Heather Zichal

Heather Renée Zichal[1] (last name pronounced with long 'i') (born February 8, 1976)[2] is an American executive, consultant, and political advisor who specializes in climate change and environmental policy.

Heather Zichal
Personal details
Born (1976-02-08) February 8, 1976
Political partyDemocratic
EducationRutgers University, New Brunswick (BA)

Zichal began her career serving as a legislative director and campaign advisor to several Democratic congressional members. She then served as the Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change in the Barack Obama administration starting in 2009. Following the early 2011 departure of Carol Browner from the administration, Zichal was tasked with coordinating the administration's energy and climate policy and was the architect of the Clean Power Plan.

In November 2013, she left the administration and became a private consultant and a fellow at the Atlantic Council. She has served on several company boards and councils, including that of Cheniere Energy, a liquified natural gas company, and was The Nature Conservancy's vice president for corporate engagement. Since late 2020 she has been head of the wind and solar focused American Clean Power Association.

Early life and education

Zichal grew up in Elkader, Iowa. Her father worked as a family physician and her mother as a hospital administrator. She has one younger brother.[3] Zichal graduated from Central Community School District in 1994.[4] She attended Cook College at Rutgers University, where she studied environmental policy and graduated in 1999.[4][5]

Career

Legislative assistant and campaign advisor

While at Rutgers, she interned at the state chapter of the Sierra Club and was part of a panel interviewing candidates for New Jersey's 12th congressional district.[6] After Democrat Rush D. Holt, Jr. defeated Republican incumbent Michael J. Pappas, in part due to support from environmentalists, Holt hired Zichal as his legislative director.[6] She held the same position for Representative Frank Pallone from 2001 to 2002. She then was a legislative assistant and later director for U.S. Senator John Kerry from 2002 to 2008.[7] She also worked as an assistant for the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.[8] In these positions she worked on legislation to address climate change, reduce the country's dependence on oil for energy, and to protect American natural resources.[9]

Zichal also served as a top advisor on energy and environmental issues to the 2004 Kerry presidential campaign and the 2008 Obama presidential campaign.[6] She had first met Obama when he was lost in one of the Senate buildings and asked her for directions.[10]

Obama administration
Zichal reviewing the location of the Arctic ice field during an Arctic Domain Awareness flight in 2009

After serving on the Obama-Biden Transition Project in its Energy and Environment Policy Working Group, she was named to be Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change in December 2008, to serve as deputy to Carol Browner, who was named director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy[9][11] (as such, Browner's position was also informally referred to as the "Climate Czar" or "Energy Czar").[12] Zichal took office in January 2009.[2] She was part of the administration response to the 2010 BP oil spill and supervised later modifications of safety standards for offshore oil and natural gas extraction.[13][14]

When Browner left the White House in March 2011, Zichal took over the general responsibilities of coordinating the administration's energy and climate policy, now operating from within the U.S. Domestic Policy Council[15] (the "czar" position itself having been reorganized away by the White House and its funding subsequently abolished by Congress in the mid-April 2011 federal spending agreement that averted a possible government shutdown).[16][17] As such she became one of the White House staff members tasked with implementation of the Presidential Climate Action Plan.[13][18] Her job also involved outreach activities towards the energy industry and environmentalists as well as dealing with Congress.[14] With Republicans having taken over the House of Representatives following the 2010 midterm elections, chances of the large-scale climate and energy legislation passing that Browner had worked towards were essentially nil.[2][6][19] At first the administration pursued more modest goals that could attract bipartisan support, such as reducing oil imports and promoting clean or renewable energy sources.[6] The White House subsequently gave credit to Zichal for putting into place policy changes that would lead to a doubling of wind and solar power generation.[13][14]

