Meet Alisa Kaseweter, climate policy and resilience strategist

How would you explain your job to your neighbor, so they not only understand what you do but what BPA does and its role in our region?
I’m proud to work for an agency that provides clean, reliable and affordable power. Thanks in large part to the carbon-free electricity provided by the federal hydropower system, the Northwest has some of the cleanest power in the nation. As BPA’s lead on carbon and climate change policy, my job is to ensure BPA and the federal system are resilient to the impacts of climate change and maintain their value to the region as we collectively, as a society and industry, decarbonize the energy sector to mitigate for the impacts of climate change. 
 
How does your work support BPA’s mission and strategy? 
Climate change is projected to have implications for many BPA operations, including but not limited to changes in electricity demand and reliability of transmission lines; effectiveness of fish and wildlife mitigation programs and threats to our infrastructure due to rising sea levels. 

I represent BPA in state regulatory processes, market design development, and other forums related to carbon and climate change policies. I share my expertise of those policy and program impacts with BPA staff and leadership, so their projected effects inform the agency’s decisions, planning, programs and operations. This work enables BPA to maintain adequate, reliable assets and provide competitive products and services to our customers now and in the years to come. 

How does your work help the agency prepare for, respond to or build resiliency to climate change?
I’ve spent the last two years leading a cross-agency team working to make sure our operations and assets are resilient to climate change. This work builds on more than a decade of BPA studying and monitoring climate change impacts and risks. Our analysis shows that climate change is already affecting the hydroelectric system in the Pacific Northwest. Rising temperatures, increasing winter and early spring flows, earlier peak spring runoff, and decreasing summer flows are affecting hydro generation patterns and  when and how much electricity people need. The best available science indicates that these trends will continue, along with other climate change risks. 

The team’s efforts are preparing BPA for these impacts of climate change. Recently, we proposed to update BPA’s long-term hydro generation forecast and base it on the last 30 years of streamflows, rather than the current long-standing practice of using historical streamflows dating back to 1929. Using the most recent data to more accurately forecast near-term streamflows incorporates emerging climate trends, which better enables BPA to plan and reliably meet its load obligations in the region.

A new or technical aspect of my job that I enjoy is: 
There’s been a big shift in public policy in the last few years, with more states adopting policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions. Washington has a clean energy standard, known as the Clean Energy Transformation Act, which requires retail utilities to be 100% carbon neutral by 2030 and carbon-free by 2045. Oregon also adopted a clean energy standard last year that requires the state’s investor owned utilities to be 100% carbon-free by 2040. I’ve enjoyed the opportunities to engage in the development of these policies through the state legislative processes, and now, state agency rulemakings. It’s been fun and challenging to think through how these policies could shape the industry and what they mean for BPA and the types of products and services we may offer to customers in the future.

The coolest or most surprising thing about my job is:
I love that I get to work on emergent and critical issues. 

I like working at BPA because:  
The people are the best. I have so much respect for my colleagues inside and outside of the agency and really value the relationships that I’ve built over the years. We can always find something to laugh about, even when the work itself is challenging.

My most memorable story while working at BPA is:
Early in my career, I had the opportunity to spend a week on the road with a power account executive who met with customers across Idaho. We drove over 900 miles in a few short days, visiting about a dozen customer utilities that all had unique retail customer bases and circumstances. It helped me better understand the people we serve and appreciate BPA’s mission and role in the region. It also gave me new perspective on what it took to electrify rural America.15.

My favorite thing about working and living in the Northwest is:
The summer here is the best! I joke that I never travel anywhere during the summer because the weather here is so perfect and there are so many great outdoor activities.

Two things I can’t live without are:
My kid and coffee.

I am inspired by :
My son, nieces and nephews inspire me to think about both the bigger picture at work and the little things I can do to make a difference in my everyday life because they will have to live with the reality of climate change.

Where did you go to school? What did you study? What attracted you to those subjects?
I have always been interested in the environment and policy. As an undergraduate, I went to Oregon State University. I took an elective class on natural resource policy and immediately decided to change my major. I have a Bachelor of Science in environmental economics and policy. After graduating, I took a year off before deciding to go to law school. I have a law degree with a certificate in environmental law from Lewis and Clark Law School.