[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 38 (Monday, March 5, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1337-S1338]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO KATERI CALLAHAN

 Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I want to recognize the 
leadership of Kateri Callahan, who has served as president of the 
Alliance to Save Energy since 2004. As the honorary chair of the 
alliance, I have been a firsthand witness to many of Kateri's most 
recent accomplishments. Before Kateri starts the next chapter of her 
career, I want take this opportunity to look back upon her 14 years 
with the alliance and thank her for her contributions to Federal 
energy-efficiency policy.
  In 1977, Senators Charles Percy and Hubert Humphrey--a Republican 
from Illinois and a Democrat from Minnesota--founded the alliance as 
the leading energy-efficiency coalition of businesses, governments, 
environmental groups, and consumer advocates. The goal of the Alliance 
from the start has been simple: ``Use less and do more.'' In the wake 
of the oil embargoes and energy shortages of the 1970s, that message 
resonated loud and clear, and it still does.
  Energy efficiency saves money, improves national security, reduces 
pollution, encourages innovation, boosts U.S. competitiveness, and 
creates jobs. Without the economywide improvements in energy efficiency 
made since 1973, it is estimated that today's economy would require 60 
percent more energy than we consume now. In fact, savings from energy-
efficiency improvements over the last 40 years have reduced our 
national energy bill by an estimated $800 billion, all while growing 
and expanding our economy.
  Since its establishment, the alliance has taken great care to 
cultivate and maintain bipartisan support for policies supporting 
energy efficiency. While doing so, the organization has been led by a 
distinguished groups of energy efficiency thought-leaders and advocates 
like Kateri.
  For my colleagues who have not met Kateri, you need to know she is 
persistent and tenacious. Once she gets ahold of something, believe me 
she never lets go and sees it through to the end. I am thankful for 
Kateri's leadership, and on behalf of my House and Senate colleagues 
who are also part of the alliance, I am thankful for the coalition's 
support for my proposals over the years.
  Highlights abound during Kateri's tenure at the alliance. She was a 
key negotiator on many of the most impactful energy-efficiency 
provisions of the 2005 and 2007 energy bills that passed Congress with 
strong bipartisan support and were signed into law by President George 
W. Bush. She helped ensure that the 2009 stimulus package provided 
significant investments in energy efficiency and encouraged states to 
adopt updated building energy codes. In 2015, she stood with me and my 
colleagues, Senator Rob Portman and Representatives David McKinley and 
Peter Welch, as President Barack Obama signed our bipartisan and 
bicameral bill, the Energy Efficiency Improvement Act, which was the 
first significant energy-efficiency legislation to pass Congress in 
nearly a decade.
  In addition to her work in Washington, Kateri has spurred initiatives 
to connect directly with energy consumers and educate the public about

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the economic and environmental opportunities of energy efficiency. She 
produced a series of award-winning consumer education campaigns, 
including the Power is in Your Hands, Energy Hog, Drive$marter, LUMEN, 
and Six Degrees of Energy Efficiency. She also led the establishment of 
the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance to ensure that American 
families and businesses in the southeastern States have the knowledge, 
resources, and opportunities to optimize energy use.
  The alliance's reach does not stop at our borders. Under the 
leadership of Kateri, the alliance created the European Alliance to 
Save Energy and established EE Global, the world's premier gathering of 
energy-efficiency leaders to discuss new ideas and chart new paths to 
do more by using less.
  Serving 14 years as president of an organization like the alliance is 
its own commendable accomplishment, but Kateri has had a more profound 
and positive impact on Federal energy-efficiency policy than can be 
counted just in years. I congratulate Kateri and express sincere thanks 
for her support over the years. I wish her the best in her future 
pursuits and good health and good luck.
  Thank you.

                          ____________________