Environmental lawyer and author Michael Curley comments on why "the number one environmental problem in the Chesapeake Bay is us."
Bio
Michael Curley is a lawyer and entrepreneur who has spent the majority of his career in project finance and the last 25 years in energy and environmental finance. He joined the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) as a Visiting Scholar in 2013. He has just written Paying for Tomorrow, which is being published by ELI in July 2018.
He is the author of Finance Policy for Renewable Energy and a Sustainable Environment, published by Taylor & Francis in 2014. The Central University for Finance & Economics in China has translated this book into Chinese and asked Mr. Curley to write a special Preface for them.
Mr. Curley also wrote The Handbook of Project Finance for Water and Wastewater Systems (Handbook), published by Times/Mirror and Fundamentals of Water Finance, which was published by Taylor & Francis in October, 2016. He contributed to the Huffington Post for four years and is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and the National Press Club, where he was a member of the Book & Author Committee for 5 years. He has also published over 50 articles.
Mr. Curley has worked in 40 countries, primarily as the Senior Financial Advisor to the Office of International Affairs at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and in the same capacity for the World Resources Institute. He has had extensive dealings with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development as well as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In the early 1980’s, he raised the venture capital for, founded, and served as president and CEO of the third municipal bond insurance company in the world and the first to insure economic development projects. The company had 28 employees when he sold it to a major international bank. Mr. Curley was also a partner in the celebrated New York City law firm of Shea & Gould.
Mr. Curley has also served in several roles in government. First, as Deputy Commissioner (Secretary) & General Counsel of the New York State Department of Economic Development; and then as President and CEO of the State’s bank for economic development. He was also the General Counsel of the New York State Science & Technology Foundation, the State’s venture capital agency. Prior to that, Mr. Curley served as Parliamentarian of the New York State Assembly and Associate Counsel to the Speaker and was also an Assistant to Congressman Richard D. McCarthy (D-NY) in Washington, DC. He also served as Adjunct Professor of Banking & Finance at New York University teaching Venture Capital and Capital Markets. Mr. Curley was appointed to the Board of Directors of the United Nations Development Corporation by New York City Mayor Ed Koch.
As a member of the Board of the International Rural Water Association, Mr. Curley built water and basic sanitation systems in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. He continued this work for several years privately in Honduras and Guatemala.
When Mr. Curley is not doing environmental law & finance, he is writing thrillers.