J. Michael Klise is a partner in Crowell & Moring's Environment & Natural Resources Group. His practice concentrates on the major federal laws regulating land use activities, particularly timber and mining operations. His clients have included individuals, companies, school districts, municipalities, flood control districts, county boards of supervisors, and regional and national trade associations. He has represented them at the federal district court and appellate levels, as well as in proceedings before administrative tribunals.
Since 1993, Mr. Klise has represented timber and forest products industry interests in litigation contesting timber harvesting on public and private lands under such statutes as the National Environmental Policy Act, National Forest Management Act, Endangered Species Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and Clean Water Act. He has assisted in obtaining favorable rulings under the ESA for timber harvesting on private property and on federal lands in many parts of the country, including California, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. In 2000, he successfully argued an appeal to the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in which the en banc court held that the district court lacked jurisdiction to issue a program-wide injunction against timber harvesting in the National Forests in Texas. Sierra Club v. Peterson, 228 F.3d 559 (5th Cir. 2000) (en banc). He has also presented oral argument on the industry's behalf to panels of the Fifth, Eighth, and Eleventh Circuits, and assisted in obtaining favorable rulings under the MBTA, CWA, NFMA, and NEPA, as well as on industry intervention, in cases such as Newton County Wildlife Ass'n v. U.S. Forest Service, 113 F.3d 110 (8th Cir. 1997) and 141 F.3d 803 (8th Cir. 1998); Sierra Club v. Espy, 18 F.3d 1202 (5th Cir. 1994) and 38 F.3d 792 (5th Cir. 1994); and Sierra Club v. Martin, 110 F.3d 1531 (11th Cir. 1997). He also represented industry in winning summary judgment, with Ninth Circuit affirmance, in an environmental group challenge to Agriculture Department regulations governing the importation of unmanufactured wood products.
Mr. Klise's representation of mining industry clients includes cases involving ESA and other restrictions on hardrock mining operations in the California Desert Conservation Area and elsewhere, as well as litigation under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act. On behalf of the national trade association, he argued the case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that invalidated as ultra vires the Interior Department's regulations implementing the Applicant Violator System ("AVS") under SMCRA. National Mining Ass'n v. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 105 F.3d 691 (D.C. Cir. 1997). He represented the industry in winning D.C. Circuit dismissal, for lack of jurisdiction, of the long-running citizen suit that had spawned the AVS. Save Our Cumberland Mountains, Inc. v. Lujan, 963 F.2d 1541 (D.C. Cir. 1992). He has also represented individual companies in judicial review proceedings under SMCRA, including arguing the first case in which a federal court of appeals enjoined Interior's attempt to override a state regulatory authority's determination of AVS ownership and control. Coteau Properties Co. v. Department of Interior, 53 F.3d 1466 (8th Cir. 1995). In mine safety matters, he has represented mine managers and foremen in individual civil penalty proceedings, has counseled clients on MSHA/OSHA jurisdictional issues, and was part of a multi-firm legal team which won dismissal of over 5,000 citations alleging that coal mining companies had tampered with respirable dust samples taken at their mines. For hardrock mining clients, he assisted in securing early dismissal of a "whistleblower" suit against eighteen companies alleging $20 billion in damages under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. United States ex. rel. North Santiam Watershed Council v. Kinross Gold USA, Inc., et al., 1998 WL 118176 (N.D. Cal. 1998).
Mr. Klise earned his J.D. at Catholic University Law School in Washington, D.C., where he was a Note Editor of the Law Review and received numerous academic and moot court honors. He also holds an M.A. in English from the University of Virginia and a B.A. from Catholic University. Before he joined Crowell & Moring, he worked for several years during law school as a reporting and disclosure law advisor for the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, ten U.S. Courts of Appeals, and in Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Publications
· "Endangered Species Act and Global Climate Change: The Polar Bear Litigation Turns Five," Crowell & Moring's Mining Law Monitor, Vol. 26, Issue 1 (Spring 2011). Author: J. Michael Klise.
· "The Endangered Species Act: An Overview," (2010). Co-Authors: Thomas R. Lundquist, Steven P. Quarles, John C. Martin, J. Michael Klise and L. Michael Bogert.
· "Chapter 5: Nanotechnology and the Endangered Species Act," NANOTECHNOLOGY: ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, POLICY, AND BUSINESS CONSIDERATIONS, American Bar Association (2010). Co-Authors: Steven P. Quarles, J. Michael Klise and Wm. Robert Irvin.
