Education

  • University of Maryland, College Park, B.S. (1979)
  • The George Washington University, M.S. (1982)
  • The George Washington University Law School, J.D. (1985) Order of the Coif

Admissions

  • District of Columbia

Peter Gray

Senior Counsel
pgray@crowell.com
+1.202.624.2513

Companies seeking to resolve complex environmental disputes without pursuing protracted costly litigation require experienced counsel with subject matter depth, creative solutions and approaches, and an understanding of each side’s needs. Peter Gray has spent decades helping clients manage environmental disputes. While clients trust Peter’s skill in litigating such disputes, he is best known for his ability to resolve them while minimizing the need for litigation. Peter’s role as litigation counsel with pesticide producers and other members of the chemical industry has focused on preserving the value of products and their bottom lines. When a cleanup of a contaminated property requires coordination across federal, state, and private parties, clients call Peter.

Peter is a senior counsel in the firm’s Environment and Natural Resources Group. He focuses on disputes over the responsibility for the cleanup of contaminated property, including emerging contaminants such as PFAS; challenges to state and federal environmental regulations; enforcement cases involving hazardous materials; arbitration in data compensation claims involving pesticide data submissions; and environmental due diligence in large commercial transactions.

Peter has been ranked by Chambers USA as a leading environmental attorney in the Washington, D.C., area, and he is an Acritas Star, Acritas Stars Independently Rated Lawyers (2019). He has been named by Super Lawyers as a leader in his field and was recognized by Corporate Responsibility Magazine’s 2014 “Legal Who’s Who in Environmental Law.” Peter was also listed in Who’s Who Legal: Environment 2017 and has been included in multiple editions of The Best Lawyers in America.

In addition to his environmental litigation practice, Peter has a diverse Washington, D.C.-based regulatory practice in which he regularly represents clients before numerous federal agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation, and counsels clients on hazardous materials management, release reporting requirements, and climate change planning and advocacy.

One of Peter’s areas of concentration is the regulation of pesticide products by EPA under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. He is one of a handful of lawyers experienced in litigating “pesticide data compensation” claims under FIFRA and has handled hundreds of claims over the past 25 years.

Peter writes extensively in the environmental area. He was selected by the American Bar Association to write “The Superfund Manual” (2015), the definitive treatise on Superfund. Other manuals and treatises he has authored include “The CERCLA Basic Practice Manual” (ABA 2008), the “Pesticide Regulation Handbook” (2007), and “The EPCRA Basic Practice Manual” (ABA 2002). Peter also participates as a commentator in broadcast media, having appeared on “Fox Business News” and Bloomberg Radio.

Peter co-founded the Association of Climate Change Officers, and he is a member of the Environmental Law Institute Leadership Circle. He has served in many leadership roles in the ABA Section on Environment, Energy, and Resources, including as past chair of the Environmental Litigation and Toxic Torts Committee and the Site Remediation Committee.

Peter is also an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.

Affiliations

Professional Activities and Memberships

  • Founder / Board of Directors, Association of Climate Change Officers
  • Board of Advisors, Chemical Waste Litigation Reporter
  • Member, Environmental Law Institute Leadership Circle
  • Board of Directors, Montgomery County Revenue Authority, Maryland

Representative Matters

  • National coordinating counsel for multinational munitions company on Superfund litigation; orchestrated the company's defense of dozens of federal and private cost recovery cases filed against the company in connection with cleanup of contamination linked to a pesticide which the company sold in the 1960s and 1970s.
  • Represented Fortune 500 company in Natural Resource Damages action filed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
  • Defended numerous Fortune 500 and multinational corporations in enforcement actions brought by state agencies and EPA under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
  • Represented numerous companies in enforcement actions brought by the U.S. Department of Transportation under the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act.
  • Defended government contractor in federal cost recovery actions in which the U.S. sought a portion of the cost of cleaning up a military installation. Negotiated a favorable percentage of clean-up cost to be paid by contractor.
  • Defended landowner in condemnation action in which a municipality had exercised eminent domain over the client’s property. The municipality and the landowner disagreed over the effect of contamination on the property’s value. A few weeks prior to trial, based on expert testimony developed and presented, the municipality agreed to pay nearly double the amount it had previously stated as the property value.

