Patrick Cummins
Senior Western Regional Policy Manager
About
Patrick Cummins is CATF’s Senior Western Regional Policy Manager on the U.S. State Policy team. Patrick joined CATF in April 2023 after nine years at the Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) at Colorado State University where he led the Center’s work with Western states, utilities, and stakeholders on the transition to a low-carbon economy. Patrick has been working in the West on air quality and climate programs since 1987, including at US EPA Region 8, Denver’s Regional Air Quality Council, and the Western Governors’ Association.
From 2007 to 2015 he served as Executive Director of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) where he helped California and Quebec develop and implement the world’s first economy-wide cap-and-invest program for greenhouse gas emissions. Patrick has also worked in the oil and gas industry and owned and operated a farm in La Plata County, Colorado for ten years. He holds a chemistry degree from Fort Lewis College in his hometown of Durango, Colorado and a master’s degree in environmental policy from Indiana University.
Patrick lives in Durango with his wife Miki Harder, an artist and Nordic ski instructor, and has two children, Carolyn (ecologist) and Daniel (attorney). He enjoys all the outdoor things there are to do in the mountains of Southwest Colorado and hopes you will let him know when you are in the area.
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