Public Policy Analysis Challenge

Amanda Urban is an Associate Regional Counsel for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), serving the Midwest states of Region 5 in Chicago, IL. Her interdisciplinary administrative and judicial docket of counseling, permitting, and enforcement matters covers a spectrum of environmental statutes. Due to the caliber of her work, Ms. Urban has been detailed to serve as an Attorney-Advisor to EPA’s Office of General Counsel and as a Senior Counsel to EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board.

Ms. Urban practices on the cutting edge of environmental law. Representative matters include emerging Class VI carbon sequestration wells in the Underground Injection Control program under the Safe Drinking Water Act; complex Superfund hazardous waste sites with upwards of 300 responsible parties; national rulemakings determining and defending the federal jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act (WOTUS); EPA’s first discharge (NPDES) permit issued to an oceanic aquaculture farm; and collaboration with state and international partners to restore Lake Erie.

As an Attorney from Practice Supervisor for the University of Chicago Law School’s Abrams Environmental Law Clinic, Ms. Urban has guided students in cases before the Michigan Public Service Commission that challenge filings of large electric utilities on behalf of community groups and nonprofit organizations.

Prior to joining EPA, Ms. Urban clerked in the Eastern District of Michigan and on the Michigan Supreme Court. Ms. Urban is from the Great Lakes State of Michigan and is a proud double wolverine of the University of Michigan earning her Political Science B.A. in 2012 and her law degree in 2015.