KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
U.S. SENATOR JOSEPH MANCHIN III (D.-W.VA.)
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin was sworn into the United States Senate on November 15,
2010 to fill the seat left vacant by the late Senator Robert C. Byrd. For Senator
Manchin, serving as West Virginia’s Senator is truly an honor and a privilege.
Born and raised in the small coal mining town of Farmington, W.Va., Sen. Manchin
grew up learning the values that all West Virginians share – family, common sense,
fairness and hard work. As a small businessman, he learned firsthand from his grandfather,
Papa Joe, who was an Italian immigrant and the town grocer, the importance of serving
the public. As a young man, his beloved grandmother, Mama Kay, inspired Senator
Manchin’s belief in public service through her unflagging compassion and desire
to help those less fortunate. More than anything, it is his family and the values
he learned growing up among the hardworking men and women of West Virginia that
define who Senator Manchin is and the public servant he strives to be.
From his days as a state legislator to his six years as Governor to his current
role, Senator Manchin has always been committed to his philosophy of “retail government”—in
other words, connecting with all of his constituents and making service to them
his top priority.
Throughout his public life, he has never let politics or ideology stand in the
way of commonsense solutions. Instead, he believes that only by putting politics
aside and working hard to bring people together can we do what is right for West
Virginia and the nation.
CHARLES PATTON
President and Chief Operating Officer
Appalachian Power Company
TOPIC: Keeping the Lights On, The Path Forward
Charles Patton is president and chief operating officer for Appalachian Power,
serving approximately 1 million customers in West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee.
He has authority for distribution operations and a wide range of customer and regulatory
relationships. Patton has approximately 26 years in the electric utility business
and has served in numerous capacities throughout AEP.
Previously, Patton served in Columbus in the parent company’s headquarters of American
Electric Power as executive vice president – AEP Utilities West and senior
vice president – Regulatory and Public Policy. A significant amount of Mr. Patton’s
career was in Texas were he served as president and chief operating officer of AEP Texas,
serving approximately 901,000 customers and in varying executive rules responsible
for external affairs in Texas and in the Southwestern region of AEP—Texas,
Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Prior to joining AEP, Patton spent nearly 11 years in the energy and telecommunications
business with Houston Industries/Houston Lighting & Power. While there, he
worked in regulatory affairs assisting in the litigation and management of regulatory
proceedings. He later became a policy specialist in government affairs and a lobbyist
in Texas and Washington, D.C.
PANELISTS
DAVID FLANNERY
Member
Steptoe & Johnson, PLLC
For more than 30 years, David Flannery has focused his practice in the areas of
environmental, regulatory and energy law. His practice is focused on energy, environmental
and regulatory issues, including litigation of environmental enforcement and environmental
torts in both state and federal courts. Ranked as one of the leading lawyers in
America in the area of environmental law, Flannery has authored numerous articles
for industry and trade publications and is often requested to speak on relevant
and timely environmental topics both regionally and nationally.
Mr. Flannery serves on a number of state and national industry trade associations
and environmental committees. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the West
Virginia Chamber of Commerce and chaired the Board of Directors in 2005 and 2006
and its Environmental Committee from 1982 to 2004. Mr. Flannery is also a member
of the Section on Natural Resources and Environmental Law of the American Bar Association.
By virtue of an appointment by the Governor of West Virginia, he serves as a Commissioner
to the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) and was Chairman
of ORSANCO in 2008. He also serves as a Trustee of the Energy & Mineral
Law Foundation and as a member of the National Coal Council having been appointed
to that position by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Mr. Flannery has been admitted to practice in Kentucky, Pennsylvania and West Virginia,
the Supreme Court of the United States of America, the D.C. Circuit and various
Circuit Courts of Appeal. In addition to his law degree, Mr. Flannery holds a Bachelor
of Science in electrical engineering.
He is listed in Chambers USA America’s Leading Lawyers for Business,
Woodward/White’s The Best Lawyers in America® for Environmental Law, International
Who’s Who of Environmental Lawyers, and “Super Lawyers” for Environmental Law.
He is a Founding Regent of the American College of Environmental Lawyers.
