Mary D. Nichols

Chair of the California Air Resources Board (since 2007)

Why She Matters

Nichols isn't well-known on the national political stage, but climate wonks are hoping she'll play a role in the Obama administration either in an environmental or climate-change position. Even in her current position as the chair of the California Air Resources Board, she's going to have a major influence on the country's climate and energy policy.

In 2007, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) appointed Nichols the head of the Golden State's Air Resources Board (ARB): a government agency charged explicitly with maintaining air quality in the state. She now heads an 11-member board of scientists, public health officials and industry representatives appointed by the governor, and is responsible for implementing California's tough new vehicle emissions standards, which are stricter than federal requirements and aim to reduce emissions from cars and light trucks 30 percent by 2016.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Executive director of the Environment Now Foundation (1997 to 1998); California Secretary for Resources (1979 to 2003);Professor-in-residence and director of their Institute of the Environment, University of California Los Angeles School of Law (2003 to present)
Birthday: April 10, 1945
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minn.
Alma Mater: B.A in Russian literature, Cornell University, 1966; J.D., Yale Law School, 1971

Spouse: John F. Daum
Other Government Positions: Assistant Administrator of Air and Radiation for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1993 to 1997;Secretary of Environmental Affairs and the Chair of the Air Resources Board for the state of California, 1974to 1978 and 1979 to 1983;Los Angeles Chief Assistant City Attorney, 1978 to 1979
Office: California Air Resources Board Headquarters Building, Sacramento, CA Phone: (916) 322-29.
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Path to Power

Nichols graduated from Cornell University in 1966 with a major in Russian literature and a minor in drama. After a brief turn as a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, where she was one of their first female writers, she attended Yale Law School.

Nichols got attention for her work in environmental law very soon after finishing law school in 1971. From 1971 to 1974, she served as an attorney for the Center for Law in the Public Interest in Los Angeles, and in that capacity brought the first litigation under the 1970 Clean Air Act.

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This second edition of the regulation included New Source Performance Standards for landfills and refineries, and National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants from things like automobiles. It was the first of many disputes California would have with federal regulators over regulating emissions in the state, and Nichols, then only 26, would play a key role in several of them.

Chair of the ARB

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) appointed Nichols to serve as the state secretary of Environmental Affairs and the chair of the Air Resources Board, posts she held from 1974 to 1978. After a two-year turn as the chief assistant city attorney for Los Angeles, where she led the civil branch, she returned to her post as Air Resources Board head until 1983, when Brown was succeeded by Gov. George Deukmejian (R). In 1986, she served as campaign manager for Democrat Tom Bradley, the mayor of Los Angeles, in his failed challenge to George Deukmejian (R) for governor.

Nichols went into private environmental law practice until 1988. She went on to found the Los Angeles office of the Natural Resources Defense Council, where until 1993 she served as senior attorney.

Clinton Administration

Her history in California won her an appointment from President Clinton to serve as the Environmental Protection Agency's assistant administrator of Air and Radiation. In that role, she helped draft federal standards to regulate fine-particle pollution, which had been found to pose severe health risks.

The EPA had regulated coarse particles since the 1970s, but these were the first daily and annual fine-particle regulations on this kind of pollution, generated by petrochemical companies, utilities, steel producers and other major manufacturers. From that post, she negotiated with industry groups as well as environment and environmental health advocates to implement the new regulations.

Nichols held the EPA post until 1997. After that, she headed the Environment Now Foundation, a non-profit foundation that supports environmental work in southern California. She continues to serve on their board of directors. In addition to heading the Air Resources Board, she is a professor-in-residence at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law and director of their Institute of the Environment.

The Issues

Nichols' major efforts have centered on battling the George W. Bush administration over California's new fuel emission standards and implementing ambitious global warming plans.

Fuel Standards

In 2002, California passed a law that aimed to reduce emissions from cars and light trucks 30 percent by 2016, starting with 2009 models. State regulators estimated that their standards - even tougher than the automobile fuel economy standards that Congress approved in 2007 would cut emissions by 58 million tons between 2009 and 2016.

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Eighteen other states have since adopted, or announced plans to adopt, similar rules. Under the Clean Air Act, these states have the right to enact standards that are stricter than the federal ones as long as they get a federal waiver from the EPA. But Bush administration EPA officials, reportedly under direction from the White House itself and against the advice of the agency's legal and technical staff, turned them down.

Reappointed to the head the Air Resources Board by Gov. Schwarzenegger in July 2007, Nichols was charged with implementing the 2002 law. After their request for a waiver was denied, the state filed suit against the EPA, and Nichols was one of the leading voices on the issue, arguing that Californians were entitled to set their own, higher standards. "The states didn't want to sleep on their rights," she said at the time. Moreover, she argued, the Clean Air Act permits California to enact their own stronger pollution rules, and after those are established, other states can choose to follow the federal minimum or the tougher law.

During the presidential campaign this year, Nichols and others from Californians met with then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and secured his support for their waiver. "We had a good conversation with Sen. Obama when he was a candidate," said Nichols in an interview during the Governors' Climate Summit in November. "We believe we have a commitment."

Up to 18 other states have indicated that they would follow suit on the tougher standards like California's, and automakers and other industries have long decried a system that forces them to operate under a "patchwork" where the laws differ from state to state.

Global Warming

Nichols has also been at the helm as California enacts the ambitious Global Warming Solutions Act, which the state legislature and Gov. Schwarzenegger approved in 2006. The ARB has been charged with writing the plan to meet the goals laid out in that act - which includes a call to cut fuel emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 - and in October 2008, the ARB rolled out its draft proposal. It includes plans to initiate a cap-and-trade program, create more green jobs, increase energy efficiency, expand use of renewables, spur the development of low-carbon fuels, discourage sprawl, develop high-speed rail and cut emissions at state ports.

"Our comprehensive approach steers California away from its dependence on fossil fuels and accelerates the state's necessary transition toward a clean-energy future," said Nichols.

The ARB plan is set for approval in December 2008. So regardless of whether Nichols gets a formal role in the Obama administration, she will likely have a strong influence on federal policy from her post in California.

The Network

Nichols has some powerful friends pushing for her to play a key role in the Obama administration.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), the chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, is a fan, and the two are linked through their home state of California and activity on environmental issues. Boxer has been a leading advocate in the Senate for her state to be granted the fuel emissions waiver, getting passed out of committee calling on the Bush administration to reverse its decision. In 2008, Boxer's committee took the lead on climate legislation and Boxer has already pledged to be the first mover on bills to curb emissions in 2009.

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