Event

Filling the Gap: State Enforcement of Federal Environmental Laws

Two think smokestacks releasing large plumes of air pollution into a grey sky.

Wednesday, July 22, 2020
Online Event

The State Energy & Environmental Impact Center is hosted a webinar on July 22 at 2:00 pm ET on the role states can play to compel compliance with federal environmental laws, especially in light of the significant decline in federal environmental enforcement under the current administration.

The webinar featured presentations by Nora Chorover and Emily Mitchell from the Office of Maura Healey, Attorney General of Massachusetts. Chorover and Mitchell discussed the option of invoking federal citizen suit provisions as a vehicle for state enforcement, provide an overview of trends in citizen suits, and described how the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office has built a successful federal enforcement initiative.

View the agenda

Speakers

Nora Chorover

Special Assistant Attorney General, Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office

Nora heads up the Environmental Protection Division’s Federal Clean Water/Clean Air Enforcement Initiative. Nora’s decades of experience enforcing state and federal environmental laws began at the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York, where she spent three years as a Fellow in the Citizen Enforcement Project. Since then, Nora has been Legal Director at California’s Communities for a Better Environment, an Assistant Attorney General at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, and a partner at the firm of Stern, Shapiro, Weissberg & Garin in Boston.

Emily Mitchell

Attorney, Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office

Emily works with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office on cases in the Federal Clean Water/Clear Air Enforcement Initiative. Emily received a J.D. from Boston College Law School and a master’s degree in environmental science from the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Moderator

Elizabeth Johnson Klein

Past Deputy Director

Elizabeth Johnson Klein was the State Impact Center’s deputy director from August 2017 through January 2021. Klein now serves in the Biden administration as Senior Counselor to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.