Ian Bowles

Last updated
Hannah Riley
​
(m. 2003)​
Ian Bowles
Ian Bowles (1).jpg
Bowles circa 2007
Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs
In office
January 4, 2007 –January 5, 2011
Education Harvard University (BA)
University of Oxford (MLitt)

Ian A. Bowles (born c. 1966), is an American environmentalist, businessman, politician, and political aide who served as Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs from 2007 to 2011. Bowles is a native of Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and a graduate of Falmouth High School and Harvard College. He also has a master's degree from Oxford College and an honorary doctorate from Emerson College. He resides in Dover, Massachusetts, with his wife Hannah Riley Bowles [1] and their two children.

Background

Bowles began his career in politics as a legislative aide to Congresswoman Claudine Schneider. [2] After Schneider left office, Bowles became a policy analyst and later Vice President at Conservation International. [3] He played a key role in creation of the Central Suriname Nature Reserve, a 4 million acre park that is one of the largest tropical forest protected areas in the world. [4] Bowles was co-editor of Footprints in the Jungle: Natural Resource Industries, Infrastructure, and Biodiversity Conservation (Oxford University Press). [5]

In 1996 he was a Democratic candidate for United States Representative in Massachusetts's 10th congressional district. He finished in third place, with 22 percent of the vote, in the four-candidate primary behind Bill Delahunt and Philip W. Johnston. [6]

From 1999 to 2001, Bowles served under President Bill Clinton as Senior Director of Global Environmental Affairs at the National Security Council and as associate director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Clinton also appointed Bowles to the Enterprise for the Americas Board. [7]

He then served as a senior research fellow at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs (part of the John F. Kennedy School of Government), [8] and as a senior advisor to the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, a $4 billion U.S. charitable foundation set up by the founder of Intel Corporation and his wife. [9]

From 2003 to 2006, Bowles was President of Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC), a nonpartisan think tank based in Boston, and Publisher of CommonWealth magazine. [10]

On December 15, 2006, Governor-elect Deval Patrick named Bowles Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs. [10] Previously known as the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs was created by Cabinet restructuring legislation that took effect April 11, 2007, adding oversight of the two energy regulatory agencies, the Department of Energy Resources and the Department of Public Utilities. Massachusetts was the first state in the nation to combine oversight of energy and environment into one Cabinet agency. [11]

As Secretary, Bowles helped guide the passing of the Green Communities Act and four other major pieces of energy and environmental legislation into law in 2008. [12] These bills put Massachusetts at the top of state rankings in American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's energy efficiency scorecard in 2011, where it has stayed ever since. [13] Under the Global Warming Solutions Act, Bowles set the most stringent greenhouse gas reduction requirement in the nation at 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. [14] Bowles also oversaw the first state ocean management plan, as required by the Oceans Act. [15] Under the state's Green Jobs Act, Massachusetts established a new quasi-government authority, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, to promote renewable energy and clean energy job creation, of which Bowles was its first chairman. [16]

Bowles was at the center of key regulatory decisions related to Cape Wind, which was the nation's first proposed offshore wind energy development, having approved the project's state environmental review in 2007 and chairing the state energy siting board that gave the project its key permit. [17] Bowles stepped down as secretary in 2011. [18]

In 2011, Bowles co-founded and is a managing director of an investment management company, WindSail Capital Group LLC, which lends funds to clean energy companies. [19] He is also a senior director at Albright Stonebridge Group, with former Clinton Administration colleagues Madeleine Albright and Carol Browner. He is a corporate board member for several public and private clean energy companies.

