Rolf R. von Oppenfeld is an environmental lawyer who started out as a research chemist in the 1970s,  then worked for EPA headquarters (toxic substances, hazardous waste and Superfund offices) for a few years, and who thereafter has spent the past 27 years in private environmental law practice representing both public and private entities.

He received his Juris Doctor, summa cum laude, Order of the Coif, from George Washington University in 1982.  He was a law partner with a large southwestern law firm where he worked for a dozen years, and then set up his own environmental law firm some 15 years ago. Mr. von Oppenfeld has represented a wide variety of industrial and commercial entities, as well as state, tribal and local governments, in a nationwide environmental practice that includes facilities from Alaska to Florida.

Mr. von Oppenfeld has had over the years a significant national and international counseling and litigation practice involving various environmental issues.  A current particular emphasis is on regulatory and legal compliance of industrial facilities and governmental operations, implementation of corporate components of management systems. With specific emphasis on Fortune 500 corporate policies, audit programs, management of change and regulatory development, and responding to upsets and release emergencies As well as management of regulatory concerns associated with U.S. and international real estate and industrial development, and also environmental and  toxic tort dispute resolution.

His clients have included  global companies operating steel mills, oil refineries, chemical plants, electronic manufacturing facilities, landfills, mineral mining (including extraction, beneficiation, smelting and refining), power plants, pulp and paper mills, metal fabrication and parts facilities, painting and metal coating operations, furniture and wood finishing and a variety of other facilities.

Over the years, Mr. von Oppenfeld has been recognized as a preeminent lawyer in the environmental field by such publications as Martindale Hubbell and The Best Lawyers in America. 

Among the reported cases he has worked on are the following: United States v. Nucor Corporation, 17 F.Supp.2d 1249 (N.D. Ala. July 6, 1998) as discussed in his article Legal Requirements for Proving the Fugitive VOCs Emissions Defense to an Alleged PSD Permit Violation, published at 29 BNA Envt. Rptr. 1612 (1998) ; Norfolk Southern Railway Co. v. Shulimson Brothers Company, Inc., 1998 Westlaw 178617 (W.D.N.C.); as discussed in 12 Toxics Law Reporter 1367 (April 29, 1998); State of Arizona v. Components, Inc., 66 F.3d. 213 (9th Cir. 1995); and The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control v. Atlantic Steel Industries, Inc., 85 F. Supp. 2d 596; 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18604; 49 ERC (BNA) 1174.

Rolf von Oppenfeld has published extensively.
Lead Author:

• Arizona Environmental Law Handbook, the last two editions, Government Institute Publication
• South Carolina Environmental Law Handbook, the last two editions, Government Institute Publication

Other book publications are:

• EPCRA Chapter in the 2007 Environmental Law Handbook, 19th Editionpublished by Scarecrow Press
• State Roles in the Implementation of the Section 404 Program, Chapter 10 in the 2005 Book entitled Wetlands Law and Policy: Understanding Section 404, published by the Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources of the American Bar Association
• The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System and The Safe Drinking Water Act, published 2005 in the WATER ENCYCLOPEDIA: Oceanography; Meteorology; Physics and Chemistry; Water Law; and Water History, Art and Culture; edited by Jay Lehr and Jack Keeley, published by John Wiley and Sons
• Planning to Avoid CERCLA Reclamation of Mine Waste. published in Tailings and Mine Waste ‘94, A.A. published by Balkema, 1994 ISBN 90 5410 3647. 

Articles:

• “The Federal Title V Air Quality Permit Program for Operating A Major Source of Air Pollution: A Primer on the Substantive and Procedural Requirements Imposed on Industrial Facilities by the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, Applicable Regulations, and Key EPA” Guidance Documents, published at 33 Environmental Law Reporter 10815 (2003)
• “A Primer on New Source Review and Strategies for Success”, published at 32 Environmental Law Reporter 11091 (2002); Regional Haze and Visibility: Potential Impacts for Industry”, published at 29 BNA Environment Reporter 2597 (1999)
• “The Common Law Impetus for Advanced Control of Air Toxics”, published at 29 Environmental Law Reporter 10001 (1999)

 
Mr. von Oppenfeld has been extensively involved with teaching and training since 1988.  Since 1989, he has been Adjunct Faculty with the environmental programs at Arizona State University, and currently teaches graduate level classes on environmental and natural resources law and regulation at the ASU Polytechnic Campus.  He also has served for the past nine years as a member of the Board of Directors of a solid waste management company.