May 2010 

Letter From Casey

Letter from Casey Casey Chroust, Executive Vice President, Retail Operations, RILA Last month, RILA’s Environmental Sustainability & Compliance Conference (ESCC) Steering Committee and the Retail Sustainability Initiative met at RILA’s office in Washington, DC for our April sustainability committee meetings. More >>

Feature Articles

Harmonizing Product Stewardship Policies in the U.S. Scott Cassel, Executive Director, Product Stewardship Institute Product stewardship policy in the United States can be served up in a variety of ways – harmonized or piecemeal, consistent policy or a patchwork of laws. More >>

Benefits of Government Partnership Programs Sarah Walczewski, Coordinator, Retail Operations, RILA When building your sustainability program, don’t overlook government partnership programs for resources and support. RILA is an association partner/endorser of several government programs. More >>

RILA Update

Climate Change Legislation Introduced in the Senate Kelly Kolb, Vice President, Global Supply Chain Policy, RILA Last Wednesday, Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) introduced their comprehensive energy and climate change legislation without Republican supporter Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC). More >>

House and Senate Consider Legislation to Address Conflict Minerals in Congo, Bills Continue to Advance Stephanie Lester, Vice President, International Trade, RILA Legislation to address concerns about conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is actively under consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. More >>

Obama Administration Announces Changes to Energy Star Program Joe Rinzel, Vice President, State Government Affairs, RILA Last month, the Obama Administration announced that it would considerably tighten the certification process for products displaying the Energy Star label. More >>

RILA Submits Comments on Biomass Crop Assistance Rulemaking Kelly Kolb, Vice President, Global Supply Chain Policy, RILA The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has proposed new regulations for the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP), which is designed to boost production of non-food biomass crops for renewable energy. More >>

House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Clean Trucks Issue Kelly Kolb, Vice President, Global Supply Chain Policy, RILA The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Subcommittee on Highways and Transit held a hearing last week on "Assessing the Implementation and Impacts of the Clean Truck Programs at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach." More >>

RILA’s Work on Interchange Fee Amendment Pays Off John Emling, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, RILA In a 64-33 vote last week, the Senate passed an amendment offered by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) as a part of comprehensive financial reform to limit the fees that merchants pay in order to accept debit cards as payment for transactions. More >>

Mobile Executive Summit Agenda Drawing Top Retailers to San Francisco for Breakthrough Event Suzie Squier, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Membership, RILA Meijer, Macy's, Steve Madden and Best Buy are among the innovators leading the charge, and these change-makers will outline their latest initiatives from the customer to the factory at the Retail Mobile Executive Summit July 19-21. More >>