ALUMNI NEWS
Alumni News Alumna Appointed Commissioner to FERC
F
ederal energy expert Allison Clements, JD ’04, was appointed Commissioner to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in December for a term that expires in June 2024. Commissioner Clements, the Founder and President of Goodgrid LLC, previously served in the energy regulatory group at Troutman Sanders LLP and in the project finance and infrastructure group at Chadbourne & Parke LLP ; served on a National Academies of Science Allison Clements, JD ’04 committee on grid resilience; and co-chaired Bipartisan Policy Center’s electric grid initiative. ▪
Alum Michael Regan Sworn in as 16th Administrator of the U.S. EPA
Alum Tessa Pulaski Fights for Farmworkers’ Rights as Legal Fellow
F
armworker Justice, an organization based in Washington, D.C., appointed Tessa Pulaski, JD ’21, as a legal fellow in August. The organization, in partnership with farmworkers and farmworker organizations, empowers migrant and seasonal farmworkers by providing legal advocacy, policy analysis, training, and technical assistance to farm labor unions, farmworker organizations, and related organizations. Ms. Pulaski looks forward to engaging in work that combines her skills and passion. “I hope to work at the intersection of climate change, food systems, and migration through research, policy advocacy, and direct representation of clients,” Ms. Pulaski said. “Serving as a legal fellow at Farmworker Tessa Pulaski, JD ’21 Justice, the national leader in farmworker rights, I hope to bring my research experience with policy protections for farmworkers from heat exposure and pesticide exposure to bolster the organization’s critical work. Just this past month, a farmworker died during the heatwave in Oregon.” ▪
M
ichael S. Regan, GW MPA ’04, was sworn in as the 16th administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in March, becoming the first Black man and second person of color to lead the agency. Administrator Regan vowed to fight climate change and environmental injustice, including new initiatives to work with the global United Nations Foundation’s Clean Cooking Alliance to reduce emissions from polluting home cooking and heating sources that contribute to climate change and directly afect the health and livelihoods of almost 40 percent of the world’s population; a new Black Carbon Health Assessment in Indigenous Arctic Communities project to be implemented by the Aleut International Association based in Anchorage; and the Environmental Justice and Climate Resilience Initiative to be implemented by the North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC), a collaboration between the United States, Canada, and Mexico to support Michael S. Regan environmental justice and climate resilience in underserved communities in all three countries with funding to indigenous communities and community-based organizations for environmental justice and local climate change adaptation initiatives. View the complete announcement at https://www. epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-administrator-regan-announces-newinitiatives-support-environmental-justice-and. ▪
Alum Pearnel P. Charles, Jr., Named Co-Chair of UN NDC Partnership Global Initiative
P
earnel P. Charles, Jr., LLM ’09, who is Jamaica’s Minister of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment, and Climate Change, will represent Jamaica in a global efort to meet national emission targets as Co-Chair of the U.N. Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Partnership, a global initiative to help countries achieve their national climate commitments and ensure financial and technical assistance is delivered as efciently as possible. The partnership includes more than 180 developed and developing countries, as well as international institutions and non-state actors that use their resources Pearnel P. Charles Jr., and expertise to provide nations with tools LLM ’09 needed to implement national climate emissions reduction targets. ▪
ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY LAW PERSPECTIVES 5
