Launching an innovator in
advanced biofuels
RenewComm, our national communications practice dedicated to renewable energy, led the press launch of E3 BioFuels' Genesis Plant in Mead, Nebraska, the world's first closed-loop system for making high-efficiency ethanol with biogas derived from cow manure.
- The governor of Nebraska and the head of NRDC's global warming campaign spoke at the launch event in rural Nebraska
- 8 television crews, 6 daily newspapers, and 10 radio stations attended, with resulting heavy media coverage
- NRDC's influential Switchboards blog ran a supportive story
- The head of the U.N. Foundation's Energy Future Coalition spoke about the technology's great potential for a company video
- Cover stories and invitations for keynote speeches by E3 BioFuels CEO Dennis Langley resulted
1st place in Communications
University of Maryland's team in the most recent Solar Decathlon for student-built solar houses on the National Mall called on us for communications coaching.
Like the other houses on the National Mall, the team's LEAFHouse (the name stands for Leading Everyone to an Abundant Future) made all its own electricity, and enough to run a two-seater electric car 40 miles a day.
Kelley Campaigns provided assistance with branding, website and brochure concepts, web video, media training, event logistics, local media relations, a Capitol Hill lobby day, and an audio tour.
LEAFHouse won the communications category with 98.2 out of 100 possible points, helping it finish as the top U.S. house in the contest, 2nd overall to Germany.
The Maryland house was heavily covered in the local and national media, and won the People’s Choice Award, the NAHB Marketing Curb Appeal Award, ASRHAE award for Integration of Renewables for Sustainable Living, and the Potomac Valley AIA Chapter's award for “Advancement of the Art and Science of Architecture.”
It was also judged among the most livable and marketable of the 20 solar houses on the National Mall.
Media that makes a difference.
The students on the University of Maryland's Solar Decathlon team, for which we provided communications coaching (above), and their award-winning solar LEAFHouse (right)
E3 Biofuels CEO Dennis Langley giving interviews at the plant
"An environmental disaster 100 times the Exxon Valdez"
On December 22, 2008, over 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash spilled from an impoundment near the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston, Tenn., coal-burning electric power plant. As the story unfolded and the extent of the damage became apparent, Kelley Campaigns began representing local community activists in Harriman, Tenn.
We communicated daily with leading local and national reporters following the disaster and secured coverage in newspapers, blogs and magazines along the East Coast. By mid-January, we brought two Tennessean activists to Washington to meet with their senators, congressman, and five congressional offices and committees. We scheduled, staffed and handled logistical arrangements for these appointments. We provided visuals, such as large pictures of the spill. Each office and committee was astonished by the story and vowed to help the community recover from this disaster. We also prepared our spokespeople to speak with the media, provided talking points, and scheduled interviews for them.
After TVA immediately assured the community, the media and political leaders that coal ash is safe and would not harm people or the environment, we worked with environmental scientists who found that coal ash contains a wide range of dangerous heavy toxic metals. We organized and hosted a press teleconference call to announce their findings.
When the federal government hosted hearings to assess the disaster and examine TVA’s role, one of our spokespeople was invited to testify before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment. We arranged for her to return to Washington, helped prepare her written testimony, coached her on speaking powerfully about the spill's impacts, and staffed her at the hearing.
The media continues to work with us as the details of this disaster are still emerging, the clean-up efforts continue, and Congress and EPA are considering federal regulations of coal ash impoundments. Thanks to Rockefeller Family Fund for funding this important work.
This major investigative piece in GQ magazine was among many stories quoting the Tennessee residents we worked with
