Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources
2007-2008 Executive Committee
Biographies
Chair:
Lee A. DeHihns III
Alston & Bird LLP
Atlanta, GA
Lee DeHihns is a member of Alston & Bird’s Environmental and Land Use Group. He concentrates on regulatory matters and defensive litigation matters for industrial and municipal clients. His areas of concentration include air quality, hazardous waste, water quality and wetlands matters, corporate audits, compliance program development, debarment, and white-collar criminal defense. Lee joined Alston & Bird in 1990 after serving four years as Deputy Regional Administrator of USEPA Region 4. Lee received a Senior Executive Service Meritorious Rank Award from President Bush in 1989. His career began with USEPA in 1974 in Washington, D.C. where he rose to the position of Associate General Counsel. He was previously a member of the Council, 2001-2004, and Chair of the Water Quality and Wetlands Committee, 1999-2001 and a Vice Chair of that Committee, 1997-1999. Lee received his B.S. from the University of Scranton in 1967 and his J.D. from Catholic University of America in 1974. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and in Chambers USA America's Leading Lawyers for Business under environmental law.
Vice Chair:
John C. Cruden
Environment & Natural Resources Division
US Department of Justice
Washington, DC
John C. Cruden is the Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Department of Justice. In that capacity, he is responsible for supervising a wide variety of environmental litigation, including civil enforcement actions in federal court for the key federal environmental statutes, including Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, RCRA, Safe Drinking Water Act, and CERCLA/Superfund. In addition, he supervises wetland enforcement, challenges to EPA rule making, and environmental actions filed against the United States. Prior to becoming a career Deputy, John was Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section (EES).
John has spent most of his legal life either litigating, teaching litigation-related subjects, or supervising litigators. His two most recent positions before becoming Chief, EES, were at the Department of Justice and Department of the Army. John was Special Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, from 1987 to 1988. From 1988 to 1991 he was the Chief Legislative Counsel for the Army. He has also been an agency General Counsel and an army lawyer where he received a number of awards and decorations,. He has twice received the highest government award, the Presidential Rank Award, from two different Presidents. From 2005-2006 John was the first government lawyer to be elected and serve as the President, DC Bar, the second largest bar in the nation.
Budget Officer:
R. Keith Hopson
Brown McCarroll, LLP
Austin, TX
Since 1980, Mr. Hopson has represented clients in the commercial waste management, waste reclamation, chemical, chemical distribution, petroleum, petrochemical, primary and secondary metals, semiconductor, consumer products, metal plating, aerospace, paper, electric power generation, and cement industries as well as commercial, municipal, lender and individual clients in environmental matters involving: solid waste, hazardous waste, Superfund, environmental litigation and permitting, international environmental law, environmental auditing, brownfields and environmental aspects of commercial transactions. He served as Chair of the Superfund and Hazardous Waste Committee of the American Bar Association's Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources from 1998-2000, was a member of Council, and became the Section's Budget Officer during the 2006-2007 ABA year.
Mr. Hopson is a graduate of Austin College, the University of Texas Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and the University of Texas School of Law. Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Hopson served as Senior Law Clerk to U.S. District Judge Jack Roberts. Mr. Hopson has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America, The International Who's Who of Environmental Lawyers, and was named a Super Lawyer by Texas Monthly Magazine.
Membership Officer:
Sara Beth Watson
Steptoe & Johnson LLP
Washington, DC
Immediate Past Chair:
Lauren James Caster
Fennemore Craig, P.C.
Phoenix, AZ
Lauren J. Caster is a shareholder of Fennemore Craig, P.C., where he represents clients in general stream adjudications and interstate stream conflicts, and counsels clients on water, natural resource, and protected species issues. He served on the Council of the ABA’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources from 2001-2004, and is a former chair of the Section’s Strategic Planning Committee and Water Resources Committee. Before chairing the latter Committee, he undertook a variety of assignments on its behalf, including program co-chair of the 16th Annual Water Law Conference. He speaks frequently on water-related issues. Mr. Caster received his undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and his law degree with distinction, Order of the Coif, from the University of Nebraska College of Law. He is admitted to practice in Arizona, Montana, Nebraska and Oregon. He is listed in He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America; The Chambers USA America’s Leading Lawyers for Business; Who’s Who Legal; The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers; and The International Who’s Who of Environmental Lawyers.
Publications Officer:
Kathleen Marion Carr
US Dept. of the Interior
Boise, ID
Section Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates
R. Kinnan Golemon
KG Strategies, LLC
Austin, TX
R. Kinnan Golemon practices in matters involving federal, state and local regulation of air pollutants, wastewater discharges, hazardous substance spills, solid and hazardous waste management facilities, and environmental compliance management and enforcement. He also provides general business and regulatory counseling relating to the siting and construction of new industrial plants, electric cogeneration facilities, and solid and hazardous waste management facilities. Kinnan also counsels and represents companies doing business in Texas on legislative matters including air quality control, business taxation, solid waste management and water quality control and water supply issues among others. He received his B.S. in Industrial Management Engineering from the University of Oklahoma, 1961 and his LL.B. from the University of Texas School of Law, 1967. He was appointed Chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Environmental Law in 2004 and will serve in that capacity through the 2007 Annual Meeting.
Chair Elect:
Claudia Rast
Pear Sperling Eggan & Daniels, P.C.
