2007 Congressional Black Caucus’ Energy Braintrust: 

Building Bridges Between the African American Community and America’s Energy Industry.

         
    I read Mr. Innis’ article in “Townhall.com” reporting on the Congressional Black Caucus’ Energy BrainTrust held at the Washington Convention Center on September 28.  I was surprised and a bit disappointed by the limits that he placed on his report.  I was pleased to participate in this Energy BrainTrust session which, for more than a decade has attracted bright, young aspiring leaders from Harvard and Howard alike to see, hear, and, hopefully, meet some of the most dynamic leaders in the field of energy.     

          
   Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas is one such leader in the energy field.  The Congresswoman, who was an energy lawyer early in her career, has led the Congressional Black Caucus’ Energy BrainTrust for thirteen years, following in the footsteps of her predecessor, Congressman Mickey Leland; and, among all the members of the Congress, she is one of the most substantive in this area.  She understands where the energy industries of this country have been, where they are, and where they have to go.  Moreover, she is intimately familiar with the technical, economic, and public policy impacts on the energy industry and how those impacts translate to the concerns of families who are trying to make ends meet.

    
  The agenda and program that she put together and skillfully managed raised all the right questions, posed the right challenges, and made the right demands.  The panel was made up of  an array of energy leaders including the President of Shell Oil Company, the Chairman and CEO of CAMAC International Corporation, the President and CEO of CITGO Petroleum Corporation, and senior executives from Marathon Oil Corporation and BP America.  Other participants included Reverend Jesse Jackson, the Ambassadors of Venezuela and Algeria, the Chairman and CEO of Tagos Group, the President and CEO of Hightowers Petroleum Company, the United States Department of Energy’s Director of Middle-Eastern and African Affairs, New Jersey’s Commissioner of Environmental Protection, the Vice President for Research and Development at Prairie View A&M University, and  me.                                                                                                                         

    I wish Mr. Innis had written something about the challenges that she laid before these CEO’s of some of the most prestigious energy companies in the world.  She challenged them to improve the staff diversity within their own companies, especially through outreach, mentorship, and retention programs for minorities; she challenged them to establish research and technology development partnership and internship programs with the Historically Black Colleges and Universities; she challenged them to encourage and support minority entrepreneurship in the energy industries; she challenged them to set higher goals for supplier diversity for their companies.  More importantly, she got them to make significant commitments; and she told them, in no uncertain terms, that she would be checking to see how well they lived up to those commitments.

       
     I, for one, thought that it was rather daring that she invited the CEO of CITGO to the panel and forced all of us to think more deeply about US foreign policy as it relates to Venezuela and the rest of the world; she forced us to think more deeply about the role of energy in all of our foreign policy.  I thought it rather daring that she challenged the concept of energy independence and asked us to recognize our energy interdependence.  I wish Mr. Innis had written more about what the session did, in fact, accomplish.

    
  I would like to have read Mr. Innis’ thoughts on some of the other topics that the Congresswoman raised during the Energy BrainTrust.  Topics like:

            How can we mitigate the impact of higher energy prices on minority  families?

            How do we encourage more of our young people to pursue careers in Math and Science?

            How do we involve more of the minority community in the environmental justice and the environmental policy debates?

            Just what is the role of energy in the US’s Middle-Eastern and African        foreign policy?

            What can be done to assist minorities in starting their own energy        businesses?             

      
    These were the questions that the Congresswoman was concerned about.  These are the questions that we all ought to be concerned about.

      
     I wish Mr. Innis had stayed to hear how passionately the panelists and the nearly two hundred attendees debated these issues for more than an hour and a half beyond the time for the session to conclude.  

     
     Those of us who understand the enormous pressures of floor votes, committee assignments, speaking engagements, constituent expectations, law making, and political leadership that our members of Congress face don’t begrudge a minor delay in the start of a meeting. We are more rightly grateful for their courage, caring, and commitment.  That is what protects our families, improves our well-being, and secures our futures.

    Thank you, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee.

Frank M. Stewart, President 
American Association of Blacks in Energy                                                                 October, 2007