Environmental Law Explored: A Podcast SEERies

Lynn Bergeson, Managing Partner at Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), joins Jim Aidala, Senior Government Affairs Consultant at B&C® and former EPA Assistant Administrator for Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, to explore the history and evolution of pesticide and chemical regulation. They discuss the development of FIFRA, FQPA, and TSCA, the role of litigation and scientific advances in sha...

Host Norman Dupont sits down with Claudia Rast, shareholder at Butzel Long and a leader in cybersecurity and emerging technologies, to explore the impact of women in the environment, energy, and resources fields. The conversation looks back at pioneers like Rachel Carson and Jane Goodall, and celebrates SEER trailblazers Sheila Hollis, Brenda Mallory, Alex Dunn, and Mary Nichols. Claudia then trac...

In this episode of the SEER 100 podcast series, hosts Naveed Nanjee and Rishab Mahajan sit down with Todd Kim, former Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division and now a litigator at Pillsbury Law. This episode traces a century of environmental enforcement, from early common-law nuisance claims to today's sprawling statutory framework of the...

From timber sale agreements to conservation easements and project financing, join Dylan Sollfrank (Schwabe), Andrea Driggs (Holland & Hart), and Janet Howe (Holland & Hart) as they explore how NEPA impacts forest resources law—and how recent developments, including Seven County and changes to CEQ's rulemaking authority, are already reshaping how lawyers structure deals, conduct due diligence, and...

While WOTUS serves as the jurisdictional foundation of the Clean Water Act (CWA), the statute does not define the term. Since the CWA's enactment in 1972, determining the scope of WOTUS—and, in turn, the reach of federal regulatory authority—has remained a persistent and challenging issue in environmental law. By defining "navigable waters" only as "waters of the United States," Congress left it t...

Join Professor Richard Lazarus of Harvard Law School, author of The Rule of Five, and one of the nation's leading scholars of environmental law, for a discussion on the evolution of environmental law through the lens of the Clean Air Act and other landmark environmental statutes. Drawing on his experience arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court and advising policymakers across multiple administratio...

As the inaugural episode in this series, this conversation takes a broad look at the evolution of environmental law and the Section's role in shaping the field over time. The panel of former SEER Chairs includes moderator Alex Dunn, President & CEO of CropLife America and former EPA Assistant Administrator, and speakers John Cruden, Principal at Beveridge & Diamond and former Assistant Attorney Ge...

This episode explores the history of tribal timber management as a trust resource and the legal framework that governs the federal government's trust responsibilities. Joining the discussion is Chris King, an attorney at Whitley Law Firm and former Attorney Advisor with the U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor, where he spent more than a decade handling complex matters involvin...

Join Josh Galperin, Director of the Sustainable Business Law Hub at Pace University, Lauren Lynam, Sustainable Business Scholar at Pace University and Yale School of the Environment, and John Rutherford, Assistant Regional Counsel at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as they break down the biggest ESG  and sustainability developments of 2025. From climate disclosure requirements and greenw...

This podcast featuring Murray Feldman (Holland & Hart LLP) and Sam Kalen (Indiana University McKinney School of Law) examines the evolving legal and regulatory landscape surrounding the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Drawing from decades of experience in government, private practice, and academia, as well as their book, ESA Essentials: The Endangered Species Act , the speakers provide listeners wit...

We are pleased to be joined by Professor John Leshy, author of  Our Common Ground and the preeminent scholar on the history of America's public lands. Public land management is the cornerstone of forest law in the United States, and Professor Leshy's insights into its scope and evolution are invaluable in helping to piece together the fundamentals of forest law.   Forest law presents a daunting ba...

Emerging contaminants are by their nature neither fully regulated nor fully understood. In this final episode of the Emerging Contaminants series Juge Gregg (Crowell & Moring), Sal Giolando (Geosyntec Consultants, Inc.), and Adam Sowatzka (McGuire Woods) discuss how to assess emerging contaminants in your supply chains to identify potential substances that may be subject to further regulation or i...

