工作人员焦点:奥黛丽·帕特里奇，政策主任
奥黛丽鹧鸪 always felt like some rules were meant to be broken.
“I wasn’t happy just working within the rules and structures given to me,帕特里奇说. “I wanted to explore how they could be changed for the better.”
Having grown up in Springfield, Missouri, Partridge moved to St. 保罗, 18岁进入明尼苏达马卡莱斯特学院, 她在哪里获得了社会学学士学位. 在一家精神健康非营利组织工作了一段时间后, Partridge enrolled at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs to pursue a master’s degree in public policy.
“Energy policy wasn't top of mind when I entered grad school, 但是随着时间的推移, I realized that it touches everyone and everything in big and impactful ways,帕特里奇说. 如果做得好, 它可以创造高质量的就业机会, 减少气候变化的影响, 让人们在家中感到安全和舒适, 促进我们的经济. 我很快就迷上了它，再也没有回头.”
毕业后，帕特里奇也加入了 中心能量, where she worked first as a regulatory analyst and later as local energy policy manager. In 2017, Audrey accepted a position on CEE’s policy team as regulatory policy manager.
“I was looking for an organization that matched my personal values and mission, CEE就是这样,”她说。. “中欧正在努力实现清洁的气候和环境, 还有健康的经济, taking a comprehensive look at the clean energy transition and how it affects real people and communities. 这对我来说非常重要.”
低收入资格计划
A recent highlight of Partridge’s work at CEE is her contribution to expanding access to Minnesota’s low-income 2024欧洲杯外围赛 programs. 该程序，要求通过 环保行动, help homeowners make energy-saving insulation, HVAC, and water heating upgrades. They also address health and safety issues by helping to cover ventilation improvements and mold remediation for income-qualified Minnesotans. 然而, Partridge found that lengthy administrative processes and limited eligibility definitions made it difficult for those in need to receive assistance. To overcome these issues, Partridge forged a partnership between CEE and 能源美分联盟.
在一起, the organizations successfully advocated for revisions to the eligibility definition of “low-income household,，这样就有更多的明尼苏达州人符合资格, 并发展了欧洲杯押注官网绝对资格的语言. “That means if you're already receiving support through another means-tested or income-qualified program, you can show that instead of having to reprove your income and eligibility,帕特里奇解释道. “Utilities provide these programs for free to low-income households, so it's vital that people who need them can access them without trouble.”
明尼苏达州收容社区研究
Another proud accomplishment is Partridge’s work on the 明尼苏达州收容社区研究, 2020年2月出版. To explore the challenges and opportunities associated with power plant retirements, Partridge led an assessment of the social and economic impacts of five power plants across six Minnesota communities that host them.
Among the communities Audrey spoke with during her research was the 草原岛印第安人社区, whose reservation is located on the ancestral homeland of the Mdewakanton Dakota on Prairie Island, at the junction of the Vermillion and Mississippi Rivers in southeastern Minnesota.
草原岛核电站, 1973年开始运营, 建在曾经属于部落的土地上, 紧挨着保留区. Partridge found that many communities in the study weighed the economic benefits they received from their power plants against the health and safety costs. 然而, 不像其他收容社区, not a single member of the 草原岛印第安人社区 is employed at the plant, 部落没有从中获得任何税收收入.
“Working with the 草原岛印第安人社区 to hear their stories and understand their history with the nuclear plant, and then to record those stories and publish them for others to read, was really meaningful and a big highlight of my career at CEE,帕特里奇说.
天然气创新法案(NGIA)
Today, implementation of the NGIA is a significant focus of Audrey’s work.
“我在中心点工作的六年里, I watched the utility sell more and more natural gas each year — even as we had all these conservation programs that were built to save gas,帕特里奇说. “There was so much focus on renewable energy on the electric side, but little attention was being given to how much our use of natural gas was increasing.”
帕特里奇想重新调整话题. 2021年，她与 大平原研究所 to gather a diverse group of stakeholders to develop a plan (called G21). Among the group’s recommendations were policies that were eventually included in the NGIA, legislation passed in June 2021 that establishes a framework for natural gas utilities to invest in and advance innovative resources that reduce greenhouse gas emissions of the gas system. 这些创新资源包括沼气, 可再生天然气, power-to-hydrogen, power-to-ammonia, 碳捕获, 2024欧洲杯外围赛, 和电气化.
“We’ve identified the problem and the need for more solutions,帕特里奇说. “Now, we're getting to work to say, ‘How are we going to do this?“这不仅仅是‘脱碳’.’ It's, ‘How do we do this in a way that is good for our economy, our workers, and our communities? 我们如何公平地做到这一点? How do we do this and maintain reliability of our energy needs and affordability for everyday people and businesses?’ It makes me grateful to be at CEE because we're focused on all these important factors.”