Focus Areas
Examples of Tanya’s experience include:
- Represented New Mexico municipalities in cost recovery action to remediate municipal water supply contaminated by hazardous substances used by private company.
- Represented national petroleum company in defense against EPA investigation and incident response to oil spill in San Francisco harbor.
- Successfully settled and negotiated penalties in EPA enforcement action for industrial stormwater permit compliance under the Clean Water Act.
- Successfully advised investment company on environmental risks associated with purchase of a former sawmill site.
- Led Fifth Amendment takings litigation involving a $56 million-dollar partial settlement of over 30 just compensation claims involving the East Lake Sammamish Trail in Sammamish, Washington.
- Obtained partially favorable ruling on summary judgment for Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service decisions creating a master development plan and well-pads for the exploration and development of oil and gas in the Colorado River Basin.
- Defended two lawsuits bringing NEPA and FLMPA challenges regarding the Bureau of Land Management issuance of leases for the development of oil and gas in Southwest Colorado.
- Moderator, Environmental Law Institute’s Women in Environmental Law and Leadership (ELI WELL), “Beyond Generations: A multi-generational conversation on the past, present, and future of women in environmental law and policy,” July 2022
- Speaker, “Anticipating the Impacts of a More Conservative United States Supreme Court on Environmental Law & Policy: Cases Relating to Separation of Powers and Federal Agency Jurisdiction,” Law Seminars International, July 2022
- Panel Speaker, “Amending NEPA to Enhance Environmental Justice and Climate Change Assessments,” Environmental Law Institute, April 2022
- Panel Speaker, “NEPA Modernization: The Biden Administration’s Re-Write of the Trump Administration’s NEPA Re-Write,” Law Seminars International, January 2022
- Panel Speaker, “Difficult Conversations in the Workplace,” NAWL & Women in the Environment, September 2020
- Panel Speaker, “Bias & The Virus: Combating Institutional Discrimination & Disparity,” The Women in Law Summit Series, July 2020
- The National Black Lawyers Top 100, 2022
- The National Black Lawyers 40 Under 40 in Washington State, 2021
- Department of Justice Award for Outstanding Service recipient, 2018
Professional Associations
- Co-Chair, Public Land and Resources Committee of the Section of Environment, Energy and Resources, American Bar Association
- Chapter Lead, Environmental Law Institute, Women in Environmental Law & Leadership
Education
- The George Washington University Law School, J.D., 2008
- Smith College, B.A., 2005
Bar Admissions
- District of Columbia
- Virginia
- Washington