As federal environmental laws and policies are being gutted, people fired and programs defunded, it is more important than ever for citizens to recognize their power and ability to enforce existing environmental laws. Citizen suits against private parties and suits to compel government officials to adhere to those laws can be an effective tool. Drawing on his extensive background as an attorney with US Fish and Wildlife, US Department of Justice, and the EPA, along with examples from his experience with the Potomac Riverkeeper, Defenders of Wildlife and Earthjustice, Bob Dreher '73 will talk about the role that citizens can play in the enforcement of environmental laws. He will also describe the origin of citizen suit provisions and the constraints that apply to citizen plaintiffs. After his talk, there will be time for questions and discussion.

Bob Dreher is an attorney whose practice focuses on provision of strategic counsel and legal representation to conservation organizations and businesses regarding complex environmental and natural resources matters. Bob has extensive experience in environmental law and policy, having served in the Obama administration as Associate Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Acting Assistant Attorney General for Environment and Natural Resources for the U.S. Department of Justice, and in the Clinton administration as Deputy General Counsel of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He has represented environmental organizations and tribes as managing attorney of Earthjustice’s Washington, D.C. office, counseled businesses in private practice with the firm Troutman Sanders, LLC, and served as Deputy Executive Director of the Georgetown Environmental Law & Policy Institute. Bob served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Defenders of Wildlife from 2016 to 2020, with responsibility for all of Defenders’ programs for wildlife conservation, and most recently served as Legal Director for the Potomac Riverkeeper Network from 2022 to 2024. Bob graduated from Harvard College, and holds a master’s degree from Brown University and a law degree from Yale Law School.

Meet Our Bridges is ClassACT HR73’s way to introduce our classmates and extended community to our Bridge Partners by letting them create awareness of their mission as well as solicit volunteer help and/or donations.

This April, we feature the Cole Resource Center, an organization which offers custom guidance to those in our community who face mental health challenges: individuals living with mental health conditions and their family and friends. CRC’s free support services include referrals to resources, job coaching, and opportunities for open, stigma-free conversation. CRC staff share their lived experience and expertise as peers and allies in navigating the journey to healthy and productive living. Cole Resource Center President Ellen Faran ’73 will be joined by four of her CRC colleagues in introducing the work of this small nonprofit and discussing the unique value of non-clinical services in meeting today’s intense needs for mental health support.

Lindsay L. Clarkson ’73 will speak about psychoanalytic perspectives on our relationship to the natural world: reckoning with our capacity for destructiveness and our capacity for concern.