Chris Carr is co-chair of the firm's Cleantech Group and chair of the firm's Environment and Energy Group. Mr. Carr has focused his practice on permitting and litigation under the federal Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and their California counterparts.
Mr. Carr frequently defends "citizen suits" brought under various federal environmental statutes and litigates challenges to environmental permits, approvals, and review documents in federal and state courts. His clients include public agencies, land developers, private individuals, nonprofits, and business concerns in the water, energy, timber, mining, agricultural, fishing, construction, manufacturing, and wine industries.
Mr. Carr advises and represents clients in permitting, investigations, and administrative proceedings by federal and state environmental, natural resource, and land management agencies. The federal agencies include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA Fisheries (formerly National Marine Fisheries Service), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Forest Service. The California state agencies include the California Department of Fish and Game, the California Fish and Game Commission, Regional Water Quality Control Boards, the State Water Resources Control Board, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and the California Board of Forestry.
Mr. Carr serves on the City of San Francisco's Clean Technology Advisory Council, the Wine Institute's Public Policy Committee, the California Forestry Association's Legal Affairs Committee, and the California Construction and Industrial Materials Association's Environment Committee. He also serves on the National Advisory Council of the Institute of Governmental Studies at U.C. Berkeley.