Biography: Commissioner Kenneth L. Kimmell

Kenneth L. Kimmell was appointed in January 2011 as Commissioner of the MassDEP by Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Richard K. Sullivan Jr. Since the time of his appointment, MassDEP has launched a clean energy results program to focus on the permitting and siting of clean energy facilities; completed a top-to-bottom review of all of MassDEP's permit programs and identified over twenty regulatory changes to streamline permitting; and commenced an overhaul of MassDEP's information technology systems to make the agency more efficient, transparent, and accessible to the regulated community and the public. Mr. Kimmell also serves as an officer and member of the Board of Directors of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Emission, Inc., and is active in the nine-member state effort to review and strengthen the nation's first mandatory greenhouse gas emissions cap and trade program.

Mr. Kimmell joined the Patrick Administration in January 2007 as general counsel of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. In that capacity, he focused on major legislative initiatives, such as the merger of energy and environmental agencies into one secretariat; the Green Communities Act, the Global Warming Solutions Act, and the Oceans Act; state and federal permitting of the Cape Wind project, the nation's first off-shore wind project; and development and early implementation of policy initiatives such as the MEPA Greenhouse Gas policy, a first-in-the-nation policy that requires developers of major projects to identify, avoid, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

Prior to joining the Patrick-Murray Administration, Mr. Kimmell was in private practice and focused on environmental and land use law and litigation.

Mr. Kimmell graduated from Wesleyan University and UCLA School of Law. He lives in Newton, where he has served on the Newton Community Preservation Act Committee. He is also a former Board Member of the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions.