Sarah Bordelon

Before joining Holland & Hart, Sarah worked on the following matters:

• Alaska Outer Continental Shelf: provided legal advice in permitting Arctic Alaska exploration projects under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Endangered Species Act; successfully defended multiple permit challenges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, federal district court, and EPA's Environmental Appeals Board.
• Cook Inlet Basin: provided legal advice in permitting several exploration projects on Alaska state lands in the Cook Inlet Basin under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Endangered Species Act.
• Represented a coal company before the Department of Interior's Office of Hearings and Appeals; successfully obtained prompt "temporary relief" from a Cessation Order issued by the Office of Surface Mining and ultimate dismissal of the Order.

Published Cases
 

• Alaska Wilderness League v. Jewell, 788 F.3d 1212 (9th Cir. 2015) (defended approval of oil spill response plans)
• Alaska Eskimo Whaling Comm’n v. USEPA, 791 F.3d 1088 (9th Cir. 2015) (defended Beaufort Sea General NPDES permit)
• Native Village of Point Hope v. Salazar, 680 F.3d 1123 (9th Cir. 2015) (defended Lease Sale 193 over multiple rounds of litigation)
• Native Village of Point Hope v. Salazar, 680 F.3d 1123 (9th Cir. 2012) (defended exploration plan approvals)
• REDOIL v. USEPA, 716 F.3d 1155 (9th Cir. 2012) (defended EPA approval of PSD permit for exploration air emissions)
• Alaska Wilderness League v. USEPA, 727 F.3d 934 (9th Cir. 2013) (defended EPA approval of Title V permit for exploration air emissions)
• Defended a SMCRA case in which adverse lower court decision was vacated by the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. M.L. Johnson Family Properties, LLC et al. v. Premier Elkhorn Coal Co., No. 14-5867 (Oct. 31, 2014), and in parallel proceedings before the Interior Board of Land Appeals.
• United States v. Brigham Oil & Gas L.P., 840 F. Supp. 2d 1202 (D.N.D. 2012): won dismissal of criminal action under the Migratory Bird Treaty act in a far-reaching decision which rejected strict liability enforcement of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act for oil and gas operations.
• Pennaco Energy Inc. v. U.S. EPA, 692 F. Supp. 2d 1297 (D. Wyo. 2009): represented a group of oil and gas companies in a successful challenge to state water quality standards approved by EPA under the Clean Water Act.