In 2008, John Podesta recommended Bowles as a candidate to be Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Barack Obama. [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Podesta</span> American political consultant (born 1949)

John David Podesta Jr. is an American political consultant who has been serving as Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy since 2024, having previously served as the Senior Advisor to the President for Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation from 2022 to 2024. Podesta previously served as White House chief of staff to President Bill Clinton from 1998 to 2001 and counselor to President Barack Obama from 2014 to 2015. Before that, he served in the Clinton administration as White House staff secretary from 1993 to 1995 and White House deputy chief of staff for operations from 1997 to 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carol Browner</span> American environmentalist and lawyer (born 1955)

Carol Martha Browner is an American lawyer, environmentalist, and businesswoman, who served as director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011. Browner previously served as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the Clinton administration from 1993 to 2001. She currently works as a Senior Counselor at Albright Stonebridge Group, a global business strategy firm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Salazar</span> American politician and diplomat (born 1955)

Kenneth Lee Salazar is an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat who is the United States ambassador to Mexico. He previously served as the 50th United States Secretary of the Interior in the administration of President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously was a United States Senator from Colorado from 2005 to 2009. He and Mel Martínez (R-Florida) were the first Hispanic U.S. senators since 1977; they were joined by Bob Menendez in 2006. Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, he served as Attorney General of Colorado from 1999 to 2005.

The Cape Wind Project was a proposed offshore wind energy project on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound off Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It was projected to generate 1,500 gigawatt hours of electricity a year at a first-dollar cost of $2.6 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David B. Sandalow</span>

David Sandalow is the Inaugural Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP) and Co-Director of the Energy and Environment Concentration at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He is the lead author, most recently, of the Artificial Intelligence for Climate Change Mitigation Roadmap and Guide to Chinese Climate Policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs</span> Arms control and foreign policy research organization in the Kennedy School at Harvard

The Robert and Renée Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, also known as the Belfer Center, is a research center located at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory B. Craig</span> American attorney

Gregory Bestor Craig is an American lawyer and former White House Counsel under President Barack Obama, from 2009 to 2010. A former attorney at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Williams & Connolly, Craig has represented numerous high-profile clients. Prior to becoming White House Counsel, he served as assistant to the President and special counsel in the White House of President Bill Clinton, where he directed the team defending Clinton against impeachment. Craig also served as a senior advisor to Senator Edward Kennedy and to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Yancey Brown</span>

William Y. Brown is a zoologist and attorney, currently the chief environmental officer of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in the Department of the Interior. He is a former nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a former science advisor to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, a former president of the Bishop Museum in Hawaii, a former president of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a former president of the Woods Hole Research Center in Falmouth, Massachusetts. He is the author of the novels "Valley of the Scorpion" and "Ruffner's Cave".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate change in Massachusetts</span> Climate change in the US state of Massachusetts

Climate change in Massachusetts affects both urban and rural environments, including forestry, fisheries, agriculture, and coastal development. The Northeast is projected to warm faster than global average temperatures; by 2035, the Northeast is "projected to be more than 3.6°F (2°C) warmer on average than during the preindustrial era."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David J. Hayes</span> American government official (born 1953)

David J. Hayes is an American attorney and legal scholar who serves in the Biden Administration as Special Assistant to the President for Climate Policy. Hayes has led White House work on clean energy deployment issues, climate resilience and greenhouse gas emission reduction and carbon sequestration initiatives. Hayes also has assisted in developing and implementing the climate-related provisions included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Deese</span> American business executive and government official (born 1978)

Brian Christopher Deese is an American economic and political advisor who was the 13th director of the National Economic Council, serving under President Joe Biden.

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA) is a Cabinet-level agency under the Governor of Massachusetts. EOEEA is responsible for promoting efficient energy use throughout the Commonwealth while protecting and preserving Massachusetts' natural environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wind power in Massachusetts</span> Electricity from wind in one U.S. state

The U.S. state of Massachusetts has vast wind energy resources offshore, as well as significant resources onshore. The 2016 update to the states's Clean Energy and Climate Plan had a goal of reducing 1990 baseline greenhouse gas emissions levels by 25% by 2020. Current goals include installing 3,500 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind power in the state by 2035. However, as of Q4 2021 the state had only 120 MW of wind powered electricity generating capacity, responsible for generating 0.9% of in-state electricity production. The state has awarded contracts to two offshore projects, the 800 MW Vineyard Wind project and 804 MW Mayflower Wind project. Construction began on the Vineyard Wind 1 project on November 18, 2021, after a long fight for approval. Commonwealth Wind was selected for development in 2021, but the developer has attempted to cancel the project due to increased costs. There are eight projects planned for off the southern coast of Massachusetts, though some will deliver power to Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan W. Reicher</span> American lawyer

Dan William Reicher is an American lawyer who was U.S. Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in the Clinton Administration. Reicher is currently executive director of the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance at Stanford University, a joint center of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford Law School, where he also holds faculty positions. Reicher joined Stanford in 2011 from Google, where he served since 2007 as Director of Climate Change and Energy Initiatives for the company's venture Google.org.

