Gary E. Steinbauer

Area of Emphasis

Gary Steinbauer is a shareholder in the Environmental Group of Babst Calland. Mr. Steinbauer advises clients on a wide variety of matters arising under major federal and state environmental regulatory programs. He provides strategic advice on permitting matters, day-to-day compliance needs, government investigations, and enforcement actions. Mr. Steinbauer regularly works with companies in the chemical, mining, metals, oil and gas, petroleum refining, power generation and distribution, and other industrial sectors.

Mr. Steinbauer devotes a significant portion of his practice to advising clients on issues arising under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and related state programs regulating air emissions and wastewater discharges. He handles air and water permitting matters and appeals and helps clients facing federal and state enforcement actions.

Background

Prior to joining Babst Calland, Mr. Steinbauer served as an attorney in Region 5 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. While at the U.S. EPA, he handled civil enforcement matters brought under major federal environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and Toxic Substances and Control Act. Mr. Steinbauer also advised EPA on permitting matters arising under the Clean Water Act’s NPDES program and the Clean Air Act’s Title V program.

Mr. Steinbauer began his legal career practicing commercial litigation at an international law firm and as a judicial law clerk in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Mr. Steinbauer earned his law degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Toledo College of Law in 2006, where he was elected to the Order of Coif and served as the managing editor of the University of Toledo Law Review. He graduated from the Ohio University with a B.S. in Environmental Biology in 2002.

Memberships and Affiliations

Mr. Steinbauer is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, Illinois and Michigan, as well as before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. He is actively involved in leadership roles within the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy and Resources and the Allegheny County Bar Association’s Environment and Energy Law Section.

Mr. Steinbauer was listed in the 2026 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® for Litigation – Environmental.