United States Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division

The United States Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) is one of seven litigating components of the U.S. Department of Justice. ENRD’s mandate is to enforce civil and criminal environmental laws and programs protecting the health and environment of the United States, and to defend suits challenging those laws and programs.

The richness and complexity of the Division’s history is inseparable from the larger story of the growth and maturation of American society in the 20th Century. In the early 1900s, Americans struggled to balance competing interests stemming from westward expansion, preservation of natural spaces, resource disputes on public and tribal lands, and other such issues. Disagreements soon erupted over these difficult questions.

In November 1909, Attorney General George Wickersham signed a two-page order creating “The Public Lands Division” of the Department of Justice to step into the breach and address the critical litigation that ensued. He assigned all cases concerning “enforcement of the Public Land Law”, including Indian rights cases, to the new Division, and transferred a staff of nine – six attorneys and three stenographers – to carry out those responsibilities.

As the nation grew and developed, so did the responsibilities of the Division, and its name changed to the “Environment and Natural Resources Division” (ENRD) to better reflect those responsibilities. Today, the Division, which is organized into ten sections, has offices in Washington, D.C., Boston, Denver, Sacramento, San Francisco and Seattle, and a staff of over 600 people. It currently has approximately 7,000 active cases and matters, and has represented virtually every federal agency in courts in all fifty states, territories and possessions.

The Division initiates and pursues legal action to enforce federal pollution abatement laws and obtain compliance with environmental protection and conservation statutes. ENRD also represents the United States in all matters concerning protection, use, and development of the nation’s natural resources and public lands. The Division defends suits challenging all of the foregoing laws, and fulfills the federal government’s responsibility to litigate on behalf of Native American tribes and individual Native Americans. The Division is also responsible for the acquisition of real property by eminent domain for the federal government, and brings and defends cases under wildlife protection laws. ENRD’s legal successes have reduced harmful discharges into the air, water, and land, enabled clean-up of contaminated waste sites, and ensured proper disposal of solid and hazardous waste.

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