Located in Sacramento, Ms. Gorsen focuses her practice on providing strategic public policy, litigation and regulatory advocacy and counsel to a wide range of product manufacturers, brand owners, industrial facilities and landowners. She represents clients in enforcement defense and regulatory compliance issues before administrative agencies in Sacramento and numerous state capitols, and provides international permit and compliance counsel on environmental, product and supply chain regulation issues. With laws governing corporate social responsibility on the rise, Ms. Gorsen assists clients in developing their corporate policies to meet sustainability, chemical supply chain transparency, anti-slavery and human trafficking, conflict minerals and related statutes.
Ms. Gorsen is the former director of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, where she directed soil and water clean-ups under CERCLA, RCRA, water and brownfields laws, and the regulation of solid and hazardous waste, as well as spearheaded the California Green Chemistry Initiative and the new laws governing toxics in products sold in California.
Ms. Gorsen is the former general counsel of the California Environmental Protection Agency, where she oversaw the enforcement policies and activities of the myriad state, regional and local agencies that enforce California’s environmental laws. She is also the former general counsel for the California Natural Resources Agency.
- Successfully settled an EPA enforcement action against a client’s former subsidiary for hazardous waste violations at its facility in Union City, California, reducing the initial multimillion-dollar penalty request to $120,000.
- Represented a client against violations of RCRA and the Clean Water Act in connection with the client’s chemical plant in Pittsburg, CA. Negotiations regarding the alleged surface water discharge and waste handling issues resulted in a $40,000 settlement.
- Advise clients on EPA’s TSCA chemical data reporting rule.
- Prepare web, document and product label disclosures under SB 657 and related human trafficking, conflict minerals and supply chain legal requirements.
- Advise clients on Prop 65 compliance.
- Advised the client on green chemistry issues affecting their LEED green building certification regarding indoor air quality.
- Develop litigation and regulatory advocacy strategy for a client and successfully suppressed new biological and genetic testing regulations by a state agency.
- Secured for a client regulatory approvals for the residential use of a fully constructed mixed-use project in Oakland that was previously the subject of underground storage tank removals, remediation and soil excavation.
- Developed regulatory and media advocacy strategy for a client and successfully obtained repeal of onerous NPDES permit conditions.
- Successfully settle large multijurisdictional cases alleging improper labeling, packaging and disposal of consumer products.
- Provide legal memoranda and opinion on eligibility of projects and products under the renewable portfolio standard, rechargeable energy efficiency standards, and carbon allowances under AB 32.
-
Maureen Gorsen, partner in the firm’s Environmental & Land Use Group, was quoted in a Law360 article discussing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) critique of the State Department addressing environmental impacts of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which could delay the department’s decision to approve or reject the project and could cause legal challenges from pipeline opponents.
April 23, 2013
In the Press
-
Maureen Gorsen, partner in the firm’s Environmental & Land Use Group, was quoted in a Law360 article discussing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s delay of a rule capping greenhouse gas emissions for new power plants and how that shouldn’t be taken as a sign that the agency won’t eventually issue tough standards for new coal-fired plants.
April 15, 2013
In the Press
-
Maureen Gorsen was quoted in a Law360 article discussing the California Department of Toxic Substances Control’s (DTSC) new Green Chemistry draft changing the limits of what chemicals are subject to regulation and how the push to curb harmful ingredients in consumer products may pose huge cost and compliance hurdles for companies.
February 1, 2013
In the Press
-
One hundred and forty-seven Alston & Bird attorneys have been selected for inclusion in the 2013 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. The publication is universally regarded as among the few definitive guides to legal excellence, and its rankings are based on an exhaustive peer-review survey in which more than 36,000 leading attorneys cast almost 4.4 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas.
September 18, 2012
In the Press
-
Maureen Gorsen was quoted in a Law360 article discussing Scott Miracle-Gro’s record $2.5 million payment in criminal fines and civil penalties for violation of federal pesticide laws and other related civil allegations with the EPA.
September 10, 2012
In the Press
-
“Compare pollution burdens across California,” Daily Journal, May 16, 2013.
