Overview Sponsors Honorary Congressional Committee Register

Members of Congress
The Honorable Jay Inslee
U.S. House of Representatives
Co-Chair, House Oceans Caucus
Rep. Inslee has worked at the federal level – as representative for the 4th Congressional District from 1992-1994 and the 1st Congressional District since 1999 – to protect the environment of Washington state and address the problem of global warming. He fought to restore protections for roadless areas in national forests and led a successful campaign in the House to keep limits on oil-tanker traffic in Puget Sound. Since 2005, Jay has used his seat on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee to promote his vision for a clean energy future, the New Apollo Energy Act, and to advance other legislation that would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. In March 2007, he was appointed to the 15-member Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. Since March 2007, he has served on the Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming. Beyond advocating sound environmental policies, Jay has used a common-sense approach in Congress to help expand the region’s high-tech economy, promote privacy protections for American consumers and strengthen programs for seniors like Social Security and Medicare. Jay also has supported increased spending for port security and veterans’ services. He voted against the war in Iraq and was an outspoken critic of Bush administration policies there. Even before his election to the U.S. Congress, Jay was a public servant. He was a state legislator and prosecutor in Selah, Wash. Jay holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Washington and earned his law degree from Willamette University.
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The Honorable Jeff Merkley
U.S. Senate
Member, Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
Sen. Merkley’s public service began as a 19-year-old intern with Oregon’s former Senator, Mark O. Hatfield. Never in Merkley’s wildest dreams did he anticipate that he would return to the Senate 33 years later to represent Oregon in Hatfield’s former seat. He considers it a great honor and a great challenge. Between Merkley’s college internship on Capitol Hill and his election to the U.S. Senate in 2008, Merkley immersed himself in public service. Pursuing an interest generated by his experience as an exchange student in Ghana, West Africa, Merkley studied international relations at Stanford and worked in India and Mexico, including a project to build and operate an environmental camp for Mexican children. After earning a graduate degree in Public Policy at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Merkley worked as a national security analyst at the Pentagon and at the Congressional Budget Office, contributing, he hoped, to the dialogue on responsible management of nuclear weapons. Merkley’s interest in public office is an extension of his passion about building a better America. He likes to keep grounded by asking the simple question: “What is best for our children, our workers, our families, and our planet?” Merkley won his first campaign for State Representative in 1998. He was elected Democratic Leader in 2003 and Speaker in 2007.
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Moderator:
Dennis Takahashi-Kelso
Executive Vice President
Ocean Conservancy
In his role as the executive vice president, Dr. Kelso leads the science and policy direction for Ocean Conservancy. Kelso's distinguished career has covered every aspect of ocean conservation, including public service in natural resources conservation, university teaching, research on fisheries and environmental policy and environmental grant making. Most recently he served as the Program Officer for Marine Fisheries Conservation at The David and Lucile Packard Foundation Executive where his responsibilities included strategy development and grant making for fisheries conservation policy reforms and for market interventions to encourage sustainable fishing and aquaculture. Prior to that, Kelso was a member of the faculty of Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz where his research examined changes in Pacific Coast fisheries, particularly as a result of the shift toward production of farm-raised rather than wild-caught salmon. He received his doctorate from UC Berkeley, as well as a law degree from Harvard University.
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Panelists:
Ned Farquhar
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Materials Management
U.S. Department of the Interior
Ned Farquhar, a renewable energy and natural resource policy expert and former senior advisor on energy and the environment to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, was recently named the deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management, for the Department of Interior. Mr. Farquhar was most recently senior advocate for Mountain West Energy/Climate with the Natural Resources Defense Council in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Since 2006, he has developed strategies for the Western Regional Climate Initiative, incorporating seven states and four Canadian provinces, and culminating in the nation’s most comprehensive cap and trade framework in September 2008. The Initiative supports renewable energy development throughout the West. Mr. Farquhar received a master degree in geography from Cambridge University, England (1982) and a bachelor of arts from Middlebury College, Vermont (1980). He has been a member of numerous boards and commissions, including former board chair of the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority; board chair of the Conservation Voters New Mexico (since 2006); and chair of the Transportation Funders Group (2001-2002).

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William Moore
CEO & Managing Director
Deepwater Wind

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William "Trey" H. Taylor, III
President & Head of Market Development
Verdant Power
Mr. Trey is President and Head of Market Devlopment for Verdant Power. Trey has more than 35 years of corporate marketing experience with firms such as ITT Corporation, British Telecom, Procter & Gamble, and Ogilvy & Mather; and with major trade associations such as the Edison Electric Institute and the US Committee on Energy Awareness. He also helped produce several nationally known public affairs TV shows, including “The McLaughlin Group” and “Make Peace with Nature.” Trey co-founded Verdant Power in March 2000 and Verdant Power Canada in April 2006 – both marine renewable energy companies. He served on Boards of the Hydro Research Foundation and National Hydropower Association, and was a co-chairman of the CEO Council of the American Council on Renewable Energy. He is a charter board member of the Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition. Prior to that, Trey was the founder and president of the Interactive Marketing Institute and consulted with BGE (Baltimore Gas & Electric) and Price Waterhouse World Utilities Group. He is acknowledged in Esquire magazine as being one of “America’s Best and Brightest.”

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Sandra Whitehouse, PhD
Senior Advisor for Government Affairs
Ocean Conservancy
Dr. Sandra Thornton Whitehouse is a longtime environmental advocate and policy advisor who uses her expertise in marine science to help shape environmental initiatives in Rhode Island and on the federal level. She has worked as an environmental consultant for the past decade, providing research, analysis, and advice on environmental policy issues to clients including the Rhode Island General Assembly, the Coastal States Stewardship Foundation and the Ocean Conservancy. Dr. Whitehouse is a former chair of Rhode Island’s Coastal Resources Management Council and has served on the boards of Save the Bay, the Nature Conservancy’s Rhode Island chapter, the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting, The Aquidneck Island Land Trust, Grow Smart Rhode Island, and the University of Rhode Island’s Marine Advisory Council, among others. She holds a B.S. from Yale and a Ph.D. in biological oceanography from the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island.

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