Eric Hiser

PARTNER

ERIC HISER

AREAS OF PRACTICE

Environmental law
Natural resources law
Administrative law

Environmental, natural resources and administrative law

Mr. Hiser is a member of the Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section and the Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Section of the American Bar Association, where he has served as southwestern regional editor for the Air Quality Committee and Environmental Enforcement and Environmental Crimes Committee. He a member of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Section and Administrative Law Section of the State Bar of Arizona and is past chair of the Administrative Law Section. He is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Eric is heavily involved in Phoenix, Arizona, and the wider community. He is past President and Vice President and Scouting Programs Chair of the Grand Canyon Council of the Boy Scouts of America, where he gives leadership to an organization serving thousands of youth and adult volunteers. He also serves as a national committee person for the Boy Scouts of America, giving leadership in camp accreditation, and outdoor programs. He is a former President of the Arizona Trail Association, which supports the construction and development of the Arizona National Scenic Trail. He is a past President of the Santa Fe Railway Historical Society, where he led the effort to transform the Society’s digital presence.

Eric practices in the areas of environmental, natural resources, and administrative law. He regularly represents clients in manufacturing, steel, power production, metallic and non-metallic mineral production, petroleum, natural gas production and transmission, metal fabrication, high technology, and materials industries with an emphasis on permitting, compliance counseling and planning, environmental auditing and assessment, permit appeals, enforcement defense, and site-specific state implementation planning. He has government experience, having served as special counsel to the Maricopa County Air Pollution Hearing Board the Maricopa County Flood Control District’s Floodplain Review Boar,d and the Board of Hearing Review. He has also assisted Maricopa County and its Air Quality Department on ozone planning.

Eric’s goal is to help complex industrial facilities comply with environmental regulations at a reasonable cost while maintaining the greatest operational flexibility for future product and process innovation.

Eric has participated in over 200 Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and Title V permitting actions; assisted in development of state implementation plans for criteria pollutants and regional haze and related litigation; developed NPDES and stormwater permit applications and compliance strategies under the Clean Water Act; assisted in RCRA corrective action cleanups and resolutions, RCRA recycling determinations at complex facilities, and preparation of RCRA Part A and B permit applications for treatment, storage and disposal facilities, as well as assisting in RCRA permittee defense matters. He also has experience in Superfund and state-equivalent cleanup programs and training in air and water quality modeling, ecological risk assessment, and related disciplines.

He is recognized by Best Lawyers for Environmental Law and Environmental Litigation.

Education

J.D., Duke University, with high honor and Order of the Coif
M.A., Duke University, Forestry and Environmental Studies
A.B., Wabash College, summa cum laude

While at Duke, Eric was the Managing Editor of the Duke Law Journal and later was a law clerk for the Honorable Deanell Reece Tacha of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Recent book chapters, papers, and presentations of interest:

2023 In the Courts at A&WMA's 2023 NSR Webinar.
2023 Past Decisions, Future Issues at A&WMA: 2023 Environmental Justice Conference.
2023 PM 2.5 and Ozone Implementations An Operators Perspective at A&WMA's Annual Conference and Exhibition.
2023 NSR issue and Development in 2022 and 2023 at A&WMA's annual conference and Exhibition.
2022 West Virginia, NSR, and EJ: What's in the Air May Impact your clients at A&WMA's Louisiana / Texas Section meeting.
2022 Development in Ambient Air Modeling: New Specific Determination of A&WMA's 2022 Annual Conference and Exhibition.
A&WMA New Source Review Manual, chapters 8 (Implementation, Appeals and Enforcement) and 9 (History and Development)
2017 EUEC conference papers on “Regional Haze Update: Reasonable Cost or Reasonable Progress?” and “Developing Approvable Long-Term Limits Under EPA’s SO2 Guidance”
2017 AWMA conference papers on “NSR Legal Update”, “NSR Modeling Update – A Legal Perspective”
2016 EUEC conference paper on “Working Toward the Best State Plan: Arizona’s Approach to EPA’s Clean Power Plan”
2015 EUEC conference paper on “Small Utility Planning for EPA’s 111(d) Rule”

Eric is a lead author for the NSR Law Blog, a legal blog devoted to developments in the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review programs. He is a frequent lecturer at both national and regional symposia and seminars, the author of numerous articles on environmental matters, and was a contributing author to the Air & Waste Management Association’s 2017 New Source Review Manual, the State Bar of Arizona’s Arizona Environmental Law Manual, and environmental practice manuals for Arizona and South Carolina.