May 16, 2013
Publications
-
April 2013
Publications
-
"2013: Time to Prepare for Compliance with CA’s Safer Consumer Product Regulations," Environmental Leader, February 27, 2013.
February 27, 2013
Publications
-
The protection of trade secrets and confidential business information is critical to maintaining a competitive position. Manufacturers and sellers of consumer products, however, may find it more difficult to protect their trade secrets under the proposed Safer Consumer Products Regulations issued by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, or DTSC.
December 20, 2012
Publications
-
The Pesticide Registration Improvement Renewal Extension Act of 2012 (PRIA 3) (S. 3552), like PRIA and PRIA 2, has been lauded by industry because it sets time frames for the pesticide registration process. Not only does PRIA 3 provide greater certainty and agency accountability through mandated review time frames, but it also enhances the tracking of these time frames by funding improvements to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s information management system. Despite broad support, there is a possibility of some difficulties ahead for manufacturers of conditionally registered pesticides and those with contested labels.
November 8, 2012
Publications
-
California's Safer Consumer Products regulations, currently in draft form and set for implementation in early 2013, pose a serious challenge to US over-the-counter (OTC) drug manufacturers by imposing a new layer of bureaucratic oversight on top of what already exists through federal statutes. There is a high potential for contradictory labeling and information requirements as well as greater liability exposures—even an outright ban on sale of OTCs in the state. Nevertheless, there is little awareness of the extent of the threat. To date the pharmaceutical industry has been largely missing from the dialogue.
November 1, 2012
Publications
-
This November, California voters might make history through Proposition 37 (“Prop 37”) by requiring labels on all food products sold within the state with genetically engineered (GE) origins or ingredients. If passed, Prop 37 will be the first of its kind at the state or national level. Prop 37, as discussed in this advisory, will cover a wide range of food products and allow private citizens to file suits against alleged violators, and thus has the potential to parallel the course of the now-famous Proposition 65 that has left its mark on the California business and legal worlds for more than 25 years.
October 8, 2012
Advisories
-
This advisory discusses the California Department of Toxic Substances Control’s (DTSC) recent issuance of the fourth iteration of its Safer Consumer Products draft regulations. These stringent regulations, implementing California’s Green Chemistry program, have a broad reach and impact across the industrial spectrum. Although concern is widespread across industries that make consumer products sold in California, the pharmaceutical industry is largely missing from the dialog. On first blush, the regulations, like the federal Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA), appear to exempt drug, devices and food—products regulated by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, the regulations only exempt “dangerous drugs,” a term defined to include prescription (Rx) drugs, but not over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. Therefore, the entire gamut of OTC drug products and their packaging—from aspirin to sunscreen—is susceptible to regulation. Although the pharmaceutical industry has a strong argument that the Safer Consumer Product regulations, as they apply to OTC drugs, are preempted by FDA regulations, it should act quickly to raise these concerns by October 11, 2012, the close of the public comment period.
September 10, 2012
Advisories
-
August 6, 2012
Publications
-
January 17, 2012
Advisories
-
December 29, 2011
Advisories
-
December 8, 2011
Publications
-
November 1, 2011
Publications
-
July 8, 2011
Publications
-
June 10, 2011
Publications
-
June 9, 2011
Publications
-
November 17, 2010
Advisories
-
October 18, 2010
Advisories
-
October 5, 2010
-
"Inside The EPA: A Few Words With Lisa Jackson," Law360, September 9, 2010.
September 9, 2010
-
"Setting the Table to Settle the GHG Debate," Law360, Portfolio Media Inc., June 3, 2010.
June 3, 2010
-
"California's Low Carbon Plan of Attack on Global Warming," Law360, Portfolio Media Inc., May 7, 2010.
May 7, 2010
-
February 2010
Publications
-
"Creating Incentives to Develop Green Chemistry," The National Law Journal, October 12, 2009.
October 12, 2009
-
"Toy Safety Update: Two New Regulatory Playing Fields, New Sets of Rules, and New Umpires," The Toy Book, September/October 2009.
September/October 2009