EARTH & WATER LAW - Key Persons
Biography
Bilal Harris assists clients on a variety of federal and state environmental regulatory programs in the context of client counseling, remediation obligations, environmental investigations, and litigation.
He spent nearly eight years working as an attorney in Region 4 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). While at the EPA, he worked primarily in CERCLA/Superfund legal enforcement matters. Prior to joining E&W Law, Bilal worked as an associate attorney for a law firm in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he gained experience working on CERCLA, Clean Air Act, and Clean Water Act issues.
Bilal earned his law degree from the Howard University School of Law in 2011. He graduated from the University of Georgia with an A.B. in Anthropology in 2004. He served as a volunteer in the United States Peace Corps in Paraguay from 2005-2007. Bilal is licensed to practice in Georgia and Pennsylvania (inactive)
Brendan McGinnis serves as Chief Operating Officer of E&W Law. Based in Washington, DC, his career has been extensively active in the water resources and sustainability sectors, with a strong proficiency in convening, managing complex projects, facilitating government affairs, conducting stakeholder outreach, and directing business and organizational development. He supports his clients' goals by applying his knowledge of regulation, policy, and markets with a practical understanding of the governmental agencies, companies, and NGOs that shape and drive environmental outcomes.
Brendan also co-founded THG Advisors in 2008 with former U.S. EPA Acting Administrator, Marianne L. Horinko. He launched the firm's Water Resources Policy, Development & Sustainable Communities Group, supporting clients on several of the nation's largest waterway restoration initiatives, including the Lower Passaic, Lower Fox, and Kalamazoo Rivers.
Brendan began his career with the Global Environment & Technology Foundation, where he worked directly with the federal government managing a portfolio of domestic and international sustainability efforts, including the Global Water Challenge, U.S. Agency for International Development's Powering Health Initiative, and the Green Highways Partnership in support of U.S. EPA Region 3.
Brendan received his Master of Business Administration and B.A. in Business Administration from Southern Illinois University.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Partner
- E & W Law Founder
- Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator
E&W Law Founder, Brent Fewell, has over 25 years of experience in public policy, advocacy, and environmental law.
As an environmental lawyer and former corporate executive and senior U.S. EPA official in EPA's Offices of Water and Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations, Brent brings a wealth of knowledge and unique perspective to his clients in navigating the regulatory and political arenas in Washington DC. As a highly regarded thought leader on environmental policy and governance matters, his counsel and opinions are sought out by corporate and government leaders around the globe. Brent brings unparalleled energy and passion to the issues in a way that few do to help his clients navigate in an increasingly complex and nuanced regulatory environment.
Brent received his B.S. in Wildlife Management from the University of Maine (high distinction), a Masters in Environmental Management from Duke University, and J.D. from Duquesne University School of Law. (Inactive in PA and Active in DC)
Experience
Brent got his professional start as a environmental scientist in Raleigh, NC where he prepared NEPA documentation (EIS/EA/FONSIs) for his construction clients and helped others with obtaining Section 404 and 402 CWA permits. He went on to join McLaren/Hart Environmental Engineering in Pittsburgh, PA where he focused on EHS compliance auditing, transactional due diligence, and the cleanup of contaminated Brownfields and CERCLA sites.
Prior to E&W Law, Brent served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator in U.S. EPA's Office of Water in Washington, DC (2004-2007), where he oversaw the nation's drinking water and surface water programs. During that time, he also served as the Acting Associate Administrator for the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations where he helped manage the agency's relationship with members of Congress and state and local leaders. He subsequently served as the Sr. Vice President for Environment, Health & Safety at Suez Environnement where he managed day-to-day regulatory compliance for SE's U.S.-based subsidiary, United Water. Brent has practiced law at Jones Day, Hunton & Williams and, most recently was a Partner with the law firm of Troutman Sanders.
Over his career, Brent has been involved in some of the nation's largest environmental cleanups and significant matters arising under CERCLA and the Clean Water Act, including complex civil and criminal investigations, cost-recovery, permit challenges and appeals, policy development and rule-makings. He has been deeply involved in helping to establish and advise his clients on emerging environmental markets to promote environmental restoration. As a former corporate executive, Brent advises his clients on corporate governance, enterprise liability management, compliance programs, auditing and internal investigations, and sustainable practices to manage reputation and brand identity. Brent serves on a number of boards, including the Wine to Water, a non-profit committed to providing global access to clean water to those in need, the American Conservation Coalition, and the Earth Stewardship Alliance. In 2012, Brent also established the blog, www.conservefewell.org, to promote conservation and change the political dialogue on environmental stewardship.
Biography
Cindy Murdock has over 35 years of experience in accounting. She began her career as a Staff Accountant with KMG Main Hurdman, a public accounting firm. Cindy has held several supervisor positions in Financial Reporting, Manager of Investment Accounting, and Manager of Special Projects for a nationally-recognized insurance company.
Cindy received her B.S. in Accounting from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Randy has decades of experience in the environmental field and is a highly regarded lawyer and thought leader in Washington D.C. circles.
Randy has decades of experience in the environmental field and is a highly regarded lawyer and thought leader in Washington D.C. circles.
