11/11/08, from Colby Marshall, OR Congressman Greg Walden's office:

Hello everyone,

E&E Daily reports today that “former Clinton Interior Deputy Secretary David Hayes is in charge of (President-elect Obama) transition planning for all of the key energy and environmental agencies, including U.S. EPA and the Interior, Energy and Agriculture departments.”  A quick Google search brought up Mr. Hayes experience as posted on the Washington D.C law firm of Latham & Watkins which he is a partner.  Below is his background per the information on the website:

David J. Hayes

Partner

Practices

Air Quality Regulation

Chemical and Pesticide Regulation

Climate Change

Contaminated Properties/ Waste

Environmental Litigation

Environmental Regulatory

Environmental Transactional Support

European Environmental Law

Land Use

Product Liability and Mass Torts

Bar Qualifications

District of Columbia

Education

JD, Stanford University, 1978

Note Editor, Stanford Law Review

BA, University of Notre Dame, 1975

summa cum laude

Experience

David J. Hayes is the Global Chair of the Environment, Land & Resources Department at Latham & Watkins, a department comprised of nearly 100 lawyers who work on environmental, energy and resources matters throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. For three consecutive years, Latham & Watkins has been recognized as the leading environmental legal practice in the world by Who's Who Legal, and as one of the leading practices in the US by Chambers & Partners.  

Mr. Hayes is resident in the firm's Washington, D.C. office, where his practice focuses on counseling, litigation and transactions involving environmental, energy and natural resources matters. Mr. Hayes has practiced in the field for more than twenty-five years, combining an extensive background in EPA-related regulatory matters (contaminated sites, chemical regulation, air and water pollution issues) with natural resource-related matters (water rights and allocation, endangered species act implementation, energy project permitting, land conservation projects and Indian-related matters).

Mr. Hayes served as the Deputy Secretary of the Interior during the Clinton Administration. As Deputy Secretary, he was second in command at Interior under Secretary Bruce Babbitt, with statutory responsibility to serve as the Chief Operating Officer over Interior's 70,000 employees and $10 billion budget. Mr. Hayes was nominated for the position by President Clinton, and confirmed by unanimous vote of the United States Senate. While at Interior, Mr. Hayes played a lead role in many of the Department's most difficult and important matters with a primary focus on the acquisition and protection of threatened lands (e.g. acquisition of the Headwaters old-growth redwood forest in Northern California); the restoration of threatened ecosystems (e.g. the Bay-Delta ecosystem restoration project in California); the introduction of modern water management approaches in the west (e.g. the Colorado River initiatives undertaken by the Administration); the negotiation of habitat conservation plans under the Endangered Species Act; energy-related issues associated with federal lands and resources (e.g. oil and gas development, hydropower licensing, etc.); and the settlement of long-standing Indian water and land disputes.

Mr. Hayes has served in a variety of leadership positions in the environmental, energy and resources field, including Chairman of the Board of the Environmental Law Institute, a nonprofit research and publication center for environmental law and management professionals. He is the Vice Chair of the Board of American Rivers and is a Board member of RESOLVE and the Natural Heritage Institute.

In the fall of 2007, Mr. Hayes served as Consulting Professor at Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment. While at Stanford, he directed a Woods Institute dialogue project on carbon offsets. The results of his work at Stanford are being published by the Center for American Progress. Mr. Hayes also is a Senior Fellow at the World Wildlife Fund, with a focus on climate change matters, and he is a Senior Fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, the think tank that is affiliated with the Democratic Leadership Council, where he serves on PPI's energy task force.

Mr. Hayes has been recognized by Chambers & Partners USA as one of the two highest rated environmental lawyers in Washington, D.C. and was most recently recognized as a leading attorney in its 2008 directory.  Lawdragon has listed him as one of the 500 Leading Lawyers in America.

Mr. Hayes is a 1978 graduate of the Stanford Law School, where he was Notes Editor for the Stanford Law Review, and he is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Notre Dame. He currently serves as the Chair of Stanford Law School's Board of Visitors.

Office Contact

Latham & Watkins

Washington, D.C. Office

555 Eleventh Street, NW

Suite 1000

Washington DC 20004-1304

202.637.2204 Phone

202.637.2201 Fax

david.hayes@lw.com

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Colby Marshall
Eastern Oregon Office Director 
Congressman Greg Walden (OR-02)