Environmental and energy reporter based in Richmond, Va., with a background in newspapers, expertise in digging out stories from even the dullest of documents and a special focus on utility regulation.

For a fuller rundown of what I've written, you can check out my profile over at Muckrack. For my most recent work, see my author page at The Virginia Mercury, where I’ve been the environment and energy reporter since June 2019. 

EnERGY reporting

My energy reporting focuses on deciphering and decoding the complex twists and turns of utility regulation, especially electric utility regulation and energy policy, for the average reader. In 2021, my series on Virginia’s clean energy transition — focusing on state-level policy shifts and developments in the areas of offshore wind, utility-scale solar, distributed solar, energy storage and energy efficiency — won top honors for explanatory reporting from the Society of Environmental Journalists.

Other notable stories look at what killed the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Dominion Energy’s 2021 exit from the PJM capacity market, how natural gas development squares with Virginia’s climate plans, how well pool bonding systems can cope with mine bankruptcies, and what a “public interest” designation means for offshore wind development.

ENVIRONMENTAL reporting

From how rising sea levels complicate Chesapeake Bay cleanup plans to vulnerable septic systems and efforts to stem the rapid depletion of eastern aquifers, my environmental reporting goes a step beyond the science to reveal how people interact with the environments in which they live. Increasingly, this work revolves around how climate change is altering once-familiar patterns and places — the appearance of Pacific red algae in the Chesapeake, the disappearance of maple syrup in parts of the Appalachian highlands, the evolution of coastal fisheries — and what communities and governments are doing in response.

Features and investigative work

A few samples of work both on- and offbeat.