He began his legal career as an Attorney Advisor to the U.S. EPA's Assistant Administrator for Water where he advised senior management on controversial issues and key policy and legislative issues related to the Clean Water Act, specifically, and other water issues as well. As a former partner at Dewey & LeBoeuf and Winston & Strawn he worked on complex cases involving Fortune 500 corporations, municipal governments, non-profits, trade associations, federal agencies and Congress, and had great success reconciling diverse stakeholder interests and negotiating settlements in nationally significant, complex cases.
Randy received his B.A. (magna cum laude) and J.D. from Duke University. Licensed in Washington, DC and Virginia (inactive).
Dave has been involved in legal issues involving infrastructure development and permitting representing billions in capital investment across much of the nation. He has served as attorney for high profile litigation including Everglades restoration and permitting, interstate and in-state water disputes, major hazardous substance release cleanup and enforcement, water and sewer municipal infrastructure cases, wetland and protected species matters. Dave has represented Fortune 500 companies and some of the largest private companies in the United States and across the nation.
John Irving's practice focuses on criminal and civil environmental enforcement matters, internal investigations, and ensuring effective corporate compliance programs. John's practice is not limited to environmental matters.
His significant experience includes congressional investigations, international anticorruption laws, the civil False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute, and other white-collar investigations.
Prior to joining E&W Law, he served as Deputy Assistant Administrator in U.S. EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA), which coordinates and oversees nationwide compliance efforts and administrative, civil, and criminal environmental investigations under the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and other environmental statutes.
Before joining EPA, John was a Partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Holland & Knight LLP, where he practiced for twelve years focusing on internal investigations, compliance, and white-collar criminal defense in a variety of contexts.
John's prior experience also includes a decade with the Department of Justice as an Assistant United States Attorney in Washington, D.C., as Counsel to two Deputies Attorney General, and as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. Mr. Irving also served as Investigative Counsel to the Government Reform & Oversight Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, as Special Impeachment Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, and in the Office of Independent Counsel.
John is admitted to the following bars: Maryland, District of Columbia, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and the U.S. District Courts for the Districts of Maryland and the District of Columbia. John is a Washington, D.C., area native, a father of four, and an avid outdoorsman.
Experience
Representative matters for Mr. Irving's 25 years of experience as both a government and private-sector attorney in Washington, D.C., include:
John Sheehan has specialized in the practice of environmental law and litigation for over 30 years, serving as lead trial counsel in some of the nations' largest environmental cases.
For over 13 years at the United States Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division and at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's General Counsel's Office, John led trial teams and government workgroups in numerous high-profile cases and regulatory matters.
John has extensive background in state and federal water and wastewater quality issues, as well as experience in the energy and natural resource sectors. John has represented drinking water and wastewater trade associations and other industry clients in environmental litigation, regulatory enforcement actions, and transactional counseling related to key environmental statutes including cases under the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act.
John's litigation experience is unique for an environmental litigator. While many environmental cases are resolved at the motions stage or settle prior to trial due significant litigation risks involved and thus many environmental litigators have not tried cases to verdict, John has tried numerous jury trials to verdict. John has also played a lead role in major federal environmental litigation including leading trial teams involving some of the largest and most complicated cases in U.S. history, such as the Deepwater Horizon litigation arising out of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and cases involving environmental cleanups and liabilities arising from the federal government's war time activities during WWII and the Vietnam War. John is a seasoned litigator having tried or argued cases in state trial courts, state appellate courts, federal district courts and federal circuit courts of appeal.
John's experience also includes being a partner at highly-regarded international law firms as well as being a partner at a boutique environmental law firm focusing on water issues.
Recently, John was awarded a National Law Journal 2020 Plaintiffs' Trailblazer award for his work with water related clients seeking compensation for damages caused by PFAS chemicals. John continues to counsel clients on PFAS issues and is nationally recognized for his depth of experience on this issue.
John received a Special Achievement Award from the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as a Special Merit Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of General Counsel.
John is a prolific writer and speaker on environmental litigation and regulatory challenges and related trends. He has served as an Executive Committee Member of the U.S. Chambers of Commerce's Business Task Force on Water Policy.
John received his BA in American Studies from Georgetown University (1980), and his JD from Georgetown University Law Center (1984), where he was a member of the American Criminal Law Review. John is a member of the bars in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Pennsylvania.
Experience
REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS AND SUMMARY OF EXPERIENCE
Job Titles:
- U.S. EPA Acting Administrator
Mary Ellen Ternes has long been recognized nationally in the fields of chemical engineering and environmental law and advocacy. Her practice brings over 30 years of in-depth experience at the intersection of energy, manufacturing, air quality, hazardous waste management, infrastructure and disaster response.
Prior to her 24 years as an environmental attorney, Mary Ellen served the U.S. EPA in emergency response, hazardous waste site remediation and permitting, then industry as a commercial hazardous waste incineration compliance management, and then back to U.S. EPA as a law clerk for EPA's Office of General Counsel. With this background, she is able to draw on EPA administrative process, technical, chemical engineering and field experience in the most complex and technically challenging environmental matters.
