Faculty Spotlight: Kristen van de Biezenbos
We are pleased to welcome Professor van de Biezenbos to California Western! Originally from Louisiana, she comes to us most recently from the University of Calgary, where she continued a career defined by a rigorous and impassioned pursuit of effective and just energy and environmental policy. This year, she will be teaching Property I and II, Environmental Law, and a seminar on Energy and Climate Change Law.
“I write to change things,” says Professor van de Biezenbos. And with articles titled Where Oil is King, Contracted Fracking, and Negotiating Energy Democracy, it’s clear that she means what she says. She sees rapid decarbonization as the most pressing task of our time and wants to see it done without putting undue burden on marginalized people who often bear the brunt of such efforts. She has written extensively on energy justice, electricity regulation, and the corporate monopolies that not only stifle environmental progress but also disadvantage communities that do not have the resources to mount legal challenges to fight their exploitation. “The climate crisis is urgent, so when I’m advocating for solutions, I'm trying to get the attention of the people who can implement changes.”
Professor van de Biezenbos began her legal and academic career in New Orleans, where she first became aware of the need for academic advocates in energy and environmental justice. Her early work focused on “the community level impacts of big energy projects like pipelines, refineries, and chemical plants in low income and minority communities, especially African American communities. You find that there’s much higher incidence of cancer and other types of health problems associated with being so close to these big industrial processes, and there isn't much that's being done to address those problems.”
More recently, Professor van de Biezenbos has turned her attention to energy policy, which is what drew her to Canada, where she felt she “could have a more direct line to policymakers.” Her research focused on Canada’s energy transmission policy, highlighting the need for a rapid and equitable overhaul of the system. The results speak for themselves, as she was invited to give presentations to the Alberta Energy Regulator, the Alberta Electric System Operator, Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Canada Energy Regulator, and the Canadian Association of Members of Public Utility Tribunals, among others. Going forward, she continues to serve on the climate mitigation expert panel for the Canadian Climate Institute, which advises the Canadian federal government on climate change.
As passionate as she is for advocacy, Professor van de Biezenbos is equally devoted to her teaching, for which she received the excellence in teaching award from the Energy & Environmental Engineering Students Society at the University of Calgary this past spring. She describes her approach to teaching as “encouraging respectful, open dialogue.” And because energy regulation is so complicated, she “makes sure that everybody feels like they're on the same page, not speeding through material.” Perhaps most importantly, she emphasizes “the ways in which students have already been impacted by these issues, even if it’s just having paid a power bill. It really gets students invested. Then, instead of trying to force them to do the work, I’m trying to keep up with them.” With a smile, she says, “the conversations get really lively.”
Professor van de Biezenbos is looking forward to living and working in Southern California, for the whale watching, to be sure, but also because California has “the most ambitious decarbonization plan in North America.” She hopes to research Southern California’s fraught energy policies and help facilitate internships with federal and state energy regulators. When asked why our city and state have “been on the cutting edge of energy and climate issues for a long time,” she notes our cultural diversity, which she says encourages cooperation. Spoken like a perfect addition to the California Western community!