In the course of his career, Fred has handled a wide variety of environmental, land use, and natural resources litigation in federal trial and appellate courts across the country, from citizen suits to government enforcement actions and Administration Procedure Act (APA) challenges. In the public sector, Fred has worked with numerous state departments of transportation, transit agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, and nonprofit associations in the transportation arena. He has also partnered with private developers of large-scale projects, including high-speed and freight rail, mining, container terminals, renewable energy, EV charging infrastructure, sports/entertainment arenas, and golf courses. Fred also has worked with manufacturing entities in the chemical and oil and gas industries to address compliance with federal pollution and remediation standards.
Fred was appointed chief counsel of the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) during the Obama administration. He managed all legal matters involving the $40 billion Federal-Aid Highway program, including environmental and natural resources issues for highway and multimodal transportation projects. He represented the FHWA on the government-wide Transportation Rapid Response Team, a multi-agency task force focused on improving project delivery and environmental review reforms. These efforts were the precursor to legislative and administrative reforms for infrastructure project development that led to the establishment of the Federal Permitting Council and the recent NEPA amendments in the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
Fred began his career as a trial attorney in the Environment Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. He also served as a special assistant U.S. attorney in the Misdemeanor Trial Section of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. Prior to joining Venable, he spent more than 20 years in private practice at a national law firm focusing on environmental and natural resources issues.