This rare combination brings uncommon insights to environmental challenges revealing efficient solutions for commercial, industrial and governmental entities. Mary Ellen applies this experience to support a broad range of clients in evolving regulatory, transactional and litigation contexts, at a time when fundamental risk management concepts are being reconsidered and companies face an ever-shifting compliance landscape.
Mary Ellen received her B.E. in Chemical Engineering from Vanderbilt University (1984), and a J.D. with high honors, from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (1995), where she was Managing Editor of the UALR Law Journal and clerked for the U.S. EPA Office of General Counsel, Air and Radiation Division. Mary Ellen is licensed in Arkansas, South Carolina, Oklahoma and the District of Columbia, as well as the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas, Eastern and Western Districts of Oklahoma, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Experience
Mary Ellen began her career with U.S. EPA's Superfund Emergency Response Program, utilizing her chemical engineering degree for chemical release response, remediation and treatment as an On-Scene Coordinator and federal "commander on the scene." Trained and charged by EPA Region 6 with emergency field response, Mary Ellen characterized root cause, extent and fate of hazardous chemical releases, designing and implementing removal and remedial actions for uncontrolled hazardous waste sites throughout EPA Region 6, including projects like the Vertac dioxin waste site with its on-site incineration remedy in Jacksonville, Arkansas.
After several years in the field she moved to EPA's Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA) program, becoming an EPA Region 6 hazardous waste incineration RCRA Subpart O permit writer, leading the EPA's national RCRA incineration permit writer workshop. She left EPA to work for the pervasively regulated hazardous waste incineration industry, managing RCRA, Clean Air Act (CAA) and Toxic Substances Control Act compliance programs for ENSCO, a commercial hazardous waste incineration facility. At ENSCO, Mary Ellen was responsible for permitting, compliance demonstrations and enforcement, including the on-site incineration project at the BROS Superfund Site in Bridgeport, New Jersey.
Through her work with ENSCO's attorneys while chairing the Permitting Committee for the Hazardous Waste Treatment Council (predecessor to the Environmental Technology Council), Mary Ellen became interested in environmental law, particularly the CAA. While serving as an advisory expert in the litigation surrounding the Vertac on-site incineration project, Mary Ellen met the EPA's Office of General Counsel staff, and later clerked for EPA's OGC Air and Radiation Division, where her experience confirmed her decision to change careers from chemical engineering to environmental law.
Since 1995, Mary Ellen Ternes has become well-known for providing sophisticated environmental legal strategies informed by practical EPA, industry sector, and chemical process experience. Her early foundation in emergency response, hazardous waste site remediation, incineration and chemical process safety, permitting and compliance, followed by over twenty years counselling clients through complex regulatory and technical issues provides unique depth in developing effective legal strategies. Relying on this rare breadth and depth, she guides a broad spectrum of industrial, commercial and municipal sector clients through complex projects such as:
Recognized as a bipartisan problem-solver, Susan Bodine has over 30 years of experience in the executive and legislative branches of government and in private practice.
Prior to joining E&W Law, Susan served as the Assistant Administrator for U.S. EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA). Prior to this position, she served as Chief Counsel for the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and previously worked for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
OECA Assistant Administrator was Susan's second position at EPA, having served as Assistant Administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (now the Office of Land and Emergency Management) from 2006 to 2009.
Susan has also practiced environmental law at Covington & Burling LLP and at Barnes & Thornburg LLP.
She is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. She is admitted to the following bars: District of Columbia, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (inactive), and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Experience
As Assistant Administrator for U.S. EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) from 2017-2021, Susan Bodine managed over 550 headquarters employees and provided direction to 1,800 regional employees to assure compliance with and enforce federal environmental laws and to secure environmental cleanup actions, utilizing a budget of over $500 million. To carry out these responsibilities, in addition to working with EPA staff, Susan worked with state enforcement agencies to achieve common goals and carry out common responsibilities, worked with other federal agencies to ensure they met their environmental obligations, and worked with the U.S. Department of Justice on EPA's judicial matters.
From 2015-2017, Susan served as Chief Counsel for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which has jurisdiction over all environmental and fish and wildlife protection laws as well as the Federal Highway Program, the civil works program of the Army Corps of Engineers, and other infrastructure authorities. She helped advance its legislative and oversight agenda, orchestrating oversight hearings and reports, drafting and negotiating many legislative provisions to gain bipartisan support, working with other Senate and House Committees and with Senate Leadership to advance committee legislative priorities, and helping communicate the objectives and successes of the committee.
Susan served as Assistant Administrator of U.S. EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (now Office of Land and Emergency Management) from 2006-2009, managing nearly 600 headquarters employees and providing direction to 1,300 regional employees to carry out EPA's programs related to brownfields revitalization, oil spill prevention and response, chemical accident prevention and preparedness, underground storage tanks; and emergency response (including Homeland Security); Superfund cleanup, and the management of hazardous waste, utilizing a budget of approximately $1.3 billion.
She oversaw the development of significant rulemakings, including revisions to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Definition of Solid Waste, the Clean Water Act Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure regulations, and the exemption reporting air releases from farms under both the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act.