Emerging Issues in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Implementation

Lisa Mahoney

Lisa Mahoney is the President and Owner of The Clark Group. Over the past twenty five years, Ms. Mahoney has served as an environmental and communications expert in both the government and private sector.

As President of The Clark Group, she manages the company’s day-to-day operations and provides clients with expertise in environmental compliance, policy, regulatory development, and communications. Her background as both an ecologist and attorney provides her with a unique understanding of and experience with how to develop and implement strategies for environmental compliance and stakeholder engagement on complex environmental issues. Ms. Mahoney previously served as Chief of Environmental Programs for the Department of Homeland Security’s US-VISIT Program and as an agency representative to the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Early in her career, Ms. Mahoney worked for the Department of Justice as an environmental protection specialist. She is a member of internationally-focused environmental organizations such as the International Association for Impact Assessment and has served as NEPA Working Group Chair for the National Association of Environmental Professionals.

Christophe Courchesne

Christophe Courchesne has litigated environmental cases for nearly two decades. Before joining Vermont Law and Graduate School in 2022, he was Deputy Chief of the Energy and Environment Bureau and Assistant Attorney General at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, leading work on the climate crisis, federal policy, environmental and racial justice, and clean energy. Prior to his bureau leadership, Professor Courchesne was Chief of the Environmental Protection Division at the AG’s Office, with oversight of the division’s civil enforcement docket, federal litigation and advocacy challenging Trump-era regulatory rollbacks, and defense of Massachusetts environmental agencies. Professor Courchesne was previously a Senior Attorney at Conservation Law Foundation, an associate in the environmental, energy, and land use practices at Goodwin Procter LLP, and a law clerk for the Honorable Robert Cordy at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. He has been admitted to practice in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and various federal courts.

Professor Courchesne received his Juris Doctor cum laude from Harvard Law School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English, summa cum laude, from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Jomar Maldonado

Jomar Maldonado is the Director for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) at the Council on Environmental Quality. In this role, he provides policy guidance to Federal agencies and regulatory interpretation to assist with their compliance with NEPA. Jomar has over 20 years of environmental policy and legal experience within the Federal government working on environmental review matters such as NEPA, Endangered Species Act, Floodplain Management, Wetlands Protection, and similar requirements. Prior to joining CEQ Jomar worked as the Project Development Team Lead within the Office of Environmental Review and Project Development for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). His career includes experience as an environmental attorney at FHWA and as the Environmental Officer of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In his various roles he has worked on many complex issues such as assignment of NEPA responsibilities to states, initiatives to expedite permitting of Federal projects, resiliency/hazard mitigation, floodplain reviews, environmental review of the National Flood Insurance Program, Buy America requirements, contract administration for highway projects, environmental justice considerations, and tolling and innovative financing for highways.

Pam Danko, Esq.

Pam recently retired from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Chief Counsel after serving a long tenure with the Department of the Navy’s Office of General Counsel. She is a regular speaker on NEPA issues at environmental conferences and training seminars. She is the author of the Annual NEPA Case Law Review (2014 – Present) and has authored eighteen federal agency, academic, and peer-reviewed articles.

Her most recent experience includes serving as a senior environmental law attorney with the FAA’s Airports and Environmental Law HQ branch, and as a Deputy Counsel for Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Southwest, supervising legal teams in acquisition, labor and employment, real estate, and environmental. She supported the Department of Justice litigating federal NEPA claims and drafted agency NEPA regulations and policy.

Pam provides legal sufficiency and technical reviews on projects involving airport development, transportation, construction, real estate actions, grants, acquisition actions, commercial space transportation, land withdrawals, management plans, and Navy fleet testing and training exercises.