John Morrill has been appointed director of the Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination (OEEC), effective immediately. Morrill brings over 30 years of experience in energy and environmental issues and has served as acting director of the OEEC since March 2023.
The office was established in July 2019 to lead the county's interdepartmental activity on environmental and energy plans, policies and programs, including climate action and resiliency. OEEC works to connect county departments, authorities, businesses and residents to effectively advance the county’s environmental and energy goals.
Morrill joined OEEC in December 2020 as manager of the office’s Innovation and Sustainability Division. Before joining Fairfax County, he served as Arlington County’s energy manager for over 20 years, directing cost-effective projects and innovative programs to improve energy performance and energy reliability in Arlington County government facilities and across the community. In that role Morrill co-led the Arlington Initiative to Rethink Energy program and the Arlington Community Energy Plan and its implementation, led Arlington's participation in the U.S. DOE's Better Buildings Challenge, coordinated energy policy and programming with local, regional and national peers and liaised with utilities serving Arlington as well as other stakeholder groups.
Earlier in his career Morrill held various research and management positions during 15 years with the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) in Washington DC, and also worked briefly with the Emerald Cities Collaborative.
OEEC’s work focuses on implementation of recent climate action plans , such as the Operational Energy Strategy , which aims to achieve energy carbon neutrality in county operations by 2040; the Community-wide Energy and Climate Action Plan (CECAP) , which addresses the causes of climate change with a goal of community-wide carbon neutrality by 2050, and Resilient Fairfax , which addresses the effects and impacts of climate change such as extreme heat, severe storms and flooding. OEEC also offers programming to residents, businesses, and organizations to mitigate the causes of climate change and build resilience.