This week, Joseph Majkut (CSIS) talks with Mike Catanzaro (CGCN) and Marcela Mulholland (Data for Progress) about the need for permitting reform to allow for new energy infrastructure to be built in the United States. Without significant reforms to the permitting process, energy security and the climate agenda in the U.S. could be at risk as new energy projects will see continued delays and struggle to be built. 

Michael Catanzaro is President and Chief Policy Officer at the CGCN Group. Before joining CGCN, Catanzaro served as Special Assistant to President Trump for Domestic Energy and Environmental Policy at the White House National Economic Council. He previously served on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and on the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign as a top adviser on energy and environmental policy. Catanzaro was Associate Director for Policy in the White House Council on Environmental Quality and Associate Deputy Administrator of the EPA under former President George W. Bush. He also served as a senior adviser to then-Speaker John Boehner on energy and environmental policy.

Marcela Mulholland is the Political Director at Data for Progress and a member of its senior leadership team. She represents Data for Progress’s work in progressive policy to the media, policymakers, and key partners in the environmental justice and labor movements. Previously, she worked as a Policy Entrepreneur at Next100 developing policy related to the Green New Deal and public housing. Prior to that, Marcela interned with the NAACP’s Environmental and Climate Justice Program and served as an organizer and national spokesperson for the Sunrise Movement. Marcela is a South Florida native and holds a B.A. in political science and sustainability studies from the University of Florida.