Insights by David J. Hayes (Past Executive Director)

David J. Hayes was the State Impact Center’s executive director from August 2017 through January 2021, when he left the Center to serve in the Biden administration as Special Assistant to the President for Climate Policy, a role he filled until late 2022.

  • Blog A pipeline runs through a wintery landscape with a soft sky in the background

    Climate Change and the Law

    The Trump administration is trying hard to ignore the reality of climate change and avoid accepting responsibility to address the risks that it poses to public health and the environment. Our environmental laws, however, don’t let the administration off the hook.

  • Blog A dark, storm-filled sky looms behind a melting glacier

    Three Takeaways from the Fourth National Climate Assessment

    The federal government’s release of the Fourth National Climate Assessment was big energy and environmental news, despite being released on the Friday afternoon after Thanksgiving

  • Blog Cars on a highway during daytime

    State AGs Must Win the Fight on Cars and Coal

    The Trump Administration is blatantly choosing not to control our nation’s largest sources of climate and conventional pollution, at the cost of American lives and the health of the planet.