Practice Profile: Environmental Law Division attorneys represent the City and its agencies in an extensive range of environmental matters, including land use and environmental review of City projects and private development; wastewater and stormwater treatment and compliance; Clean Air Act compliance and enforcement; solid and hazardous waste management; parks and natural resources preservation (including public trust issues and wetlands protection and remediation); sustainability and resilience issues; energy development; and harbor navigation and dredging. The Division also works on numerous matters concerning the City’s water supply system, relating to both system operations and protecting water quality. Division attorneys litigate in State and federal courts; represent the City in administrative and legislative hearings; and counsel agencies on their environmental programs, policies, and compliance with environmental laws and regulations.
Both an accomplished litigator and an insightful advisor, Devon Goodrich has deep expertise in an array of legal and practical areas. She supervises or handles much of the Law Department’s work on the City’s drinking water supply, including the complex interstate issues relating to the roughly half of that supply that comes from the Delaware River Basin. Operation of that portion of the City’s water supply is governed by a U.S. Supreme Court Decree and an Interstate Compact. Devon is also a core member of the team that works on the City’s wastewater collection and treatment. She is attuned to the technical, environmental, and economic drivers on these issues. Through this work, Devon has also been appointed co-chair of the Legal Affairs Committee of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies where she helps develop strategic advocacy on behalf of public utilities across the country.
