In the fall of 2012, Bellevue was contracted to do advocacy work on behalf of Fuels America, a national coalition of organizations committed to protecting America’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and promoting the benefits of all types of renewable fuel already growing in the U.S. One of the coalition’s primary goals was to build grassroots support in urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to oppose granting a waiver on the RFS which would harm America’s rural communities, cost jobs, raise gas prices and threaten the country’s global lead in renewable fuel innovation.
As part of the campaign, Bellevue was tasked with telling the stories of renewable stakeholders in Delaware, raising awareness of the dangers of an RFS waiver and the negative impact to the advanced biofuel industry in Delaware, and cultivating relationships with potential coalition supporters within the local academic and business communities.
Over the course of three months, Bellevue worked with Delaware-based DuPont, a coalition member, to prepare and pitch a localized news release announcing the formation of the coalition and its ties to Delaware, which resulted in several newspaper stories and a radio interview about Fuels America.
Given that it was an election year, it was important for Fuels America to position the RFS waiver as an issue that needed special attention in local races. Bellevue was able to contact WHYY-TV, which was producing and broadcasting the local political debates for the Delaware races, and submit a question regarding biofuels which would bring the RFS issue front and center in Delaware.
To increase local support, Bellevue contacted researchers at the University of Delaware and several local startups that specialized in advanced biofuels to gauge their interest in the coalition’s mission. Several agreed to support Fuels America by providing personal narrative testimonials about working in biofuels which would be re-purposed through the coalition’s Web site and social media platforms.