Mary D. Nichols

Mary Dolores Nichols (born 1945) is an American attorney and government official serving as the chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board (CARB), a post she has held since 2007, when she was appointed by Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger. She also held that post between 1979 and 1983. From 1999 to 2003, she served as secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency in the cabinet of then-Governor Gray Davis.[1] Due to her efforts to combat global warming, she has been dubbed "the Queen of Green".[2][3]

Mary D. Nichols
Chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board
Assumed office
2007
Governor
Preceded byRobert Sawyer
In office
1979–1983
GovernorJerry Brown
Preceded byA. Thomas Quinn
Succeeded byGordon W. Duffy
Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency
In office
1999–2003
GovernorGray Davis
Preceded byDouglas P. Wheeler
Succeeded byMike Chrisman
Personal details
Born
Mary Dolores Nichols

April 1945 (age 75)
Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationCornell University (BA)
Yale University (JD)

Early life and career

Nichols was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in April 1945,[4] and was raised in Ithaca, New York.[5] She received her bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1966 and her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1971. She passed the California Bar the next year.[6]

Career

In 1972, as a new lawyer at a small public interest firm, she was approached by the City of Riverside, California, where the highest levels of ozone had been recorded, about suing Los Angeles over its air pollution[7]. Instead she brought this suit against the United States federal government, arguing that under the Clean Air Act, the United States Environmental Protection Agency must force California to develop a stringent plan to deal with air pollution in Los Angeles.[8] She was first appointed to the Air Resources Board by Governor Jerry Brown in 1975, and was made its chief four years later.[9]

After her first stint at CARB, she moved back to private law practice. In 1989, she founded the Los Angeles office of the Natural Resources Defense Council as a senior attorney. During the Clinton Administration, she worked at the United States Environmental Protection Agency as the assistant administrator of air and radiation. While at the USEPA, she ran a cap-and-trade program to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and acid rain, which she considers to be among her greatest achievements.[8] In addition to her work at the Air Resources Board, she serves as faculty at the UCLA School of Law.[10]

Air Resources Board

In August 2007, Republican Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Nichols to head the California Air Resources Board, despite the fact that she was a Democrat, saying "Mary was quite simply the best person for the job."[9] The primary job was to implement the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 and to build a low-carbon economy. The CARB implemented a market-based cap-and-trade program to reduce the state's emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases back to 1990 levels by 2020. In 2010 Schwarzenegger was replaced by governor Jerry Brown, a close ally of Nichols.[8]

Thanks in part to efforts by the CARB, California has successfully decoupled greenhouse gas emissions from economic growth.[11] She was part of California's delegation to the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris,[12] where she and other members of the Brown administration shared lessons on decarbonization with the rest of the world.[13][14]

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References
  1. "Chair, California Air Resources Board Mary D. Nichols". California Air Resources Board. California Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  2. ""Queen of Green" Mary D. Nichols to Speak at Harvey Mudd Commencement". Harvey Mudd College. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  3. Wholf, Tracy (11 Feb 2013). "Dan Rather Reports: Behind the Scenes with the Queen of Green". Vimeo. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  4. "Air Resources Board Chair: Who Is Mary Nichols?". Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  5. Megerian, Chris (27 December 2014). "Mary Nichols has 'rock star' influence as top air quality regulator". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  6. "Mary Dolores Nichols - #52660". Attorney Search. The State Bar of California. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  7. “Early Implementation of the Clean Air Act of 1970 in California.” EPA Alumni Association. Video, Transcript (see p8). July 12, 2016.
  8. Lippert, John (2 August 2015). "California Has a Plan to End the Auto Industry as We Know It". Bloomberg News. Bloomberg L.P. Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  9. Kahn, Gabriel (March 2016). "Did California Figure out How to Fix Global Warming?". Mother Jones. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  10. Nichols, Mary D. "Biography Page". UCLA School of Law. University of California. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  11. "Climate Pollutants Fall Below 1990 Levels for First Time". California Air Resources Board. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  12. Magerian, Chris (10 December 2015). "Jerry Brown in Paris: California governor goes deep on climate change and other global threats". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  13. Vernasco, Lucy (5 December 2015). "Why California is America's Most Important COP21 Participant". NextGen Climate. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  14. Kahn, Gabriel, Did California Figure Out How to Fix Global Warming? How the Golden State went green, Moyers and Company, March 16, 2017
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