Gertrude M. "Trudy" Coxe is an American non-profit executive and CEO of the Preservation Society of Newport County, formerly the Secretary of Environmental Affairs in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She has advocated against the construction of offshore wind farms in Rhode Island, arguing that they cause "unnecessary loss to our community's irreplaceable character and sense of place."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Sullivan</span> American politician

Richard K. "Rick" Sullivan, Jr. is an American politician who served as chief of staff to Governor Deval Patrick from 2014 to 2015. Before assuming the office, Sullivan was the former secretary of energy and environmental affairs of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and former mayor of Westfield, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gina McCarthy</span> American government official (born 1954)

Regina McCarthy is an American air quality expert who served as the first White House national climate advisor from 2021 to 2022. She previously served as the thirteenth Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from 2013 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign Affairs Policy Board</span> Advisory board concerning US foreign policy

The Foreign Affairs Policy Board is an advisory board that provides independent advice and opinion to the secretary of state, the deputy secretary of state, and the director of policy planning on matters concerning U.S. foreign policy. The board reviews and assesses global threats and opportunities, trends that implicate core national security interests, tools and capacities of the civilian foreign affairs agencies, and priorities and strategic frameworks for U.S. foreign policy. The board meets in a plenary session several times a year at the U.S. Department of State in the Harry S. Truman Building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs</span> International affairs school at Wellesley College

The Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs is an international studies institute based at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. The Albright Institute was established by former United States Secretary of State and Wellesley College alumna Madeleine Albright in 2009 to support the interdisciplinary study of global issues within a liberal arts framework.

References

  1. ↑ "Hannah Riley Bowles".
  2. ↑ "Ian Bowles, 41, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs". Boston.com. 9 January 2007. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
  3. ↑ Raeburn, Paul (June 13, 1992). "Earth Summit survives at 'point of civilizational change'". Associated Press. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
  4. ↑ "Green Reserves for Suriname".
  5. ↑ "Footprints in the Jungle".
  6. ↑ Massachusetts Election Statistics 1996.
  7. ↑ "Bowles named to Enterprise for the Americas Board".
  8. ↑ Feldman, Emilie R. (October 2, 2002). "Biologist Addresses ARCO Forum". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
  9. ↑ "MassINC names Bowles Executive Director".
  10. 1 2 Kibbe, David (December 16, 2006). "Bowles named Patrick's secretary of Energy". Cape Cod Times. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
  11. ↑ Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. "About Us".
  12. ↑ Ailworth, Erin. "Green With Envy" (PDF). Boston Globe. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-01-30.
  13. ↑ ACEEE. "State Energy Efficiency Scorecard". Archived from the original on 2013-01-27. Retrieved 2013-01-30.
  14. ↑ Barringer, Felicity (29 December 2010). "Massachusetts sets targets to slash carbon emissions". New York Times.
  15. ↑ Zezima, Katie (29 May 2008). "Massachusetts Law to Manage and Protect Ocean Waters". The New York Times.
  16. ↑ "About the MassCEC". Archived from the original on 2013-01-23. Retrieved 2013-01-30.
  17. ↑ Ebbert, Stephanie (30 March 2007). "Cape wind farm wins state environmental approval". The Boston Globe.
  18. ↑ Alspach, Kyle (December 27, 2010). "Ian Bowles leaving Patrick Administration to become home-energy entrepreneur". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
  19. ↑ Kirsner, Scott (24 April 2012). "WindSail Capital wants to fill clean energy funding gap, providing loans to growing companies". The Boston Globe.
  20. ↑ Matea Gold and Juliet Eilperin. "John Podesta pushed billionaire donor Tom Steyer as energy secretary contender in 2008". Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.