Letter of Application

Governor's Advisory Council on Clima te Ch ange
To:
From: Timothy J. Rudnicki
Da te: D cember 22, 2019
Application to se rve as a member of the Governor's Adv isory Cou ncil on
Re:
Climate Change

Thi s letter of application is for a position to serve on the Governor's Advisory Council
on Cl im a te Ch an ge (GACCC). As a li censed a ttorney a nd register ed lobbyis t s in ce
1995, I have handl ed a va ri ety of cases and policy matters ran gin g from en rgy demand
sid e mana gement to th e use of combined heat and power sys tems to advocating fo r
greater use of lower carbon biofuel in place of petroleum to working with state and
fed eral agencies to implem ent on-the-ground projects that actually reduce ca rbon
emissions in the transportation sector to reviewing policies and procedures and
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providin g recomm end ati ons to redu ce Greenb ouse Gas (CHG) e miss ions. Given the
totality of my experi ence, openn ess to explorin g n ew id eas, a bility to work w e ll in a
coll abora ti ve se ttin g and focus on obtaining results, I beli eve I hav e th e dep th and
breadth of relevant kn owled ge and skills to effectively serve on and contribute to th e
GACCC.
For nearl y a decade, I hav e been pro vidin g lega l and governmental relations and
association m ana ge ment services for the Minn eso ta Bio-Fue ls Association ("MBA" is a
n onprofit trade organiza ti on). With respec t to lowerin g ca rbo n e miss ions in th e
tra nsportation sec tor, I work direc tl y on upstrea m and down strea m m acro and mi cro
level issues including, for ins tance, efforts to improve carbon scores on th e production
s id e and efforts to replace more petroleum with lower ca rbon biofu el so as to redu ce
overall CHG emi ssions in th e Minneso ta tran sportation sec tor .
My ex peri enc with creative and effectiv e CHG reducti on initi a tiv es goes beyo nd
bi ofu els. Over the yea rs I have, fo r xa mpl e, co un se led corporate cli ents on approac hes
by w hich to auth enti ca ll y " green" procurement co ntrac ts a nd dra fted and n ego tiat d
mu lti-million dollar agreem ents to help cli ents attain th eir bu sin ess objectives includin g
th e reduction of CHG emiss ions. For other clients I have h andled tran sbound ary
energy m atters involvin g en vironmental and economic ju sti ce. And for work on oth er
cli ent ma tters I hav e resea rched deep d eca rbo niza ti on ac tion th a t ca n be ta ke n from the
fed eral level of government and into communiti es to various carbon equ es tra ti on
projects that hold signifi ca nt potenti al to also improve soil hea lth and water quality.

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 Rudn icki / GACCC Appli ca ti on
On th e volunteer fro nt, I h ave served on a municipa l en ergy and en vironment
commission . Th e commission was confronted w ith som e m em bers and d epartm ents
that were opposed to energy management cha nge ye t throu gh a coa lition effort we
managed to shi ft instituti on al pri oriti es. Those pri oriti es in cluded a new a nd effecti ve
foc us on seekin g opportuniti es to redu ce CHG emi ssions and chartin g a co urse of
ac ti on w ith respect to bu ildin g operations to the municipal fleet to h ow utiliti es ser vices
are handl ed to procurem ent of m ore environmentall y- fri endl y produ cts and servi ces.
The approach I used to help address those ch all en ges is th e sa me ap proach I would
brin g to the GA CCC: listen, lea rn, ga ther and an alyze fac ts, p rov id e input, tes t id eas
and wo rk towa rd so lutions.
As a Minn eso ta li censed a ttorney an d registered lobbyist, I maintain profession al
contac ts across the country and with som e of the lea d ers in th e d eep d eca rboni za ti on
movem nt. Approach es to redu cing C H G emissions run the ga mut fr om the broad
macro iss ue o f ca rbon pri cin g to some thin g as basic as up da tin g and amendin g green
p urchasin g guid elin es to, fo r ins tance, rem ove certain hi gh intensity C H G emi ssion
containin g equipm ent and substi tute lower-global w armin g a ltern a tives havin g grea ter
en ergy efficiency.
From my earl y work in a nonprofit or ganiza ti on w hich prov id ed wea th eriza tion
services fo r low incom e residents in Henn epin County to n1 y w ork w ith indi gen o us
peo ples on energy m a tters in the Borea l Fo res t to ass is ting bu sin esses ac hi eve their
fin ancial and en vironmental obj ec ti ves, I have am assed a broa d ran ge of experien ce and
und erstandin g a bo ut th e soc ia l, econ omi c and political d yn ami cs in w hich w e live . I
stand rea d y to draw upon th e totality of m y xperience to contri bute in a mea nin gful
way to th e GACCC as it stri ves to id enti fy opp ortu niti e to redu ce C H G emi ss ions,
p ro mote quity a nd a ju st tra nsiti on to a lower ca rbon em ittin g and more sus ta in ab le
future fo r Minneso ta.

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