Former Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Scott Pruitt served as the 14th Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
As Administrator, Mr. Pruitt’s overarching goal was to lead EPA in a way that our future generations inherit a better and healthier environment as he works with the thousands of dedicated public servants at EPA who have devoted their careers to helping realize this shared vision, while faithfully administering environmental laws.
Prior to the EPA, Pruitt served as the Attorney General for Oklahoma. Almost immediately upon taking office, he worked with his Democratic counterpart in Arkansas to reach agreement to study the water quality of the Illinois River, which crosses the border between the two states and has been enjoyed by generations of Oklahomans. The Statement of Joint Principles provides for a best science study using EPA-approved methods, with both states agreeing, for the first time, to be bound by the outcome.
Also during his tenure as Oklahoma’s Attorney General, Pruitt led an historic water rights settlement between Oklahoma, Oklahoma City and the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribal Nations that preserved the ecosystems of scenic lakes and rivers on native lands. The agreement, which required Congressional approval, was enacted into Section 3608 of Public Law 114-322 and signed in December 2016. It provides a framework that fosters intergovernmental collaboration on significant water resource concerns with the settlement area, while at the same time protecting existing water rights and affirming the state’s role in water rights permitting and administration.
Water settlement cases can be lengthy, costly, divisive and disruptive; however under Pruitt’s forward-thinking leadership, the process was hailed by all parties as one of commitment, hard work, perseverance and cooperation.
Pruitt became a national leader through a career of advocating to keep power in the hands of hard-working Americans. He has a proven track record of working with others – including industry, farmers, ranchers, landowners and small business owners - who want to do the right thing by the environment.
He has dedicated his career to creating policy that serves the people. He strongly believes that environmental law, policy and progress are all based on cooperation between the states, cooperation between the states and EPA, and cooperation between regulators and the public. As Attorney General for Oklahoma, he led the state’s legal challenges against property rights intrusion, while protecting Oklahoma’s natural resources and environment.
He is recognized as a national leader in the cause to restore the proper balance between the states and federal government, and he established Oklahoma’s first federalism unit to combat unwarranted regulation and overreach by the federal government.
Before being elected attorney general, he served eight years in the Oklahoma State Senate where he was a leading voice for fiscal responsibility.
After earning his Bachelor’s Degree from Georgetown College and graduating from the University of Tulsa College of Law, Pruitt went into private legal practice, specializing in constitutional law.
In addition to his life as a civil servant, Pruitt is a successful entrepreneur. As a co-owner and managing general partner of Oklahoma City’s Triple-A minor league baseball affiliate, the Oklahoma City Redhawks, Mr. Pruitt took over the team’s marketing operations and helped the team become one of the minor league leaders in attendance and merchandise sales.
Pruitt is, first and foremost, a family man. He and Marlyn, his wife of 27 years, proudly raised their daughter, McKenna, and son, Cade, in Tulsa. Pruitt has made it a priority to pass on to his children the same principled family values with which he was raised.
Partner, Boyden Gray PLLC
Jimmy Conde is partner at Boyden Gray PLLC, specializing in energy, environmental, and administrative law, with particular expertise in the Clean Air Act. He has protected clients against agency overreach in cutting-edge and complex legal proceedings, including challenges to EPA, DOE, DOT, and California rules seeking to compel electrification of motor vehicles, the FCC’s universal service fund, Department of Labor Wage & Hour Division rules, and HHS rules interfering with the practice of medicine and sound insurance practices. His written commentary has been published and referenced in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Examiner, Concurrences (an antitrust publication), and Newsweek, among others.
Mr. Conde began his legal career as an associate with Boyden Gray PLLC. He clerked for Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Judge David J. Porter in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Partner, Donahue & Goldberg LLP
Sean H. Donahue's practice is focused on appellate litigation, including environmental cases in federal and state appellate courts, legal counseling, and helping clients communicate effectively to courts, agencies, and other audiences. He is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia and the State of California.
A 1992 graduate of University of Chicago Law School, Sean served as law clerk to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, then of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and to Justice John Paul Stevens. He entered private practice at Jenner & Block's Washington office, where he worked on civil matters including in telecommunications and First Amendment law. He then spent four years at the Department of Justice, Environmental and Natural Resources Division, Appellate Section, briefing and arguing cases in the United States Courts of Appeals, and state supreme courts concerning federal environmental and natural resources law, federal property law, takings, and Indian law.
Sean has argued approximately 50 cases in federal and state appellate courts. Since first establishing his own practice in 2002, he has represented environmental and public health organization parties in numerous major environmental and clean energy cases in the Supreme Court and the courts of appeals. His current practice includes representation of public interest organizations, governmental bodies, and private entities in environmental, energy, natural resources, and other cases. Sean has taught courses in environmental law, civil procedure, constitutional law and other subjects at Washington & Lee University School of Law, Iowa College of Law, and Georgetown University Law Center, and currently teaches climate change law and policy as a lecturer at Stanford Law School. He has given presentations at law schools including Berkeley, Columbia, Fordham, Harvard, Duke, Georgetown, Maryland, NYU, Northwestern, Stanford, University of Chicago, University of Florida, Vermont Law School, and Washington & Lee.
