Natural Resources

Natural resources law has been a foundational element of Van Ness Feldman for nearly 50 years.

From the firm’s inception, our professionals have played key roles in the development of our nation’s principle environmental statutes—serving as legal counsel and policy advisors to members of Congress and Congressional committees, White House staff, and as presidential appointees to federal agencies in both Democratic and Republican administrations that were responsible for developing many of our nation’s most important energy, environmental, and natural resources laws.

This experience provides invaluable legal, technical, and regulatory insight into any natural resource and environmental issue faced by proposed development and client operations in nearly every sector of the economy throughout the United States.

Our professionals are passionate about responsible stewardship of our environmental resources and are highly regarded for advising clients on a wide range of federal and state regulatory, enforcement, permitting, siting, and compliance requirements encountered during project development and facility operations including federal and state hazardous waste laws, the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and all parallel state and local equivalents. 

Clients similarly benefit from our strong reputation with both federal and state agencies including the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), National Park Service (NPS), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Department of Energy (DOE), and Bureau of Land Management (BLM).