Matthew Z. Leopold

Matthew Z. Leopold is an attorney in Holland & Knight's Washington, D.C., office, a member of the Public Policy & Regulation Group and co-chair of the national Environmental Team. Mr. Leopold focuses his practice on helping clients create pragmatic and strategic solutions to complex environmental regulatory, litigation and enforcement challenges. He is particularly well versed in environmental regulations that impact the oil and gas, chemical, agriculture and energy industries.

Mr. Leopold served as the U.S. Senate-confirmed general counsel for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from 2018 to 2020 and previously as the general counsel for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). He was also an environmental litigator at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Mr. Leopold provides clients with in-depth experience and knowledge respecting the pivotal recent changes in environmental regulation. As EPA general counsel during the first Trump Administration, he advised on the development and defense of the most significant regulations proposed by the EPA. Mr. Leopold helped draft the Affordable Clean Energy Rule (the repeal and replacement of the Clean Power Plan), the Safe Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule (regulating tailpipe emissions from passenger cars and light duty trucks), the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (the new definition of the Waters of the United States, or WOTUS) and Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 Certification Rule, and had an instrumental role in other rulemakings and actions.

In the private sector, Mr. Leopold has been representing clients on regulatory, enforcement and litigation matters under major federal environmental statutes, including the Clean Air Act (CAA), American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act, CWA, Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA).

He has represented trade associations and private companies on critical CAA rulemaking and litigation, including the changing rules related to greenhouse gas emissions. He has experience under several CAA programs, including Section 112 hazardous air pollutants, Section 111 new source performance standards, Title V and NSR permitting, and National Ambient Air Quality Standards, also representing clients in related EPA and DOJ enforcement actions. In the chemical regulation space, Mr. Leopold has advised clients on first set of TSCA chemical risk evaluations required under the 2016 TSCA amendments and related risk management rules for individual chemistries, including challenging these rules in federal court. He counsels on the risk of PFAS regulation and litigation, and on pesticide registration decisions and related litigation and ESA consultations. With this experience, Mr. Leopold is regarded as a strategic advisor to Fortune 500 clients and offers advice to help advance their business objectives while limiting exposure and risk to the company.

Mr. Leopold also has significant experience as a litigator for the government and in the private sector. At the DOJ, he was a member of the trial team following the 2010 Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest civil enforcement case in U.S. history. Mr. Leopold represented the State of Florida in a water rights dispute with the State of Georgia before the U.S. Supreme Court, resulting in a month-long trial before a court-appointed special master. He also represents industry clients in federal enforcement actions brought under several environmental statutes, and he represents industry in challenges to EPA rules, including the CERCLA hazardous substance listing for certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) substances.

As general counsel of the Florida DEP, Mr. Leopold advised on state policy and regulatory matters regarding air, water, waste and public lands for the department secretary and the governor's office. Through this experience, he provides clients insight into the regulatory processes of state agencies related to permitting, compliance and enforcement defense.