DANIEL LASHOF
Policy Director
Climate and Clean Air Program
Natural Resources Defense Council
TOPIC: Smart Ways the Clean Air Act Can Clean Up America’s Biggest Source of Carbon Pollution
Dan Lashof is the director of NRDC’s Climate and Clean Air Program and is active
in the areas of solutions to global warming, national energy policy, and climate
science. Dan is involved in developing federal standards and legislation to place
enforceable limits on carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping pollutants and to
reduce America’s dangerous dependence on oil. He has followed international climate
negotiations since their inception and is a lead author of the Special Report of
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on the role of land-use change and
forestry in exacerbating or mitigating global warming. He holds a bachelor’s degree
in physics and mathematics from Harvard University and a doctorate from the University
of California at Berkeley.
GABE PACYNIAK
Institute Associate
Adjunct Professor
Georgetown Climate Center
Georgetown Law
Gabe Pacyniak is an institute associate at the Georgetown Climate Center and adjunct
professor at Georgetown Law. He leads the Climate Center’s work on federal carbon
pollution regulations for the power sector, with a focus on providing support to
states on forthcoming standards for existing power plants. This work includes facilitating
state conversations, convening states and other stakeholders, and conducting legal
and policy research. In December the Climate Center facilitated the submission
of a letter to EPA from energy and environment representatives of 15
states highlighting cost-effective emission reductions being achieved and urging EPA to
allow states the option of using existing programs as a basis for compliance. Gabe
also leads or contributes to a number of the Center’s other power-sector and transportation-sector
mitigation projects. Together with Georgetown Climate Center Executive Director
Vicki Arroyo, he also co-teaches a climate change experiential learning seminar.
Gabe is a graduate of Georgetown Law, where he earned a J.D., cum laude. While
in law school, he interned at the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change
and on the environmental staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and
Commerce Committee while the committee was drafting the American Clean Energy and
Security Act. He also holds a B.A. from the New College of Florida with a concentration
in philosophy.
DIANA ESHER
Director, Air Protection Division
EPA Region 3
JOHN LYONS
Assistant Secretary for Climate Policy
Kentucky
TOPIC: Greenhouse Gas Policy Implications for Kentucky’s Energy Future
John Lyons has served in various capacities for the Energy and Environment Cabinet
during his 24+ year public service career. In January 2002, he was chosen to serve
as the Director for the Kentucky Division for Air Quality, a position he held for
nearly 12 years. On September 16, 2013, Mr. Lyons was appointed as the Cabinet’s
first Assistant Secretary for Climate Policy to tackle the complex world of air
quality regulations and their impact on energy and climate issues.
Over the years, Mr. Lyons has made numerous presentations on a variety of air quality
and environmental issues to various groups throughout the state and nation. Further,
his work at the state and national level has helped shape the regulatory landscape
on air quality and energy policy.
Mr. Lyons has served on the Board of Directors for the Southeastern States Air
Manager’s Association, the Kentucky Clean Fuels Coalition, the Association of Air
Pollution Control Agencies, and the National Association of Clean Air Agencies.
RICHARD SEDANO
Principal and U.S. Program Director
Regulatory Assistance Project
TOPIC: Mining the Toolbox for Greenhouse Gas Rule Compliance Through Agency Collaboration
Richard Sedano, director of RAP’s US programs, served as commissioner of the
Vermont Department of Public Service (VDPS) for nine years before joining RAP in
2001. Prior to serving as commissioner, he held various engineering staff positions
at VDPS, which represents utility consumers in all regulatory matters and
is the state’s energy office and consumer advocate. He also worked as an engineer
in power generation for Philadelphia Electric Company.
With RAP, Mr. Sedano advises state commissions and other decision-makers and
works with them in workshop settings on energy efficiency, demand response, renewable
energy, pricing, smart grid, transmission, and wholesale electric market issues.
He speaks and writes about these subjects. Mr. Sedano is supporting the State and
Local Energy Efficiency Action Network, among other projects that promote policy
advances through engagement. In December 2012, he was elected to RAP’s Board
of Directors.