Partner, King & Spalding, LLP
Jacqueline Glassman specializes in motor vehicle and consumer safety, vehicle fuel economy and other transportation issues. She works with companies to resolve enforcement problems, find business opportunities in emerging initiatives and build healthy relations with regulators. Jacqueline frequently works with crisis management teams to find solutions that build consumer confidence and minimize corporate pain. As a partner in King & Spalding's Government Advocacy practice, Jacqueline helps lead the Automotive and Transportation Initiative.
Jacqueline's career has spanned corporate, government and private practice.
While in-house at a major automaker, Jacqueline developed the instinct for finding solutions to legal problems while advancing business objectives. As Chief Counsel at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Jacqueline spearheaded the reform of the vehicle fuel efficiency program. She also oversaw scores of rule-making and enforcement actions, including the initial implementation of the TREAD Act. As NHTSA's Acting Administrator, Jacqueline worked with the White House and congressional staff to develop policy and legislation impacting the auto industry.
Jacqueline has worked with companies to create credit opportunities for frontier technologies in fuel efficiency and safety. She is actively involved with numerous companies developing and implementing automated technology for motor vehicles. Jacqueline has negotiated Consent Orders and helped companies pilot their implementation. Jacqueline frequently works hand-in-glove with litigators, engineers, crisis management firms, congressional relations staff and corporate executives. Jacqueline counsels clients on compliance, government relations, litigation strategy and building robust corporate safety programs.
Partner, Steptoe LLP
Shannen W. Coffin is a partner in Steptoe’s Washington office, where co-chairs the firm’s appellate practice and is a member of the regulatory litigation practice group. He frequently represents clients in trial and appellate courts in matters involving constitutional and administrative law challenges to state and federal government regulatory action.
Mr. Coffin previously served as a senior lawyer in the Executive Branch. He was Counsel to Vice President Cheney in the Office of the Vice President of the United States, where, among other things, he served on the White House’s judicial selection committee. Before that, Mr. Coffin served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the US Justice Department’s Civil Division, where he was responsible for overseeing and coordinating trial litigation on behalf of the federal government for constitutional challenges to federal statutes, statutory and constitutional challenges to agency programs, and defense of national security and anti-terrorism programs.
CEO, Pebble Partnership
Tom Collier leads the Pebble Partnership as its CEO. Mr. Collier is the former U.S. Department of the Interior chief of staff during the Clinton administration. He holds extensive experience in navigating the federal environmental permitting process. Prior to joining the Partnership in 2014, Mr. Collier spent 40 years serving as a partner for the law firm Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, D.C. As a senior leader in environmental law and permitting, Mr. Collier has worked on Alaska related projects in his career including development of Alpine, CD-5, and the reauthorization of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.
Director, Center for Energy and Environment, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Myron Ebell is director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Ebell also chairs the Cooler Heads Coalition, which comprises representatives from more than two dozen non-profit organizations based in the United States and abroad that challenge global warming alarmism and oppose energy rationing policies.
Ebell has worked on energy and environment issues for more than two decades, spending more than 15 years at CEI researching and advocating for sensible energy policies that benefit everyone. Instead of policies that simply reacts to alarmism, Ebell advocates for climate policies that reflect the scientifically-supported view that affordable, plentiful, and reliable energy make the world safer, the environment more livable, and should be should be accessible to those who need it most.
Ebell's writings have appeared in a variety of publications, including the New York Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, Forbes, London’s Guardian, Standpoint Magazine, Riverside Press Enterprise, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Environmental Law Forum. He has appeared as a guest on numerous television shows, including the ABC Evening News, NBC Nightly News, PBS News Hour, BBC Newsnight, BBC World, CNBC, CNN, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, MSNBC, ITN, Voice of America, Televisa, Sky TV, Al Jazeera, PBS’s NOW, Fox News's Special Report with Bret Baier, O'Reilly Factor, and Hannity and Colmes. He has spoken frequently on a variety of BBC radio news programs and on hundreds of radio talk shows.
Ebell holds a Bachelor of Arts from Colorado College and an Master of Science from the London School of Economics. He also did graduate work at the University of California at San Diego and at Peterhouse, Cambridge University.
President, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
Robert Perciasepe serves as president of the nonprofit Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. He served as the Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the administration of Barack Obama. Prior to joining the Obama administration, Perciasepe was Chief Operating Officer for the environmental conservation non-profit National Audubon Society. Before that, he served in the administration of President Bill Clinton as the EPA's Assistant Administrator for clean water and then later as the Assistant Administrator for clean air.
