Mark Brownstein

Work

Mark Brownstein is the Associate Vice President & Chief Counsel of the US Energy and Climate Program at Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and he leads EDF’s natural gas efforts. Mark also specializes in utility-related issues, including transmission development, wholesale and retail electric market design, rate reform, and power plant siting and investment. Mark was one of two EDF staff leads on the United States Climate Action Partnership, a coalition of the nation’s leading corporations and environmental groups championing immediate action on federal legislation to cap and substantially reduce greenhouse gas pollution across the US economy. He is co-author of the Carbon Principles, a set of enhanced due diligence principles for investment banks considering the financing of coal fired power plants.

Prior to joining EDF, Mark was Director of Enterprise Strategy for Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), where he worked directly with PSEG’s senior leadership in crafting and implementing the corporation’s business strategy. Over his nearly ten year career with PSEG, Mark served the company in a variety of environmental management roles, including Director of Environmental Strategy and Policy. Mark was active in numerous environmental legislative and regulatory proceedings including efforts to develop federal legislation limiting emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, and carbon dioxide from power plants, and the Environmental Council of States’ (ECOS) 37-state Ozone Transport Assessment Group (OTAG) process, which developed specific recommendations to address the persistent problem of ozone transport in the eastern United States. Mark was also an active member of the US EPA’s Clean Air Act Advisory Committee and New Jersey’s Renewable Energy Task Force.

Aside from PSEG, Mark’s career includes time as an attorney in a private environmental practice, a regulator with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and an aide to then-Congressman Robert G. Torricelli (D–NJ).

Background

• J.D., University of Michigan Law School
• B.A., Vassar College. Truman Scholar, 1985

Other Affiliations

• Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA)
• Governance Committee member of The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL)