Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Richard Glick today announced the appointment of Montina Cole to serve as Senior Counsel for Environmental Justice and Equity, effective June 1, 2021.
Cole, a seasoned executive and attorney with nearly three decades of energy law experience, is Principal of Jai Green Consulting LLC and the Law Office of Montina Cole, where she works at the intersection of climate policy, racial equity and resilience, providing clients with holistic tools and solutions for sustainability.
“Montina is extremely qualified to take on this important and groundbreaking responsibility,” Chairman Glick said. “She has a deep knowledge and expansive experience in environmental justice and equity issues. Montina will put those talents to work in building a culture and program that ensures FERC appropriately integrates environmental justice and equity issues into our decisionmaking.”
Cole previously served as Senior Attorney in the Climate & Clean Energy Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, where she pursued transformational shifts in utility industry regulation, managed advocacy on reform of FERC’s gas pipeline review and environmental justice policy, worked with stakeholders on EPA’s Clean Power Plan and helped lead an initiative to integrate racial equity considerations into the organization’s advocacy work. She also spent many years in energy practice at several law firms, where she concentrated on energy industry regulation and represented state regulators, electric cooperatives and regional transmission organizations. She also served as Special Counsel to the General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Cole earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, and her Bachelor of Arts in political science, cum laude, from Washburn University. She is a certified Integral Yoga instructor and a GreenFaith fellow. She and her spouse Shireen live in Washington, D.C.
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