Dan Wolff is counsel with the firm's Environment & Natural Resources Group in Washington, D.C. His practice extends broadly to appellate, trial, and administrative counseling on a number of areas of environmental and natural resources law, including mine safety and health, public lands, and Superfund, as well as general litigation. In the course of this practice, Dan routinely counsels clients on issues arising under a variety of federal statutes, including the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act), the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the General Mining Laws, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Litigation
Dan came to the firm in 2003 following a two-year district court clerkship in the Southern District of Ohio and regularly appears in federal courts around the country. Experienced in both the trial and appellate courts, he has represented clients in a number of litigation matters in areas including "climate change" nuisance suits, challenges to regulatory actions taken by various federal agencies, and a suit seeking relief against a federal agency for violations of due process rights.
Mine Safety and Health
Dan's mine safety and health practice covers all aspects of regulatory compliance and enforcement defense related to the Mine Act. Dan regularly represents mine operators in enforcement matters before the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, in special investigations of individual managers facing potential civil or criminal liability, and in petitions to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) seeking modifications to the application of safety standards. Dan represented a mine operator in federal district court in the first-ever injunction action brought by MSHA to shut down a mine under Section 108(a)(2) of the Mine Act. He has also argued in multiple federal courts of appeals on behalf of operators and other interested parties in enforcement matters, and on behalf of the industry as a whole in challenges brought under the Mine Act and APA to MSHA rulemakings.
Public Lands
In his public lands practice, Dan frequently represents the firm's clients in the federal courts who have ownership or access disputes with the United States. For example, Dan was the principal author of one of the briefs filed on behalf of the victorious appellees in Minard Run Oil Co. et al. v. U.S. Forest Service, et al., _ F.3d _, 2011 WL 4389220 (3d Cir. Sept. 20, 2011), in which the Third Circuit upheld an injunction imposed by the district court against the Forest Service protecting the rights of oil and gas owners underlying National Forest lands to access their mineral interests without excessive regulatory interference by the Forest Service. The opinion is important not only for what the court of appeals has to say about injunctive relief against the United States, but also for the court's favorable views on NEPA and the APA. Dan was also one of the authors of the merits brief filed by the petitioners in BedRoc Limited, LLC, et al. v. United States, 541 U.S. 176 (2004), which ENR group partner Tim McCrum successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, in which the Court rejected the United States' argument that it owned a sand and gravel deposit at which the firm's client had been operating a small aggregates business for years. Other public lands representations have included the scope of "reciprocal" easement rights granted by the United States to private owners of forest lands in the "checkerboard" forests of the western United States.
Superfund
Dan has an active Superfund practice that includes litigating CERCLA cost-recovery and contribution actions in federal district court, and counseling in mediation involving the equitable allocation of response costs among potentially responsible parties.
In addition to his work noted above, Dan has an active pro bono practice in a wide variety of areas, including asylum, habeas corpus, landlord-tenant, fair wages, and common law torts, and on such matters he has appeared in the federal courts, the U.S. Immigration Court, and the courts of Maryland and the District of Columbia. Dan also serves on the firm's Public Service Committee.
Dan serves on the Executive Committee of the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation and is also a member of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation.
Dan graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1992, where he earned a B.A. from the School of Journalism. He graduated from the University of Dayton School of Law, summa cum laude, in 2001. While in law school, Dan served as an editor on the University of Dayton Law Review, and was active with the Environmental Law Society. Immediately following law school, he clerked for two years in the Southern District of Ohio for the Honorable Walter H. Rice.
Dan is licensed to practice in the District of Columbia and Ohio, and is also a member of the bars of multiple federal courts.
Publications
· "Mine Safety and Health," American Law of Mining 2d, Ch. 201 (2011 Update). Co-Authors: Tim Biddle, Tim Means, Dan Wolff and Brian Barner.
· "Mine Safety and Health," American Law of Mining 2d, Ch. 201 (2009 Update). Co-Authors: Tim Means, Tim Biddle and Dan Wolff.
· "D.C. Circuit Upholds MSHA Jurisdiction On Mine Access Road," Crowell & Moring Mining Law Monitor, Vol. 25, Issue 1 (Summer 2009). Co-Authors: Daniel W. Wolff and Thomas C. Means.
· "Mine Accident Reporting Obligations and MSHA Enforcement," 30 Energy & Min. L. Inst. ch. 8 (2009). Author: Daniel W. Wolff.
· "Judges Grapple With New Mine Safety Issues (And One Old One)," Crowell & Moring Mining Law Monitor, Vol. 24, Issue 1 (Summer 2008). Co-Authors: Timothy M. Biddle and Daniel W. Wolff.
· "Mine Safety and Health," American Law of Mining 2d, Ch. 201 (2007 Update). Co-Authors: Tim Means, Tim Biddle and Dan Wolff.
· "Legal Responsibilities and Liabilities of Trainers Under the Mine Safety Act: Overview and Recent Developments," 26 Energy & Min. L. Inst. Ch. 4 (2006). Co-Authors: Thomas C. Means and Daniel W. Wolff.
· "Twentymile: The Latest Word on Liability for Independent Contractor Violations," Stone, Sand & Gravel Review (July/August 2005). Co-Authors: Timothy M. Biddle, Edward M. Green and Daniel W. Wolff.
· Right Road, Wrong Vehicle: Rethinking Thirty Years of Right to Travel Doctrine: Saenz v. Roe, 119 S.Ct. 1518 (1999) (case note), 25 U. Dayton L. Rev. 307 (1999). Author: Daniel W. Wolff.
Alerts & Newsletters
· "Third Circuit Affirms Injunctive Relief to Resource Producers in Marcellus Shale Region of Pennsylvania, Blocking Harmful NEPA Settlement That Imposed U.S. Forest Service Drilling Ban in 500,000-acre Allegheny National Forest," Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert (September 26, 2011). Contacts: R. Timothy McCrum, J. Michael Klise, Daniel W. Wolff, Thomas R. Lundquist, Providence Spina.
· "State of New York Files Suit Against Federal Agencies Seeking Environmental Review of Natural Gas Development in the Delaware River Basin," Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert (June 2, 2011). Contacts: R. Timothy McCrum, Kirsten L. Nathanson, Daniel W. Wolff, Providence Spina.
· "U.S. Supreme Court Issues Significant Reversal in Key CERCLA Case, Narrowing Scope of "Arranger" Liability and Upholding Apportionment Principles," Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert (May 4, 2009). Contacts: Richard E. Schwartz, Kirsten L. Nathanson, Daniel W. Wolff.
· "Mining Law Monitor - Volume 24, Issue 1 - (Summer 2008)," Mining Law Monitor (July 21, 2008). Contacts: J. Michael Klise, Kirsten L. Nathanson, Timothy M. Biddle, Daniel W. Wolff, Lorraine B. Halloway, Willa B. Perlmutter, David P. Ross.