In November 2009, Mr. Sedano was awarded the National Association of Regulatory
Utility Commissioners’ Mary Kilmarx Award. In September 2011, he received an award
from the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) for his service.
Mr. Sedano served as chair of NASEO from 1998-2000. He is currently a
member of the board of directors of Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships and
co-chair of its EM&V Forum. Mr. Sedano received his BS in engineering from
Brown University and his MS in engineering management from Drexel University. He
is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
JEFF HERHOLDT
Director West Virginia Division of Energy
TOPIC: West Virginia Coal – Its’ Importance and Challenges
John “Jeff” Herholdt, Jr., has served as the Director of the West Virginia Division
of Energy since 2007. The West Virginia Division of Energy is a stand-alone agency
under the West Virginia Department of Commerce, overseeing the Energy Efficiency
Program and the Office of Coalfield Community Development. He advances West Virginia
policy related to the advancement of resource diversification and building energy
codes.
Mr. Herholdt serves as Chairman of the West Virginia Public Energy Authority and
the Governor’s Alternate to the Southern States Energy Board. He is a member of
the Board of Directors for the West Virginia Manufacturing Extension Partnership
and the Appalachian Regional Commission Energy Advisory Committee. He serves as
co-director of Industries of the Future-West Virginia. From 1976 to 2007, he was
manager of the Energy Efficiency Program under West Virginia Development Office
where he established the Industries of the Future-West Virginia program to help
West Virginia industries save energy and streamline processes.
Mr. Herholdt earned an M.A. in Economics from West Virginia University, and a B.A.
in Economics from Davis & Elkins College.
KATHY KINSEY
Deputy Secretary for Regulatory Programs and Operations
Maryland Department of the Environment
TOPIC: RGGI as a Model for Compliance under CAA Section 111(d)
Kathy M. Kinsey is the Deputy Secretary for Regulatory Programs and Operations at
the Maryland Department of the Environment. She has oversight responsibility for
the Department’s regulatory programs and administrative activities that include
the Department’s four principal media- based administrations: the Water, Air and
Radiation, Land and Science Services Administrations.
Prior to her appointment as Deputy Secretary in June of 2011, she served as the
Department’s Senior Policy Advisor, advising the Department’s Executive Staff on
a wide range of policy issues, facilitating implementation of regulatory initiatives
and coordinating with Maryland’s Congressional delegation on federal legislation
to advance the State’s policies on climate change, energy, air pollution, restoration
of the Chesapeake Bay and other environmental issues.
She represented the Department for nearly 20 years during the period from 1989
through 2008 in her role, first as an Assistant Attorney General with the Office
of the Maryland Attorney General, and then Deputy Counsel, handling civil and administrative
enforcement and permit actions and providing regulatory advice on a broad range
of permit, enforcement and operational issues.
STEVEN CORNELI
Senior Vice President
NRG Energy
Steve Corneli is NRG Energy’s Senior Vice President for Sustainability,
Strategy and Policy, with a primary focus on clean technologies and sustainable
enterprises. He has previously served as NRG’s Senior Vice President of Market
and Climate Policy and as NRG’s Vice President of Regulatory and Government
Affairs.
Prior to joining NRG, Mr. Corneli Steve served in the Minnesota Attorney General’s
office and was manager of the office’s utility consumer advocate division. He also
has worked at the law firm of Leonard, Street and Deinard and was an adjunct faculty
member of the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Earlier
in his career, he operated a 600 acre family farm in Wisconsin for more than a
decade.
Mr. Corneli has a Master’s degree in public affairs from the Humphrey Institute
with a concentration in energy, environment and technology policy, and a Bachelor
of Arts degree from St. John’s College.
AIMEE CURTRIGHT, PH.D.