Zichal at a microphone in 2011

During the early portion of Obama's second term, Zichal was one of the public faces of the administration's approach of addressing climate change via federal regulatory action.[20] She was the architect of a June 2013 plan to reduce greenhouse gases resulting from the nation's power plants by having the Environmental Protection Agency issue revised standards for carbon emissions from new and existing plants.[14] They were the first ever such restrictions.[13] (This plan eventually became known as the Clean Power Plan when issued in revised form in 2015; Zichal was still considered one of its architects.[21] It became politically controversial during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, with opponents deriding it as the "War on Coal".[21] Its implementation was blocked while challenges to it were made in U.S. federal courts.[22])

Zichal speaking at a White House Leadership Summit on Women, Climate and Energy in 2013

A 2013 profile from National Journal described her as having "developed a reputation among players across the energy spectrum as a smart, pragmatic, and serious player."[23] A Democratic political operative and energy industry lobbyist called Zichal a "skilled communicator and negotiator" and said she was "dogged in her pursuit of gaining consensus with external stakeholders and delivering on a clean energy agenda for this administration."[13] However, former Vice President and ardent environmentalist Al Gore complained in mid-2013 that the administration was not giving climate change sufficient priority, and making reference to Zichal said, "He does not yet have a team in the White House to help him implement solutions to the climate crisis. He hasn't staffed up for it ... he's got one person who hasn't been given that much authority."[13]

In October 2013, Zichal announced that she would soon be stepping down from her post.[14] She was given the chance to accept other positions within the administration, but declined.[14][24] She was one of the last of Obama's 2008 campaign advisors to still be in the administration;[14] she had been high valued inside the administration[13] and by one report Obama had personally urged her to stay.[24] Her last day was November 8, 2013, and she was succeeded by Dan Utech.[25]

Consultant, board member and executive

Zichal subsequently became an independent energy consultant, working at her own firm called Zichal Inc.[26] In January 2015 she was named a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.[27] There she is part of the council's Global Energy Center. She served on the board of Cheniere Energy, a liquified natural gas company, from 2014 to 2018,[1][28] as well as the board of Spanish multinational-owned Abengoa Bioenergy.[29] In addition she is an operating advisor at Broadscale, an energy-focused investing firm, and a senior advisor at an enterprise called Sensity. She joined the board of non-profit Solar Foundation and Naturevest, the conservation investing organization within the Nature Conservancy. In 2018, she became the Nature Conservancy's Vice President for corporate engagement, serving until 2019.[30] In 2019, she was announced as the executive director of the Blue Prosperity Coalition,[31] another conservation and climate-oriented group.[32]

She remained active in the public debate over climate change and energy policy.[33] During the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries, she supported Hillary Clinton.[28]

In 2019, she became an advisor to the Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign, helping him craft a "middle ground" climate and energy policy, in contrast to the Green New Deal.[34] Zichal said of those backing the Green New Deal, "I respect where they are coming from. What we learned from the Obama administration is unless we find middle ground on these issues, we risk not having any policies. ... [Biden will] build a new climate coalition. Unions and environmentalists are searching for common ground. We can't drive a common agenda unless we work together."[34] During the presidential transition of Joe Biden there was speculation she might join the new administration, but her stint on the board of Cheniere Energy brought opposition against her from progressive organizations who were pushing against anyone being appointed to an environment-related position if they had worked in the fossil fuel industry.[35]

Instead, in December 2020 she was named as the chief executive of the American Clean Power Association, a newly formed trade group representing companies involved in developing wind and solar energy, storage and transmission.[32] It is the successor organization to the American Wind Energy Association.[32]

