Hot Topics in Climate Change Regulations

Ross E. Eisenberg is environmental and energy counsel at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Eisenberg is responsible for promoting the Chamber’s environmental and energy policies in legislative, regulatory, and other contexts. He is also executive for the Chamber’s Environment & Energy Committee, the Chamber’s primary vehicle for the creation and development of environmental and energy policy.

Prior to joining the Chamber, Eisenberg spent five years as an environmental, energy, and insurance coverage attorney in the Washington, D.C., office of Greenberg Traurig LLP, a full-service international law firm with more than 1,700 lawyers. At Greenberg Traurig, Eisenberg represented large and small companies on a wide range of environmental and energy matters, including permitting and compliance with federal, state, and local laws and regulations; pesticide registration; rights of way and ratemaking; environmental insurance coverage; and assorted litigation.

Eisenberg represents, on a pro bono basis, an Alabama death row inmate challenging his sentence on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel. He is a member of the State Bars of Maryland and the District of Columbia. Eisenberg has a B.A. from Emory University and a J.D. from Washington & Lee University School of Law.

Ms. Sharkey has practiced environmental law since 1980. She is a partner in McGuireWoods LLP’s Energy and Environmental Practice Group and a member of McGuireWoods’ multi-disciplinary Climate Change Team. She began her career in environmental law in government – the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, and the Illinois Pollution Control Board – and has represented a wide spectrum of clients in multi-media environmental matters over the last 25 years.

Pat’s expertise includes complex air pollution permitting, innovative technologies, biofuels and energy project development, hazardous wastes and materials, and contaminated groundwater and property matters. She regularly advises on environmental programs and policies, new project permitting, and compliance strategies, and also defends clients in citizen suits and enforcement actions before fedreal, state and administrative tribunals. Pat also has significant experience spearheading legislative and regulatory initiatives, managing environmental due diligence in real estate transactions and corporate M&A, and working with clients to develop corporate environmentnal policy and procedures.

Meleah Geertsma is an attorney in the Climate Center and Clean Air Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, where her work focuses on regulation of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants. Prior to joining NRDC in 2010, Ms. Geertsma was an attorney at the Environmental Law and Policy Center in Chicago. There her practice consisted of permitting and regulatory matters under the Clean Air Act, with a focus on coal plants and refineries in the Midwest. Ms. Geertsma has a B.A. in community health from Brown University, a law degree from Harvard Law School, and a master’s of public health from the Harvard School of Public Health.