Fred R. Wagner

Partner
Wagner Fred

Fred Wagner focuses on environmental and natural resources issues concerning major infrastructure, including surface transportation, energy, mining, and commercial project development. Fred manages and defends environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or equivalent state statutes. He also secures permits and approvals from regulators under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Clean Air Act (CAA), and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). Fred counsels clients regarding implementation of U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) surface transportation programs, including grant management, domestic preference standards, procurement, suspension and debarment, and safety regulation.

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.

 

Experience

Government Experience

  • Special assistant to the United States attorney, U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, Misdemeanor Trial Section
  • Trial attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, Environment Division, Natural Resources Section
  • Chief counsel, U.S. Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation

Representative Matters

  • Served as special counsel to the Ohio, Maryland, Texas, Indiana, Florida, and Utah Departments of Transportation, successfully advancing numerous high-profile projects through the environmental permitting process and defending those administrative actions in federal district and appellate courts
  • Worked closely with the project developer of a new offshore wind project in New York Bight to finalize environmental submissions to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
  • Partnered with the developer of the largest proposed private container terminal on the East Coast to obtain the support of the Federal Permitting Council and work with the Army Corps of Engineers to prepare the project NEPA analysis
  • Secured permits for the development of a crucial multimodal shipping center and for the replacement of a historic freight rail bridge
  • Represented the developer of a new rail line in Utah before the U.S. Supreme Court in ground-breaking NEPA litigation, Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County
  • Served as counsel to the City of New Orleans, successfully defending the city's efforts to rebuild a new downtown medical center complex following Hurricane Katrina
  • Worked with an international copper mining company to conclude and defend large land exchanges with the federal government, allowing the expansion of two of the world's largest copper mines in Arizona
  • Assisted the U.S. General Services Administration in the permitting and defense of agency relocation projects, such as the consolidation of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office headquarters to Alexandria, Virginia; the Department of Transportation headquarters to southeast Washington, DC; and the new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) offices and laboratories in Silver Spring, Maryland
  • Co-authored numerous Supreme Court amicus briefs concerning disputes over the Clean Water Act definition of "waters of the United States" and other environmental enforcement issues

Insights

Credentials
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Education

  • J.D. University of Virginia School of Law 1987
  • B.A. History and Political Science Tufts University 1984
    • Phi Beta Kappa

Bar Admissions

  • District of Columbia

Professional Memberships and Activities

  • At-large board member, National Association of Environmental Professionals 
  • Chair, Policy and Organization Group, Transportation Research Board (TRB)
    • Member, TRB Environmental Issues in Transportation Law Committee
  • Member, Legal Affairs Committee, American Public Transportation Association
  • Member, Board of Advisors, Eno Center for Transportation
  • Member, American Exploration and Mining Association