FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: ECOS Executive Director Ben Grumbles, (202) 266-4929 or bgrumbles@ecos.org or
Lia Parisien, (202) 266-4931 or lparisien@ecos.org
Environmental Council of the States (ECOS)
ECOS Launches Climate & Energy Workgroup to Advance Environmental Progress, Emphasize Common Ground
Washington, DC – ECOS is launching a new Climate & Energy Workgroup to deliver timely
recommendations and build capacity for bipartisan, durable solutions. The announcement comes as
COP27 concludes in Egypt and ECOS members continue to increase their attention to mitigation of
greenhouse gases and adaptation and resiliency to climate change here at home.
“State environmental agency leaders are committed to working together with all of our partners and
co-regulators for the benefit of our communities and ecosystems,” said ECOS President Myra Reece,
Director of Environmental Affairs with the South Carolina Department of Health & Environmental
Control.
The comprehensive new focus of state environmental regulators is all the more important as
opportunities and urgencies grow globally, nationally, and locally. COP27 highlighted efforts around
the world among nations, communities, businesses, and citizens, as well as the need to do more to
protect public health and grow clean energy economies. In the last year in the United States,
unprecedented funding for environmental infrastructure and climate policy has been enacted through
the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
“It’s important for states to help shape how these historic funds and programs are implemented and
enforced,” noted ECOS Vice President Chuck Carr Brown, Secretary of the Louisiana Department of
Environmental Quality. “State environmental agencies are central to ensuring sound climate and
energy policy and delivering results.”
ECOS will first form a Climate & Energy Steering Committee, co-chaired by ECOS Past President
Todd Parfitt, Director of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, and Katie Dykes,
Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. The committee
will develop a work plan of priorities, including coordination with the federal government on
implementation of the landmark IRA, identification of best practices and strategies for climate
resilience, and promotion of regulatory and market-based innovations and streamlining efforts to
reduce carbon pollution and boost equity and economic growth.
ECOS is the national nonprofit, nonpartisan association of state environmental agency leaders. For more information, visit www.ecos.org.