Director of the Center for Energy and Environment and Senior Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Daren Bakst is Director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment and a Senior Fellow. In this role, he manages, develops, and leads the coalition, advocacy, and research activities of the Center, which is one of the most effective advocates for Free Market Environmentalism.
Before joining CEI as Deputy Director in March, 2023, Daren was a Senior Research Fellow in Environmental Policy and Regulation at the Heritage Foundation, where he played a leading role in the launch of the organization’s new energy and environment center, and created and hosted the Heritage Foundation’s energy and environment podcast the “PowerCast.” During his decade at Heritage, Daren wrote about energy and environmental policy, food and agricultural policy (including editing and co-authoring the book Farms and Free Enterprise), regulation, and trade among other topics.
Daren also worked on environmental policy and regulation at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he was a policy counsel and served as the executive to the association’s Government Oversight, Operations & Consumer Affairs committee, which was responsible for issues such as regulatory process reform. Daren has significant state level experience, working for seven years at the Raleigh, N.C.-based John Locke Foundation, one of the largest state-based, free-market think tanks. As director of legal and regulatory studies, his broad portfolio included energy and environmental policy, regulatory reform, and property rights.
Daren has testified numerous times before Congress, regularly submits comments to federal agencies and has appeared in or been quoted by a wide range of media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Washington Times, CNN, Fox Business News, Al-Jazeera America, and U.S. News and World Report. He is a member of the Federalist Society’s Environmental Law and Property Rights Executive Committee and serves on the College Level Advisory Board for Constituting America, an organization that informs and educates about the importance of the U.S. Constitution.
Daren, who hails from Florida, received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from George Washington University. A licensed attorney, he holds a law degree from the University of Miami and a master of laws degree from American University.
Independent Consultant
Since 2001, Dr. Richard Belzer has been an independent consultant in regulation, risk, economics and information quality. Previously he was a visiting professor of public policy at Washington University in St. Louis and economist in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget. He received his Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University (1989), Master’s in Public Policy (MPP) from the John F. Kennedy School of Government (now Harvard Kennedy School) (1982), and MS and BS degrees in agricultural economics from the University of California at Davis (1979, 1980). He is a regular contributor to scholarly professions through journal peer review and service to professional societies. He was elected Treasurer of the Society for Risk Analysis (1998, 2000) elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis (2008, 2010, 2012). He earned multiple awards for exemplary performance at OMB, the SRA’s Distinguished Service Award (2003), and the SBCA’s Richard O. Zerbe, Jr. Distinguished Service Award (2017). In 1995, he was named a Fellow of the Cecil and Ida Green Center for the Study of Science and Society. In 2017, Dr. Belzer completed a 2-year term as a member of the USEPA Science Advisory Board Panel on Economy-wide Modeling. He serves as a member of the RTP Energy and Environment Working Group.
Senior Counsel for Environmental and Regulatory Affairs, Boeing
Adam Gustafson is a Senior Counsel for Environmental and Regulatory Affairs at Boeing.
Prior to joining Boeing, he served as Deputy General Counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency. Prior to that, he was a partner at Boyden Gray & Associates, where he represented States, federal judges, environmental groups, biofuel producers, agricultural interests, and public policy organizations, on such issues as the constitutional separation of powers, the First Amendment, automotive regulations, environmental computer models, healthcare regulation, and judicial deference to federal agencies.
Mr. Gustafson received his J.D. in 2009 from Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal, a managing editor of the Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities, and an executive editor of the symposium issue of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.
Mr. Gustafson served as a Vice President of the Yale Law School Federalist Society. He was a Coker Fellow, and his legal writing won the Joseph A. Chubb Competition Prize and the Edward D. Robbins Memorial Prize.
Mr. Gustafson graduated with high distinction in 2005 from the University of Virginia, where he was an Echols Scholar, a member of the Raven Society, a member of the rowing team, and a Lawn resident.
Before joining Boyden Gray & Associates, Mr. Gustafson was an associate at Cooper & Kirk, where he specialized in appellate litigation. Mr. Gustafson served as a law clerk to Judge Richard R. Clifton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and to Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Partner, Bracewell LLP
Jeffrey Holmstead, former assistant administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency for Air and Radiation, is one of the nation’s leading climate change lawyers as recognized by Chambers USA (2008-2016) and heads the environmental strategies group (ESG) at Bracewell. The ESG is a multi-disciplinary group that includes environmental and energy attorneys, public policy advocates and strategic communications experts – most of whom have had high-level government experience. Under Jeffrey’s leadership, they work together on a daily basis to advise and defend companies and business groups confronting major environmental and energy-development challenges, both domestically and globally.
