Climate science, policy, politics, and action
Chair Gregory Meeks
Witnesses:
Steve Owens was nominated by President Joseph Biden to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board on April 29, 2021 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on December 9, 2021. He began his post on February 3, 2022.
Owens practiced environmental, safety and health law in Phoenix, Arizona, focusing on the safe production, management, distribution and use of chemicals and chemical safety regulations and requirements, prior to joining the CSB.
During his appointment under the Obama-Biden Administration, Owens served as the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), appointed by President Barack Obama. Owens managed EPA’s chemical regulatory and scientific programs under the Toxic Substances Control Act and other statutes, and, among other initiatives, made increased transparency for chemical information and expanded public access to health and safety data on chemicals a top priority.
Prior to joining EPA, Owens was Director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, where he oversaw the department’s policies and regulations relating to chemical safety and hazardous substances, including the department’s role in responding to chemical hazards and other emergency situations. During his tenure, the department increased its emergency response capabilities and worked to ensure the security of potentially at-risk chemical facilities and other critical infrastructure in the State.
Owens was appointed to the Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) of the North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC), by President William Clinton and served on EPA’s Clean Air Act Advisory Committee and EPA’s Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee. Owens also served as President of the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS), the national association of state environmental agency directors.
Owens began his career as Counsel to the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of the U.S. House Science & Technology Committee, chaired by then-U.S. Representative Al Gore. Owens later served as Chief Counsel and then State Director for Senator Gore in the U.S. Senate. Owens graduated with honors from Brown University and received his law degree from Vanderbilt Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Vanderbilt Law Review.
Professor Catherine J.K. Sandoval is well known in the world of academia for her research on telecommunications, antitrust, energy, and contract issues. She is a tenured member of the Santa Clara University School of Law faculty which she joined in 2004. She has had extensive experience as a leader in numerous government organizations, as well as in the private sector. In January 2011 Governor Brown appointed Professor Sandoval to serve as a Commissioner at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) which regulates energy, water, telecommunications, and rail services in California. The California State Senate unanimously confirmed her to serve in that post. During her term as a CPUC Commission, she was appointed by the Federal Communications Commission to the Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Telecommunications Services. She served as Co-Vice Chair of the Telecommunications Committee of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. Prior to joining the academy, Governor Davis appointed her to serve as Undersecretary and previously as Staff Director of California’s Business Transportation and Housing Agency from 2001 to 2003. In that post she oversaw a wide variety of legal and policy matters affecting California’s infrastructure and economy, and advised the Secretary on energy, communications, and housing policy.
She has written numerous articles on Communications Law, Antitrust Law, Energy Law, and Contracts issues. In 2010 she won the SCU Public Interest and Social Justice Achievement Award in recognition of her legal scholarship.
Professor Sandoval was the Director for the Santa Clara Law Oxford University Summer Law Program in 2018. She twice served as the Director for Santa Clara Law’s Summer Program on Human Rights Law in San Jose Costa Rica.
Prior to joining the Santa Clara Law faculty, Professor Sandoval served as the Undersecretary, and previously as the Staff Director of the State of California’s 47,000-employee Business, Transportation, and Housing Agency. From 1994-1999 she was a senior manager at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and was the Director of the FCC’s Office of Communications Business Opportunities. She helped develop the FCC’s first spectrum auctions, worked on spectrum policy, and initiatives to increase opportunities for Internet, broadcast, and telecommunications service. In the private sector, she was the Vice-President and General Counsel of Z-Spanish Media Corporation, providing legal advice on media mergers and acquisitions, FCC regulatory matters, and Department of Justice merger approval. At the Law Offices of Munger, Tolles & Olson, Sandoval was an associate, focusing on business litigation including securities, contract, and labor matters. She clerked for Judge Dorothy W. Nelson on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals from 1990-1991.
Sandoval attended Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship, the first Latina in the nation to receive this honor. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale University, earned an M. Litt. in Politics at Oxford, and a J.D. at Stanford Law School where she served on the Stanford Law Review. She hails from East Los Angeles and lives with her family in the Silicon Valley.
Business meeting to vote on nominees Richard Revesz and Robert Schriver; their confirmation hearing was on September 29th.
Nominations
Legislation
Postal Naming Bill
Business meeting to consider:
Join the Columbia Climate School Office of Research and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory for this hybrid, half-day workshop to address questions about how climate change will affect the way soccer is played, and the health and performance of soccer players worldwide.
Co-hosted by Co-Founding Dean for Research, Dr. Maureen Raymo and World Cup winning member of the US Women’s National Team, Samantha Mewis, this workshop will feature short talks from Columbia researchers, followed by small panel discussions and Q&A.
A light reception in the Monell Lobby will follow.
A Zoom link will be sent to virtual attendees approximately 24 hours prior to the event.
If you have any questions, please email [email protected].
Tickets are free: RSVP here.
Samantha Mewis is an American professional soccer player who currently plays as a midfielder for the KC Current of the NWSL and the United States Women’s National Team. Mewis is considered one of the best midfielders in the world, having won 3 NWSL titles, a FIFA World Cup and was named the #1 Player in the World by ESPNFC in 2021.
The Water Equity and Climate Resilience (WECR) Caucus invites you to an online congressional briefing on addressing the nation’s water affordability crisis through establishing a permanent, national low-income water assistance program. The conversation will feature special guest Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). We will also be joined by members and allies of the WECR Caucus:
On Wednesday, November 16, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. ET in 1324 Longworth Hearing Room and via Webex, and livestreamed on the Committee’s YouTube page, the Committee on Natural Resources will meet to consider the following measure:
A business meeting to vote on the following nominations.
Nominations:
Chair William R. Keating
Witnesses:
Witness:
