Elizabeth (Ellie) B. Dawson is a counsel in the Environment & Natural Resources Group in Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office. She advocates for her clients’ interests in everything from agency rulemaking petitions under the Clean Air Act to Superfund liability and allocation disputes, everywhere from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to the Western District of Washington.
Ellie’s practice covers the range of environmental and natural resources statutes, including the Clean Air Act; the Clean Water Act; the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act; the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act; the National Environmental Policy Act; and the Endangered Species Act. She counsels clients in navigating these statutes and supports them in agency rulemaking challenges and enforcement defense.
Ellie’s prior experience includes over five years at the Environment & Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where as a trial attorney in the Environmental Defense Section she gained invaluable insight into agency policies, procedures, and thought processes. She presented oral arguments in three different U.S. Courts of Appeals and litigated in district courts across the country, including the Western District of Washington, the Central District of California, and the Eastern District of Virginia. Ellie received numerous performance awards, a Special Achievement Award, and was nominated for the John Marshall Award for Participation in Litigation, one of DOJ’s highest awards offered to attorneys.
Ellie received her J.D. and Certificate in environmental and natural resources law, summa cum laude, from Lewis & Clark Law School in 2011, where she was inducted into the Cornelius Honor Society. She also served as notes and comments editor of Environmental Law, co-chaired the school’s annual Public Interest Law Project auction, and reached the final round of the National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition.
Affiliations
Admitted to practice: District of Columbia, Oregon
Speeches & Presentations
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"EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard Agenda for 2019," Crowell & Moring Webinar
(March 7, 2019).
Speakers: Paul Freeman, Robert Meyers, Thomas A. Lorenzen, Byron R. Brown, Elizabeth B. Dawson, and Preetha Chakrabarti.
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"Energy Law Update," Energy & Mineral Law Foundation 39th Annual Institute, Nashville, TN
(June 18, 2018).
Presenters: Daniel W. Wolff and Elizabeth B. Dawson.
Publications
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"Pesticides and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)" Environment, Energy, and Resources Law: The Year in Review 2018 89
(Am. Bar Ass’n, 2019).
Authors: Michael Boucher and Elizabeth B. Dawson.
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"The Clean (Ground) Water Act?" Trends January/February 2019, Vol. 50, No. 3, American Bar Association
(2019).
Authors: David Chung and Elizabeth B. Dawson.
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"The Florida Beach Case and the Road to Judicial Takings," 35 Wm. & Mary Envtl. Law & Pol’y Rev. 713
(2011).
Authors: Michael C. Blumm & Elizabeth B. Dawson.
Client Alerts & Newsletters
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"Ninth Circuit Dismisses Kids’ Climate Change Lawsuit Against Federal Government,"
Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert
(January 24, 2020).
Contacts: Tracy A. Roman, Elizabeth B. Dawson, Leland P. Frost
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"NEPA Review and Climate Change – Proposed Guidance Aims to Define Federal Agency Duties and Discretion,"
Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert
(July 3, 2019).
Contacts: Kirsten L. Nathanson, Daniel W. Wolff, Elizabeth B. Dawson
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"EPA Repeals Obama Administration's Power Plant CO2 Regulations and Issues Narrower Replacement Rule,"
Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert
(June 25, 2019).
Contacts: Thomas A. Lorenzen, Robert Meyers, Elizabeth B. Dawson, Amanda Shafer Berman
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"Preemption or Pandora's Box: The Supreme Court Agrees to Review the CERCLA Federal/State Divide,"
Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert
(June 13, 2019).
Contacts: Elliott P. Laws, Peter Gray, Kirsten L. Nathanson, Elizabeth B. Dawson
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"EPA Finalizes E15 Expansion, Scaled-Back RIN Market Reforms under the Renewable Fuel Standard,"
Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert
(June 3, 2019).
Contacts: Elizabeth B. Dawson, Paul Freeman, Robert Meyers, Thomas A. Lorenzen
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"Fuels Alert: EPA’s E15 and RIN Market Reform Proposed Rules out for Public Comment (Due April 29),"
Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert
(March 21, 2019).
Contacts: Robert Meyers, Thomas A. Lorenzen, Elizabeth B. Dawson, Paul Freeman
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"CERCLA Litigation Watch: First Subsurface Intrusion NPL Site Listing Challenged in D.C. Circuit,"
Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert
(February 28, 2019).
Contacts: Jennifer A. Giblin, Elizabeth B. Dawson, Richard McNeil
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"EPA Implements Obama-Era Subsurface Intrusion Regulation with National Priorities List Additions,"
Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert
(September 25, 2018).
Contacts: Jennifer A. Giblin, Elizabeth B. Dawson, Richard McNeil
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"Judicial Branch Continues to Scrutinize the Executive Branch's Deregulatory Agenda,"
Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert
(October 12, 2017).
Contacts: Daniel W. Wolff, Kirsten L. Nathanson, Elizabeth B. Dawson
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"Trump: The First Year - Deconstruction of the Administrative State Stymied by the D.C. Circuit,"
First 100 Days Series
(September 7, 2017).
Contacts: David Chung, Elizabeth B. Dawson
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"The Administrative State Will Not Deconstruct Itself,"
(June 29, 2017).
Contacts: David Ervin, Thomas A. Lorenzen, Elizabeth B. Dawson
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"Citizen Suit Watch: No End in Sight for Clean Water Act Litigation Involving Discharges to Groundwater,"
Environment & Natural Resources: Citizen Suit Watch
(May 23, 2017).
Contacts: David Chung, Kirsten L. Nathanson, Thomas A. Lorenzen, Elizabeth B. Dawson
In the News
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