Courts Reshaping Agency Power, Uncertainty Over NEPA Rules, and Sticking to Core Environmental Values with Fred Wagner

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Welcome back to Environmental Professionals Radio, Connecting the Environmental Professionals Community Through Conversation, with your hosts Laura Thorne and Nic Frederick! 

On today’s episode, we talk with Fred Wagner, principal environmental advisor at Jacobs about the courts reshaping policy, NEPA uncertainty, and sticking to core environmental Values.  Read his full bio below.

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Showtimes: 
1:42 - Do you know your NEPA terms?
8:09 - Interview with Fred Wagner Starts
24:17 - Alligator Alcatraz  
31:24 - What are defensible exclusions now
46:29 - How do we balances changes with our values

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This podcast is produced by the National Association of Environmental Professions (NAEP). Check out all the NAEP has to offer at NAEP.org.

Guest  Bio:

Fred Wagner focuses his practice on environmental and natural resources issues associated with major infrastructure, mining and energy project development. Fred helps clients manage and then defend in court environmental reviews performed under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or equivalent state statutes. He works with public agencies and private developers to secure permits and approvals from federal and state regulators under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). Fred is familiar with the full range of issues surrounding USDOT surface transportation programs, including grant management, procurement, suspension and debarment, and safety regulations. During his career, Fred has handled a wide variety of environmental litigation in federal trial and appellate courts across the country, from citizen suits, to government enforcement actions, to Administration Procedure Act (APA) challenges.

Fred was appointed Chief Counsel of the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) during the Obama administration. He managed all legal matters involving the $40 billion Federal-Aid Highway program, including environmental and natural resources issues for highway and multimodal transportation projects. Among other high-profile projects, he oversaw the agency’s defense of the following:  New York's Tappan Zee Bridge, San Francisco's Presidio Parkway, Chicago's Elgin-O'Hare Expressway, Kentucky and Indiana's Ohio River Bridges, North Carolina's Bonner Bridge, Alabama's Birmingham Northern Beltline, Wisconsin's Zoo Interchange, and Washington's State Road 520 Bridge. He represented the FHWA on government-wide Transportation Rapid Response Team, a multi-agency task force focused on improving project delivery and environmental review reforms.

Fred began his career as a trial attorney in the Environment Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. He also served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Misdemeanor Trial Section of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. Prior to joining Venable, he spent more than 20 years in private practice at a national law firm focusing on environmental and natural resources issues.

Music Credits
Intro: Givin Me Eyes by Grace Mesa
Outro: Never Ending

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