Susan McMichael

Susan McMichael takes on tough and complicated legal challenges, focusing her practice on environmental regulatory, permitting and compliance matters. She is recognized for her in-depth knowledge of the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA), including regulatory compliance and clean-up requirements. Susan has led causal investigations, along with technical experts, to develop solutions for a large facility to identify, correct and prevent future RCRA non-compliances. She also has experience guiding clients through complex permitting projects for large facilities and ongoing waste management strategies for treatment, storage and disposal facilities (TSDFs), including clean-up and corrective action, as well as facilities that manage low-level radioactive waste, transuranic, and industrial solid waste sites.

She has counseled clients in the public and private commercial waste management sectors and has extensive experience in high-stakes enforcement actions and wide-ranging complex environmental regulatory matters. Susan's wide-ranging practice palso includes advising clients on the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA), the Clean Water Act’s (CWA) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Industrial Permit Program, the Atomic Energy Act (AEA), the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA), Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) rules, and ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systm (EMS).

She has received numerous awards and recognition for her outstanding legal contributions for her work and ability to solve complex legal issues and develop practical solutions. She focuses on common-sense strategies and proactive approaches to achieve compliance and secure agency approvals that are upheld after judicial challenges.

Prior to joining the firm, Susan was in house at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), where she advised senior management and technical staff on multiple complex regulatory waste management requirements applicable to thousands of industrial waste generator sites, as well as RCRA permit requirements, compliance and enforcement issues. Susan also served as assistant general counsel at the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and senior legal counsel at the Institute for Regulatory Science (RSI). She clerked for the late Judge Oliver Seth at the United States Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

• Author, "STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVES—EPA issues proposed RCRA rules to address corrective action of PFAS contamination," Wolters Kluwer | Vital Law, February 28, 2024
• Principal Author, "RCRA Permitting Deskbook," Environmental Law Institute, May 2011
• Contributor, "RCRA's Statutory and Regulatory Framework," Environmental Law Reporter, 2010