B. B. Blevins served for 30 years at the epicenter of California’s environmental and energy policy-making. The depth of his experience in these two pivotal areas provides California Strategies’ clients an effective problem-solving perspective on their regulatory challenges.
B. B. Blevins’ 30-year career in public service has given him the insight and experience to counsel clients in both rapidly growing and heavily regulated industries. He has been engaged with California’s policy and program response to climate change since 1990 and has broad expertise in environmental regulations.
His expertise in these fields stems from the highly influential positions he held prior to joining California Strategies, including but not limited to, Commissioner and Executive Director of the California Energy Commission, Undersecretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency and Director of the Department of Toxic Substances Control. Since joining California Strategies, Blevins has provided guidance to California’s energy companies in responding to climate change laws and programs, assisted start-up technology firms in developing markets and gaining regulatory acceptance, and identified regulatory pathways for large California companies in their efforts to clean-up legacy brownfield sites.
Blevins also served as the Deputy Secretary for Business Assistance and Program Development at the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA), where he was called upon to assist with California’s response to the 2001 electricity crisis. During July and August of 2001, he directed the state’s electricity purchasing program as Assistant Director for Energy Programs at the Department of Water Resources. During 2002, he was Deputy Director at the California Power Authority with responsibility for securing new electricity supplies from both conventional and renewable sources. Prior to his Undersecretary appointment at Cal/EPA in 1997, Blevins was appointed in 1995 as the Chief Deputy Director of the California Department of Conservation, serving as Acting Director twice. Blevins served as the Adviser to the Chairman of the California Energy Commission between 1983 and 1992, and as a program manager on the Commission’s staff from 1977 to 1983.
Blevins has been called upon to provide his strategic counsel to a variety of environmental and energy-related organizations. He was a member of Governor Schwarzenegger’s first Climate Action Team and previously served as a Board Member at the Center for Clean Air Policy in Washington D.C., the Science and Industry Advisory Board at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Natural Gas Vehicle Advisory Board and the State Government Task Force on Alternative Fuels. Blevins was also a member of the German Marshall Fund Study Tour on Global Climate Change.
Blevins is a native of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology from the University of New Mexico. He is a historian specializing in the Southern Appalachian region and is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Grandview Heritage Foundation.