Reply #14: NY Times: DOJ nominee's industry experience a worry for some [View All]

DOJ nominee's industry experience a worry for some

By ROBIN BRAVENDER, Greenwire
Published: May 15, 2009

Prior to joining GE in 2006, Moreno worked at the Washington law firm Spriggs & Hollingsworth, where she specialized in environmental and mass tort litigation. She also worked for DOJ during the Clinton administration, serving as special assistant and principal counsel to the assistant attorney general for the environment division. She began her career at Hogan & Hartson LLP, where she practiced with the firm's environmental and litigation groups.

"There's a huge amount of concern circulating through the environmental community" about Moreno's nomination, said Alex Matthiessen, president of the New York-based environmental group Riverkeeper.

"She's essentially moving to the opposite side of the issue with very little experience as an environmental law enforcer," he said. Although she worked in DOJ's environment division from 1994 until 2001, "she seemed to have a fairly minor role in the division," he added.

Matthiessen, whose group focuses on cleaning up pollution in the Hudson River, said he was particularly troubled by Moreno's tenure as counsel to GE, whose plants discharged as much as 1.3 million pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the Hudson River in New York between 1947 and 1977. GE is accused of dragging its feet for years to avoid the costly cleanup.

PCBs are considered probable human carcinogens and are linked to adverse health effects including low birth weight, thyroid disease and other disorders, according to EPA.

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/05/15/15greenwire-doj-nominees-industry-experience-a-worry-for-s-12208.html