From his time in both the government and the private sector, Jeffrey is very familiar with the environmental and energy challenges facing the business community. He advises clients dealing with an increasingly complex regulatory, legal and public relations landscape, drawing on his experience in policy development, administrative and legislative advocacy, litigation and strategic communications. He has worked with clients in a number of industries on issues related to climate change, Clean Air Act policy and enforcement, and energy policy — including the development of new coal-fired power plants, refineries, renewable energy sources, and electric transmission infrastructure.
Jeffrey headed the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation from 2001 to 2005, longer than anyone in EPA history. During his tenure, he was the architect of several of the agency’s most important initiatives, including the Clean Air Interstate Rule, the Clean Air Diesel Rule, the Mercury Rule for power plants and the reform of the New Source Review program. He also oversaw the development of the Bush Administration’s Clear Skies Legislation and key parts of its Global Climate Change Initiative. Between 1989 and 1993, Jeffrey served on the White House Staff as Associate Counsel to former President George H.W. Bush. In that capacity, he was involved in the passage of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and the key steps taken to implement those amendments. From 1987 to 1988, he served as a law clerk to Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
He received his B.A. from Brigham Young University, summa cum laude, and his J.D. from Yale Law School.
Director, Clean Air Project, Climate & Clean Air Program, Natural Resources Defense Council
John Walke has spearheaded the NRDC’s national clean-air advocacy before Congress, in the courts, at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and before the public since 2000. Before joining NRDC, he spent three years working as an attorney in the EPA’s Office of General Counsel, where he handled cases related to permitting, air toxins, monitoring, and enforcement under the Clean Air Act. Prior to that, he was an associate in a private law firm based in Washington, D.C. Walke is a graduate of Duke University and Harvard Law School. He is based in Washington, D.C.
Partner, Boyden Gray PLLC
Jimmy Conde is partner at Boyden Gray PLLC, specializing in energy, environmental, and administrative law, with particular expertise in the Clean Air Act. He has protected clients against agency overreach in cutting-edge and complex legal proceedings, including challenges to EPA, DOE, DOT, and California rules seeking to compel electrification of motor vehicles, the FCC’s universal service fund, Department of Labor Wage & Hour Division rules, and HHS rules interfering with the practice of medicine and sound insurance practices. His written commentary has been published and referenced in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Examiner, Concurrences (an antitrust publication), and Newsweek, among others.
Mr. Conde began his legal career as an associate with Boyden Gray PLLC. He clerked for Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Judge David J. Porter in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Partner, Donahue & Goldberg LLP
Sean H. Donahue's practice is focused on appellate litigation, including environmental cases in federal and state appellate courts, legal counseling, and helping clients communicate effectively to courts, agencies, and other audiences. He is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia and the State of California.
A 1992 graduate of University of Chicago Law School, Sean served as law clerk to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, then of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and to Justice John Paul Stevens. He entered private practice at Jenner & Block's Washington office, where he worked on civil matters including in telecommunications and First Amendment law. He then spent four years at the Department of Justice, Environmental and Natural Resources Division, Appellate Section, briefing and arguing cases in the United States Courts of Appeals, and state supreme courts concerning federal environmental and natural resources law, federal property law, takings, and Indian law.
Sean has argued approximately 50 cases in federal and state appellate courts. Since first establishing his own practice in 2002, he has represented environmental and public health organization parties in numerous major environmental and clean energy cases in the Supreme Court and the courts of appeals. His current practice includes representation of public interest organizations, governmental bodies, and private entities in environmental, energy, natural resources, and other cases. Sean has taught courses in environmental law, civil procedure, constitutional law and other subjects at Washington & Lee University School of Law, Iowa College of Law, and Georgetown University Law Center, and currently teaches climate change law and policy as a lecturer at Stanford Law School. He has given presentations at law schools including Berkeley, Columbia, Fordham, Harvard, Duke, Georgetown, Maryland, NYU, Northwestern, Stanford, University of Chicago, University of Florida, Vermont Law School, and Washington & Lee.
Partner, King & Spalding, LLP
Jacqueline Glassman specializes in motor vehicle and consumer safety, vehicle fuel economy and other transportation issues. She works with companies to resolve enforcement problems, find business opportunities in emerging initiatives and build healthy relations with regulators. Jacqueline frequently works with crisis management teams to find solutions that build consumer confidence and minimize corporate pain. As a partner in King & Spalding's Government Advocacy practice, Jacqueline helps lead the Automotive and Transportation Initiative.
Jacqueline's career has spanned corporate, government and private practice.
While in-house at a major automaker, Jacqueline developed the instinct for finding solutions to legal problems while advancing business objectives. As Chief Counsel at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Jacqueline spearheaded the reform of the vehicle fuel efficiency program. She also oversaw scores of rule-making and enforcement actions, including the initial implementation of the TREAD Act. As NHTSA's Acting Administrator, Jacqueline worked with the White House and congressional staff to develop policy and legislation impacting the auto industry.
