When Castlen Kennedy graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in May 2001, there were two main pathways for finance majors—Wall Street investment banking, or a financial analyst position with one of the Houston energy giants. She joined Enron Corp. as an analyst on its power and natural gas trading floor just six months before the story of its debacle broke.

After Enron’s initial massive layoff in early 2002, she stayed on to unwind natural gas contracts. This was immediately followed by a stint on the trading floor of German utility RWE AG. Then, to the horror of friends and acquaintances, she moved to Washington, D.C., without a job. There she hoped to forge a new career path out of her energy experience and long-time interest in politics and public policy.

Kennedy soon joined a large Houston-based engineering firm, S&B Infrastructure. The job provided invaluable exposure to the workings of government agencies, federal funding and the appropriations process. She next was tapped as a Bush appointee to the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy as a policy advisor. For the next two and a half years she worked on projects including clean coal, bilateral agreements to disperse such technology worldwide, carbon sequestration, and oil and gas R&D programs.

Two of the largest projects—FutureGen, a public-private partnership to build a zero-emissions power plant in Texas, and the Alaskan natural gas pipeline—have never become reality. Kennedy also was involved in the Liquefied Natural Gas Forum, a directive of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

“One thing I learned is that no matter the solution, there are always some drawbacks,” she says of her experience in the search for energy solutions.

Eager to return to her hometown of Houston, she joined Apache Corp. as a manager in government affairs in 2006. About two years ago Apache agreed to allow her to work part-time to pursue dual master’s degrees from U.T.-Austin in public affairs and energy and earth sciences.

Kennedy is on the board of the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA), an organization she became a supporter of during her Washington years. She launched a Young Professionals in Energy chapter in D.C., and headed up the Houston chapter.

This May, Kennedy launches her master’s thesis project—a drive from Houston to New York in a Chevrolet Tahoe retrofitted by Apache to run on compressed natural gas. She’ll blog and analyze the benefits, as well as drawbacks, of CNG as a transportation fuel. To fulfill the policy aspect of her thesis, she’ll develop proposals based on her experience.

Investor What are the most significant energy policy issues right now?

Kennedy Climate-change legislation is not going away. The Senate had an aggressive schedule last year, and then health care came into play. Climate change got pushed out of the way. But the Environmental Protection Agency is preempting Congress on some recent rulings, and I think members will try to preempt those efforts.

Probably even more important is the issue of proposed regulation of hydraulic fracturing. Energy companies must educate stakeholders and make sure we’re doing everything to be responsible in this area and be a steward of the environment. It’s entirely possible to produce gas safely and environmentally.

We need to make sure what’s being reported is accurate. The proposed “Frac Act” would amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to repeal a certain exemption for fracing. Industry’s position is that it already is sufficiently regulated at the state level.

Investor You’re a big supporter of RPSEA, in addition to serving on its board.

Kennedy I was surprised when I worked at the Office of Fossil Energy, as I think most people would be, to realize that during the Bush years spending on oil and gas research and development (R&D) was very minimal, with coal taking the lion’s share.

Every year the administration tries to zero out this funding. I think one of RPSEA’s strengths is it is more driven by industry, which can most efficiently use R&D dollars. RPSEA allows more input from the business community.

Investor What’s the focus of your work at Apache?

Kennedy I interact with state governments and the federal government to follow legislation that might affect our corporation, the industry, and our employees. We develop positions and implement strategies to educate stakeholders on the effects proposed legislation could have. Recently, we’ve upgraded our government affairs site to allow more grassroots involvement from our employees.

Investor Any particular mentors through the years?

Kennedy I’ve been fortunate to have many mentors. I joined the Women’s Energy Network, and through a matchup of younger women with more seasoned individuals, I worked with Karyl Lawson, an attorney with Houston’s Phillips & Reiter PLLC. The relationship has been very beneficial.

Investor What is your advice for young people?

Kennedy Always continue to educate yourself. Once you get a job you like, there’s a tendency to become complacent. But there are always younger, energetic people coming up. You have to constantly improve.