The Tigers on the Potomac
By Edward Goldstein '79
olorado College's new environmental science major is welcome news to those who maintain that the school's educational philosophy and unique setting offers a tremendous laboratory for students considering careers in environmental fields. But what about environmental policy making? Can CC graduates hold their own amidst the sharp-elbowed lawyers and quick-tongued advocates who often hold sway in the Byzantine system that produces our nation's environmental policies, laws and regulations? In Washington, D.C., where our alumni are among the most active and productive players in the environmental policy making arena, the answer is an emphatic yes.
In typical CC fashion, there does not seem to be one clear road or ideological direction for the path that takes environmental-oriented graduates from the shadow of Pikes Peak to Washington's marble corridors of power. The Tigers on the Potomac, whose careers focus on such issues as renewable energy, forest management, endangered species, private property rights and international environmental policy, say several aspects of the CC experience helped to prepare them for life in the nation's capital.
Megan Smith - National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Megan Smith '81 and her sister Debi have traveled the world as the Smith Sisters, entertaining audiences with classic, folk song renditions. She has also traveled the world spreading the word about clean energy sources as the congressional liaison and representative of the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The Golden, Colorado-based center researches solar, geothermal and other non-polluting forms of energy.
A biology major, Megan spent a lot of time engaged in field work under the tutelage of her academic advisor, Jim Enderson. She also studied chemistry and physics, "so I understand solar and biomass energy." Today, while working full-time, Megan is pursuing a master's degree in biology and environmental policy at George Mason University.
As is the case with all federal agencies, congressional liaisons are expected to walk a fine line between outright lobbying and advocacy for their programs (which is forbidden) and for being a knowledgeable provider of information about the agencies' programs and goals. Sometimes the line gets very blurred. Megan explains, "We can collect information from the Hill [Congress], we can go to hearings and upon request I can go in and meet with people and inform them about what we are doing at NREL," says Megan. "I get out and about so people recognize my name and know that I'm here in D.C."
As the political winds of change blow in Washington, Megan says it is sometimes necessary to alter the way NREL's work is communicated to members of Congress. For example, in these spartan fiscal times members are interested in non-traditional ways of funding the laboratory's work. "I took our laboratory director, Charlie Gay, to meet John Myers (R-Indiana) and Tom Bevill (D-Alabama), the chairman and ranking Democrat for the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. Charlie talked about how we were trying to wean NREL off of government dollars and diversify our funding base by looking for outside capital sources from private industry," notes Megan. "I think they kind of went, 'Whoa. This is interesting.'"
One of NREL's major selling points is its effort to place renewable energy technologies out into unique market segments. "I suppose the good news is that we've become more cost competitive," she says. "Wind energy is very close to market prices. Photovoltaic (solar energy) is still far away from being competitive for domestic usage. But it is quite competitive in international markets where it is cheaper to put a free standing solar panel up, rather than string two miles of transition line into an isolated African village. Those kinds of applications are making the market grow pretty rapidly. Energy Department Secretary Hazel O'Leary is traveling to these countries and one of her biggest pushes is for renewable energy in these small remote areas that can't get electricity. Right now that's our largest market. If we don't win over the market, foreign competitors will."
Keith Argow - American Resources Group
In the 1950s, Keith Argow '58 wrote a "Tiger" column called "Pike Trail Notes" that touted the best local hiking trails. The column expanded into what Argow said became meditations on "what we would now call environmental issues. I talked about the forest fires on Cheyenne Mountain and the impact of ski development in Colorado," he said. "I also wrote about developers, coming in and building homes where they shouldn't be built."
After college, Keith became a Forest Service naturalist, a national forest recreation area administrator and a forest management professor. He currently serves as an executive director for the conservation group, Trout Unlimited, and as president of American Resources Group, an organization he founded that serves as a steering house and advocate for the nation's owners of small woodlands. He owns and operates more than 2,000 acres of woodlands scattered throughout Virginia, Tennessee, Michigan and North Carolina that the President's Commission on Environmental Quality has recognized for innovative resource management that enhances natural diversity.
Keith, who has a Ph.D. in forestry and political science from North Carolina State University and a master's degree in forestry from the University of Michigan, says he got a particular boost for his involvement in practical forestry from his Colorado College training in economics and ecology. "What I learned from CC was the importance of good business management," he notes.
In 1981, Keith founded the American Resources Group "to do all the things I wanted to do but couldn't," at his former institutions. One arm of ARG is the Land Conservation Fund of America. This organization uses commercial loans to buy privately held property within public land preserves "to keep development out." He also testifies routinely before congressional committees on the Forest Service appropriations bill and on behalf of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which uses royalties from off shore oil production to purchase areas for conservation purposes.
Keith also writes for "National Woodlands Magazine," a how-to publication he owns. He founded the National Woodland Owners Association in 1983 in an attempt to chart a middle ground on the environmental issues facing small forest owners. "We're very much a private free-enterprise initiative group," he states. "Because of my background with the environmental community, we have always tried to be in a position as a mediator. We work closely with the forest industry but are independent of them. Preserving the diversity of forest types is an important component of long term forestry and one of the areas that is most prone to disagreement," he said.
