Montina Cole serves as Senior Counsel for Environmental Justice and Equity at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Previously, as Principal of Jai Green Consulting LLC, Ms. Cole worked at the intersections of climate policy, racial equity and resilience, providing clients with holistic tools and solutions for sustainability.
Prior to founding Jai Green Consulting in 2020, Ms. Cole was a Senior Attorney in the Climate & Clean Energy program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, where she led the gas pipeline advocacy work and helped lead the initiative to incorporate racial equity considerations into the organization’s advocacy work across all programs.
Before joining NRDC in 2014, Ms. Cole spent nearly 20 years practicing energy law in corporate law firms, representing a wide variety of clients and concentrating on electricity industry regulation. She represented clients before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, courts, state and local regulators, and on Capitol Hill. She has also served as Special Counsel to the General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where she was a political appointee, and on the staff of former U.S. Representative Jim Slattery.
Ms. Cole is a student and teacher of applying the ancient wisdom of Yoga to modern day challenges. She has been practicing Integral Yoga since 2003, and is certified to teach Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Meditation, and Stress Management. She is a seminarian in the Integral Yoga Ministry, and a fellow in the GreenFaith Fellowship Program for religiously based environmental leadership.
Ms. Cole received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1991, where she served on the Senior Editorial Board of the Journal of Law and Politics, and was a founding member of the Coalition for Diversity. She graduated from Washburn University in 1988, where she received her B.A. in political science, cum laude, with University and Departmental honors. She is a member of the bar in the District of Columbia and in Pennsylvania.