STATE & FEDERAL NEWS FOR ARIZONA’S MANUFACTURING COMMUNITY
August 25, 2015 – Two weeks ago the Arizona Manufacturers Council (AMC) hosted perhaps its best environmental and sustainability summit to date. Special thanks to Haley & Aldrich and Snell & Wilmer who were this year’s presenting sponsors.
The event opened with a look at the “state of sustainability.” It turns out 90 percent of businesses nationwide are said to be implementing sustainability practices and finding them valuable. The summit continued with a series of content-rich panels featuring high quality, engaging speakers who delivered meaningful takeaways for all participants.
First up, a terrific discussion on the Clean Power Plan and Ozone Rule. Panelists brought startling statistics to light about the Ozone Rule in particular. As much as $4 billion gross state product loss is expected through 2040 with a $5 billion compliance cost. That’s a hefty price to pay for very few environmental gains in return.
On a more positive note, newly appointed Director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Misael Cabrera energized the room with a presentation about “elegant design for environmental good,” while Mitch Klein and Patrick Cunningham led an enlightening panel on ethics.
We were also fortunate to have Kirk Adams, chief of staff to Governor Ducey, as our luncheon keynote speaker. He delivered a terrific address, highlighting the status of water resources in California and Arizona. He emphasized that Arizona is positioned far better than California due to decades of good stewardship and responsible water management. His comments tied nicely into our Water Sustainability and Sustainable Water Practices panels, which closed out the day with leading experts on best practices, complexities of the west, as well as industry-specific information. In particular, SRP discussed marked water storage growth and Intel highlighted their “treat, reuse, save” strategy.
Summit attendees also received an overview of the Voluntary Environmental Stewardship Program (VESP) as well as its levels of recognition and program elements. Rather than functioning as a license, VESP effectively serves as an environmental “good housekeeping” seal of approval.
If you weren’t able to make it to this year’s Summit, please consider joining us next year! Our 2015 event was outstanding and plans are already underway to make 2016 even better.
The Arizona Manufacturers Council is the preeminent manufacturing lobbying association at the state capitol and is the official state affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers.
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