Jane Turner - American Forest and Paper Association
"If you had asked me back when I was at CC if I would be doing what I'm doing now, I would probably have said 'Never'," remarked Jane Lambert Turner '71, director of legislative affairs for the American Forest and Paper Association. The French literature major now finds herself in the middle of battles over old growth forests, southeastern swamps and the Endangered Species Act.
"The one thing I can think of that prepared me for what I'm doing now is the flexibility of CC," she said. "I'm not using my language skills, obviously, but I received a really good, well-rounded education there and developed an interest in lots of different areas."
After CC, Jane worked as a legislative aide for then congressman Bill Armstrong (R-CO) and senators Peter Dominick (R-CO) and Robert Taft Jr. (R-OH), went to law school at American University, and then worked as a lobbyist for the American Mining Congress. "My dad's a mining engineer so I had a background in natural resource issues," notes Jane. Family roots combined with the experience of living out west gave her "a feel for the problems that people are having, a background of what it's like on the ground."
Jane currently is coordinating the timber industry coalition, cattlemen and farming groups, mining companies, labor unions and private property owners - all groups that are attempting to reform the Endangered Species Act. The unsettled issue of altering the 22- year-old act prompted some of the sharpest disputes in Congress last year.
"It's time to bring some common sense to the ESA and get private landowners involved in the process," asserts Turner. "Even environmental groups and the Administration, to a certain degree, realize that changes have to be made. There are just too many horror stories out there. The number of species that are listed (as threatened or endangered) and waiting to be listed continues to elevate the concerns of private landowners affected by the ESA."
Jane is also involved with the collateral private property rights movement. This group seeks legislation that would provide compensation to property owners if their property value is adversely affected by government environmental regulations. "The compensation issue is important to private landowners," she said. "If there is going to be a decision by society to protect these species at all costs, then society has a whole should pay for it. That's how they see it."
When reminded that CC students tend to be fairly "green" on environmental issues, Jane stated, "Look, the people I work with are no different from students at CC. They are all concerned with protecting the environment. But it's not just a situation of being right vs. wrong. There needs to be some balance. Extreme solutions won't work."
Annie Petsonk - Environmental Defense Fund
Annie Petsonk '79, a biology major who scoured the Southwest on field trips with professors Jack Carter, Dick Beidleman and John Lewis, doesn't look like the adventurous type. But looks can be deceiving.
After graduating from CC and Harvard law school, Annie parlayed a two-week vacation in Kenya into a three-year tour of duty with the Nairobi-based United Nations Environmental Program. Working for this unheralded UN agency, Annie took a leading role in blazing trails for international agreements on complex environmental issues.
"I got there just in time for the wind-up of the Montreal Protocol to ban ozone layer depleting substances," she said. "I spent most of my time at the Basel Convention on issues related to the transport and disposal of hazardous waste." She then traveled in Gabon, where she "sampled the most beautiful air I've ever tasted" on the pristine islands of Sao Tome and Principe.
Upon returning from these tropical paradises, Annie began working in the Bush Administration's Justice Department, where she immediately plunged into dealing with the complex issue of whether U.S. environmental laws apply to activities of the U.S. government abroad. Annie was then detailed to the U.S. Trade Representative's Office and served on the U.S. delegation to the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro.
Following her government stint, Annie joined the Environmental Defense Fund, an organization that has earned a reputation for creatively linking economic incentives to environmental protection. She recently participated with other non-governmental organizations and governments in brokering the Panama Declaration. This declaration uses tough trade embargoes to enforce the protection of dolphin species and the ecosystem they depend on. It also strengthens the "dolphin-safe" label on tuna fish by ensuring that no dolphins die in the catch of labeled tuna. She believes that international agreements such as the Panama Declaration can be used as an effective vehicle for improving environmental quality.
"One of the reasons I joined EDF when I left government was because I believe that environmental treaties are only effective when they build on either political will, which is historically in short supply, or economic self interest. If a treaty is designed properly with economic and environmental interests taken into account, then it can tap market forces in favor of the environment."
Annie's latest project has been to help get the legal structure in place to encourage countries and industries to reduce greenhouse gases by investing in emission reduction opportunities at home and abroad. "Under an EDF partnership, electric utilities across the United States have pledged to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. And under the developing international framework, a solar electricity organization in the U.S. is providing solar lighting to rural homes in Honduras while a Wisconsin utility is providing home thermostats and coal washing facilities to increase energy efficiency in the Czech Republic," she explained.
The four profiled here are just a few of our alumni in Washington, D.C., who take to heart the school's commitment to excellence in public affairs. If there is a common thread among them, it is that they view the environment and environmental issues as central and not peripheral to this election year debate over the future of our country. It is a view that more and more Americans are starting to hold, no matter where they come out in the debate.
Edward Goldstein '79 served as deputy associate director for Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Policy in the Bush Administration's Office of Economic and Domestic Policy. He now is a senior writer for the "White House Bulletin" fax newsletter.