References
  1. Kaufman, Alexander C.; D'Angelo, Chris (May 10, 2019). "Joe Biden Looks To Revive Obama's Climate Plan. Scientists Say That's Not Good Enough". Huffington Post. Updated May 12, 2019.
  2. "Heather Zichal". Who Runs Gov. The Washington Post. April 15, 2011. Archived from the original on June 11, 2011. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
  3. Boyer, Ann Scholl (July 31, 1996). "Ken stockpiles tiny tanks". The Gazette. Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
  4. "Elkader native aids presidential transition". Telegraph Herald. Dubuque, Iowa. December 15, 2008. Archived from the original on December 16, 2008.
  5. "Rutgers-in-Washington Events". Rutgers University. Summer 1999. Archived from the original on October 11, 2004. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
  6. Goode, Darren (April 15, 2011). "Heather Zichal: White House focus on going forward". Politico.
  7. "President-Elect Obama Nominates Dr. Steven Chu as Energy Secretary" (Press release). U.S. Department of Energy. December 17, 2008.
  8. "Heather Zichal, Congressional Staffer - Salary Data". legistorm.com. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
  9. "Heather Zichal". Head Count. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 22, 2009. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
  10. Jenning, Linda Kramer (February 3, 2009). "Meet the Women Who Can Handle Anything!". Glamour.
  11. "Geithner, Summers Convene Official Designees to Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry" (Press release). U.S. Department of the Treasury. February 20, 2009. Archived from the original on September 4, 2009.
  12. Romero, Frances (December 2, 2008). "Energy Czar: Carol Browner". Time. Retrieved December 16, 2008.
  13. Goode, Darren; Samuelsohn, Darren (October 7, 2013). "Heather Zichal stepping down as W.H. climate chief". Politico.
  14. Rucker, Patrick; Mason, Jeff (October 7, 2013). "Obama climate adviser Zichal to step down: officials". Reuters.
  15. Samuelsohn, Darren (April 1, 2011). "Barack Obama's on thin green ice". Politico.
  16. Weigel, Dave (April 12, 2011). "The Budget Compromise: Eliminating Four Czars, and More". Slate.
  17. Bravender, Robin (April 17, 2011). "President Obama to ignore 'czar' ban". Politico.
  18. Zichal, Heather (September 19, 2016). "The bipartisan path to tackling climate change". The Washington Post.
  19. "Carol Browner Leaving As Obama Adviser". CBS News. Associated Press. January 25, 2011.
  20. Restuccia, Andrew (July 18, 2013). "Heather Zichal: Climate rules can be finished during Obama's term". Politico.
  21. "Climate change: Obama unveils Clean Power Plan". BBC News. August 3, 2015.
  22. de Vogue, Arian (September 27, 2016). "Appeals court hears high-stakes challenge to Obama's clean power plan". CNN.
  23. Davenport, Coral (July 17, 2013). "Heather Zichal, Deputy Assistant to the President, Energy and Climate Change". National Journal. Archived from the original on July 26, 2013.
  24. Eilperin, Juliet (October 7, 2013). "Obama's top climate and energy adviser to leave White House". The Washington Post.
  25. Baron-Lopez, Laura (November 8, 2013). "Utech named Obama's top climate adviser". The Hill.
  26. "Heather Zichal". Greenbuild Expo. Archived from the original on 2017-01-03. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  27. "Top Presidential Adviser Heather Zichal to Add Strategic Foresight Expertise to Atlantic Council Global Energy Center" (Press release). Atlantic Council. January 12, 2015.
  28. Henry, Devin (July 8, 2016). "Ex-Obama aide slams Sanders climate platform push". The Hill.
  29. "Heather Zichal". Broadscale. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  30. Bogardus, Kevin (January 10, 2018). "Obama aide joins Nature Conservancy". E&E News.
  31. "Former Obama Aide Heather Zichal Joins Blue Prosperity Coalition as Executive Director" (Press release). Blue Prosperity Coalition. June 17, 2019.
  32. Harder, Amy (December 10, 2020). "New renewable-energy group taps Heather Zichal as CEO". Axios.
  33. "Heather Zichal". Atlantic Council. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  34. Volcovici, Valerie (May 10, 2019). "Presidential hopeful Biden looking for 'middle ground' climate policy". Reuters.
  35. Colman, Zack (December 3, 2020). "Climate purity tests for Biden nominees split enviros". Politico.
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