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Nationally Recognized Attorney LaJuana Wilcher Serves on Clean Water Law & Enforcement Panel
by Mandy Hicks
Nationally recognized ELPO Law Environmental Law attorney LaJuana Wilcher recently served on a panel as part of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies’s (NACWA) National Clean Water Law & Enforcement Seminar in Austin, TX. 
NACWA’s National Clean Water Law & Enforcement Seminar is the only national event focused exclusively on the legal and regulatory challenges facing the municipal clean water community. Attendees were brought together to explore the critical legal and regulatory issues impacting clean water utilities and how agencies can work together to discover strategies to develop the best solutions for current and future legal challenges.
During the seminar, Wilcher participated as a panelist regarding: Compliance Options to Meet Water Quality Standards. In theory, Clean Water regulators and the public water utility sector have many options to comply with Water Quality Based Effluent Limits such as Use Attainability Analyses (UAAs), variances, compliance schedules, integrated planning, and Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs). The panel explored the pros, cons, and practical realities of these tools including: How accessible are these tools? What are the impediments to widespread implementation? For CSO communities finishing long-term control plans, what will be required to show compliance and how can and should these tools be utilized?
Bethany Card, Director of Environmental and Regulatory Affairs for the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (Boston, MA), moderated the discussion. Other panelists along with Wilcher included Fredric Andes, Partner with Barnes & Thronburg, LLP (Chicago, IL); Devon Goodrich, Senior Counsel with the New York City Department of Law (New York, NY); and Deborah Nagle, Director for the Office of Science and Technology with the Office of Water for the US Environmental Protection Agency (Washington, DC).
About LaJuana Wilcher
LaJuana S. Wilcher is a partner at English, Lucas, Priest & Owsley, LLP. During her career, she has been a trial lawyer, served in senior policy positions in the federal and state governments, taught law at Vanderbilt University Law School and Vermont Law School, and represented corporate, municipal and not-for-profit clients in private law practice throughout the country.
Nominated by President George H.W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 1989, Ms. Wilcher was USEPA’s senior official in the Office of Water, where she managed legislative, policy and program matters, and served as EPA’s lead representative in the $1.3 billion Exxon Valdez oil spill negotiations. She served as Assistant Administrator for Water at the EPA from 1989 to 1993.
She has counseled multinational corporations on strategic, policy, legislation and litigation matters. She has served as Cabinet Secretary for Kentucky’s Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet, which consolidated over 30 regulatory agencies, including the Departments of Environmental Protect, Labor, Financial Institutions, Insurance, Mine Safety and Alcoholic Beverage Control, as well as the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority, among others.