Catherine Karen

CATHERINE KAREN is a counsel in the Government Strategies group in Sidley’s Washington, D.C. office. She focuses her practice on providing strategic advocacy advice and representation before the U.S. Congress and federal agencies to clients whose business needs require public policy strategies in the environment and energy sectors. Ms. Karen has more than 20 years of bi-partisan federal affairs experience with governmental and non-governmental entities. She has represented the domestic timber industry, the U.S. refining and petrochemical industries, and served in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and as staff in the U.S. House of Representatives. During the course of her career, she has distinguished herself for her strategic, substantive and bi-partisan approach to advocacy before Congress and the executive branch. Immediately prior to joining Sidley, Ms. Karen was Vice President for Government Affairs at the National Alliance of Forest Owners (NAFO), a trade association that represents US private forest owners. In 2011, she was the lead advocate for two of the year’s leading developments in the environmental arena. Ms. Karen’s leadership in these advocacy campaigns resulted in the 3-year deferral of EPA permit requirements for biomass in the EPA Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule and the inclusion of a key provision in the 2012 Omnibus Appropriations bill, which preserved through the fiscal year, EPA’s long standing treatment of forest roads as non point sources under the Clean Water Act. Active on other carbon related issues, Ms. Karen was also successful in helping to obtain the inclusion of a robust offsets program and broad renewable biomass definition within the House passed American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. During her tenure at NAFO, she also led the planning and execution of CEO fly-ins on Capitol Hill and before the federal agencies. During her almost 5 years at EPA, and as Deputy Associate Administrator for EPA’s Office of Congressional Affairs from 2005 - 2007, Ms. Karen served as one of two principal advisors to the EPA Administrator on all facets of congressional affairs for a Cabinet level agency, including the identification, recommendation and implementation of legislative strategies as they related to Agency actions, regardless of program office. She also closely collaborated with the White House, senior career and political staff at EPA and other federal agencies, and outside stakeholders on EPA-related policies. During this two-year period, Ms. Karen successfully developed and led various strategies necessary to promote and protect the administration’s agenda including the defeat of a congressional resolution targeted at the Clean Air Mercury rule, and the successful confirmation of 8 of 9 Senate nominations she led. Prior to her 2005 promotion, Ms. Karen worked in the EPA Office of Congressional Affairs as a liaison between EPA and Congress on complex air-related issues including the Clean Air Mercury Rule, the Clean Air Interstate Rule and New Source Review. Her efforts as EPA interagency lead on the 2005 energy bill and transportation reauthorization measure, both later enacted into law, resulted in the inclusion of a number of EPA favorable initiatives. From 2007-2008, Ms. Karen served as head of the government relations department of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, formerly the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, a then nearly 500 member trade association, representing the U.S. refining and petrochemical industries. She directed the team responsible for all government relations including advocacy before Congress and the executive branch, and directed the development of the association’s regulatory and legislative positions under the direction of the President. Advocacy efforts focused on the Renewable Fuel Standard and mitigating the impacts that refineries, both as stationary sources and as fuel refiners, would face in then pending climate legislation. Ms. Karen also led efforts that resulted in the repeated defeat of punitive tax measures against the oil industry and helped to prevent the enactment of price control legislation. A former member of the staff of U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-27-FL), Ms. Karen received her J.D. from George Washington University Law School and her B.A. in both International Relations and Economics from American University. She is fluent in both English and Spanish.