Environmental Practice

From environmental enforcement and litigation to regulatory matters and more, Marzulla Law has successfully represented clients including individuals, small businesses, corporations, and governmental bodies. We are experienced in litigating environmental issues in the Federal District Court and the Federal Court of Appeals and have handled cases involving every major federal environmental statute, including:

• the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
• Endangered Species Act (ESA)
• Clean Water Act (including wetlands), and
• defending and bringing environmental claims under the APA

Marzulla’s Environmental legal practice is built upon the governmental experience of our founders, Roger Marzulla and Nancie Marzulla.

Roger Marzulla is one of the nation’s leading environmental lawyers. As Assistant Attorney General in charge of the U.S. Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, he learned firsthand the operations and litigation styles of his client agencies, including EPA, the Interior Department, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Marine Fisheries Service. At the Justice Department, Roger helped create litigation strategies for government programs as diverse as Superfund, the Clean Air Act, off-shore oil leasing, environmental crimes, federal facility clean-up, wetlands, endangered species, and hazardous waste enforcement. Prior to this, he served as President of Mountain States Legal Foundation, litigating environmental and natural resource cases across the West.

Nancie Marzulla has a background at the U.S. Department of Justice and founded Defenders of Property Rights, where she was involved in takings cases in the Supreme Court, federal courts of appeal, and trial courts. Her environmental litigation work is recognized as a “Tier One” practice by U.S. News and World Report and concentrates on water rights, takings, and contract claims in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Nancie has extensive experience in property, water, environmental law, development, and natural resources matters and represents clients in enforcement and permitting disputes with federal regulatory agencies. She has testified in Congress, before regulatory agencies, and in State legislatures on a variety of property, water, and environmental matters.

Learn more about our Environmental Law practice:

• Environmental Enforcement
• Environmental Regulatory
• National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
• Endangered Species Act (ESA)

Sample Environmental Cases

• Exotic Wildlife Association v. United States: In 2011, the Exotic Wildlife Association (EWA) filed a complaint with the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas seeking for the Secretary of the Interior to act on a petition to remove three exotic antelope species from the endangered species list. The suit was filed on behalf of the EWA and its members, all of whom are Texas ranchers raising one or more the three antelope species. READ MORE »  
• San Diego Fairy Shrimp Case: In 2003, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated 143 acres of privately owned land in San Diego County, CA as “occupied” by the San Diego fairy shrimp, a crustacean listed as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. The property’s owners, Otay Mesa Property, LP, sued to challenge the designation of their property as a critical habitat. READ MORE »  
• Texas Comptroller v. United States: In 2010, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service proposed the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard for listing as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. This potential listing of the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard is critical to Texas’s economic interests because the lizard’s habitat lies in the middle of one of the nation’s most productive oil and gas formations. READ MORE »  
• Bassett New Mexico, LLC v. United States: Sometimes the evidence of a taking is so overwhelming that even the federal government has to concede liability. This is one such case. Marzulla Law successfully represented a New Mexico mining company in a claim against the United States for the taking of mineral property as a result of Superfund cleanup. READ MORE »