On Sept. 19, the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law hosted Deputy Assistant Secretary Kati Kovacs from the U.S. Department of the Interior to discuss how federal agencies navigate the rulemaking process.
Kovacs is currently serving as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals at the U.S. Department of the Interior, where she oversees federal rulemakings related to energy and land management. In her talk, Kovacs highlighted the variety of rulemaking challenges involved in expanding energy infrastructure. To illustrate, Kovacs showcased some of the Department of the Interior’s significant regulatory accomplishments related to renewable energy, responsible conventional energy activities and managing federal lands. In one example, Kovacs talked about recent rules promulgated by the Land and Minerals Management division of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which has implemented nearly 40 rules in just over two years. A primary goal of this division is promoting renewable energy development by identifying priority areas, offering favorable lease terms and streamlining the application process to give developers greater flexibility and predictability. Kovacs also discussed the BLM’s management of the National Petroleum Reserve on the North Slope of Alaska and how that demonstrates the unique balance between resource extraction and environmental protection. For the first time in 40 years, the BLM updated rules to safeguard ecologically and culturally significant areas while furthering co-stewardship with indigenous communities. While discussing the complexity of transmission development, Kovacs highlighted the need for creative problem-solving when modernizing infrastructure to meet ever-increasing energy demands.
Kovacs is also a professor of law at the Rutgers Law School where she teaches Administrative Law, Natural Resources Law, Environmental Law and Property. She joined the Rutgers Law faculty in 2011, after a twelve-year stint in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Appellate Section. There she wrote more than 100 appellate and Supreme Court briefs and argued more than sixty appeals. In 2016, she served as Senior Advisor to the Director of the Bureau of Land Management in the U.S. Department of the Interior. Kovacs also spent three years in the Baltimore City Law Department where she litigated constitutional claims. She clerked for the Honorable Robert C. Murphy, former Chief Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals. Kovacs is a cum laude graduate of Yale University and the Georgetown University Law Center.
During her talk, Kovacs also spoke about trends in environmental law, her career path, and the importance of public service.