, SVP Communications
Citizenre Corporation