John L. Parker

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John L. Parker

John Louis Parker is the Environmental, Energy, and Resources Practice Group Partner with Sahn Ward Braff Coschignano PLLC.

John has been an environmental attorney for over twenty-five years. He brings a wealth of experience and specialized environmental expertise in matters involving the Environmental Conservation Law and regulations, Clean Water Act enforcement, the Navigation Law, including contaminated site remediation, Superfund litigation, and brownfield redevelopment. John represents clients in environmental litigation matters in State and Federal court, as well as administrative compliance and enforcement matters and permitting proceedings. John also represents clients in SEQRA review process and in Article 78 proceedings challenging government actions and decisionmaking.

In June 2026, John accepted the nomination to become Second Vice Chair of the Environmental and Energy Law Section of the New York State Bar Association. In this role, John will expand his statewide leadership role as a member of Section’s Cabinet. John previously served as the Secretary of the Section. He also serves as the Chair of the Legislation Committee and he is a member of the Executive Committee. Each Spring, John leads the Annual Legislative Forum in Albany. In 2017, he received the prestigious Section Council award.

In June 2026, John’s efforts led to the creation of the new Environment and Energy Law Committee of the Nassau County Bar Association, where he serves as the inaugural Chair. The expansion of the Environmental Committee to include Energy Law issues reflects the growing needs of Long Island regarding renewable energy and the regulatory environment regarding review and approval of a variety of energy projects, including expanding battery energy storage systems.

In June 2025, John accepted the nomination to become a member of the Board of Directors of the Nassau County Bar Association, and currently serves in that role.

In 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, he was selected to the list of New York Metro Super Lawyers.

Mr. Parker served as the Regional Attorney at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) for the Lower Hudson Valley, Catskill Region. His role as general counsel and chief legal representative was expansive, leading enforcement and compliance efforts in numerous regulatory programs. Some examples of these programs were clean water, clean air, solid waste, petroleum, pesticides, and the superfund and brownfields remedial programs. He also worked extensively on many environmental permitting matters and on significant SEQRA reviews.

He began his legal career as Counsel to the Chairman of the State Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee. While serving in that role, he worked on complex investigations including a review of the efforts to clean the Hudson River under the Superfund program and he developed policy and legislative proposals on a variety of environmental topics. These efforts led to the drafting and negotiating of the first comprehensive brownfields legislation in New York State, the predecessor to legislation creating the state’s brownfield redevelopment law.

Mr. Parker’s leadership roles in significant environmental initiatives in the New York City Metropolitan Region and the Hudson River Valley involve clean water and climate change issues. He has also served as Director of Legal Programs at Riverkeeper.

Mr. Parker has written articles for The New York Environmental Lawyer of the Environmental and Energy Section of the New York State Bar Association. Previously, he published a quarterly column on regulatory and compliance issues at the NYSDEC during his tenure there.

He has authored numerous publications in professional journals, law reviews, including the Environmental Law Practice Series. These articles have focused on emerging contaminants, corporate disclosure, hazardous waste and hazardous substances, environmental remediation, climate change, energy law, and environmental governance in New York.

John’s public speaking engagements routinely address developing environmental and energy law issues – from PFAS forever chemical contamination to the siting of battery energy storage systems as part of the renewable energy system.

Mr. Parker’s Professional Articles include:

Mr. Parker’s Professional Engagements include:

Mr. Parker’s Professional Commentaries include:

Mr. Parker’s Lectures include:

Mr. Parker is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States District Courts for the Southern and the Eastern Districts of New York, and the New York and Connecticut State Courts.

He received a Bachelor of Science from Rutgers University (Cook College) and his Juris Doctor degree from Pace Law School, where he specialized in environmental law and international law.