A former senior climate adviser to President Joe Biden's Department of Energy has spun through the revolving door to join a lobbying firm focused on green energy issues.
Karen Skelton, an ex-senior DOE policy adviser who has aided Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and senior climate diplomat John Podesta since 2021, is joining Boundary Stone Partners as a senior adviser, E&E News reported. Boundary Stone Partners was hired by 45 clients in 2024 and heavily lobbies on issues related to energy and nuclear power, as well as the manufacturing sector, according to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan lobbying tracker.
"I look forward to building on Boundary Stone Partners’ quality work on climate policy and the energy transition," Skelton said. “Their work is instrumental to advancing climate solutions in the United States, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it."
The job move illustrates how federal staffers often cash in on their government service to accept roles at deep-pocketed companies, including those lobbying on issues that staffers helped shape on the dime of taxpayers.
Skelton "organized and administered private and public sector engagement in key U.S. states to support passage of the Inflation Reduction Act," a massive climate spending law under Biden, according to Skelton's LinkedIn account. Boundary Stone Partners, for instance, lobbied on behalf of clients in connection to the Inflation Reduction Act, federal records show.
During the Biden-Harris administration, Boundary Stone Partners has deployed more lobbyists to the Energy Department each year than any other agency, according to lobbying disclosures. Over 30% of its lobbyists in 2024 have been through the revolving door, OpenSecrets found.
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A former longtime political consultant, Skelton will advise clients of Boundary Stone Partners on navigating public-private partnerships, according to E&E News.
"Karen's expertise in policy development and implementation in partnership with the private sector will be a tremendous asset to our team as we continue to drive the critical work needed to support the transition to a clean energy economy," Sydney Bopp, managing partner at the firm, said in a statement.