Physical Scientist and Associate Research Dept. Director
Engineering & Applied Sciences Department
RAND Corporation
TOPIC: Opportunities and Challenges for Reducing the Greenhouse Gas Intensity of Coal-Fired Electricity by Co-Firing with Biomass
Aimee Curtright is a Physical Scientist in the Pittsburgh office of the RAND Corporation,
where she has worked since 2007. She has served as the Associate Research Department
Director for the Engineering and Applied Sciences Department since 2012. Her research
focuses on energy policy and technology assessment. Recent work includes study
of the greenhouse gas implications of using biomass for energy production and an
assessment of the potential external costs of shale gas extraction, including an
estimate of damages associated with conventional air pollutants from extraction
activities in Pennsylvania. Before RAND, she was a postdoctoral fellow in
Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Engineering & Public Policy, where
she assessed the technical and economic barriers to large-scale solar PV. Her other
past experience includes a fellowship at the National Academies with the Board
on Energy and Environmental Systems and research in microbattery fabrication at
the U.S. Naval Research Lab. Her Ph.D. is in Chemistry from the University of California
at Berkeley, and her B.S. in Chemistry from University of Miami.
JAMES STAUDT, PH.D.
Principal Owner
Andover Technology Partners
TOPIC: Reducing CO2 Emissions from Fossil Fuel Power Plants
Dr. Jim Staudt is the President of Andover Technology Partners (ATP), a management
and technology consulting firm located in Massachusetts. He provides advice on
business strategy and on technical issues relating to energy or environmental technology.
Dr. Staudt has over 25 years of experience with power generation and energy technology,
with the last two decades focusing primarily on air pollution control and monitoring,
and clean energy. The client base includes electric power companies, government
agencies, suppliers of air pollution control and monitoring equipment, and investors
in clean air and clean energy technology companies. Prior to forming ATP,
Dr. Staudt had been employed in senior management positions at air pollution control
companies that include Fuel Tech and Research-Cottrell.
Since starting Andover Technology Partners Dr. Staudt has had a key role in supportingUS
EPA and states in their analysis of what is achievable in reduction of pollutant
emissions and at what cost. His analysis has also been relied upon in a number
of clean energy and clean air company mergers and acquisitions.
Dr. Staudt is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and served in the Navy
nuclear program aboard the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.
He has a Masters Degree and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Dr. Staudt received a 2007 US EPA Science and Technology Achievement
Award for work he conducted with EPA scientists and engineers on the
topic of mercury control from coal-fired power plants.
PAUL SOTKIEWICZ, PH.D.
Chief Economist
PJM Interconnection LLC
TOPIC: A Reliability Safety Valve and Regional Compliance Proposal for GHG Regulation under 111(d)
Dr. Sotkiewicz provides analysis and advice with respect to thePJM market design
and market performance including demand response mechanisms, intermittent and renewable
resource integration, market power mitigation strategies, capacity markets, ancillary
service markets, and the potential effects of environmental policies on the PJM markets.
He is currently working on gas electric coordination, EPA GHG, and RPM capacity
market design issues. Previously, Dr.Sotkiewicz has led PJM’s initiative to
reform shortage pricing and the PJM analysis of the effects of the recent EPA-issued MATS and CSAPRregulations
on generation retirements. Dr. Sotkiewicz also led the teams that developed the
whitepapers examining transmission cost allocation and the potential effects of
climate change policy on the PJM energy market.
Dr. Sotkiewicz has also been involved in multiple capacity market design changes
including the Minimum Offer Price Rule, the examination of changes to demand response
compensation, the development of Price Responsive Demand. Prior to joining PJM,
Dr. Sotkiewicz served as the Director of Energy Studies at the Public Utility Research
Center (PURC), University of Florida where he designed and delivered executive
education and outreach programs in electric utility regulatory policy and strategy
for professionals in government, regulatory agencies, and industry.
He served as an Economist in the Office of Economic Policy and later on the Chief
Economic Advisor’s staff at the United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC) where he conducted research, analysis, and advice on market design issues
related to the ISO/RTO markets.
Dr. Sotkiewicz was an Instructor in the Department of Economics at the University
of Minnesota where he earned the Walter Heller Award for Outstanding Teaching of
Economic Principles four times. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in history and economics
from the University of Florida, a Master of Arts and Doctorate in Economics from
the University of Minnesota.
