Winter 2007

Working for the People

Scott Denman: Senior grant officer, Wallace Global Fund for a Sustainable Future

A gift that kept on giving

Denman’s Independent Study, “Public Policy and Solar Energy: The Corporate Connection,” explored the politics of a fledgling solar energy industry, specifically its takeover by big oil corporations. The study led to a job with the Citizen Energy Project, and a 1980 article in The Nation (“Big Business Reaches for the Sun”). It attracted the attention of former Ohio Senator Howard Metzenbaum, who organized a congressional hearing to explore the trend.

Galvanized by the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident, Denman marched to Washington and soon helped create the Safe Energy Communications Council (SECC), which he directed for nearly two decades.

Denman and the SECC joined one of the environmental movement’s most successful Washington campaigns. They killed a 10-year effort by the country’s power industry and the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration to build a nuclear reactor on the Clinch River, in Oak Ridge,Tenn.

From the time the prototype project was first proposed, the price tag had risen from $5 billion to more than $10 billion. But the project was embraced by the nuclear industry, President Ronald Reagan, and top Tennessee politicians Senator Howard Baker and Representative Al Gore, giving it a sense of inevitability.

Today, Denman marvels at the accomplishment as he lists his unlikely allies—the U.S. Catholic Bishops, the United Methodist Church, the Consumer Federation, the Taxpayers Union, the Heritage Foundation, the AFL-CIO, the United Steelworkers, and Citizens for a Sound Economy. “The key was that we were able to find common interest. Motives ranged from safety, to the environment, to the high cost. The coalition perfected the tools of new politics, including marches and demonstrations, state and national newspaper editorials, and direct mail campaigns targeting Tennessee candidates and office-holders.

“We took down a major pork barrel project,” Denman says. “ This is how you get things done—find common interests and keep your eye on the prize.”

Denman’s I.S. project, meanwhile, was a gift that kept on giving. It drew the attention of Hollywood producers David and Jerry Zucker and was adapted as a plot in the 1991 movie Naked Gun 21/2, starring Leslie Nielsen. The inventive detective helps foil a group of pseudo-terrorists trying to destroy the country’s solar energy resources.

The East Coast premiere was a big ticket Washington event, held at the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum and featuring the Zuckers, the movie stars, Denman, and 300 new best friends. The movie was a hoot, says Denman, especially its anti-nuclear message. For example, it featured three trade associations: the Society for More Coal Energy (SMOCE), the Society of Petroleum Industry Leaders (SPIL), and the Key Atomic Benefits Office of Mankind (KABOOM).

“It should be a green time.”

Denman’s vision includes the collapse of a dream and the prospect of a future of dynamic, local initiatives across the country. Funded by grants from foundations and from the U.S. Department of Energy, the SECC thrived in the ’80s and ’90s, producing books and studies on renewable energy, electric utility regulation, and global warming. Its eight staff members were in demand as consultants, writers, counselors, and strategists. One of the group’s successes was shutting down the Rancho Seco power plant in Sacramento, Calif. “ Our mission was to beat back the nuclear industry,” Denman says. “We had a pincer movement—no to nuclear power, but yes to energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.”

“We were coalition builders. Cross fertilization was important. That is one of the lessons I take from SECC, the importance of working collaboratively.”

But SECC was another casualty of the war on terrorism. The sharp recession and stock market dive following the 9-11 terrorist attacks in 2001 affected the foundations that financed SECC. The Bush administration’s sharp turn in energy policy also changed the Washington political climate. On Sept. 18, 2002, Denman was notified by four separate foundations that their funding was ending. “It was a sad day. There was a domino effect.We were just out of money,” he says wistfully.

He remains preoccupied with land use and the wise use of energy. “Five percent of the world’s population consumes 25 percent of the world’s energy,” he quotes. This oft-repeated reality brought him to the Wallace Global Fund. Here, he is developing a program that will allocate up to $1 million a year in grants for community-based projects that incorporate wise land use, control sprawl, and preserve communities.

The revival of local initiatives and creativity coincides with policy deadlock in Washington. “People are disillusioned with Washington,” Denman says, listing regional conservation and energy projects that have captured his attention. “I hope that the states will continue their growing role and not just turn back to Washington.”

He says he worries about what he considers a declining interest in the environment, compared to the early ’80s. For example, environmentalism is seldom one of the top factors that trigger a vote from the current electorate. “That should change, as the population gets older. It should be a green time. I hope it’s turning around.”

And the turn-around might mean yet another saga in his I.S. adventure, he laughs. “So far, it’s led to a national article, congressional hearings, and a Hollywood movie.Who knows how it will evolve?”

Jim Toedtman is editor of AARP Bulletin and a member of the Wooster Editorial Advisory Board.

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