2025 NEPA Case Law Review

Fred Wagner, NAEP Elected At-Large Board Member
Principal Environmental Advisor
Jacobs

Fred Wagner focuses on environmental and natural resources issues concerning major infrastructure, including surface transportation, energy, mining, and commercial project development. Fred advises clients on environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act or equivalent state statutes. He also helps secure permits and approvals from regulators under a variety of federal programs, including Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act. Fred provides strategic counseling regarding implementation of the full spectrum of federal environmental programs, as well as U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) surface transportation grant management and safety regulations.

Prior to joining Jacobs, Fred represented a wide variety of developers, public entities, and businesses in environmental, land use, and natural resources litigation in federal trial and appellate courts across the country, from citizen suits to government enforcement actions and Administration Procedure Act (APA) challenges. Most recently, Fred was counsel of record in the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition NEPA case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Speakers

Pam (Hudson) Danko 
President and Environmental Attorney
Hudson Danko Engineering

Pam (Hudson) Danko is a member of NAEP, and a nationally known NEPA attorney and specialist providing extensive NEPA compliance services to federal agencies and private entities. She is the author of the Annual NEPA Case Law Review (2014 Present) and has authored eighteen federal agency, academic, and peer-reviewed articles. She recently started her own disabled veteran owned small business, specializing in all aspects of compliance with NEPA. Mrs. Danko retired from the Federal Aviation Administrations Office of Chief Counsel after serving a long tenure with the Department of the Navys Office of General Counsel. Her previous experience includes serving as a senior environmental law attorney with the FAAs Airports and Environmental Law HQ branch, and as a Deputy Counsel for Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Southwest, supervising legal teams in acquisition, labor and employment, real estate, and environmental. Earlier in her career, she led the Navys environmental law and NEPA training program. Pam provided legal sufficiency and technical reviews on projects involving airport development, transportation, construction, real estate actions, grants, acquisition actions, and commercial space transportation. She supported the Department of Justice litigating federal NEPA claims and advised on and drafted agency NEPA regulations and policy. Mrs. Danko is a retired U.S. Navy Commander (Oceanography) and is an alumna of Florida State University College of Law, where she was the Beverly Stout McLear Environmental and Land Use Scholar.

Charles P. Nicholson, PhD
Senior Environmental Planner/Scientist
HDR

Chuck Nicholson has been a NAEP Member for almost 20 years and is an elected NAEP Board Member and chair of the NEPA Working Group. He has 47 years of professional experience in the environmental and natural resources fields including 31 years as a NEPA compliance specialist. He is retired from the Tennessee Valley Authority where he oversaw the preparation of EIS, EA, and CE documentation for a wide range of actions. Chuck currently works as a part-time senior environmental scientist/planner focusing on NEPA compliance at HDR. He has a BS in Wildlife and Fisheries Science from the University of Tennessee, an MS in Wildlife Management from the University of Maine, and a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Tennessee.

Melanie Hernandez, Esq., CEP
Vice President and Environmental Attorney
Scout

Melanie Hernandez is a licensed attorney and the co-founder and Vice President of Scout, an environmental and engineering company headquartered in San Diego, CA. With over 20 years in NEPA and environmental law, she leads as a senior NEPA project manager, serving clients like the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Army, and the Coast Guard. Her expertise includes managing multidisciplinary NEPA teams for projects involving new military systems, construction, and public land access. Prior to Scout, she led some of the most complex Environmental Impact Statements for the Marine Corps in the Pacific and Japan, where she lived for five years.

Michael Smith, PhD
Senior Vice President and National Practice Leader
WSP USA

Dr. Michael D. Smith is a nationally recognized leader in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance with over 31 years of experience in project and program management, technical analysis, policy development, and training/education for a wide range of public and private sector clients. He is currently a Senior Vice President and the National Practice Leader at WSP for Environmental Process, Policy, and Assessment. He has managed and provided compliance review for some of the nation's largest, most complex, and highly controversial projects, including major energy, transportation, and water infrastructure projects, regulation of genetically engineered plants, commercial space transportation operations, and approval of new fuel economy standards for all vehicles operated in the U.S. He is a frequent trainer for NAEP, other professional associations, and a number of college and universities.