The University’s Center for Energy Studies along with the University’s Economics & Policy Research Group will hold the Energy Summit 2016, “Managing through Energy Challenges” on Oct. 26 in the Energy, Coast & Environment Building on campus.
The summit, which lasts the entire day will cover the the current and future situation currently of energy-related industries in Louisiana. More specifically, the summit’s topic spans the obstacles the energy industry in Louisiana has faced recently, such as the price of energy and the amount of excess energy that is available in the market.
“We’ve got people from oil and gas industries, the American Chemistry Council, [policy makers and] a regulatory affairs representative,” said Marybeth Pinsonneault, communications manager for the Center for Energy Studies. “We’ll also have our roundtable of Louisiana economists … We’ve got these guys who will be able to answer questions from our participants.”
The purpose behind the summit, and the University’s Center for Energy Studies itself, is to address energy issues in our state and region through inviting industry representatives, legislators, faculty, students and the general public to stay abreast of current events, said Pinsonneault.
This year’s annual summit, which has taken place for more than 10 years, includes a range of events.
In terms of the industrial aspect of energy, the agenda for this year’s summit includes: Robert Gardner, manager for corporate strategic planning with ExxonMobil, discussing ExxonMobil’s energy outlook; Mike McKenna, president of MWR Strategies, providing an overview of the national political implications of recent energy challenges and Martha Moore, senior director for economics and policy analysis for the American Chemistry Council, delivering insight into petrochemical industry concerns, as well as new industry opportunities.
Alternatively, environmentally-focused programming at the summit includes: Jim Krane, Wallace S. Wilson Fellow in Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, discussing climate risk and fossil fuels; Allen Fore, vice president for public affairs at Kinder Morgan, providing an outlook for energy infrastructure and Lopa Parikh, senior director for federal regulatory affairs at the Edison Electric Institute, providing insight into baseload generation development in the current challenging energy environment.
There will also be a roundtable discussion focused on the implications energy and the economy have on Louisiana featuring David Dismukes, executive director and professor at the University’s Center for Energy Studies; Dek Terrell, professor and executive director of the University’s Economics & Policy Research Group; Loren Scott, CEO of Loren Scott & Associates and Professor Emeritus at LSU and Eric Smith, associate director of Tulane Energy Institute.
“[We’re] going to be addressing something that’s going on here in the Gulf of Mexico,” Smith said. “[It] involves the amount of financial security that the operator … has to provide to guarantee the government that, when he’s finished, that the … wells he’s drilled and the platforms he’s installed … all of that material gets removed and the Gulf bottom restored to, if not its original condition, at least as close to it as we can get.”