Wayne M. Whitlock
Partner

Mr. Whitlock practices in the areas of environmental and natural resources law. He works with clients in the manufacturing, mining, energy, forest products, real estate and agriculture industries. His principal areas of experience include:

• Water quality and water resources, including NPDES permitting, nonpoint source pollution, wetlands and water rights;
• Land use and resource planning;
• Facility siting and project development;
• Mine permitting and reclamation;
• Forest management;
• Federal and state endangered species and fish and wildlife conservation;
• National Environmental Policy Act and California Environmental Quality Act; and
• Soil and groundwater contamination.

He works regularly with clients on permitting, administrative appeals, legislation and regulations, enforcement and business transactions involving these issues.

Mr. Whitlock is particularly experienced with the interplay of endangered species, water quality and water supply issues, and he has worked with a number of clients to reconcile conflicts in these areas. He has worked on numerous large-scale planning processes, including land use and watershed management plans, Habitat Conservation Plans, the Clean Water Act TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) process and other large project approvals.

Mr. Whitlock has an active practice in the legislative and regulatory arenas. He is involved in federal and state Endangered Species Act listings and critical habitat designations, as well as parallel regulatory processes under federal and state water quality laws. Most recently, he has been involved with listing and critical habitat issues associated with Pacific Salmon species, including Coho salmon and steelhead, at the federal and state levels. Mr. Whitlock led the business community’s team that developed and negotiated the 1997 amendments to the California Endangered Species Act and regulations that authorized incidental take permits, and he continues to represent clients on related legislative and regulatory matters.

Before joining the firm in 1986, Mr. Whitlock was an attorney at the U.S. Department of Interior Solicitor's Office in Washington, DC, where he worked on water, energy, fish and wildlife, public lands and related natural resources and environmental issues involving the Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

• BTI Client Service All-Star (2006)

American Bar Association; Santa Clara County Bar Association; Bar Association of San Francisco and their respective environmental and natural resources sections