· "Chapter 17: Nanotechnology and the Endangered Species Act," Endangered Species Act: Law, Policy, and Perspectives, American Bar Association (2010). Co-Authors: J. Michael Klise, Steven P. Quarles, and Wm. Robert Irvin.
· "Fifth Amendment Takings: When Regulation Goes Too Far," Crowell & Moring Mining Law Monitor, Vol. 21, Issue 2 (Winter 2004/2005). Author: J. Michael Klise.
· "Subsidence in SMCRA § 522(e) Areas," Crowell & Moring Mining Law Monitor, Vol. 21, Issue 1 (Spring 2004). Co-Authors: J. Michael Klise and Tim Means.
· "SMCRA Roundup," Crowell & Moring Mining Law Monitor, Vol. 20, Issue 2 (Summer 2003). Co-Authors: Tim Means and J. Michael Klise.
· "Judicial Review of Agency Action: An Overview," Rocky Mtn. Min. L. Foundation Special Institute on Natural Resources and Environmental Administrative Law, (November 17, 1999). Co-Authors: Tim Means and J. Michael Klise.
· "MSHA Jurisdiction Over Non-Mine 'Mines'," Crowell & Moring Mining Law Monitor (October 1999). Co-Authors: J. Michael Klise and Tim Means.
· "SMCRA Attorney Fees Awarded To Non-Permittee 'Permittee'," Crowell & Moring Mining Law Monitor (October 1999). Co-Author: J. Michael Klise and Tim Means.
· "D.C. Circuit Invalidates Additional AVS Regulations," Crowell & Moring Mining Law Monitor (July 1999). Co-Authors: J. Michael Klise and Tim Means.
· "Court Blocks MSHA Jurisdiction Over Power Plant," Crowell & Moring Mining Law Monitor (October 1998). Author: J. Michael Klise.
· "MSHA Jurisdiction: Where, Oh Where, Will It End?," Crowell & Moring Mining Law Monitor (May 1998). Author: J. Michael Klise.
· "Courts Hold Migratory Bird Treaty Act No Bar to Land Development Activities,"Crowell & Moring Mining Law Monitor (December 1997). Author: J. Michael Klise.
· "Standing to Challenge Regulations Under Mining and Environmental Statutes," 18 Eastern Min. L. Inst. 79 (1997). Author: J. Michael Klise.
Alerts & Newsletters
· "Update on the Polar Bear-Endangered Species Act Multidistrict Litigation," Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert (October 31, 2011). Contacts: John C. Martin, J. Michael Klise, Thomas R. Lundquist.
· "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.
· "CITIZEN SUIT WATCH: District Court to Enjoin Use of Pesticide Pending Completion of Endangered Species Act Consultation," Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert (July 1, 2011). Contacts: J. Michael Klise, Kirsten L. Nathanson.
· "Mining Law Monitor - Volume 26, Issue 1 - (Spring 2011)," Mining Law Monitor (June 1, 2011). Contacts: J. Michael Klise, R. Timothy McCrum.
· "CITIZEN SUIT WATCH: Ninth Circuit Asserts Citizen Suit Jurisdiction Over Challenge To Longstanding Regulation And Reaffirms Clean Water Act Permitting Requirements For Forest Roads," Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert (May 31, 2011). Contacts: Kirsten L. Nathanson, J. Michael Klise, David Chung.
· "Mining Law Monitor - Volume 25, Issue 1 - (Summer 2009)," Mining Law Monitor (August 1, 2009). Contacts: J. Michael Klise, Kirsten L. Nathanson.
· "Public Comment Solicited on Proposed Modifications to Endangered Species Act Consultation Process," Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert (August 13, 2008). Contacts: Steven P. Quarles, J. Michael Klise.
· "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.
· "The Supreme Court Limits The Scope Of The Endangered Species Act In Defenders of Wildlife," Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert (June 25, 2007). Contacts: Thomas R. Lundquist, Steven P. Quarles, J. Michael Klise.
Speaking Engagements
· "Are Mining Permits an Endangered Species?," Mining Regulation Reporter: Meeting Mining's Environmental Challenges - Washington, DC (March 13, 1998). Presenter: J. Michael Klise.
· "When Does Regulation Under the Endangered Species Act Constitute a Taking?," CLE International Regulatory Takings Act Conference (January 22-23, 1998). Panel Presenter: J. Michael Klise.
· "Standing to Sue Under the Endangered Species Act: The Effect of Bennett v. Spear and Other Cases," CLE International, Endangered Species Act Conference (August 25-26, 1997). Presenter: J. Michael Klise.