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Attorney LaJuana Wilcher quoted in Bloomberg news story
by Mandy Hicks
ELPO partner LaJuana Wilcher was recently quoted in a Bloomberg Environment news story. The story, Groundwater Pollution ‘Spaghetti Jungle’ Tees Up High Court Review, discussed the conflicting decisions handed down by the Ninth, Sixth and Fourth Circuits of the U.S. District Courts. Each court has issued conflicting takes on groundwater pollution liability, leaving it to Congress or the U.S. Supreme Court to act and clear up lingering confusion.
LaJuana told reporter Amena H. Saiyid that Congress ultimately needs to act. “It’s astonishing and frustrating for people trying to comply with the law that we can’t explain clearly and with certainty the reach of the Clean Water Act or the definition of a solid waste under RCRA after all these years,” LaJuana told the reporter. RCRA is the Resource Recovery and Conservation Act.
You can read the full report here.
About LaJuana Wilcher
LaJuana S. Wilcher is a partner at English, Lucas, Priest & Owsley, LLP. During her career, she has been a trial lawyer, served in senior policy positions in the federal and state governments, taught law at Vanderbilt University Law School and Vermont Law School, and represented corporate, municipal and not-for-profit clients in private law practice throughout the country.
Nominated by President George H.W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 1989, Ms. Wilcher was USEPA’s senior official in the Office of Water, where she managed legislative, policy and program matters, and served as EPA’s lead representative in the $1.3 billion Exxon Valdez oil spill negotiations. She served as Assistant Administrator for Water at at the EPA from 1989 to 1993.
As a partner with Winston & Strawn (1993-1996) and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacCrae (1996-2002) in Washington, DC, she counseled multinational corporations on strategic, policy, legislation and litigation matters. She returned to her hometown of Bowling Green, KY in 2002, and soon was tapped to serve as Cabinet Secretary for Kentucky’s Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet, which consolidated over 30 regulatory agencies, including the Departments of Environmental Protect, Labor, Financial Institutions, Insurance, Mine Safety and Alcoholic Beverage Control, as well as the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority, among others. In 2006, she returned to private practice at ELPO, where she handles a variety of regulatory and legislative matters, but focuses on environmental issues.
Ms. Wilcher has been listed in Best Lawyers in America since 2009. She serves on the Salmon P. Chase College of Law Board of Visitors, the WKU Ogden College Advisory Council, the Warren County Conservation District and the Friends of Mammoth Cave National Park Board. She and her husband, Ed Tivol, live in Alvaton, Kentucky, where they operate Scuffle Hill Farm, growing alfalfa hay and grass-fed, free-range, Angus cattle.
