Enforcing Anti-Pollution Laws
NELC attorneys carefully monitor compliance with environmental laws and report violations to government agencies. When the government doesn't take legal action, NELC does, winning court orders that stop illegal discharges and that impose monetary penalties for past pollution.

NELC has been a leader in efforts to crack down on violators of the federal Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act. NELC attorneys have brought over 100 enforcement cases under these and other federal environmental laws, and have won more than $200 million in court-ordered penalties and pollution reduction measures.

Strengthening Anti-Pollution Laws
To help ensure that environmental legislation is fully and fairly implemented, NELC attorneys seek judicial review of certain agency regulations, and of agency failures to regulate, winning court orders directing the agency to apply the law as intended by Congress. NELC also drafts amicus (friend of the court) briefs in the Supreme Court and other federal courts, focusing on cases in which the integrity of environmental laws, or the rights of the public to participate in the implementation of those laws, is threatened.

Supporting Local Restoration and Preservation Efforts
Attorneys at NELC work closely with local groups when bringing lawsuits to protect the nation's air and water. And NELC has been successful in supporting such groups through settlements that require polluters to fund local environmental restoration, preservation, and education programs.

	Charles Caldart (Litigation Director). Mr. Caldart completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Washington in 1970, and received his JD from the University of Washington School of Law in 1974. He earned an M.P.H. from the Harvard University School of Public Health in 1982. Mr. Caldart worked at the firm of Miles, Way & Caldart in Olympia, Washington from 1974 to 1983, becoming a partner in 1979, and specializing in civil litigation. He began working as MASSPIRG's Litigation Attorney in 1985, bringing environmental, public health, and constitutional law cases. Mr. Caldart is also on the teaching faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has taught environmental law courses at MIT since 1983. Mr. Caldart helped found the National Environmental Law Center in 1990.
	Josh Kratka (Senior Attorney). Mr. Kratka, 1979 graduate of Harvard University, received his JD from Northeastern University School of Law in 1984. He served as a Law Clerk for the Superior Court of Massachusetts until 1986, when he became MASSPIRG's Staff Attorney. At MASSPIRG, he advocated for environmental and consumer protection laws. Mr. Kratka joined NELC's litigation staff in 1994.
	Joe Mann (Staff Attorney). Mr. Mann graduated from Northwestern University in 1991. He earned his JD degree from New York University School of Law in 1999, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the NYU Environmental Law Journal. He spent a year as the Law Clerk to U.S. District Court Judge Irma E. Gonzalez in the Southern District of California before joining NELC in 2000.
	Bracha Etengoff (Staff Attorney) Ms. Etengoff graduated from Yeshiva University in 2000, received an M.A. from Queens College in 2002, and received her J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she was awarded Order of the Coif, in 2005. While a law student, she interned with then U.S. Court of Appeals Judge (now Supreme Court Justice) Sonia Sotomayor. From 2006 through 2008, Ms. Etengoff was an associate at Levy, Phillips, & Konigsberg, where she represented New York City plaintiffs in asbestos exposure cases. Ms. Etengoff then served as associate director for the non-profit New York Environmental Law & Justice Project before joining NELC in 2010.
	Janine Panchok-Berry (Paralegal). Janine graduated from New York University in 2005 with a BA in political science and history. Before joining NELC staff in the summer of 2008, Janine developed national programs and helped build state organizations as an Environment America and U.S. PIRG fellow.