Thomas Tanton
Tom Tanton is the Director of Science and Technology Assessment for E&E Legal. He is also president of T² & Associates, a firm providing services to the energy and technology industries. T² & Associates are active primarily in the area of renewable energy and interconnected infrastructures, analyzing and providing advice on their impacts on energy prices, environmental quality and regional economic development.
Tanton has 40 years of direct and responsible experience in energy technology and legislative interface, having been central to many of the critical legislative changes that enable technology choice and economic development at the state and federal level. Mr. Tanton is a strong proponent of free market environmentalism and consumer choice, and frequently publishes and speaks against alarmist and reactionary policies and government failures.
Until 2000, Tanton was the Principal Policy Advisor with the California Energy Commission (CEC) in Sacramento, California. He began his career there in 1976, developing and implementing policies and legislation on energy issues of importance to California, the U.S. and International markets. These included electric restructuring, gasoline and natural gas supply and pricing energy facility siting and permitting, environmental issues, power plant sitting, technology development, and transportation. Tanton completed the first assessment of environmental externalities used in regulatory settings. He has held primary responsibility for comparative economic analysis, environmental assessment of new technologies, and the evaluation of alternatives under state and federal environmental law.
As the General Manager at EPRI, from 2000 to 2003, Tanton was responsible for the overall management and direction of collaborative research and development programs in electric generation technologies, integrating technology, market infrastructure, and public policy. From 2003 through 2007, Tanton was Senior Fellow and Vice President of the Houston based Institute for Energy Research. He was also a Senior Fellow in Energy Studies with the Pacific Research Institute until 2010.