LAURA M. GOLFARB
Associate
Steptoe & Johnson PLLC
Charleston, WV
Laura Goldfarb focuses her practice in the areas of energy and environmental regulatory
issues, remediation and the litigation of environmental enforcement and environmental
tort cases, including participation in appeals of regulatory decisions of the United
States Environmental Protection Agency. Prior to joining Steptoe & Johnson,
Ms. Goldfarb was Assistant Counsel at the West Virginia Department of Environmental
Protection, where she represented the agency in a variety of matters relating to
the state’s water quality and permitting program, and participated in the drafting
of regulatory and statutory environmental provisions for the State of West Virginia.
She has represented manufacturers, power companies, coal companies, petroleum refineries
and trade organizations in state and federal energy and environmental matters focusing
on national air quality regulatory issues, water quality issues, oil and gas regulatory
issues, and solid and hazardous waste compliance. She has also appealed regulatory
decisions of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the West Virginia
Department of Environmental Protection
JACKSON MORRIS
Natural Resources Defense Council
TOPIC: Just Transitions: Potential Policy Options and Funding Sources to Assist Communities
Jackson Morris is a Senior Energy & Climate Analyst with the Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC), where he focuses on energy efficiency and compliance options
for states under forthcoming EPA carbon regulations for existing power
plants. Prior to that he was Director of Strategic Engagement at the Pace Energy
& Climate Center at Pace Law School. Since 2006, He has worked to advance clean
energy policies in New York, Pennsylvania and other state capitals through direct
engagement with state agencies and legislatures, the New York Independent System
Operator (NYISO) and PJM, public and investor-owned utilities, as well as
working with other energy, environmental, health, labor and consumer organizations.
Throughout his career Jackson has utilized extensive analysis and research to advocate
for policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase investments in energy
efficiency and renewable energy, and aid in the region’s transition to a clean
energy economy.
Some examples of his project work include: the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
(RGGI), energy efficiency and renewable portfolio standards in NY and PA, the NY-Sun
Initiative, various utility rate cases, scaling up demand response and CHP,
building codes and appliance standards, the NYS Climate Action Plan,
and transportation polices to reduce carbon emissions in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic
by accelerating the deployment of electric vehicles and pursuing mechanisms such
as a regional Clean Fuel Standard. He holds a BA in Sociology and Certificates
in Primatology and Markets & Management from Duke University, as well an MS
in Environmental Policy from Bard College.
JOHN DUFFY
National Vice President
Utility Workers Union of America AFL-CIO
TOPIC: Mitigating the Impacts on American Workers in a Changing Energy Economy
The Utility Workers Union of America represents men and women in the Utility industry
throughout the United States. Utility workers build, operate and maintain the
infrastructure for electric generation and distribution, as well as natural gas,
water and steam distribution. Utility workers are first responders to national
disasters and emergencies such as the attacks on 9/11 and hurricane “Sandy.”
John Duffy joined the UWUA in 1974 when he became a member of Local
1-2 in New York City where he worked for the local utility, Consolidated Edison.
He was later elected to several positions within in the Local, and elected to
his current position as National Vice President of the UWUA, in 2007.
EUGENE M. TRISKO
Attorney at Law
United Mine Workers of America AFL-CIO, CLC
TOPIC: UMWA Perspectives on EPA Climate Regulation
Trisko is an energy economist and an environmental attorney. He has a B.A. in economics
and politics from New York University (1972) and a J.D. from Georgetown University
Law Center (1977). He has lec-tured on the Clean Air Act and climate change at
The Pennsylvania State University, the University of Virginia, and West Virginia
University College of Law. He is the author of more than 30 articles on energy
and envi-ronmental policy issues, and has testified before Congress and state leg-islatures
on many occasions.
Mr. Trisko has represented the United Mine Workers in domestic and international
environmental issues since 1985, including participation as an NGO at
all major UN climate negotiations since the 1992 Rio Treaty. He represented the UMWA in
negotiations on the acid rain control provi-sions of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments.
He also serves as General Counsel of Unions for Jobs and Environmental Progress,
an association of eight national and international labor organizations.
