September 2016
The Environmental Law Institute is pleased to welcome four new members to its Leadership Council; Joshua Bloom, Lily Chinn, Robert “Buzz” Hines, and Kevin Poloncarz.
Regarding our new members, ELI Leadership Council President, Kathy Robb shares, “ELI is so pleased to have these three outstanding attorneys join the ranks of our Leadership Council. Josh, Lily, Buzz, and Kevin represent the best thought leaders from the West Coast. As the Institute continues to grow, it is essential to have voices from across the country to strengthen our vision of a healthy environment, prosperous economies, and vibrant communities founded on the rule of law. We are lucky to add such esteemed new members to our Leadership Council and look forward to the guidance and expertise they are sure to bring to our organization.”
A Principal at Meyers Nave in the firm’s Land Use and Environmental Law Practice Groups in Oakland, California, Joshua Bloom has more than 25 years of experience in environmental law. He specializes in all areas of state and federal environmental and natural resources law, including complex environmental litigation, brownfields, environmental aspects of transactional matters, and compliance counseling, representing both public and private clients. Josh’s expertise includes successfully negotiating many of the largest military base transfers in the U.S., such as those involving the Presidio of San Francisco, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Adak Island Naval Complex, Oakland Army Base, Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, and South Weymouth Naval Air Station. He is highly regarded as a leading negotiator on environmental risk transfer transactions.
Lily Chinn is the managing partner of the San Francisco Bay Area office of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP and the co-chair of the office’s Electronic Discovery and Information Governance practice. She is a strategic advocate and litigator for her corporate and individual clients, providing counsel on the intersection between workplace safety, environmental, natural resources, toxic tort and product liability issues. She focuses on civil and criminal defense, including internal investigations and suspension or debarment proceedings, and has tried cases across the country. Lily is well versed in the litigation of complex appellate and district court cases in venues nationwide. She draws on her many years of experience at the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington, DC to provide her clients with high-level, thoughtful counsel. Through her work as a trial attorney in the Environmental Defense Section, she has in-depth knowledge of the decision-making processes at the DOJ, Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies. As a former prosecutor in the DOJ's Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section and one of the founding co-chairs of the DOJ's Environment Division's E-Discovery Working Group, Lily also is able to provide technologically savvy counsel to her clients on the preservation, collection, production and use of electronic information. This experience, coupled with the relationships Lily developed during her tenure at the DOJ, provides a virtually unparalleled background as she advises clients facing enforcement actions and investigations.
Robert “Buzz” Hines is a partner in Farella Braun + Martel’s Environmental Law Department and chairs its Air Quality and Climate Change Group in San Francisco, California. Mr. Hines has practiced environmental law for more than 25 years representing clients in complex governmental and private litigation and enforcement actions, including state and federal cost recovery actions, natural resource damage claims and assessments, air, water and hazardous waste actions, and multi-media agency proceedings. Mr. Hines is a former chair of the Environmental Law Department. Mr. Hines represents clients, including the wine industry, with agricultural and related product issues, such as defending crop loss claims, advising on water diversion and use, FIFRA and state equivalent label requirements and providing product stewardship advice. He also advises the bottled water and beverage industries on spring water issues, brand protection, and regulatory compliance and permitting. Mr. Hines is a frequent speaker on environmental law topics. He is listed in Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America and The International Who's Who of Environmental Lawyers.
Based in the firm’s San Francisco office, Kevin Poloncarz is a partner in the Environment and Energy Practice of Paul Hastings. Mr. Poloncarz represents clients, primarily in the energy sector, in regulatory, litigation, commercial and transactional matters involving air quality and climate change. He is deeply involved in the development of regulations to control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the federal Clean Air Act and the California Global Warming Solutions Act, Assembly Bill (AB) 32, including the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Cap-and-Trade Program and Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). He represents and advises clients in regulatory proceedings and administrative litigation concerning emissions regulations, such as EPA’s Clean Power Plan and Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, and in the negotiation of the terms of power purchase agreements concerning compliance with emissions standards for GHG and criteria pollutants. He also defends clients in enforcement matters involving compliance with emissions standards.
The ELI Leadership Council is the Institute’s group for the most prominent environment, energy, and natural resource leaders in the nation. The Council recognizes leaders for their commitment of resources and time to the Institute’s vision of a healthy environment, prosperous economies, and vibrant communities founded on the rule of law. Members participate in events and have a chance to network and engage other leaders in discussions about key environmental law and policy issues.