HARRISBURG, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) announced today the appointment of George Jugovic, Jr. as president and CEO of the organization. Jugovic replaces Jan Jarrett, who resigned after 13 years of service to PennFuture.
Jugovic previously served as a senior attorney and law staff chair at PennFuture, during which time he worked as a citizen advocate on energy and environmental enforcement matters. Prior to joining PennFuture, Jugovic served as the southwest regional director for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in Pittsburgh. At the DEP, he was responsible for over two hundred employees administering eight major program areas in a ten-county area.
“We truly value the service Jan Jarrett provided to PennFuture and the citizens of Pennsylvania and wish her the very best in all future endeavors,” said David Lane, board chair of PennFuture. “We are excited to forward our mission under the leadership of George Jugovic. George brings an outstanding record in law and government, as well as a staunch commitment to a safe and clean environment.”
“I’m honored to lead PennFuture, and grateful for the visionary leadership Jan provided,” said Jugovic. “PennFuture will emphasize its core mission of rigorously protecting Pennsylvania’s environment and advocating for a clean energy in boardrooms and, if necessary, in court rooms.”
Jugovic graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a B.S. in Environmental Resource Management and earned a J.D. from Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon. He resides in Sarver, Butler County.
PennFuture is a statewide public interest membership organization, founded in 1998. PennFuture's activities include litigating cases before regulatory bodies and in local, state, and federal courts; advocating and advancing legislative action on a state and federal level; public education; and assisting citizens in public advocacy.
Working from the premise that “Every environmental victory grows the economy,” PennFuture has successfully advocated and litigated for landmark environmental legislation, including passage of the largest-ever environmental funding bond, public investment in green energy and energy savings programs, passage of the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act, adoption of the Clean Vehicles Program, and adoption of a regulation to protect Pennsylvania’s babies by restricting mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants. PennFuture’s major legal victories include protecting McConnell’s Mills State Park from a proposed landfill; replacement of water to the citizens of Petrolia (Butler County) after years of pollution; enforcement of clean air standards to cut soot from the Hatfield’s Ferry power plant; securing funding for renewable energy in landmark utility cases; requiring regulators to protect perennial streams from damage by longwall mining; requiring full cost bonding for new mining permits; requiring Mount Pocono Municipal Authority to restore the local stream it had damaged by excessive pollution; and many more. Details of PennFuture’s legal cases are on the organization’s website.
PennFuture has staff throughout the state, in Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Wilkes-Barre. The Philadelphia Inquirer called PennFuture the “state’s leading environmental advocacy organization,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette named the organization “one of the ten most influential groups on the issue of natural gas drilling,” and StateImpact Pennsylvania, an online collaboration of NPR stations across the state, called PennFuture “the commonwealth’s main environmental advocate.”