Session 3: Sustainable Utilization of Appalachian Resources

From timber to minerals, extraction and utilization of natural resources is a critical element of the regional economy, impacting everything from power generation to industrial manufacturing. Panelists will discuss efforts to reduce carbon emissions and waste in these sectors, while developing ways to positively impact the environment and communities they serve and operate in.

Plenary Speaker/Panelist: Greg Meade

Greg Meade directs the 253,000-acre Cumberland Forest Project in Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, providing oversite to the operations, protection efforts, financial returns, and community programs.  He joined TNC in 2007, bringing over 25 years of professional forestry experience across private industry, state government and the non-profit sector. Prior to joining TNC, he held the Clinch Valley Conservation Forestry Program Director position.

Greg has been involved in the forest carbon space since 2012 and led the development of The Nature Conservancy’s first U.S. based Improved Forest Management projects, which would go onto become the organizations first regulatory forest carbon projects registered in California’s Cap and Trade program.

Greg is part of the NatureVest Impact Management team. The team is working towards the following key objectives:

• Establishing minimum standards for investments to avoid negative environmental impacts
• Identifying opportunities for investments to deliver impact alongside returns
• Advising on best practices for land and water management
• Measuring climate and biodiversity outcomes
• Greg was named Young Forester of the Year by the Society of American Foresters (SAF).

On his 17th birthday Greg joined the Virginia National Guard (so young that his parents had to sign the application). He spent the next two summers at Ft. Benning, Georgia training to become an infantryman.

Greg earned both his BS and MS in Forestry at Virginia Tech and is a Certified Forester (CF).

Moderator: To Be Confirmed

Lorem Ipson: Bio Here

Panelist: Dr. Evan S. Blumer

Dr. Evan Blumer has worked for more than 30 years to integrate wildlife, habitat and energy conservation strategies with new, sustainable development models.

For the majority of his career, Dr. Blumer has worked as a Wildlife Veterinarian, Conservation Biologist, and NGO Executive. With extensive “field experience” in more than 30 countries, and a pioneering role in the development of large-scale “Conservation Centers”, Blumer has endeavored to bridge the gap between traditional zoological facilities and free-ranging populations of the planet’s most threatened wildlife species.

From 2002 – 2010, Dr. Blumer led (as Executive Director/CEO) the growth and advancement of the Wilds, one of the largest and most innovative Conservation, Science and Education Centers in the world. While his work at the Wilds allowed Blumer to advance new models for wildlife and habitat conservation, the opportunity to manage this large land-base also allowed for the development of Advanced Energy and Land-Use strategies. Blumer led the development of the “Prairie Power” and “Carbon Prairie” projects which identified new ways to put severely degraded land to use in the production of “Biomass” for energy generation, as well as “sequestering” significant amounts of atmospheric carbon, all while rebuilding soils and enhancing biodiversity.

In 2011 Blumer created OsoMono LTD, a unique consultancy focused on Wildlife, Habitat and Energy Conservation Strategies. Among OsoMono’s diverse array of international partners and clients, Blumer has been working with CONSOL Energy to advance alternative (low-carbon emissions)) uses for waste-coal. Since 2018 Blumer has helped to lead CONSOL’s DOE funded 21^st Century Power Plant project, coordinating efforts on biomass feedstocks and long term CO2 storage. Blumer also serves as a Senior Advisor to the leadership of CONSOL Innovations, a new “spin-out” of CONSOL Energy.

Panelist: Brad Clark

Brad Clark is the Director of Workforce Solutions for Edelen Renewables where he manages their trademarked Social Impact Solar framework. He is also a Project Manager on Accelerating Appalachia’s 8-state, USDA-funded Building Soil, Building Equity climate smart farming initiative, the Acting Director of the Kentucky Solar Energy Industries Association and the Founder of Latent Talent Accelerator a cradle-to-gray economic development consultancy particularly focused on increasing economic mobility and maximizing community benefit in Appalachian coal communities.

Panelist: Dr. Neeraj Gupta

Dr. Neeraj Gupta, the Technical Director for Carbon Management at Battelle, provides technical and program development leadership for Battelle’s Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) work.  He is one of the earliest pioneers in CCUS development, with over 28 years of domestic and international experience in leading carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage, CO₂ enhanced oil recovery (EOR), and subsurface resource management.  Dr. Gupta is also co-leading Battelle’s strategy and development for large-scale hubs for Energy Transition with Hydrogen and Direct Air Capture hubs, and CCUS deployment.

Dr. Gupta’s is the Co-Principal Investigator for the Midwest Regional Carbon Initiative, working to evaluate CCUS across 20 states in midwestern and mid-Atlantic regions.  Dr. Gupta led several field programs on CO₂ storage technology including the Midwestern Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP), CO₂ storage pilot at the Mountaineer plant in West Virginia, multiple regional assessments of CO₂ storage, Mid-Atlantic U.S. offshore carbon storage resource assessment, EOR, and brine disposal.  His international project leadership includes CO₂ storage assessments in China, Mexico, Japan, Germany, Indonesia, and South Africa for the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and private clients. Dr. Gupta has co-authored almost 200 papers, reports, and presentations. He is a director for the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) CCUS Technical Section and a former member of the National Coal Council.

Dr. Gupta holds a PhD in Geological Sciences from The Ohio State University, MS in Geochemistry from George Washington University, and MSc and BSc in Geology from Panjab University, India. Dr. Gupta was awarded Battelle’s CEO award for his career achievements in CCUS.

Panelist: Ushakar Jha

Ushakar is a licensed civil engineer with over two decades of experience in the field of hydropower and pump storage projects. His expertise includes design engineering, detailed project planning, project cost estimation, power production modeling, and project management. Ushakar has spent the last decade advancing hydro projects at the leading hydropower development company Rye Development.

Prior to this, he worked at the globally renowned firm, SNC Lavalin. Currently, as the Vice President of Project Engineering at Rye, Ushakar is responsible for overseeing all technical dimensions of the projects. He manages a portfolio of 18 active FERC licensed new hydropower projects, which vary in capacity from 5 MW to 50 MW. Additionally, he supervises 8 new pumped storage projects, each with a capacity ranging between 250 MW to 1200 MW. Ushakar is experienced in coordinating multidisciplinary teams, ensuring smooth interactions between subconsultants, equipment providers, contractors, and various stakeholders.

He is also the principal investigator for various initiatives with National Labs such as Oak Ridge, NREL, Argonne, and PNNL labs. Ushakar is also selected as Industry Mentor for the Department of Energy I-Corps Program, a 10-week entrepreneurial development program for DOE national lab researchers. He is also an active participant and contributor to the Department of Energy’s HydroWIRES (Water Innovation for a Resilient Electric System) initiative.

Ushakar has both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in civil engineering and an MBA from the Hult International Business School.