Commentary

Senior Counsel

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.

BLOG: WOTUS Redefinition: New York

by Kyla Bennett | November 18, 2019
Impact of proposed Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) redefinition on wetlands and waters in New York: a case study ...

WOTUS Redefinition: South Dakota

by Kyla Bennett | August 26, 2019
Impact of Proposed Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) Redefinition on Wetlands and Waters in South Dakota ...

WOTUS Redefinition: New Mexico

by Kyla Bennett | August 1, 2019
Impact of Proposed Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) Redefinition on Wetlands and Waters in New Mexico ...

COMMENTARY | The Trump Administration’s War on Climate Science

by Tim Whitehouse | April 29, 2019
The Trump administration’s pro-industry, anti-science agenda has undermined the work of every federal agency that conducts climate science and has a broad chilling effect on agency personnel ...

Trump Administration’s Budget Would Impair Safe Drinking Water

by Susan Sargent | April 26, 2019
The proposed FY 2020 budget cuts $8.124 million (8%) from the drinking water program ...

BLOG: Bernhardt’s Bad Actors

by Peter Jenkins | March 31, 2019
Eight political appointees are leading most of the Department of the Interior bureaus without the required “advice and consent” of the Senate. President Trump’s tactic violates fundamental “checks and balances”. Acting Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt is complicit in ...
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