Kenneth Rumelt - Denver, CO

Overview

Ken Rumelt has a long history in the field of environmental law and toxics. He received a Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Studies (Biogeochemistry) and a minor in biochemistry from the University of Colorado. After college, he spent two years as an intern with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Hazardous Waste and Superfund Ombudsman helping investigate EPA's actions at hazardous waste and Superfund sites. He attended St. Louis University School of Law after the EPA position ended. While at law school he learned about a community south of St. Louis, Missouri that was facing unprecedented contamination from a still-active lead smelter. He lobbied the law firms representing the community in class action and personal injury cases to help and, after passing the bar, helped the plaintiffs in those cases reach successful settlements and establish the law of medical monitoring for the State of Missouri.

In 2009, Ken left St. Louis to move his family to New England and obtain a Masters of Law (LLM) in environmental law from Vermont Law School. While there he received a fellowship to work as a staff attorney in the law school's Environmental Advocacy Clinic. He stayed on following his fellowship and eventually was granted the title of Professor of Law.

Over his eleven-year career at Vermont Law School, Ken trained hundreds of law students to practice environmental law, many of whom have gone on to work at some of the nation's leading environmental organizations and government agencies. He developed expertise in federal environmental law including the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, Superfund, and others.

As a senior attorney at the school's Environmental Advocacy Clinic, Ken successfully challenged major energy infrastructure projects, fought to protect communities from pollution, and pushed to strengthen legal remedies for innocent victims of toxic exposures. He recently co-authored an article in the Harvard Environmental Law Review on pipelines and environmental justice.

Ken also served on Vermont's Act 154 Chemical Use Working Group, which was charged by the Vermont legislature to make recommendations to the legislature on improving the toxics regulation in the state. As a result of this work, Ken testified in support of legislation that would secure the right to make polluters pay for medical monitoring after exposing communities to harmful chemicals. The bills passed the Vermont legislature but were vetoed in successive years by the state's Republican governor.

Ken has also served as a member of the Citizen Advisory Panel to the Vermont Interagency Committee on Chemical Management.

Ken's list of accomplishments include:

Co-authored two amicus briefs, one in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia and another in the court of appeals, on behalf of members of the United States Congress in support of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe's efforts to halt the Dakota Access Pipeline. See
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng'rs, 985 F.3d 1032 (D.C. Cir. 2021).

Co-authored an amicus brief on behalf of environmental and health nonprofit organizations in support of a class action seeking medical monitoring for a community following exposure to PFAS chemicals. See Benoit v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp., 959 F.3d 491 (2d Cir. 2020).

Advised Protect South Portland on how to protect their community from a proposed tar sands oil pipeline project. The City of South Portland passed an ordinance banning the loading of crude oil onto ocean tankers due to, among others, air pollution. See Portland Pipe Line Corp. v. City of S. Portland, 332 F. Supp. 3d 264 (D. Me. 2018). He then co-authored an amicus brief in the First Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of Protect South Portland and other organizations in support of the City.

Represented members of the U.S. Virgin Islands senate and community members to help stop the FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from incinerating debris from two hurricanes that devastated the island. Rivera-O'Reilly, et al. v. Federal Environmental Management Agency and the United States Army Corps of Engineers, No. 1:17-cv-57 (Dec. 15, 2017).

Represented Northern Plains Resource Council and Rocker Six Cattle Company to stop a $1 billion railroad and undeveloped coal mine project in Montana's Powder River Basin. Obtained precedent-setting ruling from Surface Transportation Board to conduct discovery on parent companies Arch Coal and BNSF, including depositions and written discovery. See Tongue River R.R. Co., Inc.-Rail Construction and Operation-In Custer, Powder River and Rosebud Counties, Mont., Finance Docket No. 30186 (STB served Apr. 26, 2016) (decision).

Ken also served on Vermont's Act 154 Chemical Use Working Group, which was empaneled to recommend improvements to Vermont's regulation of toxic substances.

Ken serves on the board of his synagogue, is an avid photographer and guitarist, and loves spending time raising his family, their dog, and a small flock of chickens.