Staff

John Rumpler Senior Environmental Attorney 617-747-4306

Expertise

water quantity, water pollution, drinking water, air pollution, toxic pollution, toxic waste, environmental health, auto pollution/diesel, polluter subsidies/green taxes, superfund/brownfields, land use/urban planning, public lands, transportation, sprawl

Background

Mr. Rumpler oversees policy and strategy development for Environment America with a special focus on water issues. He has advised advocates on several successful policy initiatives—including California’s first-in-the-nation "polluter pay" law for drinking water contamination, New Jersey's designation of 45 "Category One" waterways, and North Carolina's recent law ordering cleanup plans for key lakes. In addition, Mr. Rumpler was the initial architect behind state PIRGs' Great Lakes Program. He is now devising a similar program on water scarcity in the Southwest.

He has served as senior advisor on numerous reports on water quality and enforcement—including TexPIRG's "Asleep at the Wheel," Environment Maine's "Off The Hook: Why Maine Needs Tough Penalties To Protect Its Waters," Georgia PIRG’s "Budgeting For Clean Water: How Polluter Fees Can Increase Georgia's Water Quality Enforcement," Environment California's "Perchlorate and Children's Health: The Case for a Strong Cleanup Standard for Rocket Fuel in Drinking Water," and Ohio PIRG's recent report "Sewage Overflow: Billions Of Gallons Of Sewage Contaminate Lake Erie."

Prior to returning to the PIRGs in 2003, Mr. Rumpler practiced public interest and environmental law, representing community organizations in land use, zoning, and permitting matters. In 1998, he represented local activists in Lowell, Mass.—defeating a proposed trash transfer station in a low-income neighborhood after an all-out battle that included more than 15 public hearings. At the height of the state tobacco litigation, Mr. Rumpler prevailed in discovery matters against high-powered law firms representing R.J. Reynolds and Phillip Morris. In 2002, he represented a coalition of community organizations and transit riders in Boston, Mass., in negotiations with the MBTA—winning bus-to-bus transfers and commitments to reduce diesel bus emissions.

Mr. Rumpler began his public interest advocacy career with PIRG, and prior to law school he served as the Director of Ohio PIRG.

Education: J.D., Northeastern University School of Law, 1996; B.A., Tufts University, 1988