Jay Fisette, vice chair of the Arlington County Board, has been named chair of COG’s new Climate, Energy and Environment Policy Committee. His appointment was announced at the COG Board’s May meeting by Chair Penny Gross.

The COG Board created the new panel last month as the culmination of two years of work by its Climate Change Steering Committee, which produced a comprehensive regional Climate Change Report the last year. Montgomery County Council Member Nancy Floreen served as chair of the Steering Committee, and its report, one of the first of its kind for a region, was adopted by the Board last year.

The Climate, Energy and Environment Policy Committee will provide the leadership and support to reach the goals outlined in the report.  The committee also will be responsible for all climate change, energy, green building, alternate fuels, solid waste and recycling policy issues as well as other environmental issues.

Mr. Fisette joined the COG Board in 1998 and served as chair of its Metropolitan Development Policy Committee in 2001.  In 2006, when he was chair of the Board, COG sponsored a conference on green building policies for the region, which later led to COG’s Green Building Policy. 

Mr. Fisette currently serves as a vice chair of the Metropolitan Washington Air Quality Committee (MWAQC) and served as a member of the Climate Change Steering Committee.