Season 2, Episode 4: Donna Attanasio, Senior Advisor for Energy Law Programs at George Washington University Law School

Donna Attanasio is the Senior Advisor for Energy Law Programs at George Washington University Law School. She was previously a partner at White & Case LLP, in its Energy, Infrastructure, Project and Asset Finance practice, serving as chair of its renewable energy task force and co-chair of the DC Office’s Women’s Initiative. Prior to that, Donna was with the firms of Dewey Ballantine LLP and Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan. Before attending law school, she supervised load management programs and worked on conservation and customer service projects at Potomac Electric Power Company.

In this conversation, Mosby and Donna discuss transmission, microgrids, free markets and regulations. Donna explains the challenge of having a transmission system designed for reliability and low costs evolving into a system that must also support a new generation mixed aimed at lowering emissions. We talk about energy as a holistic problem cutting across disciplines and we define and discuss energy equity—who gets to decide who decides? Donna walks through some of the great work her program at George Washington Law School is doing with communities and energy. We talk about the book Cadillac Desert and gifts from your kids, and Donna shares insights from her many decades of practicing law at high powered firms in DC.