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Caroline Cress

Senior Attorney

Caroline supports SELC’s regional air quality work, focusing on reducing industrial air pollution in overburdened communities. She is the primary liaison between SELC’s Air and Energy Programs to coordinate the organization’s work on air permits for new methane gas-fired power plants and related infrastructure. She also is a capacity builder, training state-level attorneys to expand SELC’s work on air quality issues in North Carolina and Virginia.  

“I am incredibly proud to be part of an organization that is so deeply committed to protecting marginalized communities and standing up for what is right,” she said. “SELC is shining a bright light on the real-world impacts of federal action on the communities we serve and holding the government accountable while defending the rule of law.” 

Caroline is based in Chapel Hill, where she attended law school a decade earlier and interned with SELC. In between, she worked in the ecology division of the Washington State Attorney General.  

“The SELC summer internship reinforced every instinct and inclination I had toward a career in public service and environmental law,” she said. “Working with SELC attorneys ignited my passion for litigation, deepened my love of the Clean Air Act, and opened my eyes to a career path in which I could put my skills and abilities to the best possible use, through a combination of legal and policy work to support and protect communities throughout the southeast.”  

Generations of Caroline’s family have lived in the little town of Tallulah Falls, Ga., next to the Tallulah Gorge. “We visited every summer when I was growing up,” she said. “It’s the perfect place to go to escape from the noise of everyday life and reconnect with nature. There’s nothing quite like the feeling you get when standing on the rim of the gorge—breathing in the fresh mountain air, listening to the gentle roar of the falls, and taking in spectacular views in every direction. Being there brings me peace.”  

  • Former attorney, Washington State Attorney General’s Office, Ecology Division
  • J.D., University of North Carolina School of Law with honors
  • B.A., College of William & Mary, summa cum laude