Trump administration

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 | New Age of Impunity: Trump’s Relentless Attack on Oversight

by | May 22, 2020
Trump's firing of the State Department’s Inspector General should send a shiver of fear down the spine of every oversight functionary left in Washington ...

President’s Address on Environmental Leadership

by | August 23, 2019
PEER's Response to President Trump's address on environmental leadership: The United States is reversing course on the substantial environmental gains that have been made under previous administrations ...

COMMENTARY | The Trump Administration’s War on Climate Science

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

BLOG: Bernhardt’s Bad Actors

by | 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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