Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden Appoints Andrea L. Berlowe to be Counselor for State and Local Matters

Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) announced the creation of a new position designed to facilitate work with State and local government attorneys.

Andrea L. Berlowe – Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for State and Local Matters

The newly created role of Counselor for State and Local Matters is designed to facilitate the joint efforts by the division and its environmental partners in state and local governments.  In this important position, Berlowe will work with the National Association of Attorneys General, the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) and individual attorneys in state and local governments who work on environment and natural resource matters. She also will advise and assist ENRD’s leadership in litigation, legislation and policy matters affecting state and local governments.

“The majority of environmental litigation takes place at the state and local level and, therefore, cooperative federalism is a top priority for ENRD,” said Assistant Attorney General Cruden.  “Andrea’s breadth of experience in the division will make her an effective liaison between the division and our enforcement partners in state and local governments and build on our prior efforts to foster these critical relationships.”

One important function of the counselor will be to increase collaboration with our state and local partners to achieve shared environmental enforcement goals.  Such collaboration may range from developing and implementing joint training to serving as a resource for state and local counterparts on issues of shared concern.  The counselor also will advise and assist the division regarding litigation, legislation and policy matters affecting state and local governments.

“I would like to thank Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for his insight with the creation of the position of Counselor on State and Local Matters,” said NAAG President Marty Jackley of South Dakota.  “Allocating resources to work directly with state and local governments is invaluable and we look forward to fostering this partnership while addressing the environment and natural resource issues that affect every citizen throughout the country.”

“We commend Assistant Attorney General Cruden for his attention to improving the state-federal legal relationship,” said ECOS President Robert J. Martineau Jr., Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.  Martineau, an attorney with past service in the federal government, has made improving coordination between states and the federal government on legal matters a priority while at the helm of the national organization of state environmental agency heads.  “We look forward to making this renewed function at the U.S. Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division productive and positive.”

Berlowe joined ENRD through the Attorney General’s Honors Program in 1993, serving first as a Trial Attorney, then Senior Attorney, in the Division’s Natural Resources Section.  Since 2001, she has served as Senior Counsel in the Law and Policy Section (LPS) where she handled a wide variety of policy, litigation and legislative matters involving public lands and natural resources, oceans issues, professional responsibility, and international environmental law.  During her ENRD tenure, Berlowe has litigated a broad array of cases in federal district courts and courts of appeal and worked closely with the division’s leadership office on policy matters.  She has received multiple awards from ENRD and client agencies for her work.  In 2013, Berlowe was detailed as special counsel to the newly established Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council, a new federal entity created by Congress and comprised of six federal agencies and the five Gulf Coast states, which is tasked with developing and funding comprehensive ecological and economic recovery of the Gulf Coast region following the Deepwater Horizon disaster.  She earned a J.D., cum laude, and a Masters in Environmental Law and Policy, summa cum laude, from Vermont Law School and holds a B.S. in Zoology from the University of Vermont.