Press Release

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Professor Craig Hart and Alumnus Basil Seggos Rank Among the 2021 Energy & Environment Power 100

Posted
December 21, 2021
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head shot Basil Seggos and Professor Craig Hart

Professor Craig Hart, Executive Director of the Pace Energy and Climate Center at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, was named to the “2021 Energy & Environment Power 100” list published by City & State New York magazine. Professor Hart was ranked #65 on the prestigious list which includes public officials, energy executives, environmentalists, activists, academics and others who are driving the debate on climate change and reinventing how New Yorkers get their power.

Distinguished Haub Law alumnus Basil Seggos ’01, Commissioner, State Department of Environmental Conservation, received the #1 ranking for his leadership in New York State’s climate change law. Additionally, former Haub Law Visiting Professor Judith Enck, Founder and President of Beyond Plastics and former EPA Region 2 Administrator, ranked #40 along with Fred Zalcman at #16, who served as Pace Energy & Climate Center’s Executive Director from 2001 – 2007. Haub Law also acknowledges litigation partners Kim Fraczek, Director of SANE Energy, who ranked #83 and Bob Howarth, Professor of Ecology and Environmental Biology at Cornell University, who ranked #64.

“We are so proud of the important work that both Craig and Basil are doing to address the growing threat of climate change in New York and beyond and congratulate them on this recognition,” said Dean Horace E. Anderson Jr., Dean of the Law School. “As the #1 ranked environmental law program, Haub Law remains committed to advancing climate change law and policies that enact a global response and salutes our past and present faculty, alumni and colleaugesi for their bold leadership.”

#65 Craig Hart
Executive Director, Pace Energy and Climate Center

Pace Law School brought Craig Hart on to run the school’s energy and climate center two years ago. Hart, who has advised governments on policies regarding renewables, grid modernization and financing infrastructure, has supported clean energy initiatives in the American Jobs Plan and urged private-sector employers to reorient toward sustainability. He also led Pace’s partnership with the Westchester County Association to launch a clean energy portal to help businesses find government initiatives allowing them to lower their carbon emissions.

#1 Basil Seggos
Commissioner, State Department of Environmental Conservation

Not only did Basil Seggos stay on as commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation during the transition from the Cuomo regime to the Hochul administration, he turned heads in October with his agency’s decision to block permits for proposed repowering projects in Queens and upstate New York. This was done on the grounds that investing in natural gas infrastructure is contrary to the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Seggos, who has led DEC since 2015, also co-chairs the New York State Climate Action Council, which is tasked with implementing New York’s ambitious climate change law.

View the full City & State 2021 Energy & Environment Power 100 list