Stacey VanBelleghem is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Latham & Watkins and a member of the Environment, Land & Resources Department. Ms. VanBelleghem represents clients in a variety of industry sectors on major project infrastructure and development, administrative petitions and rulemaking, and litigation under federal environmental law. She has particular expertise in the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, and American Indian law.
Ms. VanBelleghem has deep experience in air quality and climate change issues, having represented numerous clients. She is a frequent speaker and writer about air quality and climate change issues, with an emphasis on the regulation of criteria pollutants, hazardous air pollutants, and greenhouse gas emissions from major stationary sources. She also has in-depth knowledge of federal permitting and approvals for major infrastructure projects, working both to secure project approvals and to intervene and defend approvals in numerous federal court cases.
In addition to her environmental practice, Ms. VanBelleghem has worked on a variety of pro bono matters while at the firm. She currently serves on the firm's Diversity Leadership Committee and previously served in a management role as a member of the firm’s global Associates Committee and global Pro Bono Committee.
Before becoming an attorney, Ms. VanBelleghem worked at the National Trust for Historic Preservation in its Public Policy Department and also at the National Park Service.
Ms. VanBelleghem’s representative matters include the following:
- Legal analysis and work on greenhouse gas regulations under the Clean Air Act
- Regulatory comments and litigation involving the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, including a successful challenge of the rule in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and comments and litigation involving certain of EPA’s hazardous air pollutant technology (MACT) rules, both under the Clean Air Act
- Regulatory comments on the impact of proposed thermal discharge and entrainment/impingement requirements for power plant cooling water intake structures and on proposed effluent limitations guidelines for steam electric power plants under the Clean Water Act
- Regulatory and compliance counseling for large energy project and transmission lines on tribal lands, requiring numerous federal approvals, including Bureau of Indian Affairs approval for a lease and rights-of-way renewals, and environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act
- Regulatory and compliance counseling for high voltage transmission line project requiring National Park Service approval under the National Environmental Policy Act
- Representing intervenors defending federal approvals in litigation under the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act
- Negotiating and drafting a compliance agreement under the National Historic Preservation Act for linear facilities that cross lands of three distinct tribes
- Regulatory counseling for energy project regarding tribal issues
- Regulatory counseling for solar project on Bureau of Land Management lands
- Litigation related to the treatment of pesticide applications under the Clean Water Act, as well as pesticide-related Endangered Species Act litigation