I am a litigator, an environmentalist, and a dad. As the head of NRDC’s San Francisco litigation team, my colleagues and I go to court to protect families and communities from pollution, to preserve endangered wildlife and wild places, and to fight for a healthy, sustainable environment. In the past few years, I’ve had the chance to brief, argue and try major cases at all levels of the federal judicial system, including cases to restore Chinook salmon to a vast river that the federal government had dried out sixty years earlier; to clean up hazardous waste hot spots in the San Francisco Bay and in rural Tennessee; to prevent the imminent extinction of fish in California’s Bay-Delta estuary; and to protect the rights of private citizens to petition federal agencies without being sued by hostile interests. Before joining NRDC, I practiced labor, environmental, and First Amendment law at a small San Francisco firm, and before that, I served for several years in the environment division of the U.S. Department of Justice. I learned something about the law at Harvard Law School, and a lot more while clerking for the Honorable Edward E. Carnes on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. I learned something about life at Harvard College, but far more from my parents, my family, and my friends. I run, read, wander, very occasionally bodysurf, and (as often as can be) play with my wife and our two boys.
Posted September 3, 2010 by Michael Wall in Curbing Pollution
I'm sharing this space today with guest-blogger and legal fellow Jon Wiener. I grew up gazing at the Suisun Bay Ghost Fleet through the window of my parents’ car as we would cross the Benicia Bridge on our way...continued→
Posted March 31, 2010 by Michael Wall in Curbing Pollution
This was a good day for the ecology of San Francisco Bay, the people of California, and the rule of law. This morning, with scores of former military support ships rusting in the background, the U.S. Maritime Administration, NRDC, Arc...continued→
Posted January 21, 2010 by Michael Wall in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
For decades, the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) and its parent agency, the Department of Transportation (DOT), have moored dozens of decrepit and non-operational former military support vessels in San Francisco Bay and abandoned them to the ravages of time and...continued→
Posted November 6, 2009 by Michael Wall in Curbing Pollution
A few recent pictures. (See my March and October '09 posts for background on the "ghost fleet" in Suisun Bay.)...continued→
Posted October 22, 2009 by Michael Wall in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
Today the U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced that two vessels from the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet will, at long last, be removed for disposal. This is good news. The marine paint on these two inoperable...continued→
Posted March 14, 2009 by Michael Wall in Reviving the World's Oceans
There's a reason why most ocean-going vessels need regular paint jobs and maintenance. Old paint, exposed to weather, can peel or chip off. The toxic material in many vessels' paints can poison local waterways and ecosystems. That's why NRDC, Arc...continued→
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