Jeffrey Peterson

Jeffrey Peterson joined ELI as a Visiting Scholar in 2022, after 40 years of experience in environmental policy development and program management, particularly focused on water issues. 

Most recently he was Senior Advisor in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Water responsible for climate change policy. In that capacity he co-chaired the EPA Sea Level Rise Workgroup and was a member of the Federal Interagency Sea Level Rise Workgroup. He also worked for almost four years at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) during the first Obama term. At CEQ, he co-chaired the Interagency Water Resources and Climate Change Workgroup and authored the first national plan addressing water resources management and climate change. Returning to EPA in 2012, he chaired the National Water Program Climate Change Workgroup and served for five years as the Federal co-chair of the Climate Change and Water Workgroup of the Federal Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI). Before joining EPA in 1995, he worked for the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. He is also the author of A New Coast; Strategies for Responding to Devastating Storms and Rising Seas (Island Press, 2019) and a facilitator for the Coastal Flood Resilience Project, a coalition of nonprofits working to strengthen coastal flood resilience. 

Jeff has an undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Washington.