An Orange Line train pulls into the MBTA's Wellington station.

The Healey administration on Wednesday rolled out its refreshed roster for the Department of Public Utilities and charged the new trio with creating a “21st Century DPU.”

Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper appointed Jamie Van Nostrand, a West Virginia University College of Law professor who has worked as a utility regulator, lawyer for energy companies and as the head of an environmental group, to serve as chair of the DPU.

Tepper also appointed Staci Rubin, a longtime environmental justice advocate who most recently worked as vice president of environmental justice at the Conservation Law Foundation, as a DPU commissioner and announced that Acting Chair Cecile Fraser, an energy and utilities industry attorney first appointed to the DPU in 2017 by Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration, will stay on as a commissioner at DPU.

“With Jamie, Staci, and Cecile at the helm, the next era of the Department of Utilities will be marked by a commitment to transparency, equity, and innovation,” Tepper said in a statement. “Our goal is to build a 21st century DPU rooted in these values. Jamie is a longtime advocate for the clean energy resources and will help lead the Commonwealth’s transition at this pivotal time. Staci has been at the forefront of the environmental justice movement in Massachusetts. And Cecile brings extensive institutional knowledge and a strong understanding of the importance of consumer protections.”

No Transit Safety Experts

The DPU sits right in the middle of a number of issues that the Healey administration hopes to address: it oversees investor-owned electricity, natural gas and water utilities in Massachusetts, is charged with oversight of the safety of natural gas pipelines through the state, and regulates the safety of bus companies, moving companies, transportation network companies, and the MBTA.

Notably, however, none of Healey’s picks appear to have experience in transit safety, a major area of concern for the public and state legislators after federal safety inspectors hammered the DPU’s oversight of the MBTA in a scathing 2022 review of the T and the department’s transportation safety oversight arm – a document that caused some legislators to float the idea of carving the DPU’s transit safety mission off into an independent agency.

Rubin spent some of her time at CLF advocating for reduced fares for low-income MBTA riders, according to a biography provided by the Healey administration; the administration cited no transit experience in Van Nostrand’s or Fraser’s biographies.

When asked for comment, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs spokesperson Maria Hardiman said the department was “committed to ensuring the safety and reliability of the MBTA”

“Already, the DPU has made significant progress in expanding its Rail Transit Division. With the appointments of new commissioners, the Healey-Driscoll Administration is ramping up efforts to create a 21st-century DPU, which includes expanded in-house expertise in transit safety. The DPU will continue to work diligently to identify safety issues and protect riders,” she said.

The department has added three new staff this year to its Rail Transit Division, which oversees the T’s safety efforts, bringing the unit up to 10 employees focused on rail transit safety: an additional public utilities engineer, an additional compliance officer and a newly-created director of rail transit safety position. The DPU is looking to hire a data analyst and additional engineers and compliance officers this year, Hardiman said.

Kate Dineen, CEO of business-backed transit advocacy group A Better City, said the appointments were “encouraging” and a sign that Healey was trying to transform the DPU to offer meaningful oversight of the T.

“With the addition of our colleague Staci Rubin as well as legal and regulatory expert Jamie Van Nostrand, the DPU will be well positioned to lead on climate, transportation, and equity, improving our economic competitiveness and quality of life,” she said in a statement.

Appointees Are Climate, Energy Experts

The appointments are still significant as some of Healey’s significant commitments to the public – making progress towards Massachusetts being a net-zero emissions state by 2050, her promise to achieve 100 percent clean electricity supply by 2030, and her pledge to ensure the safety of public transportation – will require DPU involvement.

“For the past eight years, our team in the Attorney General’s Office, including Secretary Tepper and [Climate] Chief [Melissa] Hoffer, served as the ratepayer advocate by standing up for Massachusetts residents struggling to pay their utility bills,” Healey said in a statement. “We know how critical it is that the DPU leadership understands that the transition to a clean energy economy is a pocketbook issue and will be thoughtful in how we evolve our grid and economy for the future. I have full faith in Jamie Van Nostrand, Staci Rubin, and Cecile Fraser to uphold those values.”

The DPU has been operating with just two commissioners – Fraser and Commissioner Robert Hayden – since former chair Matt Nelson stepped down on Jan. 27. Hayden will step down from the DPU on April 8, the Healey administration said, and Rubin will start her new job on April 10. Fraser will continue to serve as acting chair until May 1, when Van Nostrand will start.

Since 2011, Van Nostrand has been a professor in West Virginia and directed the school’s Center for Energy and Sustainable Development. Before that, he spent three years at the Pace University Elisabeth Haub School of Law serving as executive director of the Pace Energy and Climate Center and spent 22 years at two large firms in the Pacific Northwest – Perkins Coie LLP and Stoel Rives LLP.

Rubin is already well-known on Beacon Hill from her time with CLF and her appointment as a DPU commissioner marks her return to the department. She previously worked at DPU as senior counsel and hearing officer, and the Healey administration said her first DPU tenure included leading the adjudication of a solar incentive program, implementation of multiple net metering laws, and managing the department’s public records team.