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Christopher H. Marraro

Partner

Washington, D.C.
T +1.202.861.1562
F +1.202.861.1783
cmarraro@bakerlaw.com
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Overview

Chris Marraro is a trial lawyer with more than 30 years of experience in complex environmental and tort litigation. He has litigated cases under 14 separate federal environmental statutes and tried precedent-setting environmental cases, including the defense of famed multimedia civil environmental enforcement actions, landmark environmental citizen suit cases and novel cost recovery actions. He also has an active practice in natural resource litigation involving the siting of large-scale energy projects and in biotechnology litigation. Chris is creative in litigation and crosses barriers on a personal level during complex cases, developing trusting relationships with his adversaries, a strategy which he has found to move cases through the process most efficiently.

Chris is on the Environmental Law Editorial Board for Law360. 

Select Experience

  • Trial counsel for Cape Wind LLC in four consolidated district court cases that challenge approval of the first domestic offshore wind energy project. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility v. Beaudreau et al. and Cape Wind Associates LLC
  • Counsel for the sugarbeet industry in multiple litigation matters regarding the deregulation of genetically modified sugarbeets. Grant et al. v. Vilsack and Center for Food Safety et al. v. Vilsack
  • Led the defense for the company in one of the largest multimedia civil enforcement cases ever tried to a federal jury. The matter involved four separate civil and administrative litigation matters. United States et al. v. Marine Shale Processors, Inc. et al.
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Experience

  • Trial counsel for Cape Wind LLC in four consolidated district court cases that challenge approval of the first domestic offshore wind energy project. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility v. Beaudreau et al. and Cape Wind Associates LLC
  • Counsel for the sugarbeet industry in multiple litigation matters regarding the deregulation of genetically modified sugarbeets. Grant et al. v. Vilsack and Center for Food Safety et al. v. Vilsack
  • Led the defense for the company in one of the largest multimedia civil enforcement cases ever tried to a federal jury. The matter involved four separate civil and administrative litigation matters. United States et al. v. Marine Shale Processors, Inc. et al.
  • Lead trial counsel for W.R. Grace & Co. in an RCRA citizen suit, CERCLA and tort litigation, which for the first time imposed a remedy requiring the excavation of an entire site as injunctive relief in an RCRA citizen suit case. Interfaith Community Organization et al. v. Honeywell International Inc. et al.
  • Lead counsel for major petroleum company in a cost recovery case under CERCLA and RCRA concerning a former refinery. Chevron Environmental Management Company et al. v. Indian Refining Company et al.
  • Lead appellate counsel in Third Circuit appeal that vacated an EPA unilateral emergency order under the Safe Drinking Water Act, which mandated the cleanup of a water supply aquifer. W.R. Grace & Co. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  • Exposed a competitor's role in secretly funding an environmental citizen suit against the client. The case ended on the eve of a preliminary injunction when plaintiffs unsuccessfully tried to withdraw their preliminary injunction. Pennsylvania Environmental Enforcement Project v. Keystone Cement Company
  • Counsel for petroleum companies seeking to recover environmental costs against the United States related to World War II and Korean Conflict contracts.
  • Counsel for a major manufacturer in one of the most significant waterway superfund proceedings involving the Lower Passaic River.
  • Counsel to several New England entities in a major EPA Clean Water Act enforcement action regarding restoration of more than 100 acres of disputed wetlands and civil penalty demand.
  • Lead counsel for amicus curiae American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in important environmental litigation, holding that CERCLA investigation and remediation costs are recoverable under petroleum refiner/U.S. WWII aviation gasoline supply contracts. Shell Oil Company et al v. United States
  • Trial counsel for the first domestic offshore wind project. Prevailed on summary judgment on NEPA, Clean Water Act, MBTA, and ESA claims. PEER et al v. Beaudreau (D.D.C.)
  • Prevailed on a motion to dismiss of preemption and commerce clause regarding constitutional challenges to offshore wind development. Town of Barnstable et al. v. Ann. G. Berwick et al. (D. Mass.) 
  • Lead appellate counsel in a win for an offshore wind developer regarding NEPA issues and FAA review. Town of Barnstable v. FAA (D.C. Cir.)

Recognitions and Memberships

Recognitions

  • Washington, D.C. "Super Lawyer" (2018 to 2019)
  • Who's Who Legal: Environment (2017)

Memberships

  • Law360: Environmental Editorial Board
  • American Bar Association
  • Past Chairman: Energy and Natural Resources Litigation Committee of the Environment, Energy, and Resources Section
  • Past Chairman: Annual Conference on Environmental Law, Annual Fall Section Meetings

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Admissions

  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
  • U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey
  • U.S. Court of Federal Claims
  • District of Columbia
  • New Jersey

Education

  • J.D., Franklin Pierce Law Center (now the University of New Hampshire School of Law), 1981
  • M.S., University of Alberta, 1978
  • B.A., Gettysburg College, 1974

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