Bill Pfanner

Bill Pfanner was reared on a small family dairy farm in the Sacramento Valley, and has three decades of experience in land-use planning, environmental law and land development. He also served in the public sector as a Winters city councilman.

He supervises the Local Energy and Land Use Assistance Unit of the California Energy Commission. The unit helps local and regional governments conserve energy, fuel and greenhouse gas emissions. He graduated from University of California, Berkeley.

Pfanner says the San Joaquin Valley’s rich agriculture history makes it a leading candidate for biofuel production. Solar and “smart” communities are natural offshoots, as is wind technology in the Tehachapi region. “The San Joaquin Valley’s residents should embrace clean technology strategies in that it will help improve one of the nation’s worst air-quality regions … and also can bring economic development and sustainable jobs.”