U.S. Department
of Justice
Blog Post
A Special Day for the Environment and Natural Resources Division
Guests sign in for the ENRD Celebration
Ignacia is a talented, really fine attorney, and I know she arrives at this moment armed with great ideas. I also know that she is already a friend to many of you here in the audience, and that you, like me, are looking forward to working with her to advance the Division’s important mission. Ignacia helped develop the Department’s Environmental Justice program during the Clinton Administration, recognizing the special burden that a polluted environment puts on minority and low-income communities. I am especially looking forward to working with her to strengthen our efforts to achieve environmental justice.
The Assistant Attorney General arrives just in time to celebrate 100 years of work aquiring lands for national parks, working for cleaner air and water, helping to assure military readiness, and protecting wildlife. In these ways, and many more, the work of the Environment and Natural Resources Division has touched the lives of almost every American.
Exactly 100 years ago, on November 16, 1909, then-Attorney-General George W. Wickersham established the Public Lands Division of the United States Department of Justice. As the nation grew and developed, the division’s name changed to the “Environment and Natural Resources Division.” The division is organized into nine sections, has a staff of over 600 people with offices in Washington, D.C., Anchorage, Boston, Denver, Sacramento, San Francisco and Seattle.
There are currently over 6,000 active cases, and has represented virtually every federal agency in courts all over the United States and its territories and possessions.
More information about the Environment and Natural Resources Division can be found on its centennial Web site. There you can read about case highlights, learn about the people and resources of ENRD, and delve into the work of specific sections.
For more information about the Environment and Natural Resources Division, visit: http://www.justice.gov/enrd/index.html.Updated April 7, 2017