Jacqueline has worked with companies to create credit opportunities for frontier technologies in fuel efficiency and safety. She is actively involved with numerous companies developing and implementing automated technology for motor vehicles. Jacqueline has negotiated Consent Orders and helped companies pilot their implementation. Jacqueline frequently works hand-in-glove with litigators, engineers, crisis management firms, congressional relations staff and corporate executives. Jacqueline counsels clients on compliance, government relations, litigation strategy and building robust corporate safety programs.
Partner, Steptoe LLP
Shannen W. Coffin is a partner in Steptoe’s Washington office, where co-chairs the firm’s appellate practice and is a member of the regulatory litigation practice group. He frequently represents clients in trial and appellate courts in matters involving constitutional and administrative law challenges to state and federal government regulatory action.
Mr. Coffin previously served as a senior lawyer in the Executive Branch. He was Counsel to Vice President Cheney in the Office of the Vice President of the United States, where, among other things, he served on the White House’s judicial selection committee. Before that, Mr. Coffin served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the US Justice Department’s Civil Division, where he was responsible for overseeing and coordinating trial litigation on behalf of the federal government for constitutional challenges to federal statutes, statutory and constitutional challenges to agency programs, and defense of national security and anti-terrorism programs.
CEO, Pebble Partnership
Tom Collier leads the Pebble Partnership as its CEO. Mr. Collier is the former U.S. Department of the Interior chief of staff during the Clinton administration. He holds extensive experience in navigating the federal environmental permitting process. Prior to joining the Partnership in 2014, Mr. Collier spent 40 years serving as a partner for the law firm Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, D.C. As a senior leader in environmental law and permitting, Mr. Collier has worked on Alaska related projects in his career including development of Alpine, CD-5, and the reauthorization of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.
Director, Center for Energy and Environment, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Myron Ebell is director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Ebell also chairs the Cooler Heads Coalition, which comprises representatives from more than two dozen non-profit organizations based in the United States and abroad that challenge global warming alarmism and oppose energy rationing policies.
Ebell has worked on energy and environment issues for more than two decades, spending more than 15 years at CEI researching and advocating for sensible energy policies that benefit everyone. Instead of policies that simply reacts to alarmism, Ebell advocates for climate policies that reflect the scientifically-supported view that affordable, plentiful, and reliable energy make the world safer, the environment more livable, and should be should be accessible to those who need it most.
Ebell's writings have appeared in a variety of publications, including the New York Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, Forbes, London’s Guardian, Standpoint Magazine, Riverside Press Enterprise, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Environmental Law Forum. He has appeared as a guest on numerous television shows, including the ABC Evening News, NBC Nightly News, PBS News Hour, BBC Newsnight, BBC World, CNBC, CNN, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, MSNBC, ITN, Voice of America, Televisa, Sky TV, Al Jazeera, PBS’s NOW, Fox News's Special Report with Bret Baier, O'Reilly Factor, and Hannity and Colmes. He has spoken frequently on a variety of BBC radio news programs and on hundreds of radio talk shows.
Ebell holds a Bachelor of Arts from Colorado College and an Master of Science from the London School of Economics. He also did graduate work at the University of California at San Diego and at Peterhouse, Cambridge University.
President, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
Robert Perciasepe serves as president of the nonprofit Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. He served as the Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the administration of Barack Obama. Prior to joining the Obama administration, Perciasepe was Chief Operating Officer for the environmental conservation non-profit National Audubon Society. Before that, he served in the administration of President Bill Clinton as the EPA's Assistant Administrator for clean water and then later as the Assistant Administrator for clean air.
Senior Counsel for Environmental and Regulatory Affairs, Boeing
Adam Gustafson is a Senior Counsel for Environmental and Regulatory Affairs at Boeing.
Prior to joining Boeing, he served as Deputy General Counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency. Prior to that, he was a partner at Boyden Gray & Associates, where he represented States, federal judges, environmental groups, biofuel producers, agricultural interests, and public policy organizations, on such issues as the constitutional separation of powers, the First Amendment, automotive regulations, environmental computer models, healthcare regulation, and judicial deference to federal agencies.
Mr. Gustafson received his J.D. in 2009 from Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal, a managing editor of the Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities, and an executive editor of the symposium issue of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.
Mr. Gustafson served as a Vice President of the Yale Law School Federalist Society. He was a Coker Fellow, and his legal writing won the Joseph A. Chubb Competition Prize and the Edward D. Robbins Memorial Prize.
Mr. Gustafson graduated with high distinction in 2005 from the University of Virginia, where he was an Echols Scholar, a member of the Raven Society, a member of the rowing team, and a Lawn resident.
