Partner, Washington DC
1900 K Street NW
Washington, DC 20006-1108

TEL: 202.496.7371
FAX: 202.496.7756
EMAIL: gedens@mckennalong.com

PROFILE

Geraldine E. Edens practices in areas involving environmental litigation, regulatory matters and issues regarding law and science.  Ms. Edens counsels clients on environmental compliance, the law and science of chemical regulation, as well as on a wide variety of Clean Air Act issues (NESHAPs, mobile source regulation, Title V permitting, etc.), food additive approvals under the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act,  Toxic Release Inventory issues, and issues regarding the Mine Safety and Health Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Act.  Ms. Edens has an extensive background in health, the biological sciences and statistics.

Ms. Edens has a broad base of litigation experience with a particular emphasis on litigating issues under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and related statutes including the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act.  She has defended the adequacy of environmental analyses for major economic development projects, interstate pipeline right-of-way approvals, and off-shore oil development projects, as well as challenged NEPA compliance prepared for a large scale commercial development adjacent to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park.

Other environmental litigation experience includes serving as lead litigation counsel in two constitutional challenges (preemption by the CAA) to New York and California laws banning the use of MTBE in gasoline; a challenge to the authority of the Department of Transportation to ban the transport of MTBE in an interstate pipeline; Superfund contribution actions; a Clean Water Act contaminated sediments enforcement case, and bringing and defending environmental claims in bankruptcy, including being a member of the trial team in In re: National Gypsum Co., the first ever bankruptcy estimation of remedy costs under Superfund.  In addition to these specific environmental litigation matters.

Ms. Edens graduated from the University of Miami, School of Law, magna cum laude and Order of the Coif, where she was a member of the University of  Miami Law Review.  She has a Ph.D in Education from the University of Florida and a Master and Bachelor of Science from the University of Miami. Prior to her law firm experience, Ms. Edens was a professor at the University of Miami where she was a member of the graduate school faculty.