Kirk Tracy is a partner at Paladin Law Group.
Mr. Tracy has extensive remediation experience on sites with soil and groundwater contamination. He has significant experience in handling hazardous waste litigation, including Comprehensive Environmental Responses, Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”), public and private nuisance abatement, and trespass in both federal and state courts. In addition to litigation work, he guides clients through interactions with various regulatory agencies and responsible parties related to contaminated sites and real estate transactions including Brownfields redevelopment. Mr. Tracy also advises clients on redevelopment funding opportunities under The Texas Property Assessed Clean Energy (TX-PACE) program, which enables owners of eligible commercial, industrial, nonprofit, agricultural, and multifamily properties to retrofit their facilities with more efficient technologies that will reduce energy and/or water usage.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Tracy was an Environmental Law and Policy Graduate Fellow at the Association of Clean Water Administrators in Washington, DC where he gained regulatory and policy experience.
While at Tulane Law School, he was Editor in Chief of the Tulane Environmental Law Journal and was a student attorney in the Environmental Law Clinic, where he presented oral argument at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Mr. Tracy has an advanced degree in Environmental Engineering, including professional experience working with groundwater contamination associated with underground storage tanks (USTs).
He also has professional experience in IT Consulting, working on large-scale projects around the United States.
He is conversant in Spanish.
Practice Areas
Environmental Litigation, Brownfields Redevelopment, Insurance Archaeology and Insurance Coverage, Land Use and Real Estate
Education
Tulane University Law School – J.D., Magnum Cum Laude, 2012
Editor in Chief, Tulane Environmental Law Journal, 2011-2012
University of Michigan – M.S., Environmental Engineering, 2003
University of Iowa – B.S., Civil (Environmental) Engineering, 2002
Professional and Community Involvement
Member and Member of the Board of Directors of the Rey Feo Consejo Educational Foundation (San Antonio)
American Bar Association (ABA), Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (SEER), Leadership Development Program Member 2013-2014
ABA, SEER, Social Media Chair (former)
ABA, SEER, Water Resources Committee, Electronic Communications Vice-Chair (former)
Bar Admissions
State Bar of California, 2013
State Bar of Texas, 2020
United States District Courts for the Northern, Eastern, and Central Districts of California
United States District Court for the Western District of Texas
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
Publications
California’s Reaction to the Drought: Statewide Groundwater Management, Contra Costa Lawyer (Apr. 1, 2015). To read this article, click here.
Chapter 6: Water, in International Environmental Law: The Practitioner’s Guide to the Laws of the Planet (2014).
Charles L. Franklin, Lynn Bergeson, Lawrence E. Culleen, Mark N. Duvall, Jean M. Eggen, Maureen F. Gorsen, Eric P. Gotting, Martha E. Marrapese, Joanne Thelmo, Kirk Tracy, and Jim Wedeking. “ABA SEER TSCA Preemption of Private Rights of Action Under TSCA and TSCA Legislation Briefing Paper” Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Reform White Papers (2014). To view the White Paper, click here.
Case Summary, Frapple v. Commissioners of Rising Sun, ABA Water Resources Committee (Aug. 2013).
Note, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union v. Goldstene: Low Carbon Fuel Standards, Lifecycle Greenhouse Gases, and California’s Continued Struggle to Lead the Way, 24 Tul. Envtl. L.J. 173 (2010).
Recent Development, United States v. Donovan, 661 F.3d 174 (3d Cir. 2011), 25 Tul. Envtl. L.J. 544 (2012)