Before joining Boyden Gray & Associates, Mr. Gustafson was an associate at Cooper & Kirk, where he specialized in appellate litigation. Mr. Gustafson served as a law clerk to Judge Richard R. Clifton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and to Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Partner, Bracewell LLP
Jeffrey Holmstead, former assistant administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency for Air and Radiation, is one of the nation’s leading climate change lawyers as recognized by Chambers USA (2008-2016) and heads the environmental strategies group (ESG) at Bracewell. The ESG is a multi-disciplinary group that includes environmental and energy attorneys, public policy advocates and strategic communications experts – most of whom have had high-level government experience. Under Jeffrey’s leadership, they work together on a daily basis to advise and defend companies and business groups confronting major environmental and energy-development challenges, both domestically and globally.
From his time in both the government and the private sector, Jeffrey is very familiar with the environmental and energy challenges facing the business community. He advises clients dealing with an increasingly complex regulatory, legal and public relations landscape, drawing on his experience in policy development, administrative and legislative advocacy, litigation and strategic communications. He has worked with clients in a number of industries on issues related to climate change, Clean Air Act policy and enforcement, and energy policy — including the development of new coal-fired power plants, refineries, renewable energy sources, and electric transmission infrastructure.
Jeffrey headed the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation from 2001 to 2005, longer than anyone in EPA history. During his tenure, he was the architect of several of the agency’s most important initiatives, including the Clean Air Interstate Rule, the Clean Air Diesel Rule, the Mercury Rule for power plants and the reform of the New Source Review program. He also oversaw the development of the Bush Administration’s Clear Skies Legislation and key parts of its Global Climate Change Initiative. Between 1989 and 1993, Jeffrey served on the White House Staff as Associate Counsel to former President George H.W. Bush. In that capacity, he was involved in the passage of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and the key steps taken to implement those amendments. From 1987 to 1988, he served as a law clerk to Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
He received his B.A. from Brigham Young University, summa cum laude, and his J.D. from Yale Law School.
Director, Clean Air Project, Climate & Clean Air Program, Natural Resources Defense Council
John Walke has spearheaded the NRDC’s national clean-air advocacy before Congress, in the courts, at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and before the public since 2000. Before joining NRDC, he spent three years working as an attorney in the EPA’s Office of General Counsel, where he handled cases related to permitting, air toxins, monitoring, and enforcement under the Clean Air Act. Prior to that, he was an associate in a private law firm based in Washington, D.C. Walke is a graduate of Duke University and Harvard Law School. He is based in Washington, D.C.
Former Secretary; U.S. Department of Labor
Rene Alexander Acosta is an American attorney and politician, who served as the 27th United States Secretary of Labor from 2017 to 2019.
Secretary Acosta is the son of Cuban refugees, a native of Miami, and first-generation college graduate. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University.
Following law school, he worked as a law clerk for Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He then worked at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis and went on to teach at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law.
Secretary Acosta has served in three presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed positions. In 2002, he was appointed to serve as a member of the National Labor Relations Board, where he participated in or authored more than 125 opinions. In 2003, he was appointed Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and from 2005 to 2009 he served as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
Prior to his tenure at the Department of Labor, Secretary Acosta served as the dean of the FIU College of Law.
Secretary Acosta has twice been named one of the nation’s 50 most influential Hispanics by Hispanic Business magazine. He was also named to the list of 100 most influential individuals in business ethics in 2008. In 2013, the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce presented him with the Chairman’s Higher Education Award in recognition of his “outstanding achievements, leadership and determination throughout a lifetime of caring and giving back to the community.”
Secretary Acosta and his wife enjoy spending time together as a family, raising their two daughters.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
Judge Katsas was appointed to the D.C. Circuit in December 2017. He graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School, where he was an executive editor on the Harvard Law Review. Between 1989 and 1992, he served as a law clerk to Judge Edward Becker on the Third Circuit, to then-Judge Clarence Thomas on the D.C. Circuit, and to Justice Thomas on the Supreme Court. Between 1992 and 2001, he was an associate and then partner in the Washington office of Jones Day, where he specialized in appellate and complex civil litigation. Between 2001 and 2009, he served in many senior positions in the Department of Justice, including as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division and as Acting Associate Attorney General. In 2009, he returned to Jones Day. From January to December 2017, he served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Counsel to the President.
Before joining the bench, Judge Katsas argued more than 75 appeals, including three cases in the Supreme Court, 13 cases in the D.C. Circuit, and cases in every other federal court of appeals. By appointment of the Chief Justice, he served on the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules from 2013 to 2017. In 2016, he was elected to membership in the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.
Former Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Scott Pruitt served as the 14th Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
As Administrator, Mr. Pruitt’s overarching goal was to lead EPA in a way that our future generations inherit a better and healthier environment as he works with the thousands of dedicated public servants at EPA who have devoted their careers to helping realize this shared vision, while faithfully administering environmental laws.
