Michael Cohen
Senior Fellow @ Pacific Institute
Michael Cohen is a Senior Fellow at the Pacific Institute, an Oakland-based non-profit organization, where he works on Salton Sea and Colorado River challenges. He has been a leading Salton Sea advocate for more than 27years, developing revitalization proposals, promoting timely intervention, and writing articles, reports, and opinion pieces.
He served on the Natural Resources Agency’s Salton Sea Advisory Committee from 2004-2007 and was a member of the Salton Sea Management Program’s Long Range Plan Committee.
Mr. Cohen is the lead author of four Pacific Institute reports on the Salton Sea: Haven or Hazard: The Ecology and Future of the Salton Sea (1999), Hazard: The Future of the Salton Sea With No Restoration Project (2006), Hazard’s Toll: The Costs of Inaction at the Salton Sea (2014), and the recently-released Breathing Hazard: Air Pollution in the Salton Sea Region, as well as an assessment of import/export proposals (see https://pacinst.org/salton-sea/for more information).
Mr. Cohen has a Master’s degree in Geography, with a concentration in Resources and Environmental Quality, from San Diego State University, and a B.A. in Government from Cornell University.