Jon Niermann
I enjoy collaborating with my clients toward successful outcomes. My experience on both sides of the enforcement docket and as a final decision-maker on permitting matters helps clients find the best posture for resolving alleged violations and securing authorizations for their projects. Jon draws on high level government experience to advise clients on their most critical civil environmental enforcement investigations and litigation, and complex environmental permitting challenges. His extensive experience includes contested project permitting matters, where agency environmental permits related to air and water issues are critical to project success.
Before joining the firm, Jon served nearly a decade as Chairman and Commissioner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), responsible for TCEQ’s final actions on matters including project permitting, enforcement, and rulemakings and for oversight of the State’s implementation of state and federally delegated environmental laws. He also represented the agency before the Texas legislature and served in leadership roles in various associations of state and federal environmental regulators.
Prior to TCEQ, Jon served in the Office of the Attorney General of Texas as the Chief of the Environmental Protection Division, where he led a large team in representing Texas’ natural resource, energy, and utility agencies.
Experience Highlights
Chaired meetings of the TCEQ to hear and decide on the issuance of nearly every contested air, water, and waste permit from 2018 through 2024
Served as administrator of Texas’s $209 million Volkswagen Diesel Emissions Environmental Mitigation Trust, funding projects to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides
Secured approximately $1 billion for Texas to help restore the Gulf’s resources following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
(5th Cir.) – Briefed and argued petitions for review, obtaining vacatur of EPA’s unlawful disapprovals of Texas air permitting rules
(Tex. Dist. – Travis Cnty.) – Secured $50 million in civil penalties for environmental violations related to a refinery explosion
Represented and briefed a metals manufacturer on legal issues pertaining to toxic tort action for groundwater contamination
Represented and briefed an electric utility company to defend against Clean Air Act citizen suits and to support petitions for review of newly promulgated federal air regulations
Credentials
- University of Oregon School of Law, J.D., 2001 (Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation)
- University of Oregon Lundquist College of Business, M.B.A., 2001
- University of California Santa Barbara, B.A. in History, with honors, 1989
- Chairman, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, 2018–2024
- Commissioner, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, 2015–2024
- Chief, Office of the Attorney General of Texas, Environmental Protection Division, 2012–2015
- Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General of Texas, Environmental Protection Division, 2009–2015
- Environmental attorney in private practice, 2001–2009
- Member: American College of Environmental Lawyers, 2020–present
- Immediate Past President: Environmental Council of States, 2019–2024
- Immediate Past Co-Chair: E-Enterprise Leadership Council, 2023–2024
- Immediate Past Chair: Western States Water Council, 2016–2024
- Member: Bureau of Economic Geology Visiting Committee, 2016–2024
- Member: Good Neighbor Environmental Board Federal Advisory Committee, 2018–2024
- Texas
- United States Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- United States Supreme Court
- President’s Letter to Members of the Environmental Council of States on the Council’s Priorities, November 1, 2024
- Host State Welcome: Diversity in Texas, 2024 Environmental Council of States Spring Meeting, March 25, 2024 (speaker)
- Enforcement, Emergency Response & Air Quality at the Houston Ship Channel, American College of Environmental Lawyers Annual Conference, November 7, 2024 (speaker)
- Invited Testimony on the Impacts of Permanent Cement Production Plants on Local Communities, Texas Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Economic Development Hearing, September 17, 2024 (speaker)
- Invited Testimony on Overcoming Federal Incompetence, Texas Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Economic Development Hearing, June 13, 2024 (speaker)
- Thoughts for Future Environmental Leaders, Mickey Leland Environmental Internship Program Mentoring Conference, June 15, 2023 (speaker)
- New Institutional Framework to Address Infrastructure Needs and Water Insecurity, Signing Ceremony for the Texas-Tamaulipas Memorandum of Cooperation, May 16, 2023 (speaker)
- Strategies for States to Leverage Federal Investments to Cut Carbon Pollution & Build Climate Resilience, 2023 Environmental Council of States Spring Meeting, March 28, 2023 (co-speaker)
- Statement on TCEQ’s Exceptional Work and Resource Challenges, Texas Senate Committee on Nominations Confirmation Hearing, March 27, 2023 (speaker)
- Invited Testimony on TCEQ’s Responsibilities and the Agency’s Sunset Review, Texas Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Economic Development Hearing, March 1, 2023 (speaker)
- Resilience in the Face of Natural Disaster, 2022 Environmental Council of States Fall Meeting, September 19, 2022 (co-speaker)
- Invited Testimony in Response to Sunset Staff Report, Texas Sunset Advisory Commission Hearing, June 22, 2022 (speaker)
- Engaging EPA on Environmental Justice plus Sunset Review Update, Baker Botts Environmental Law Seminar, January 24, 2022 (speaker)
- Updates on Revisions to TCEQ’s Penalty Policy and on the Agency’s Diversity Initiatives, Texas Rural Water Association & Texas Water Conservation Association 2021 Water Law Conference, January 22, 2021 (speaker)
- EPA/TCEQ Covid Response, Texas Environmental Superconference, August 6, 2020 (co-speaker)
- Update on Pandemic Response, Enforcement Initiatives and Permitting, Texas Industry Project Quarterly Meeting, June 4, 2020 (speaker)
- Open Letter to Citizens, Advocates, and the Regulated Community on TCEQ’s Pandemic Response, April 6, 2020
- Opening Remarks Addressing the History of Water Quality Legislation, Association of Clean Water Administrators 58th Annual Meeting, August 27, 2019 (speaker)
- Invited Testimony on the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan and TCEQ’s Expedited Permitting Program, Texas Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Economic Development Hearing, February 20, 2019 (speaker)
- International, Interstate, and Intrastate Water Issues: History, Policy and Pending Litigation, Law of the Rio Grande Conference, April 11, 2019 (speaker)
- Invited Testimony on TCEQ Budget Request to Support Core Agency Functions, Texas House Appropriations Subcommittee on Articles VI, VII & VIII Hearing, February 12, 2019 (speaker)
- Invited Testimony on TCEQ Budget Request to Support Permitting, Enforcement, and Emergency Response, Texas Senate Committee on Finance Hearing, January 30, 2019 (speaker)
- Flood Disaster Update and Water Rights Permitting, Texas Water Conservation Association Fall Conference, October 19, 2018 (speaker)
- Benefitting from Environmental Compliance, San Antonio Manufacturers Association 29th Annual Environmental Seminar, October 11, 2018 (speaker)
- Volkswagen Diesel Emissions Environmental Mitigation Trust and State Plan, Association of General Contractors Membership Meeting, October 1, 2018 (speaker)
- Nonattainment Designation, Legislative Issues & Civil Enforcement, Texas Oil & Gas Association Fall Meeting, September 11, 2018 (speaker)
- Analysis of Texas v. New Mexico & Colorado, 18th Annual Law of the Rio Grande Conference, April 5, 2018 (co-speaker)
- Invited Testimony on the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan, Texas Senate Committee on Finance Hearing, January 30, 2018 (speaker)
- Current Air & Water Topics and TCEQ’s Hurricane Harvey Response, Bracewell Environmental Law Seminar, November 9, 2017 (speaker)
- Statement on the Proper Role of TCEQ, Texas Senate Committee on Nominations Confirmation Hearing, March 16, 2017 (speaker)
- EPA Clean Air Act Cases & Enforcement by the Office of the Attorney General, Texas Industry Project Quarterly Meeting, December 5, 2013 (speaker)
- Key 2012 and 2013 Cases that Affect Clean Air Act Permitting, Air and Waste Management Annual Conference, June 28, 2013 (co-speaker)