David B. Lyons

David focuses on solving complex environmental and energy problems for public- and private-sector clients through litigation, regulatory permitting and compliance, and legislation. His areas of emphasis and representative engagements include:

• Environment: David’s compliance and litigation experience extends to the full suite of federal environmental statutes, including the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and Toxic Substances Control Act, and their state law counterparts. Representative engagements include defending the validity of a municipality’s wetlands protection law and securing a favorable settlement resolving novel Clean Water Act claims against a hotel. He also has extensive experience guiding compliance with regulations governing hazardous waste cleanups, defending cost recovery and damages claims, and obtaining insurance coverage for environmental claims.
• Climate Change: David recently drafted comments on behalf of an environmental nonprofit organization that persuaded state regulators to increase economic diversity in offshore wind procurement in Massachusetts. He has advised municipalities on local measures to promote renewable energy and adapt to climate change.
• Land Use: David has represented clients on all sides of land use disputes, including project developers, neighbors, and local permitting boards.  He has first-chair experience in bench trials and dispositive motion hearings regarding appeals of local permitting decisions.  Representative matters include defending a city’s denial of a permit for an asphalt plant and advising municipal zoning boards in their review of 40B comprehensive permits for affordable housing.
• Other Areas of Law: David has advised Anderson & Kreiger’s municipal clients on many other questions facing local governments, from the response to the COVID-19 pandemic to benefits determinations and employment law.  He has litigated a wide variety of employment law matters, including wage and hour class actions, single-plaintiff claims, and OSHA claims.

Before joining Anderson & Kreiger, David worked in the San Francisco office of a large international law firm. During law school, he interned with the Boston office of the Environmental Protection Agency and with a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Prior to law school, David worked as a legislative aide to a member of Congress.

• Environmental
• Litigation
• Public Law

Education

Columbia Law School, J.D., 2014, Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar
Editor-in-Chief, Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, 2013-2014

Yale University, B.A., 2008

Admissions

Massachusetts

California

Pro Bono Asylum Award, PAIR Gala, June 2020

Bar Association of San Francisco, Justice & Diversity Committee, 2016 Outstanding Volunteer

Boston Bar Association, Environmental Law Section Steering Committee, Hazardous and Solid Waste Committee Co-Chair, 2021-present

American Bar Association, Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, Science and Technology Committee Programs Vice-Chair, 2020-present

Boston Bar Association, Public Interest Leadership Program, 2019-2020

Cambridge Conservation Commission, Commissioner, 2018-present

• Defending 21E enforcement and contribution claims at sites throughout Massachusetts.
• Advising local zoning boards of appeals in their review of comprehensive permit applications for affordable housing under Chapter 40B.
• Won summary adjudication in favor of a Conservation Commission’s assertion of its jurisdiction under a local wetlands protection law.
• Advising Potentially Responsible Parties on cost-recovery and Natural Resource Damage Assessment under CERCLA.
• Advising project proponents and abutters in proceedings before the Boston Zoning Commission and similar local boards, including Zoning Boards of Appeals and Historic Commissions.
• Defended land use entitlements and environmental review documents for mixed-use, in-fill developments in Los Angeles, including expedited litigation under the California Environmental Quality Act.
• Counseled national developer on environmental review documents and discharge permits related to a seven million square foot mixed-use development on a landfill.
• Represented energy generators in California Public Utilities Commission rulemakings and contract negotiations.
• Drafted dispositive pre-trial motions for a national retailer in wage-and-hour class actions.

Publications

• Achieving Net Zero Buildings in Massachusetts, ENVIRONMENTAL & LAND USE, March 1, 2022
• Federal PFAS Cleanup Regulation on the Horizon, ENVIRONMENTAL & LAND USE, December 2, 2021
• Supreme Court Creates New “Functional Equivalent” Test for Groundwater Discharges, BETWEEN THE LINES, May 19, 2020
• Governor Mandates Wearing of Face Masks in Public and Delegates Enforcement Authority to Local Boards of Health, PUBLIC LAW, May 1, 2020
• The Open Meeting Law, Untested Local Emergency Powers, and the Response to COVID-19, PUBLIC LAW, March 13, 2020
• NEGPA v. DEP: The SJC Upholds the Commonwealth’s Climate Change Mitigation Program, BETWEEN THE LINES, April 18, 2019
• Agencies Gearing Up to Address Risks Posed by PFAS Contamination, BETWEEN THE LINES, June 7, 2018
• SJC Reaffirms that Chapter 40B does not Supersede Property Rights, PUBLIC LAW, December 12, 2017
• Un-Neighborly Conduct: Adjacent Town Lacks Standing to Block Asphalt Plant, PUBLIC LAW, October 2, 2017
• Time to Make the Donuts? Appeals Court Rules Hopkinton Dunkin’ Donuts Could Be a Retail Store, PUBLIC LAW, August 18, 2017
• "NEGPA v. DEP: The SJC Upholds the Commonwealth's Climate Change Mitigation Program" Boston Bar Journal, March 18, 2019
 

Speaking Engagements

• Moderator, BBA, Climate Change and 21E Sites - How Attorneys Should Prepare, March 2022
• Panelist, Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions’ Annual Environmental Conference, Managed Retreat and its Role in Climate Change Adaption and Resiliency: A Primer, March 2022