Brian Ferrasci-O'Malley

Brian Ferrasci-O’Malley is a member of Nossaman's Environment and Land Use Practice Group.  Mr. Ferrasci-O’Malley’s practice focuses on environmental and natural resource litigation, permitting, and review.  He assists clients in cases arising under CERCLA, MTCA, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Endangered Species Act.  In addition, Mr. Ferrasci-O’Malley counsels clients in the renewable energy sphere.  He advises on federal wildlife issues as part of environmental due diligence reviews and has experience with habitat conservation plans (HCPs) and eagle conservation plans (ECPs). 

Mr. Ferrasci-O’Malley also has extensive experience regarding natural resources damages (NRD) matters and the regulations and policy involved in that area.  Prior to joining Nossaman, Mr. Ferrasci-O’Malley was an attorney with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of the Solicitor, where he managed a nationwide docket of NRD cases under CERCLA and OPA.  In that role, he advised case teams on litigation risks and compliance with NEPA and a wide variety of environmental statutes and regulations.  He also coordinated with federal, state, and tribal partners during the NRD claim assessment and restoration processes.  Mr. Ferrasci-O’Malley began his legal career as an associate at a boutique environmental law firm in Seattle.

Mr. Ferrasci-O’Malley holds undergraduate and graduate scientific degrees, and before pursuing a career as an attorney, worked as an environmental consultant involved in habitat restoration and community-based conservation projects across Washington State and Montana.

Representative Work

• Natural Resource Damage Claims.  Provide counsel to government and private party clients on the full lifecycle of NRD cases, from evaluating the strength of potential claims, to negotiating the parameters of cooperative assessments, to designing restoration projects that meet NEPA and CERCLA or OPA requirements.  Experience with a wide variety of contaminants of concern and affected resources.  Knowledge of third-party “credit banking” mechanisms for resolving NRD liability.

• Renewable Energy.  Assess and review federal wildlife issues for potential wind energy project acquisitions on behalf of national utilities and private investors.

• Cost Recovery and Cost Allocation.  Part of legal teams representing private parties in cost recovery actions, mediations, and multi-party cost allocation matters at CERCLA remediation sites.

• Contaminated Property Sites.  Advise clients involved in contaminated property cleanups and transactions across the Pacific Northwest.