About Us
Our Board Members
Our Staff and Members
Our Staff and Members
Rory Crowley
Hugh Smith
Paris Richardson-Treasurer
Our Staff and Members
Our Staff and Members
Our Staff and Members
Staff
Kelly Boyd-Executive Director
Julia Randolph-Research Assistant
McLean Momoh-Research Assistant
Members and Partners
Covanta Energy
Greenleaf Power
Calpine Corporation
Imperial Irrigation Distriet (IID)
California Pollution Control Officers Assn. (CAPCOA)
VGrid Energy Systems
California Bioenergy Assn.
The Nature Conservancy
Nicolaus Nut Company
Agricultural Council of California
California Business Roundtable
California Almond Board
California Almond Alliance
California Walnut Board
Control Thermal Resources
California Forestry Association
Regional Council of Rural Counties (RCRC)
Pendulum Power and Water
Our Mission
Our Staff and Members
Our Mission
CLCFE is a broad coalition that supports solutions for sustainable clean energy and transportation with an enhanced focus on maximizing lifecycle emissions and economic benefits of these resources that support a balanced, reliable electric grid and affordable renewable alternative fuels. Developing economically sustainable strategies for natural resilience and sustainable resource use for renewable energy and fuel production and use that reduce carbon and other emissions across the full lifecycle and positively impact natural and working lands. We work with varied interests and support research that helps California identify strategic renewable resources that accelerate and sustain emission reductions across a lifecycle of fuel stock development, transportation and generation/refining/end use, especially in environmentally and economically challenged regions of the state. We also seek to work with California policymakers to support development and sustaining of markets for high value low carbon fuel and energy renewable resources.
Guiding Principles of the CLCFE:
- Support acceleration of emission reductions from energy, transportation and natural sources (including our forests and wild and working lands) and from landfills, with a focus on lifecycle assessments of emissions profiles and of resource costs and values.
- Support clean energy and fuels policies with a focus on economic inclusion to ensure vulnerable regions and communities are not left behind and do not disproportionately bear the costs and impacts of climate related emissions and harms.
- Work collaboratively with broader groups and state and local governments and agencies to maximize the value of policies and programs to reduce emissions, support local and state economies, and bridge from fossil fuels and higher carbon energy resources to very low carbon and zero carbon resources and value avoided emissions from our resource choices.
- Develop and help disseminate science based data on lifecycle emissions profiles of renewable energy and fuels technologies and their land use, watershed and other environmental impacts.
- Support resilience of our energy grid; resilience and health of resources, of our natural and working lands and forests, waste reduction across sectors; energy and fuel resource diversity and cost-effective strategies to increase these resources and achieve our clean energy and fuels objectives before statutory deadlines.
Get to Know Our Board
Hugh Smith
Rory Crowley
Rory Crowley
As President of Greenleaf Power, Hugh Smith oversees more than 100 employees and five biomass plants with a generating capacity in excess of 140 megawatts of power. Prior to joining Greenleaf Power, Hugh served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Renegy Holdings, a renewable energy company focused on the conversion of biomass to electricity. In that capacity, Hugh piloted the company as it built its first biomass power plant. He also worked as Senior Vice President of Energy Resources for PNM Resources, overseeing all facets of its generation portfolio. In this role, Hugh developed independent power projects, acquired several generating plants, directed the construction of power generation facilities and environmental upgrade projects, and managed the operations of a fleet of more than 2,500 megawatts of power generation assets. Prior to joining PNM Resources, Hugh served as Vice President of Energy Supply for Tampa Electric Company. In his 24 years with Tampa Electric Company, Hugh worked in operations, environmental, fuel supply, and strategic planning roles. Hugh has been engaged in the development of renewable resources for years and served on the Electric Power Research Institute’s Research Advisory Committee addressing progressive technologies to reduce emissions of CO2. He also worked on the New Mexico Governor’s Task Force for Climate Change. Hugh Smith received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Florida.
Rory Crowley
Rory Crowley
Rory Crowley
Rory P. Crowley is the Assistant Operations Manager and Director of Research and Business Development for Nicolaus Nut Company in Chico, California. Nicolaus Nut Company is a closely-held family operation that owns, operates, or manages over 700 acres of almonds and walnuts in the Chico area. Rory is a graduate of the 2016 Almond Board of California Leadership Program, where he has focused research on issues surrounding almond byproducts and utilization. Through his Leadership Special Project, Rory has collaborated with several companies, organizations, and government agencies at local and state levels to find alternative and sustainable uses for almond biomass and co-product, including Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, North State Hulling, UC Davis, CSU Chico, and the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research. Currently Rory serves on the Technical and Regulatory Affairs Committee (TRAC) for the Almond Board of California and several local and regional boards and committees that serve agricultural and agricultural land stakeholders. In 2016, Rory wrote articles for the Sacramento Bee and Growing Produce’s NextGen. Currently he has a monthly column with Chico Enterprise-Record, which discusses issues affecting California agriculture. There is a need to have an agricultural voice in the public square, one that represents, in some form, a farmer who is growing food, and dealing with each of very complex challenges, including the sustainable and clean utilization of agricultural biomass; Rory is seeking to fill this gap to some degree. Rory has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy of religion with a minor in ancient Greek and a master’s degree in history, with a concentration in ancient texts of religious antiquity. Prior to agriculture, Rory served as a Research Fellow for a new museum in Washington, D. C. before he moved back to his wife’s hometown, Chico. He has researched ancient texts and manuscripts at Princeton, the New York Public Library, the Chester Beatty Library, Oxford’s Sackler Library, and the Vatican Library. Rory lives in Chico with his wife, Cassi, their Chesapeake Bay retriever, Indiana (Indi), and two cats, Iggy and Sallah (Indiana Jones, right-hand man). You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram @r_p_c86.