ENERGY LEADER: Michelle De Blasi is the executive director of the Arizona Energy Consortium and is a well-known environmental attorney. Her in-depth experience encompasses a wide range of environmental law areas with an emphasis on natural resources matters, including traditional and renewable energy project development, environmental permitting and compliance, and greenhouse gas emissions. (Photo by Mike Mertes, AZ Big Media)

The ability of any industry to flourish is only as strong as the policies set to support it. Such policies impact the amount of regulation, the amount of investment needed for continued industry development and the ability of the industry to advance. If uncertainty is raised by these policies, there are detrimental impacts to industry development. This delicate balance between the government’s interest in protecting the consumer and the industry’s goals of developing in a predictable playing field must be carefully achieved. Without transparency and fair discussion, public participation in this process declines due to a lack of confidence that a fair result can be realized. This process is further impacted with additional factors of changing market conditions, evolving disruptive technologies and lack of a federal energy policy. The confusion and complexities created by these factors can overpower any rational discourse that would otherwise lead to a solutionoriented process. Finding common ground to resolve these issues is not a simple task. Since 2011, the Arizona Energy Consortium (AEC) has focused on working with industry stakeholders to create an attractive business environment that promotes development, while still protecting our valuable resources for a sustainable future. The AEC actively promotes collaboration in the industry for growth and retention of energy companies. We continue our efforts AB | November - December 2019 29