Prior to the EPA, Pruitt served as the Attorney General for Oklahoma. Almost immediately upon taking office, he worked with his Democratic counterpart in Arkansas to reach agreement to study the water quality of the Illinois River, which crosses the border between the two states and has been enjoyed by generations of Oklahomans. The Statement of Joint Principles provides for a best science study using EPA-approved methods, with both states agreeing, for the first time, to be bound by the outcome.
Also during his tenure as Oklahoma’s Attorney General, Pruitt led an historic water rights settlement between Oklahoma, Oklahoma City and the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribal Nations that preserved the ecosystems of scenic lakes and rivers on native lands. The agreement, which required Congressional approval, was enacted into Section 3608 of Public Law 114-322 and signed in December 2016. It provides a framework that fosters intergovernmental collaboration on significant water resource concerns with the settlement area, while at the same time protecting existing water rights and affirming the state’s role in water rights permitting and administration.
Water settlement cases can be lengthy, costly, divisive and disruptive; however under Pruitt’s forward-thinking leadership, the process was hailed by all parties as one of commitment, hard work, perseverance and cooperation.
Pruitt became a national leader through a career of advocating to keep power in the hands of hard-working Americans. He has a proven track record of working with others – including industry, farmers, ranchers, landowners and small business owners - who want to do the right thing by the environment.
He has dedicated his career to creating policy that serves the people. He strongly believes that environmental law, policy and progress are all based on cooperation between the states, cooperation between the states and EPA, and cooperation between regulators and the public. As Attorney General for Oklahoma, he led the state’s legal challenges against property rights intrusion, while protecting Oklahoma’s natural resources and environment.
He is recognized as a national leader in the cause to restore the proper balance between the states and federal government, and he established Oklahoma’s first federalism unit to combat unwarranted regulation and overreach by the federal government.
Before being elected attorney general, he served eight years in the Oklahoma State Senate where he was a leading voice for fiscal responsibility.
After earning his Bachelor’s Degree from Georgetown College and graduating from the University of Tulsa College of Law, Pruitt went into private legal practice, specializing in constitutional law.
In addition to his life as a civil servant, Pruitt is a successful entrepreneur. As a co-owner and managing general partner of Oklahoma City’s Triple-A minor league baseball affiliate, the Oklahoma City Redhawks, Mr. Pruitt took over the team’s marketing operations and helped the team become one of the minor league leaders in attendance and merchandise sales.
Pruitt is, first and foremost, a family man. He and Marlyn, his wife of 27 years, proudly raised their daughter, McKenna, and son, Cade, in Tulsa. Pruitt has made it a priority to pass on to his children the same principled family values with which he was raised.
Former Secretary; U.S. Department of Labor
Rene Alexander Acosta is an American attorney and politician, who served as the 27th United States Secretary of Labor from 2017 to 2019.
Secretary Acosta is the son of Cuban refugees, a native of Miami, and first-generation college graduate. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University.
Following law school, he worked as a law clerk for Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He then worked at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis and went on to teach at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law.
Secretary Acosta has served in three presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed positions. In 2002, he was appointed to serve as a member of the National Labor Relations Board, where he participated in or authored more than 125 opinions. In 2003, he was appointed Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and from 2005 to 2009 he served as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
Prior to his tenure at the Department of Labor, Secretary Acosta served as the dean of the FIU College of Law.
Secretary Acosta has twice been named one of the nation’s 50 most influential Hispanics by Hispanic Business magazine. He was also named to the list of 100 most influential individuals in business ethics in 2008. In 2013, the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce presented him with the Chairman’s Higher Education Award in recognition of his “outstanding achievements, leadership and determination throughout a lifetime of caring and giving back to the community.”
Secretary Acosta and his wife enjoy spending time together as a family, raising their two daughters.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
Judge Katsas was appointed to the D.C. Circuit in December 2017. He graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School, where he was an executive editor on the Harvard Law Review. Between 1989 and 1992, he served as a law clerk to Judge Edward Becker on the Third Circuit, to then-Judge Clarence Thomas on the D.C. Circuit, and to Justice Thomas on the Supreme Court. Between 1992 and 2001, he was an associate and then partner in the Washington office of Jones Day, where he specialized in appellate and complex civil litigation. Between 2001 and 2009, he served in many senior positions in the Department of Justice, including as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division and as Acting Associate Attorney General. In 2009, he returned to Jones Day. From January to December 2017, he served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Counsel to the President.
Before joining the bench, Judge Katsas argued more than 75 appeals, including three cases in the Supreme Court, 13 cases in the D.C. Circuit, and cases in every other federal court of appeals. By appointment of the Chief Justice, he served on the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules from 2013 to 2017. In 2016, he was elected to membership in the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.
