Oral history interview with Frances G. Beinecke, 2021
Abstract
Frances Beinecke reflects on her participation in the environmental movement. She discusses her presidency of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) from 2006 to 2015 and service in the Obama administration on the National Commission on the British Petroleum (BP) Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling and as a member of the advisory board to the U.S. secretary of energy. Beinecke f ocuses on the historical development and trajectory of the environmental movement, and provides details about the major efforts and initiatives with which she was closely involved during the years of the Obama presidency, including advocacy for climate policy during the 2008 presidential campaign, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's contribution to the advancement of renewable technologies, the failure of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (Waxman-Markey), the rise of environmental justice activism in response to the more widespread recognition of the disproportionate distribution of environmental harms, and the increased participation of young people in the environmental movement during protests opposing the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. Beinecke also discusses the structure and activities of the Deepwater Horizon commission, her trips to the gulf states during the cleanup operation, the BlueGreen Alliance between environmental groups and organized labor, the treatment of activists at the 2009 Copenhagen Summit, and the development and release of the administration's 2013 Climate Action Plan and 2015 Clean Power Plan
Presidents--United States; Environmentalism--History.--United States; Environmental justice--United States; Environmental racism--United States; Climatic changes--United States; BP Deepwater Horizon Explosion and Oil Spill, 2010; Keystone XL Project--United States; Beinecke, Frances; Obama, Barack; Natural Resources Defense Council; Clean Power Plan (U.S.); United States National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling; United States Secretary of Energy Advisory Board; United States; Conference of the Parties (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) Copenhagen, Denmark) 2009 : (15th; American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2021
Physical Description
57 pages
Note (Biographical)
Frances Beinecke served as president of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) from 2006 to 2015. In addition, President Obama appointed Beinecke to the National Commission on the British Petroleum (BP) Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore D rilling. She also served as a member of the United States Secretary of Energy Advisory Board from 2012 through 2016
Note
Interviewed by Dov Weinryb Grohsgal on April 13, 2021. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Frances G. Beinecke, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2022