Gene was an appointed member of U.S. EPA’s Clean Air Act Adviso-ry Committee
from 2003 until 2010. In that capacity, he helped to devel-op the unanimous carbon
capture and storage commercial demonstration funding recommendations of the CAAACAdvanced
Coal Technology Work Group. These recommendations were later adopted in the Boucher-Upton CCS Demonstration
bill (HR 6258, 110th Cong., 2d Sess.) and the Wax-man-Markey climate change bill
(HR 2454, 111th Cong., 1st Sess.)
CHARLES FLUHARTY
President and CEO
Rural Policy Research Institute
TOPIC: Lessons Learned from the Iron Range and Appalachian Ken-tucky: Charting a New Path for Coal Dependent Regions
Charles W. Fluharty is the founder, President, and CEO of the Rural Policy
Research Institute, the only national policy institute solely dedicated to assessing
the rural impacts of public policies. Continual service is provided to Congressional
members and staff, executive branch agencies, state legislatures and executive
agencies, non-governmental organizations, and rural researchers. Since RUPRI’s
founding in 1990, over 300 scholars representing 16 different disciplines in over
100 universities, all U.S. states and 30 other nations have participated in RUPRI projects.
Collaborations with the OECD, the European Commission, the Inter-American
Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, the German Marshall Fund, and other international
organizations are contributing to RUPRI’s comparative rural policy foci.
A Research Professor in the Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs at the University
of Missouri-Columbia, and a German Marshall Fund Transatlantic Fellow from 2007-2011,
he is the author of numerous policy studies and journal articles addressing the
rural differential in public policy decision-making, and has presented dozens of
Congressional testimonies and briefings. He is a frequent speaker before national
and international audiences, and has delivered major public policy addresses in
over a dozen nations. He has also provided senior policy consultation to most federal
departments, state and local governments, associations of government, planning
and development organizations, and diverse rural institutions and organizations
worldwide, including many foundations. Chuck was born and raised on a seventh-generation
family farm in the Appalachian foothills of southeastern Ohio, and he and his wife
Marsha are the parents of two grown sons and a daughter.
MODERATORS
JAMES MAY
Professor of Law
Co-Director, Environmental Law Center
Professor of Graduate Engineering (Adjunct)
James R. May is a Professor of Law, co-director of the Environmental Law Center,
and Adjunct Professor of Graduate Engineering, at Widener University. He has been
an academic, a clinic director, a founder and director of two environmental advocacy
organizations, a founder and director of a program on marine policy, a federal
litigator, and an environmental attorney. He has litigated 200+ public interest
environmental claims at levels up to the U.S. Supreme Court. He is the author of
two books, Principles of Constitutional Environmental Law, and Environmental Constitutionalism:
Implications for Present and Future Generations (with Erin Daly, forthcoming),
and more than 70 articles and book chapters relating to environmental and constitutional
law.
May is a Fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers, and a Member
of Faculty to the National Judicial College. May has served as a Council Member
to the governing board of ABA Section on Environment, Energy and Resources,
a founder and inaugural Chair of ABA SEER’s Task Force on Constitutional Law,
a member of the Committee on Environmental Law to the IUCN, a founder, executive
director, and president of the Mid-Atlantic Environmental Law Center and director
of Widener Institute at the Macquarie University Environmental Law Centre in Sydney,
Australia. He has received numerous awards, including the Nicholas A. Robinson
Alumni Award from Pace University School of Law, and the Environmental Award from
the Delaware Chapter of the Sierra Club. He has served on numerous faculty committees,
and is co-Advisor of the Widener Law Review. He is licensed to practice law before
the U.S. Supreme Court, numerous federal courts, and the States of Pennsylvania
and Kansas (inactive).
May earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, where he was the Bowman Scholar; a
J.D. from the University of Kansas, where he was a national moot court champion;
and an LL.M. from Pace, where he was the Feldshuh Environmental Fellow and graduated
first in his class. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware with his wife and two children.
FRANZ T. LITZ
Principal
Litz Energy Strategies, LLC
Franz Litz brings 20 years’ experience on energy and environmental law and policy
matters in government, business and non-governmental organizations to his work
consulting to state officials, industry and non-profit organizations. Franz is
an expert on state and federal energy and environmental law and policy, including
the federal Clean Air Act. Before launching Litz Energy Strategies, LLC, Franz
was Executive Director of the Pace Energy & Climate Center, a legal and policy
think tank, and a senior fellow with the climate and energy program at the World
Resources Institute, a policy think tank. His government experience includes a
stint as an air and energy attorney, followed by 4 years leading the development
of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) for the New York State Department
of Environmental Conservation. Before entering government service, Franz practiced
corporate environmental and energy law in Boston.
