Peter Jenkins
Senior Counsel

Peter Jenkins

Peter has been an environmental, land use, and consumer attorney and advocate since 1983. He has held various roles in Washington, DC including Of Counsel at the Center for Food Safety; Vice President for U.S. Government Policy at Conservation International; Director of International Conservation at Defenders of Wildlife; and Staff Attorney at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Additionally, he worked as a contracted consultant on endangered species recovery efforts with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Turner Endangered Species Fund in New Mexico. Prior to that, he served as an Attorney and Policy Analyst for the U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, and was also in private law practice. His career has centered on bringing the best science to bear in environmental protection efforts; he has specialized in working with scientists so their findings can inform good policy, as well as in federal litigation. Most of his work has been in aid of wildlife conservation in the fields of pesticides, genetically modified organisms, invasive species, wildlife disease prevention, international trade, land use conflicts, and other areas. Peter received his law degree from the University of Puget Sound (now Seattle University) School of Law and also has a master’s degree in Environmental Studies from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, with a focus on conservation biology.

Statement | Ten Steps to Ensure that Proper Leaders Run the Department of the Interior

by Peter Jenkins | December 22, 2020
A guide for the Biden administration to avoid repeating the Trump administration's unlawful actions in making appointments in the Interior Department ...

Letter to the Editor: More lessons from the pandemic

by Peter Jenkins | November 18, 2020
“The Nov. 15 editorial “To catch a killer” ​was spot on as far as the world’s need to learn from the current pandemic to prevent the next one. It identified several concrete steps but omitted one. ​A​ travesty​ occurred​ in ​April​ when President Trump, based ...

Pence’s use of Fort McHenry threatens Park Service employees

by Peter Jenkins | August 26, 2020
“Using the Park Service for a blatantly political speech, such as accepting a nomination for a political role, presents a major hazard of violating the Hatch Act, which forbids any federal employee other than the president or vice president from engaging in political activity at ...

BLOG | Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s Autocratic Power Grab

by Peter Jenkins | August 3, 2020
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s Autocratic Power Grab In an obscure announcement on July 22nd about President Trump’s border wall obsession, the Secretary of the Interior, David Bernhardt, stated that he was handing 66 acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to the ...

Pandemic prevention demands more from our federal government

by Peter Jenkins | May 2, 2020
“The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic came as no surprise to the medical community, academic leaders and most governmental experts.” Read the PEER Story… ...