While we all notice the emissions exiting our vehicle's tailpipes, the emissions from brake dust and tire wear are often overlooked. Scientists are now turning their attention to these lesser-known pollutants, which are emerging as significant environmental concerns. As studies begin to grasp the extent of such impacts from automotive use on our environment, we discuss how regulation of these mate...

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products can be found in every home in America, but now they are also showing up in our wastewater systems and even our lakes and rivers. In this third episode of the  Emerging Contaminants  series, hear from Professor Bill Arnold (University of Minnesota), Eva Weiler (K&L Gates), and Victor Xu (Marten Law) as they explore how these everyday products are making th...

In the second installment of our Emerging Contaminants series, we turn our attention to ethylene oxide, a chemical critical to the sterilization of medical and protective equipment yet increasingly scrutinized for its potential carcinogenic effects due to widespread use and long industrial history. In this episode, we're joined by Rebecca Pritchett (Maynard Nexsen), Heather Lynch (Integral Consult...

In 2024, key legal and regulatory shifts transformed the ESG landscape across the U.S., Canada, U.K., and EU. In the U.S., the SEC adopted—and later stopped defending—climate disclosure rules, while the Department of Labor's ESG rule faced litigation and Congress advanced anti-ESG bills. At the same time, the EPA began deploying $27 billion under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, and youth-led cl...

In the debut episode of our Emerging Contaminants series, we examine the widespread presence of microplastics in our environment, including in human and animal bodies and throughout our food systems. Because microplastics originate from larger plastic products, regulatory efforts have targeted the broader plastic lifecycle: from manufacture, import, and export to use, labeling, recycling, and disp...

Amy L. Edwards, environmental partner at Holland & Knight, sits down with Lynn L. Bergeson, managing partner at Bergeson & Campbell and editor of   Chemical Product Law and Supply Chain Stewardship: A Guide to New TSCA . Together they examine how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) evolving implementation of the 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) has reshaped r...

In the wake of the Los Angeles fires and amid a growing wildfire crisis, Doug Green, manager of Headwaters Economics' Community Planning Assistance for Wildfire (CPAW) program, joins Andrew Kihn, programming vice chair of the Forest Resources Committee, for a conversation about the L.A. fires, the broader wildfire emergency, and the political and regulatory landscape of wildfire management in the...

Join Tim Kelly (Hausfeld) and Misha Tseytlin (Troutman Pepper Locke) as they unpack the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in City and County of San Francisco v. EPA . The ruling struck down the EPA's use of "end-result" requirements in NPDES permits, ruling that the Clean Water Act (CWA) does not authorize the agency to impose permit conditions that hold dischargers responsible for overall wa...

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) landscape is shifting fast. With major developments like Eagle County, Marin Audubon, Section 5 of President Trump's Unleashing American Energy Executive Order, and several critical cases on the horizon, the way NEPA is applied and interpreted is set for a major transformation. Join Susan Jane Brown (Silvix Resources) in a thought-provoking discussion w...

In the third episode of the  Mill Closures and Workforce Shortages in the West  series, Andrew Kihn is joined by Susan Jane Brown, Principal and Chief of Silvix Resources, a nonprofit environmental law firm. Together, they explore the implications of the ongoing workforce challenges on the conservation, stewardship, and restoration of western public lands. The two discuss the often fraught relatio...

In the second episode of the Mill Closures and Workforce Shortages in the West series, Andrew Kihn returns, joined by Travis Joseph, President and CEO of the American Forest Resource Council. Together, they delve into the role of land management policies in addressing workforce challenges from the perspective of the timber trade association. Building on the foundation laid in the first episode, th...

From the Forest Resources Committee comes a new series,  Mill Closures and Workforce Shortages in the West,  which examines legal and policy solutions to workforce challenges linked to the alarming rate of lumber mill closures in the American West. These closures have far-reaching implications for regional forest health and economic vitality. Mill owners cite various reasons for shutting down, fro...

This podcast featuring  Susan L. Stephens (Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A.), Kim Diana Connolly (University at Buffalo School of Law, State University of New York), and Sarah P. Jarboe (English, Lucas, Priest & Owsley, LLP) provides a succinct summary of the history of federal regulation of wetlands under section 404 of the Clean Water Act, outlining the seminal Supreme C...