FIGURES IN CLIMATE CHANGE DEBATE SQUARE OFF IN JAN. 23 SEMINAR AT IU

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Two visible figures in the debate over international climate change will participate in a Jan. 23 seminar, "The Climate Change Treaty: Implications for American Business After Kyoto," in the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.

Robert Beck, vice president of Edison Electric Institute, and Brent Blackwelder, president of Friends of the Earth, will join three IU professors in the discussion, scheduled from 2:15-3:30 p.m. in room 736 of the Business School building, located at 10th Street and Fee Lane.

The event, sponsored by the school's Environmental Policy Committee, is free and open to the public, although seating will be limited to about 100 persons.

Blackwelder's organization, Friends of the Earth, is the largest international network of environmental groups in the world, represented in 52 countries, including the United States since 1969. Its stated purpose is "protecting the planet from environmental degradation; preserving biological, cultural, and ethnic diversity; and empowering citizens to have an influential voice in decisions affecting the quality of their environment -- and their lives."

Beck is vice president of an electric industry association that represents shareholder-owned utility companies that serve more than three-quarters of the nation's electricity customers and more than 35 of the largest electricity providers worldwide.

EEI provides a forum for individuals in the electric power industry to exchange ideas and experiences and to communicate with a variety of audiences, including government. EEI acts as a representative for the shareholder-owned electric power industry on subjects of public interest.

Both organizations were registered observers at last December's United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Kyoto, Japan.

Beck and Blackwelder will be joined at the seminar by Matthew A. Auer, IU assistant professor of public and environmental affairs, who is expected to provide introductory remarks on how environmental regulation now under consideration could affect utility companies in Indiana and the Midwest.

In his research, Auer focuses on international environmental conflict, international environmental assistance and comparative industrial environmental policy. He teaches international and comparative environmental policy and public management at SPEA.

Frona Powell, IU associate professor of business law and chair of the Environmental Policy Committee, and Martin McCrory, IU assistant professor of business law, will round out the discussion.

Powell teaches business law, real estate law, and environmental law. She is author of the undergraduate text, Law and the Environment (West Publishing, 1996), and is a member of the Indiana Solid Waste Management Board.

McCrory is a former deputy attorney general for the state of Indiana and a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice. He worked in the area of environmental enforcement.

(George Vlahakis, Office of Communications and Marketing, 812-855-0846 or 812-855-3911, gvlahaki@indiana.edu

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