Ryen Godwin helps clients solve environmental litigation and regulatory problems on a national scale. Ryen’s practice is uniquely and narrowly focused on environmental and natural resource law. He counsels clients navigating business decisions affected by a variety of regulatory schemes including the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, and the Mineral Leasing Act. His approach is to develop detailed, multipoint strategies that are financially, technically, and legally supportable so executive team members can make significant decisions with the least uncertainty possible.

Additionally, Ryen practices federal Indian law. He represents tribes and tribal corporations in managing their natural resources and environmental liability. He participated in the seminal Puget Sound treaty fishing rights case U.S. v. Washington. On occasion, Ryen has represented local government agencies and private companies that intend to do business in Indian Country. Ryen also represents clients in the fishing industry by providing advice on litigation, state and federal fisheries regulations, and Endangered Species Act compliance.

Bar Admissions

• Eastern District of Washington
• Montana State Courts
• Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Puyallup Tribal Court
• United States Supreme Court
• Washington State Courts
• Western District of Washington
• Wyoming State Courts

Education

• New England School of Law‎, Juris Doctor degree, cum laude (2008)‎
• Northern Arizona University, Bachelor of Science degree, History (2004)‎

Superfund and Remediation

Ryen has extensive experience representing large parties in complex superfund and remediation sites throughout the Pacific Northwest.  He navigates alliances with other potentially responsible parties (PRPs) to develop a comprehensive strategy to responsibly and efficiently close sites for his clients. 

• Represented PRP at Pasco Sanitary Landfill National Priorities List (NPL) Site in Pasco, Washington, including advising on regulatory compliance to implement a $70,000,000 site remedy and participation in litigation with other performing parties to recover over $20,000,000 in remediation costs from other PRPs.
• Represent PRP at Portland Harbor NPL “Mega Site” in Portland, Oregon, in confidential allocation process to allocate responsibility for cleanup costs exceeding $1,000,000,000 for complex sediment cleanup in the Willamette River.
• Represented PRP at Duwamish River NPL Site in Seattle, Washington, in confidential allocation process to allocate responsibility for costs exceeding $350,000,000 for complex sediment cleanup.
• Represented numerous property owners and operators at industrial, commercial, and residential properties on remediation process and pursued cost recovery litigation to recover cleanup costs.

Energy and Real Estate Development

Ryen navigates complex permitting and regulatory schemes for clients throughout the western United States for such facilities as coal mines, power plants, fish processing facilities, chemical manufacturing plants, and other large natural resource projects.  He strongly believes developing a sound technical, legal, and regulatory strategy at early stages of planning is the key to successful project implementation. 

• Acted as environmental counsel representing tribally-owned corporation in acquisition of several of the largest coal mines in the Country, including negotiations for limited waivers of sovereign immunity with four separate jurisdictions.
• Counsel national energy company in permitting for numerous operations in multiple western states and reservations, including vast coal mine operations on federal land, state, and private land, manage regulatory compliance of complex waste streams, and litigate permit-related appeals before state and federal agencies in jurisdictions throughout the western United States.
• Represent utility in the development of Advanced Nuclear Reactor. Navigating environmental and regulatory impacts of permitting with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, state regulatory agencies, and Environmental Protection Agency.  
• Advised international company in permitting advanced plastic recycling facility with complex waste stream and State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) review process. Provided regulatory strategy in SEPA review and Clean Water Act permitting.   
• Counseled several developers in due diligence, acquisition, and financing of numerous properties including brownfield redevelopment, decommissioning and redeveloping industrial facilitates, and a multistate chemical manufacturing company. Ryen’s portfolio of work in this area includes transactions cumulatively worth more than $1,000,000,000.
• Represented a regional development authority on public-private partnership brownfield redevelopment in waterfront community.

Fisheries and Fish Processing 

Ryen is personally and professionally strongly connected to the commercial fishing industry, so he both counsels individual clients and advocates for the industry as a whole. 

• Manage wastewater permitting for numerous fish processing facilities in Willapa Bay and the Columbia River, including permit-related appeals to state environmental review boards. Ryen provides regular advice to facilities processing salmon, halibut, crab, bottom fish, shellfish, and other Pacific Northwest species.
• Defended fish processing facilities in Clean Water Act enforcement proceedings initiated by EPA, state agencies, and citizen groups.
• Represented fishery industry groups in the Pacific Northwest challenging commercial fishing regulations and seasons for anadromous species of fish under state fish and wildlife regulations, the Magnuson Stevens Act, and the Endangered Species Act.
• Represented Northwest Treaty Tribe in fish allocation proceedings in U.S. v. Washington.

• Clean Water Act Assurances Under Attack
• How to Plan for West Coast Offshore Wind Development Opportunities
• Opportunities for Offshore Wind Development on the West Coast
• The Clean Power Plan Update
• Renewable Energy Reimagined: What You Need to Know Now
• COVID-19: Impacts on Environmental Compliance, Inspections, and Enforcement (Updated 05/7/2020)
• EPA Announces PFAS Action Plan
• Free to Ride? Recreational Immunity’s Legal Benefit to Landowners
• Do Not Clean, Clean Dirt: Douglass v. Shamrock Paving, Inc.
• Fast Ferry Service to Seattle: An Encouraging First Step Toward Regional Growth
• Let State know impact of Water Rules on Wineries
• In The Field: Certainty on the “Waters of the United States” Remains Elusive

Seminar

• Energy Transitions in the Northwest Forum
• The State of Northwest Sediment Remediation Sites
• PNW Predictions: Renewable Energy Reimagined
• Tribal NRD Assessments Seminar: PFOAs, PFOSs, PFCs and Other Emerging Persistent Contaminants in Water Supplies
• Cleaning up Fire Retardant Contamination under MTCA