Staff

Sujatha Jahagirdar


Sujatha JahagirdarMs. Jahagirdar has worked with the Research & Policy Center water program for the past three years, authoring several reports including Down the Drain: The Impact of Groundwater Contamination in Six Communities and Leaking Enforcement: An Analysis of the Effectiveness of the 1999 Clean Water Enforcement and Pollution Prevention Act.
Ms. Jahagirdar has appeared on Los Angeles NBC, ABC and Fox affiliate stations, as well as in The Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal.

In 2001, she joined the program staff after three years of coordinating the CALPIRG Education Fund Water Watch Community Organizing Program. Ms. Jahagirdar graduated with distinction from Yale University in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science.


Bernadette Del Chiaro


Bernadette Del ChiaroMs. Del Chiaro runs Environment California Research & Policy Center's Clean Energy Program.

In this capacity, Ms. Del Chiaro advocates before the California Energy Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission, and before municipal agencies on clean energy issues.

She's been interviewed by and widely quoted in numerous and varied media outlets including MSNBC, NPR, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, San Diego Union Tribune, San Jose Mercury News and the Associated Press.

She has been invited to testify before various legislative committees and has been a speaker at numerous energy and environmental policy workshops.

In addition, Ms. Del Chiaro has authored numerous reports, including Solar Water Heating: How California Can Reduce Its Dependence on Natural Gas, Bringing Solar to Scale: California's Opportunities to Create a Thriving, Self-Sustaining Residential Solar Market. The Economics of Solar Homes in California, and Clean and Affordable Power: How Los Angeles Can Get To 20% Renewable Energy by 2017.  

Prior to joining Environment California Research & Policy Center's staff in 2002, Bernadette served as Organizing Director for the Toxics Action Center where she coordinated the successful campaign to clean up Connecticut's "Filthy Five" coal-fired power plants.

From 1995-1996, Ms. Del Chiaro staffed the local campaign office to stop the proposed Ward Valley nuclear waste dump in Needles, California.  In 1998, she graduated from Green Corps, the field school for environmental organizing. Ms. Del Chiaro holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Conservation and Resource Studies from the University of California at Berkeley.


Rachel Gibson


Rachel GibsonMs. Gibson is the Environmental Health Advocate and Staff Attorney of Environment California Research & Policy Center. Her current work focuses on reforming chemical policy and ensuring the removal of toxics from baby and children's products.

Ms. Gibson serves on the Planning Consortium of the California Environmental Health Tracking Program, and the Steering Committee of Californians for Pesticide Reform.

Ms. Gibson joined our staff in March 2005.  Prior to joining our staff, she was an Environmental Litigation Associate at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld.  She has also clerked for the Honorable Michael R. Murphy of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Ms. Gibson graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara in 1992. Following her graduation from UCSB, she participated in the California Senate Associates Program (now Senate Fellows Program) during which she worked for State Senator Patrick Johnston.

Ms. Gibson received her J.D. from UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law and Master in Public Policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2000.