
Tom McShane, one of the original principals of the Dewey Square Group, specializes in the development and implementation of coordinated strategic campaigns regarding environmental and energy policy issues, major project development permitting, and environmental impact review compliance.
Major high profile projects McShane has helped guide to successful completion include the first offshore LNG facility in the nation, the largest private-sector economic stimulus development project in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a major commercial rezoning effort of over 400 acres in Montgomery County Maryland, the largest solid waste landfill in Massachusetts and a wide variety of energy projects fueled by natural gas, wind, solar, coal gasification, landfill gas, nuclear energy and biomass.
Major public policy campaigns Tom has worked on include a variety of topics such as Combined Animal Feedlot Operation (CAFO) regulation, aspects of promoting alternative vehicles, creation of renewable portfolio standard programs, enhanced recycling campaigns and open space preservation efforts.
For 12 years, McShane served as the primary environmental lobbyist for the Massachusetts executive branch under three different Administrations, building the coalitions and consensus for passage of all environmental statutes in the 1980s. Later, as Chief of Staff in the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, McShane helped to develop and implement the Secretary's coordinated strategic internal and external communications plans.
In 1991, McShane was appointed by Governor William Weld as the Undersecretary of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, becoming Massachusetts' second ranking environmental official.
McShane remains deeply involved in the Walden Woods Project and the Thoreau Institute. He is one of the founding directors of the Island Alliance, the organization that successfully led to Boston's Harbor Islands designation as a new National Park.
McShane has also served as co-chairman of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Energy & Environment Committee and as Chairman of the Massachusetts League of Environmental Voters.
At the local level, McShane has served as a member of the Mansfield, MA, Planning Board and the municipal Master Plan Committee and as a Director of the Natural Resources Trust.