Speeches & Presentations

  • "2022 Pesticide Regulation Workshop," Household & Commercial Products Association, Washington, D.C. (October 19, 2022). Speakers: Michael Boucher, Peter Gray, Warren Lehrenbaum, and Amy Symonds.
  • "FIFRA Data Compensation: The Basics and Key Issues," Pesticide Data Compensation and Protection in a Global Marketplace Workshop, Cary, North Carolina. (April 7, 2022). Speakers: Peter Gray and Amy Symonds.
  • "EU Data Compensation," Pesticide Data Compensation and Protection in a Global Marketplace Workshop, Cary, North Carolina. (April 7, 2022). Speaker: Peter Gray.
  • "Establishing a Scientific Basis for Remediation and Treatment," PFAS Litigation in the Pacific Northwest, Law Seminars International Webinar (September 15, 2020). Panelist: Peter Gray.
  • "Managing Environmental Compliance and Exposure to Liability During the Coronavirus Crisis," Crowell & Moring Webinar (April 8, 2020). Presenters: David Chung, Peter Gray, Robert Meyers, Kirsten L. Nathanson, Byron R. Brown, and Paul Freeman.
  • "FIFRA Data Compensation: The Basics and Key Issues," Pesticide Data Compensation and Protection in a Global Marketplace, Cary, North Carolina (March 24, 2020). Presenters: Peter Gray and Amy Symonds.
  • "EU Data Compensation," Pesticide Data Compensation and Protection in a Global Marketplace, Cary, North Carolina (March 24, 2020). Presenter: Peter Gray.
  • "The Evolution of PFAS Litigation and Future Drivers," Emerging Contaminants Summit, Westminster, CO (March 11, 2020). Panelist: Peter Gray.
  • "The Evolution of PFAS Litigation and Future Drivers," Emerging Contaminants Summit (March 11, 2020). Speaker: Peter Gray.
  • "Cop 21: Prospects for Adoption of the Paris Climate Change Agreement," Live Broadcast, Paris, France (December 3, 2015). Speaker: Peter Gray.
  • "Can Recycling Make A Significant Impact on Climate Change?" 2009 Keep America Beautiful Symposium (October 21, 2009). Speaker: Peter Gray.
  • "Carbon Developments in the United States," USGBC Capital Chapter Carbon Workshop (June 2008). Speaker: Peter Gray.
  • "Preemption Issues for Federal & State Climate Change Schemes," Climate Change Legislation: Risk & Opportunities (May 2008). Speaker: Peter Gray.
  • "U.S. Climate Policy Developments," Annual Meeting of the National Recycling Coalition (September 2007). Speaker: Peter Gray.

Publications


Client Alerts & Newsletters


Press Coverage


Firm News & Announcements

August 18, 2022 The Best Lawyers in America 2023 Recognizes 54 Crowell & Moring Attorneys, Three Selected as Lawyer of the Year
August 19, 2021 The Best Lawyers in America 2022 Recognizes 53 Crowell & Moring Attorneys, One Selected as Lawyer of the Year
August 20, 2020 The Best Lawyers in America 2021 Recognizes 46 Crowell & Moring Attorneys, Two Selected as Lawyer of the Year
March 16, 2020 Fourteen Crowell & Moring Lawyers Named 2020 Acritas Stars
September 20, 2019 Super Lawyers Recognizes 82 Crowell & Moring Lawyers Across United States
August 16, 2019 The Best Lawyers in America 2020 Recognizes 49 Crowell & Moring Attorneys, Three Selected as Lawyer of the Year
October 15, 2018 Super Lawyers Recognizes 82 Crowell & Moring Lawyers Across United States
August 15, 2018 The Best Lawyers in America 2019 Recognizes 38 Crowell & Moring Attorneys
October 31, 2017 The Best Lawyers in America 2018 Recognizes 40 Crowell & Moring Lawyers
April 26, 2017 Lawyers Peter Gray and John D. Conner, Jr., Authorities in Chemicals and Pesticides Regulations, Join Crowell & Moring’s Environment & Natural Resources Group