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Get to know the newest member of our team
Staff Attorney Michael Crouse loves books, baking, and bees
Salutations!
My name is Michael J. Crouse. I am the new staff attorney at the New Hampshire Office of the Consumer Advocate (“OCA”). We are big proponents of transparency, education, and community outreach! Therefore, this column aims to help you learn more about what is happening in the New Hampshire energy field. These columns are intended to be informal and explain topics generally. But I thought it helpful to know more about the column writers before we start monologuing about what we think is interesting, helpful, and good to know. So, here’s a brief introduction into who I am for you to dwell on as you ponder some of the more substantive columns I will later produce.
Where did you go to law school? I graduated from Vermont Law School (“VLS”), now Vermont Law and Graduate School (“VLGS”), cum laude, with a certificate of concentration in energy law in 2021. I was an Accelerated Juris Doctorate (“AJD”) student. An AJD does the traditional six-semester curriculum in two years instead of three years — by taking classes over the summer. While at VLS, I did several extracurriculars: I was a student clinician at the VLS Energy Clinic, a research associate at the VLS Institute for Energy and the Environment (“IEE”) and competed in several moot court competitions. I met Don Kreis, The Consumer Advocate, in my VLS practice moots for the National Energy and Sustainability Moot Court Competition hosted by West Virginia University (“WVU”). Fun tidbit: Michael Dworkin was the founding director of the IEE, and he helped design the energy curriculum to prepare VLS students for the Public Utility(ies)(“PUC”) Commission/OCA type of work. His quote, "If you care about the environment, energy use is the most important issue. And if you care about energy, environmental realities are the most important constraints," drew my attention to VLS.
My proudest law school achievement was the John Delemarre Award for outstanding service to the Vermont Law School community in the enrichment and stewardship of the law school physical environment. A close second was earning the best-written brief for petitioners in the intramural VLS Debevoise Moot Court Competition.
Where did your interest in energy begin? My interest in energy and the environment started when I took an Advanced Placement (“AP”) Environmental class at Edgewater Highschool, all the way down in Florida, where I am originally from. Michael Lopatka, the teacher of that class, had struck up a conversation about the benefits of solar. As a student, I was amused to see the duck curve look like a duck (it is called the duck curve because when you plot available solar energy generation against hourly electricity demand, the resulting graph looks like a duck). That simple amusement helped start my curiosity into the energy field.
Were you always an energy geek? Professionally… only recently! My previous career was with Universal Orlando Resort. My parents worked at Disney, so naturally, I had worked for their competitor. My dad did stage tech, pyrotechnics, and scheduling, while my mom worked as a monorail technician. I worked in marketing and sales, where I helped guests secure their dream vacation while I raised funds for graduate school. Now, I am pursuing my dream of working as an energy geek in public interest.
What interests do you have besides energy? I am a voracious reader, but even I am in awe of Don Kreis’ goal of 40 books a year. And no, his day-to-day OCA responsibilities do not count toward that goal. Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, and Brandon Sanderson are some of my favorite fantasy authors. Otherwise, I am still cultivating some new hobbies since the pandemic changed a lot of my day-to-day routine. I also try to volunteer when I have time, such as with We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution (a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization). I self-claim to be a great home-baker and have been collecting recipes in my recipe book since high school. Baked apple roses are my favorite pastry to make and gift. Most recently, I have been interested in beekeeping to appreciate our special little pollinators better — I start my first class soon!