Walter E. Rusinek

Mr. Rusinek has broad experience in handling environmental, natural resource, and Native American law matters, counseling and defending clients and interacting with federal, state, and local regulatory agencies. His practice includes compliance, permitting, and litigation under federal and state water and air quality and hazardous waste laws, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the federal Superfund law, and the Endangered Species Act. Mr. Rusinek has extensive experience in managing the cleanup of contaminated properties and in conducting environmental due diligence in real estate and asset transfers. He also counsels industrial and construction-related clients on stormwater compliance issues. He is the author of articles on water rights in the western United States, including federal reserved water rights. Mr. Rusinek counsels Native American clients on various environmental and Indian law issues, including the transfer of fee-owned property into trust. He also worked for a number of years on hazardous waste and water quality issues in the hard rock mining industry. He has practiced environmental and natural resources law in San Francisco with Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe and in Phoenix, Arizona, with Gallagher & Kennedy, and is a member of the State Bars of California and Arizona.

Representative Matters

• Represents the Pala Band of Mission Indians in challenging the proposed Gregory Canyon municipal solid waste landfill that would be constructed adjacent to the Pala Reservation and next to Native American sacred sites. The work has included successful litigation challenging the project under CEQA, resulting in five separate appellate actions in the California court of appeals and two published opinions. Challenging the project also has included reviewing and commenting on permit application documents and draft permits from the Regional Water Quality Control Board, the Air Pollution Control District, the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies. Efforts to protect the sacred sites have included assisting the client in seeking to list the sites on the National Register of Historic Places and in conducting consultation with the Army Corps under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, and drafting state legislation.
• Assisted Native American clients in preparing the application for and completing the necessary environmental review for transferring fee-owned property into trust under the Indian Reorganization Act.
• Headed a group of responsible parties that resolved liability claims brought by the United States Environmental Protection Agency concerning a Superfund site in California.
• Assisted a Native American client in amending easements for a BIA road to allow infrastructure improvements and maintenance of the road and related areas.
• Assisted a Native American client in obtaining “treatment as a state” status under the federal Clean Air Act and in its pending application for treatment as a state under the federal Clean Water Act.
• Successfully resolved claims by the Regional Water Quality Control Board seeking $17 million dollars in penalties from a NYSE-listed company related to historic activities in San Diego County that caused groundwater contamination.
• Successfully resolved claims by a client that operates a public wastewater treatment facility for excessive charges by an electrical service provider in a Public Utilities Commission action.
• Successfully defended a client charged with numerous felonies alleging violations of the federal Clean Water Act Section 404 requirements and of California hazardous waste laws. Settlement resulted in misdemeanor with no jail time being served.
• Counseled a major mining company on numerous water quality and hazardous waste issues related to ongoing operations and proposed expansions of operations.
• Has managed the closures of large industrial facilities and remedial actions at Superfund sites by negotiating with federal and state agencies and overseeing the work of environmental consultants, including review of consultant reports.

Mr. Rusinek graduated from the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall) in 1990 where he was an articles editor for the Ecology Law Quarterly.

Mr. Rusinek was lead counsel on two appellate decisions by the California Fourth District Court of Appeals, RiverWatch, et al. v. Olivenhain Municipal Water District (2009) 170 Cal.App.4th 1186 (reversing trial court’s decision and holding that the water district violated CEQA when it entered into a water-sales contract) and RiverWatch, et al. v. County of San Diego (2009) 175 Cal.App.4th 768 (upholding trial court’s award of attorneys’ fees for successful CEQA lawsuit). Mr. Rusinek also is the author of published legal articles, and has presented at numerous seminars.

Recent Articles/Publications

• "New General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Construction Sites and Recent Case Law Involving Industrial Sites Impose Effluent Limits on Stormwater Discharges," April 2010