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Meg
Holden

Associate

Meg
Holden

Associate

Meg’s practice focuses on environmental litigation, environmental review and permitting, environmental due diligence of development projects, and renewable energy development.

Meg has experience with matters arising under a variety of federal and state environmental laws, and has represented clients in litigation under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). She frequently advises clients with respect to acquisition and remediation of contaminated properties, including under the New York State Brownfield Cleanup Program, and negotiates environmental provisions of purchase and sale agreements. Meg also has experience advising clients on federal, state, and local permitting and environmental review for renewable energy and development projects, and represents Equinor Wind US in the permitting and development of Empire Wind and Beacon Wind 1. Most recently, Meg has counseled clients on compliance with New York City Local Law 97 of 2019, including negotiating lease terms.

Prior to joining the firm in 2018, Meg was an Assistant Corporation Counsel in the Environmental Law Division of the New York City Law Department. She represented the City and its agencies in federal and state environmental litigation, and assisted City agencies with environmental regulatory compliance.  Before working for the City, Meg clerked on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Meg is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Environmental Law Review and was a student attorney for the Emmett Environmental Law & Policy Clinic. Before law school, Meg worked for an environmental nonprofit in New Delhi, India.

Best Lawyers®,” Ones To Watch” for Environmental Law, 2022-present
New York Metro Super Lawyers, Environmental Litigation, Rising Star

“High Performance Leases: A Solution for Reducing Carbon Emissions in Commercial Buildings”

For: Environmental Law in New York (co-authored with Audi Banny, Stuart Kaplan & Stephanie Margolis)

June 2021

Unpacking High-Performance Leases: Decarbonizing Commercial Office Spaces

For: Columbia Law School

December 2021

“State and Federal Site Contamination Law”

For: HalfMoon Education Seminars

December 2020

“Environmental Law: Developments in the Law of SEQRA”

For: 71 Syracuse L. Rev. 329

2020

“Beyond PFAS 101: Understanding Technical Approaches in PFAS Liability Assessment”

For: Webinar Hosted by Roux Associates (panelist)

October 2020

Sackett v. EPA

For: Harvard Environmental Law Review

2013

Army Corps Reissues Nationwide Permits, Dividing NWP 12 Into Three

On January 13, 2021, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) published a final rule reissuing and modifying twelve existing 2017 nationwide permits (“NWPs”) and creating four new NWPs.  The rule goes into effect on March 15, 2021. Nationwide permits provide a streamlined process ...

Equinor Becomes Leading U.S. Offshore Wind Developer with 2,500 Megawatt Award from New York State

In his January 13, 2021 State of the State address, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that New York will contract with Equinor Wind US LLC (Equinor) for 2,490 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind energy, the largest combined procurement of offshore wind energy ...

Council on Environmental Quality’s New NEPA Regulations: An Analysis

On September 14, 2020, the Council on Environmental Quality’s (“CEQ”) Final Rule overhauling its regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) became effective.  The Final Rule represents the first comprehensive revision of the NEPA regulations since their initial issuance in 1978, and introduces process-based and substantive changes to the NEPA regulations, ...

Public Service Commission Issues Two Orders in Furtherance of Renewable Energy Growth

On May 14, 2020 the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) issued two orders designed to further State goals of rapidly expanding renewable energy development.  One, issued in Case No. 20-E-0197, is a preliminary ...

Court Narrows Scope of NWP 12 Ruling; Corps Appeals to Ninth Circuit

Last month, we wrote about a recent decision from the US District Court for the District of Montana vacating Nationwide Permit (“NWP”) 12, the general permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) for pipelines and other utility projects. On May 11, the court ...

Wartime Regulation Does Not Render Government an Operator Under CERCLA, Third Circuit Rules

On May 4, 2020, the Third Circuit issued a decision in PPG Industries v. United States, a case which considered whether the government’s involvement at a chromium processing plant during World War II made ...

Harvard Law School, J.D., 2014

Yale University, B.A., 2009, cum laude

New York, 2015

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

Hon. Roy W. McLeese III, District of Columbia Court of Appeals (2014-2015)

New York State Bar Association, Environmental Law Section, Member

New York City Bar Association, Member

New York City Environmental Law and Leadership Institute, Graduate