As a member of RAP’s Europe and U.S. teams, Megan Anderson provides research and expertise focusing primarily on integrated resource planning, distributed energy resources and the transition away from fossil gas. Her position on both teams allows her to augment ideas by sharing her experience across RAP’s work in the regions.
Before joining RAP in 2018, Ms. Anderson (formerly Megan O’Reilly) acted as counsel for the Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy — a group of local, regional and national nongovernmental organizations — to advance clean energy policy in New Mexico. She represented the coalition in proceedings before the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission involving renewable energy, energy efficiency, rate design and distributed generation. She also coordinated advocacy that contributed to increased renewable energy in rural electric cooperative service areas. During her time with the coalition, Ms. Anderson was awarded a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship in Germany. She used the yearlong fellowship to work first with the think tank Agora Energiewende and then with RAP’s office in Berlin, exploring ideas of common interest in Germany and the U.S. on energy policy.
Ms. Anderson’s work in energy policy is informed by her experience using environmental law to protect communities and the health of the environment. As a staff attorney and later as climate and energy program director at the Western Environmental Law Center, she focused on the effects of coal and fossil gas production and combustion in the Western United States. Earlier in her career, she also worked as a solo practitioner in California, representing environmental organizations in federal litigation to protect water and air quality and to restore rivers through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Ms. Anderson earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies and a juris doctor from the University of Colorado. After law school, she clerked at the Colorado Supreme Court for Justice Alex Martinez. She also served as a governor-appointed board member of the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority. In addition to her native English, she speaks intermediate German and French.
