Environment and Natural Resources Litigation

Enforcement Litigation

• Defending a cement manufacturer in a Clean Air Act (CAA) enforcement action under the New Source Review preconstruction permitting program and the Title V operating permit program
• Representing a manufacturer of antimicrobial products in challenging the legality of a stop sale order issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under section 13(a) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, & Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)

NEPA Litigation

• Representing a coal producer intervening on behalf of the Bureau of Land Management in a NEPA challenge to an upcoming lease sale that also seeks to force the agency to certify the Powder River Basin as a coal-producing region ineligible for "lease by application"
• Representing a forestry association in NEPA and National Forest Management Act litigation regarding the Forest Service's Sierra Framework
• Representing a trade association challenging a Forest Service settlement agreement with the Sierra Club and a contemporaneous Forest Service policy statement requiring NEPA compliance in the form of a forest-wide Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) before the Forest Service could process oil and gas well drilling proposals on private oil and gas estates within the Allegheny National Forest

Challenges to Regulatory Action

• Representing a major trade association in federal court litigation challenging EPA's first-ever regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the CAA
• Representing a national trade association in litigation brought under the CWA, Administrative Procedure Act (APA), and NEPA challenging a series of actions by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and EPA regarding permitting and regulatory reviews for coal mining operations in Appalachian states
• Representing several trade associations in litigation brought under the CWA and the APA challenging the Final Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load for nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment
• Representing six national trade associations as defendant-intervenors in litigation challenging the legality of the ESA section 4(d) special rule for the polar bear, which protects against ESA liability for "take" of polar bears based on greenhouse gas emissions
• Representing a coal mining company in litigation against federal agencies seeking full disclosure of information in response to requests under the Freedom of Information Act

Contaminated Site Litigation 

• Representing a Fortune 10 company in an action brought under CERCLA against the United States for contribution relating to alleged contamination at a former major underground uranium mine on Navajo Tribe trust lands owned and managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs
• Representing a Fortune 50 company in a Florida administrative challenge to a remedial action plan relating to contamination at a former manufacturing facility near Sarasota, Florida