Our Experts

Ann Alexander

Senior Attorney, Dirty Energy, Lands Division, Nature Program

Ann Alexander works as a litigator and policy advocate with the Nature Program's Dirty Energy Team—fighting to curb polluting fossil fuel development that threatens the integrity of our public lands, and harms communities living in proximity. Before arriving at NRDC…

Josh Axelrod

Senior Advocate, Nature Program

Josh Axelrod focuses on issues including public land protection and conservation, renewable energy siting on public lands, limiting oil and gas development on public lands, energy transmission, and climate policy. Since joining NRDC in 2013, Axelrod has also developed expertise…

Claudia Blanco Nuñez

Program Assistant, Dirty Energy Project, Nature Program

Claudia Blanco Nuñez focuses on environmental issues affecting marginalized communities and those most vulnerable to climate change impacts. Nuñez supports advocates in the Dirty Energy Project by investigating discourse and policies for a just transition towards clean energy and following…

Michele Bustamante

Staff Scientist, Nature Program

Michele Bustamante specializes in the development of novel science-based policy tools, with an emphasis on multi-criteria and systems-informed approaches, in service of both people and the planet. Her work takes aim at complex challenges at the intersection of climate, energy…

Susan Casey-Lefkowitz

Senior Strategic Advisor

Susan Casey-Lefkowitz’s work is focused on climate change and fossil fuels. She joined NRDC in 2000 as director of work in Canada, starting and leading the campaigns against tar sands development and the Keystone XL pipeline. She then led the…

Ralph Cavanagh

Energy Co-Director, Climate & Clean Energy Program

Since joining NRDC in 1979, Ralph Cavanagh has focused on removing barriers to cost-effective energy efficiency and on the role that electric and natural gas utilities can play in leading a clean energy transition. From 1993 to 2003, he served…

Jamie Consuegra

Director, Congressional & External Affairs, Climate & Clean Energy Program

Jamie Consuegra advocates for smart climate policies on Capitol Hill and has worked to defend the Clean Power Plan from legislative attacks. Prior to joining NRDC, she studied the link between amphibian extinctions and climate change in Central and South…

David Doniger

Senior Strategic Director, Climate & Clean Energy Program

David Doniger has been at the forefront of the battle against air pollution and global climate change since he joined NRDC in 1978. He helped formulate the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement designed to stop the depletion of the earth's…

Rachel Fakhry

Senior Advocate, Climate & Clean Energy Program

Rachel Fakhry leads the hydrogen and energy innovation portfolio at NRDC. She engages with international and domestic stakeholders in designing policy and regulatory frameworks to leverage hydrogen technology’s potential to support deep decarbonization goals—and to internalize the guardrails necessary to…

Gillian Giannetti

Senior Attorney, Sustainable FERC Project, Climate & Clean Energy Program

Gillian Giannetti focuses her advocacy on energy issues at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy, particularly natural gas infrastructure projects and grid resilience and reliability efforts. Giannetti also serves as a reports editor for the…

David Hawkins

Director, Climate Policy, Climate & Clean Energy Program

David Hawkins joined the nascent NRDC in 1971 and has been with it ever since, minus the four years he spent working at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the Carter administration. Upon his return, he dedicated much of his…

Pete Huffman

Staff Attorney, Climate & Clean Energy Program

Pete Huffman litigates cases to protect the climate and advocates for policy efforts to cut carbon pollution and other greenhouse gas emissions that are fueling climate change. He previously clerked for Judge Henry F. Floyd of the U.S. Court of…

J.C. Kibbey

Advocate, Illinois Clean Energy, Climate & Clean Energy Program

J.C. Kibbey analyzes and advocates for policies that advance renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean transportation, sustainable development, and grid modernization at the legislature, Illinois Commerce Commission, state agencies, and with other partners and decision-makers. He also works to develop policy…

Lucy LaFlamme

Southeast Lead, Energy Efficiency for All, People & Communities Program

Lucy Laflamme works with environmental and allied organizations to advocate for federal action on climate change and strong state compliance strategies for the Clean Power Plan. She aims to broaden the base of support for climate change action and to…

Niel Lawrence

Alaska Director and Senior Attorney, Nature Program

Niel Lawrence oversees NRDC’s efforts to preserve and protect Alaska’s iconic land and seascapes—including the Arctic and vast Tongass rainforest—and helps guide efforts to end climate-wrecking oil exploration on federal lands. Prior to his current role, Lawrence directed NRDC’s national…