Ann Arbor, MI
Claudia Rast is a principal at Pear Sperling Eggan & Daniels, P.C., where she specializes in Business, Technology and Environmental law. Prior to joining Pear Sperling in 2001, Ms. Rast was a Member at Dickinson Wright PLLC, where she served as the Director of Dickinson’s eBusiness Group (1998-2001) and Manager of its Environmental Practice Group (1997-1998).
Ms. Rast has lectured on both the compliance and transactional aspects of environmental law generally at conferences and seminars sponsored by the American Bar Association, the Michigan Bar Association, and the Michigan Institute for Continuing Legal Education (ICLE), among others. She has written articles for Environmental Compliance and Litigation Strategy (August 1998) and the Institute of Management Consultants USA (March 1999). She was a contributor to the ICLE’s Michigan Environmental Law Deskbook, vols. I-II (1994), and co-authored the annual update on Environmental Law for The Wayne Law Review in 1990. In addition to her environmental practice, Ms. Rast has extensive experience in the areas of technology, e-commerce and privacy. On these topics, she has written articles for the Michigan BANKER (April 1997), Detroiter (June 1998), Environmental Compliance and Litigation Strategy (August 1998), and the Institute of Management Consultants USA (March 1999). She is also a contributing author to ICLE's Advising eBusiness Startups (June 2001), and The Internet & Technology Guide for Michigan Lawyers (ICLE 1996-1999), with licensed editions in California, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Illinois. In 2001, she was the only lawyer named as a Technology Industry Leader in Crain’s Detroit Business, and in 2003 the Ann Arbor Chapter of American Women in Computing named her as one of twenty “Top Michigan Women in Computing.” In 2004, Ms. Rast also co-authored an online course for CPAs, Trust Services Privacy (IdentiRISK 2004).
Ms. Rast attended the University of Michigan (B.S.) and the University of Detroit School of Law (J.D., cum laude), where she was the Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review. Immediately after law school, she clerked for Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice and former Michigan Governor, G. Mennen Williams.
Secretary:
Steve Miano
Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin
Philadelphia, PA
Mr. Miano is a Shareholder in the Environmental Department of Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin in Philadelphia, PA. He has been practicing environmental law for over twenty years. His practice includes all facets of environmental law and litigation. His clients include industrial corporations, commercial entities and municipalities. Before private practice, Mr. Miano was an Assistant Regional Counsel for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, Hazardous Waste Branch. He is an Adjunct Professor at Rutgers University Law School where he teaches courses on environmental law. He is a frequent lecturer and has written on various environmental legal issues for a variety of publications. He has also served as a course planer for several national environmental law programs.
Mr. Miano received his B.S. in Environmental Studies from George Washington University in 1982 and his J.D. from Franklin Pierce Law Center in 1985. He was a clerk to the Honorable Martin F. Loughlin, U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire.
Mr. Miano is listed in Chambers USA America's Leading Lawyers For Business, Who's Who of Business Lawyers for Environmental Law , Pennsylvania Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America. Mr. Miano is a former Council member of the ABA's Section of Environment, Energy and Resources and was the Co-chair of the ABA Section's Water Quality and Wetlands Committee from 2001 - 2003. He is also on the Editorial Board of the ABA Section publication, Trends, for which he served as Editor-In-Chief from 1997-2001. He is the co-author of the wetlands chapter in the Section's Clean Water Act Handbook and was the peer reviewer for the Section's Basic Practice Series book on RCRA. From 1998-2005, Mr. Miano served as a board member and Vice President of the Board of Trustees for the Support Center for Child Advocates, the largest agency of its kind in the country providing legal and social services to abused and neglected children and was named Distinguished Child Advocate in 1997. He is also a graduate of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Arts & Business Council - Business on Board Program.
Education Officer:
Alexandra Dapolito Dunn
Pace University
White Plains, NY
Alexandra Dapolito Dunn is the 2007-2009 Education Officer for the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy & Resources. In August 2007 she joined the Pace University School of Law as Assistant Dean for the Environmental Program. She brings to Pace significant experience in coalition building, program management, familiarity with diverse environmental legal issues and trends, and vision for the future. Prior to taking the position at Pace, Ms. Dunn served for six years as General Counsel of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), a major non-profit environmental organization. She previously served as Counsel to the American Chemistry Council in Arlington, Virginia, and began her legal career as an environmental associate in the D.C. office of Winston & Strawn. She is admitted to the District of Columbia and Maryland bars, the U.S. Supreme Court, and federal circuit and district courts. Ms. Dunn received her Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America in 1994, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review. She received her BA, cum laude, from James Madison University, Virginia, in 1989.
Section Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates
Sheila S. Hollis
Duane Morris LLP
Washington, DC
Sheila Slocum Hollis is chair of the Washington, D.C. office and serves on the firm's Executive Committee and Partners' Board. Ms. Hollis practices in the areas of energy transactional and regulatory law, and international and administrative law before government agencies, Congress and other entities. She specializes in domestic and international energy, water and environmental matters, representing governmental bodies and the power and natural gas industries. She was recently named one of the 50 Key Women in Energy worldwide and was a finalist for Lifetime Achievement in Energy in Platt's Global Energy Awards. Ms. Hollis is the first attorney in private practice to be nominated for the award. With a long career in issues relating to infrastructure, energy reliability, enforcement and compliance, and international energy policy, Ms. Hollis recently successfully represented the District of Columbia in a key electric reliability case.
