Grant Tolley
2200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Suite 500 West
Washington, D.C. 20037
Grant is a senior associate in the Washington, DC office of Vinson & Elkins and a member of the firm’s Environmental & Natural Resources practice. He represents clients across diverse sectors on a range of complex litigation and regulatory matters arising under the major federal environmental statutes. His clients have included automotive companies, oil and gas companies, utilities, developers, and manufacturers.
Grant has a particular focus on the Clean Air Act’s (CAA) stationary and mobile source regulatory regimes. He has counseled stationary source clients on complex issues involving the preconstruction permitting requirements of the PSD/NSR programs, Title V permitting, and Section 114 information requests. He has counseled mobile source clients on disclosure of auxiliary emission control devices (AECDs) pursuant to EPA’s audit policy, Section 208 information requests, and compliance with EPA and CARB requirements for vehicle emissions certification. Additionally, he served three years as a member of the court-appointed monitorship overseeing Volkswagen’s compliance with civil and criminal settlements resolving the $33 billion Dieselgate emissions cheating scandal. Through this work, he has developed a keen insight into Environmental Management Systems (EMS), the automotive production process, and US and EU vehicle emissions certification requirements.
During law school, Grant served as a law clerk for the US EPA, where he worked on Clean Air Act mobile source enforcement matters. Additionally, he worked as a student attorney in Georgetown’s Environmental Litigation Clinic, where he prepared an amicus brief in support of EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule Update in a challenge pending before the D.C. Circuit.
At Yale, Grant wrote his master’s thesis on nutrient cycling in secondary tropical forests and conducted field research in Panama, Costa Rica, and Mexico. He also served as a teaching fellow for Tropical Forest Ecology, participated in the Yale Law Environmental Clinic, and worked as a forester at the Yale School Forests.
Experience Highlights
Served three years as a member of the court-appointed monitorship overseeing Volkswagen’s compliance with the civil and criminal settlements resolving the $33 billion Dieselgate scandal
Represented petrochemical manufacturer in CAA New Source Review enforcement during negotiation of consent decree and in subsequent arbitration seeking indemnification to recover consent decree costs
Counseled automaker on disclosure of AECDs pursuant to EPA’s audit policy
Drafted comments on behalf of trade association on EPA’s National Compliance Initiatives
Prepared litigation risk assessment for public utility following the D.C. Circuit’s partial vacatur of EPA’s RCRA coal combustion residuals rule
Provided strategic analysis on defenses to products liability and toxic tort claims related to groundwater contamination in federal district court
Represented housing developer in appeal of permit conditions in state court and administrative litigation
Credentials
- Georgetown University, J.D., cum laude, 2017 (CALI Award for the highest grade in Environmental Law)
- Yale University, M.F.S., Forest Science, 2012
- University of Hawaii, B.A., English, and B.S., Botany, 2009
- Judicial Intern for the Honorable Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 2015
- Law Clerk, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, 2016
- Clerk, White House Council on Environmental Quality, 2012
- The Best Lawyers in America© (BL Rankings, LLC), “Ones to Watch,” Environmental Law (Washington), 2025
- Member: American Bar Association, Section of Environment, Energy and Resources
- District of Columbia
- U.S. Supreme Court
- Deals & CasesJune 21, 2024
- InsightMay 3, 2024
V&E Environmental Update
- Deals & CasesJuly 24, 2023
- Deals & CasesMay 19, 2023
- InsightJanuary 18, 2023
- InsightNovember 23, 2022
- InsightSeptember 9, 2022
- InsightSeptember 2, 2022
V&E Environmental Update
- InsightAugust 17, 2022
- InsightAugust 16, 2022
V&E Environmental Update
- InsightAugust 8, 2022
V&E Environmental Update
- InsightJuly 5, 2022
V&E Environmental Update
- InsightFebruary 15, 2022
V&E Environmental Update
- InsightJuly 6, 2021
V&E Environmental Update