Former Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Scott Pruitt served as the 14th Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
As Administrator, Mr. Pruitt’s overarching goal was to lead EPA in a way that our future generations inherit a better and healthier environment as he works with the thousands of dedicated public servants at EPA who have devoted their careers to helping realize this shared vision, while faithfully administering environmental laws.
Prior to the EPA, Pruitt served as the Attorney General for Oklahoma. Almost immediately upon taking office, he worked with his Democratic counterpart in Arkansas to reach agreement to study the water quality of the Illinois River, which crosses the border between the two states and has been enjoyed by generations of Oklahomans. The Statement of Joint Principles provides for a best science study using EPA-approved methods, with both states agreeing, for the first time, to be bound by the outcome.
Also during his tenure as Oklahoma’s Attorney General, Pruitt led an historic water rights settlement between Oklahoma, Oklahoma City and the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribal Nations that preserved the ecosystems of scenic lakes and rivers on native lands. The agreement, which required Congressional approval, was enacted into Section 3608 of Public Law 114-322 and signed in December 2016. It provides a framework that fosters intergovernmental collaboration on significant water resource concerns with the settlement area, while at the same time protecting existing water rights and affirming the state’s role in water rights permitting and administration.
Water settlement cases can be lengthy, costly, divisive and disruptive; however under Pruitt’s forward-thinking leadership, the process was hailed by all parties as one of commitment, hard work, perseverance and cooperation.
Pruitt became a national leader through a career of advocating to keep power in the hands of hard-working Americans. He has a proven track record of working with others – including industry, farmers, ranchers, landowners and small business owners - who want to do the right thing by the environment.
He has dedicated his career to creating policy that serves the people. He strongly believes that environmental law, policy and progress are all based on cooperation between the states, cooperation between the states and EPA, and cooperation between regulators and the public. As Attorney General for Oklahoma, he led the state’s legal challenges against property rights intrusion, while protecting Oklahoma’s natural resources and environment.
He is recognized as a national leader in the cause to restore the proper balance between the states and federal government, and he established Oklahoma’s first federalism unit to combat unwarranted regulation and overreach by the federal government.
Before being elected attorney general, he served eight years in the Oklahoma State Senate where he was a leading voice for fiscal responsibility.
After earning his Bachelor’s Degree from Georgetown College and graduating from the University of Tulsa College of Law, Pruitt went into private legal practice, specializing in constitutional law.
In addition to his life as a civil servant, Pruitt is a successful entrepreneur. As a co-owner and managing general partner of Oklahoma City’s Triple-A minor league baseball affiliate, the Oklahoma City Redhawks, Mr. Pruitt took over the team’s marketing operations and helped the team become one of the minor league leaders in attendance and merchandise sales.
Pruitt is, first and foremost, a family man. He and Marlyn, his wife of 27 years, proudly raised their daughter, McKenna, and son, Cade, in Tulsa. Pruitt has made it a priority to pass on to his children the same principled family values with which he was raised.
Oklahoma City Chapter Lunch with Former Administrator Scott Pruitt
Oklahoma City Lawyers Chapter
Oklahoma City, OKEPA’s CAFE: What's on the Menu for Fuel Economy and Greenhouse Gas Standards?
James Conde, Sean H. Donahue, Jacqueline Glassman
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao are proposing to roll back...
Deep Dive Episode 33 – EPA’s CAFE: What's on the Menu for Fuel Economy and Greenhouse Gas Standards?
Regulatory Transparency Project Teleforum
TeleforumExecutive Overreach at the EPA? The Pebble Mine Clean Water Act Dispute
Shannen W. Coffin, Tom Collier, Myron Ebell, Robert Perciasepe
Perhaps in no area was President Obama’s expansive approach to executive authority more apparent than...
Executive Overreach at the EPA? The Pebble Mine Clean Water Act Dispute
Environmental Law & Property Rights Practice Group Teleforum
TeleforumDeep Dive Episode 29 – Analyzing how EPA is Addressing “Secret Science”
Regulatory Transparency Project Teleforum
TeleforumAdministrator Pruitt’s First Year at EPA
Adam Gustafson, Jeffrey Holmstead, John Walke
When President Trump nominated Scott Pruitt to be Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, environmentalists...
Administrator Pruitt’s First Year at EPA
Environmental Law & Property Rights, Administrative Law & Regulation Practice Groups, and Regulatory Transparency Project Teleforum
TeleforumFlorida Chapters Banquet Discussion
R. Alexander Acosta, Gregory G. Katsas, Scott Pruitt
2018 Annual Florida Chapters Conference Panel Discussion Participants: Hon. R. Alexander Acosta - Secretary, United...
Florida Chapters Banquet Discussion
R. Alexander Acosta, Gregory G. Katsas, Scott Pruitt
2018 Annual Florida Chapters Conference Panel Discussion Participants: Hon. R. Alexander Acosta - Secretary, United...