James Cassida

Background

About James Cassida

James Cassida has worked his entire career as a director and project manager specializing in regulatory permitting. He has extensive management experience within the power delivery and renewables industry and a documented record of guiding projects through design and development, permitting, construction and operation. He has worked on transmission, wind, and solar energy projects throughout the US and Canada with a strong concentration in the Northeast and Mideast regions. Within the challenging regulatory permitting environment, James has taken on various program roles working as a regulator, environmental consultant and developer. As the Director of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Land Resource Regulation he managed a staff of 37 licensing, enforcement and planning professionals in 4 regional offices and was responsible for the implementation of a 3.7million-dollar annual budget. He directly managed the administration of Maine’s Wind Energy Act and established the Maine In-Lieu-Fee wetland mitigation program in cooperation with the Army Corps of Engineers. James was the Senior Manager of Environmental Affairs for First Wind, LLC/SunEdison, Inc,/TerraForm Power, Inc for 4 years and managed a portfolio that included hundreds wind, solar and transmission projects at all stages of development, construction and operation. He has proven record of collaboration with project engineers, consultants and regulators developing design plans that meet or exceed project goals and expectations. His experience includes organizing and conduction scoping meetings, evaluating environmental impacts and evaluating mitigation options. He is skilled at applying strategic communication techniques to encourage productive dialogue between stakeholders and facilitate informed decision making. James is currently based in the State of Maine, U.S serving as the WSP Senior Environmental Permitting Manager for the Energy Sector.