Rachel Powers

Executive Director, Citizens’ Environmental Coalition

“One of the emerging issues that we’re seeing is the nexus between energy and water. You need water to generate energy, and energy to extract oil andd gas from the earth, and then to process it. It takes water to do that. Other cities also use hydroelectric systems to process drinking water.”

Rachel Powers became the executive director of the Citizens’ Environmental Coalition (CEC) in 2013. By connecting individuals and organizations, CEC works to ensure that our environmental community is recognized as a vital part of the fabric of our society. Rachel serves on various boards and committees, including the City of Houston’s Climate Action Plan, Resilience Plan, Integrated Resource Recovery Management Plan, and Plan Houston (general plan); Harris County’s Flood Control Task Force and Environmental Justice “Do Tank”; H-GAC’s Bacteria Implementation Group; and on numerous committees for a variety of nonprofit organizations. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Rachel graduated from Rice University (B.A.) and University of Phoenix (M.B.A.).