The Hill

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.

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… ...

Court gives goverment two years to regulate air tours at national parks

by Elizabeth Duan | May 1, 2020
“A federal court has ruled that the National Park Service (NPS) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) must regulate air tours at national parks within two years. The ruling comes after a lawsuit by the groups Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and Hawaii ...

Groups threaten suit as Interior repeatedly fills top posts with ‘temporary’ leaders

by Elizabeth Duan | April 28, 2020
“Two environmental watchdog groups are threatening to sue the Department of the Interior for continuously filling top posts with temporary orders — a move that skirts Senate confirmation. President Trump hasn’t nominated a permanent director for either the Bureau of Land ...

EPA is abandoning those suffering from toxic PFAS pollution

by Kyla Bennett | April 23, 2020
“This marks the latest in a decades-long string of failures by EPA to protect Americans from these dangerous chemicals. Even as the scientific case for regulation grows clearer and more urgent every year, the EPA under President Trump delays and obfuscates. While the number of sites ...

Advocates raise questions about proposal to allow some nuclear waste to be disposed in landfills

by Elizabeth Duan | April 3, 2020
“Scientists and advocates are raising concerns about a proposed relaxation on regulations for disposing of nuclear waste, saying that the government should halt the proposal as the scientific community focuses on the coronavirus. In a statement on Thursday, Public Employees for ...