Franz currently advises the Great Plains Institute in connection with its work
with the Midwestern Power Sector Collaborative, an effort by utilities, cooperatives,
merchant generators, environmental groups and state officials to develop a Midwestern
approach to reducing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. He also convenes
a similar group of industry and environmental stakeholders and state officials
from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States.
JONAS MONAST
Director
Climate & Energy Program
Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions
Duke University
Jonas Monast directs the Climate and Energy Program at Duke University’s Nicholas
Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. Jonas’s work focuses on the interaction
of state and federal energy policies, regulatory options for reducing greenhouse
gas emissions, and the intersection of financial markets and climate policy. He
directed Duke University’s Climate Change Policy Partnership from 2007-2010 and
coordinated the Nicholas Institute’s Carbon Market Initiative.
Jonas also teaches courses on the intersection of energy and environmental issues
at Duke University’s School of Law and Nicholas School of the Environment.Prior
to joining Duke, Jonas worked as an attorney in the Corporate Social Responsibility
Practice at Foley Hoag LLP, where he advised clients on emerging legal and
reputational risks regarding human rights and the environment. Jonas also served
as a congressional fellow for the late Senator Paul Wellstone and as legislative
counsel for the Center for Responsible Lending. He earned his law degree from Georgetown
University and his B.A. from Appalachian State University.
ALISON PECK
Associate Professor
WVU College of Law and
Center for Energy and Sustainable Development
Alison Peck teaches and writes in the area of sustainable development, including environmental and trade law, with special focus on agriculture and food law. Professor Peck practiced international arbitration and commercial litigation with Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP in Washington D.C. She clerked for Judge Jon O. Newman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Judge G. Federico Mancini of the Court of Justice for the European Communities. She received a J.D. from Yale Law School and an LL.M. in Agricultural Law from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville.
JOSHUA P. FERSHEE
Associate Professor
WVU College of Law and
Center for Energy and Sustainable Development
Professor Joshua Fershee joined the faculty at West Virginia University
College of Law in fall 2012. His research and scholarship focus primarily on energy
law and corporate law issues. Recent articles have discussed renewable energy programs
in the transportation and electricity sectors, climate policy, geothermal energy,
and corporate governance. His courses include Business Organizations, Energy Law
& Policy, and The Energy Business: Law & Strategy. He was also a co-editor
of the Business Law Prof Blog and a contributor to the Agricultural Law Blog.
Professor Fershee received his J.D. magna cum laude from Tulane Law School, where
he was elected Order of the Coif and editor in chief of the Tulane Law Review.
He is also a graduate of Michigan State University, where he received a B.A. in
Social Science, with a focus on economics, psychology, and sociology. Before joining WVU,
Professor Fershee served as Associate Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Academic
Affairs & Research at the University of North Dakota School of Law. Prior to
that, he served as a visiting assistant professor of law at Penn State University’s
Dickinson School of Law in State College, PA.
Professor Fershee began his legal career with Davis Polk & Wardwell, New York,
NY, where he represented clients in corporate and litigation matters including
mergers and acquisitions, derivatives transactions, and securities regulation.
He then joined the energy practice group at Hogan & Hartson, LLP, Washington,
D.C., where he represented energy clients in matters before state and federal regulators,
analyzed state and federal legislation, and advised clients on mergers and acquisitions,
climate change issues, and renewable portfolio standards.
Before his legal career, Professor Fershee worked for a Washington, D.C.-based
trade association comprised of video and computer game companies where he coordinated
the media relations program and conducted intellectual property and anti-piracy
training sessions for law enforcement officials (e.g., U.S. Customs and FBI),
media, and other key audiences. He then served as a public relations professional
in the entertainment technology industry specializing in strategic planning, brand
management, and crisis communications with two Los Angeles public relations agencies.