The Environmental Protection Unit handles litigation, advocacy, and advice across a wide range of subject matters including water quality, toxics and contaminated sites, air quality and climate, forests, agriculture, and land use.
Our work includes:
- Enforcing Vermont’s environmental statutes on behalf of client agencies.
- Bringing independent statewide actions to protect Vermont’s natural environment and residents from harmful pollution and consumer deception in the environmental arena.
- Handling environmental appeals at the Vermont Supreme Court.
- Helping to defend Vermont agencies and statutes when they are challenged in state and federal court.
- Participating in a robust variety of multistate environmental actions with other Attorneys General, including litigation, comments, and amicus briefs to help ensure environmental protections at the federal level.
- Advising the Attorney General on environmental legislation and providing input to the Vermont Legislature when requested.
- Helping to counsel state agencies on environmental matters.
The Unit is staffed by eight assistant attorneys general and a paralegal. One of our attorneys is specifically assigned to provide legal services to the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets. We regularly host legal interns – intern application information is available here.