Christopher Jones

Chris has more than 30 years of experience in the environmental field, including six years as Director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and four years as Chief of the Ohio Attorney General’s Environmental Enforcement Section.

While Director of Ohio EPA, Chris was a two-term elected president of the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS), a national organization of all of the directors of state environmental agencies. In this role, he served as the primary liaison between states and the U.S. EPA.

This experience gives Chris a unique understanding of both state and federal environmental regulatory agencies and allows him to provide firm clients with a seasoned perspective on environmental and regulatory matters as well as government relations issues.

Chris has represented businesses and individuals in enforcement proceedings by both U.S. EPA and Ohio EPA. He has counseled clients on regulatory compliance issues related to the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and both hazardous and solid waste issues under RCRA, and he has counseled clients on brownfield redevelopment projects. He has served as an expert witness in a number of cases, including for a brownfield developer in a dispute over a multi-million-dollar redevelopment. Chris also serves as a volunteer mediator for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

Since 2006, Chris has been recognized by Chambers USA, most recently ranked in 2024, Band 2 in Environment in Ohio. Chambers USA researchers noted, "Chris benefits from prior experience serving as the director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. He provides market-leading expertise in various permitting, compliance, and remediation matters." Clients interviewed by Chambers USA said, “Chris has extensive knowledge of environmental law, is very pragmatic, and has deep connections within the regulatory environment in Ohio. He is great, very smart, and knows the laws. Chris not only provides a wealth of knowledge and a strong technical background but is also an incredibly strong negotiator.”

Chris also has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America^® in the area of Environmental Law (2012-2025).

He has an AV Preeminent Rating from Martindale-Hubbell and is listed in Corporate Counsel’s 2012 Top Rated Lawyers Guide to Energy, Environmental & Natural Resources Law.

Chris is former board chair and member of the Greater Ohio Policy Center and is the former chair of the board of trustees of the Nature Conservancy, Ohio Chapter. 

In the past Chris has served as chairman of the Lake Erie Commission, as a governor-appointed member of the Great Lakes Commission, as a member of the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority, the Ohio Water Development Authority and the State Power Siting Board. Chris was an original member of the Clean Ohio Council.

Chris is also a member of the Ohio and Columbus Bar Associations.

Honors & Recognitions

• Chambers USA, Environment, Band 2, Ohio (2006-2024)
• The Best Lawyers in America^®, Environmental Law (2012-2025)
• Martindale-Hubbell, AV Preeminent Rating

Education

J.D., Georgetown University Law Center, 1990

B.A., Ohio Wesleyan University, 1979

Experience

• Advised a Midwestern city on a dam removal project in 2023, which involved multi-jurisdictional grant agreements involving the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the State, and county and local governments on the multi-million-dollar project for the removal of the dam and the restoration of a river, which runs through a mid-sized city. The completion of the grant agreement was necessary for the project to move forward.
• Advised a commercial real estate company that operates in seven states on the 2022 purchase of property and the application for a multi-million-dollar Brownfield Grant from the Ohio Department of Development to redevelop a former industrial site. The receipt of the grant was key to closing the deal for the purchase of property from the former owner.
• Advising a nonprofit limited liability company formed to reclaim a former quarry site to create a natural area on the revision of reclamation plans for the former aggregate mining operation, including obtaining an exemption from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to allow waste materials to be handled onsite. The exemption, obtained in 2022, and the revised reclamation plan were necessary for the project to proceed.
• Negotiating individual orders for a Fortune 500 chemical corporation involving the remediation of the former disposal at several sites related to the client’s former facility. The sites include private residential property and industrial quarry properties. These are legacy sites, which remain on the client’s books until resolved. Two sites have been resolved thus far.
• Advised a European multinational manufacturing company on compliance issues at its facility. The most recent matter has involved the negotiations of Administrative Orders with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
• Assisting a provider of natural gas and oil with the response to the USEPA Request for Information Pursuant to Section 114 of the Clean Air Act. Specifically, Calfee advises the client’s in-house counsel and technical staff as it prepares responses to the Request for Information. Requests for Information are frequently followed by enforcement actions on the part of USEPA. The preparation of the responses must take this possibility into consideration.
• Serving as the lead Environmental counsel for an industry leader in challenging site development and construction, advising the client and its joint venture partners on the purchase and redevelopment of two major automobile plants. Environmental remediation will be the key to the redevelopment of the two properties.
• Serving as the advising Environmental counsel for a group of remediating companies including a subsidiary of a publicly traded, Fortune 500 manufacturing client company in a CERCLA Superfund matter wherein the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency changed the remedy for the site after years of remediation and millions of funds spent in cleanup.
• Advised the owners of an event venue and inn and interfaced with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency on a stream stabilization project. A stream on the client’s property was eroding the base of the elevated property, which has a restaurant located at the top of a ledge. A power line tower located in the stream complicated the work on bank stabilization.
• Serving as the lead Environmental Defense Counsel for the subsidiary of a publicly traded, Fortune 500 manufacturing client in a matter involving a demand by the Massachusetts regulatory authority and potentially responsible parties in a CERCLA matter for alleged PFAS contamination of soil at a composting site where the client delivered waste.
• Serving as lead Environmental Litigation counsel to a waste and recycling company in environmental administrative proceedings in a challenge to continued operations of the landfill through the verified complaint process. The remedy sought in the administrative appeal was a shutdown of the client’s landfill, so defense against appeal is critical to the client’s ongoing operations.
• Serving as lead Environmental Litigation Counsel to a waste and recycling company in a challenge to a permit issued to the client for an increase to the daily waste allowance to receive at the client’s landfill.
• Serving as the lead Environmental Litigation counsel for a global manufacturing company. This client was sued in federal court over an alleged discharge of per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) substances from its facility. This is a federal class action suit against multiple entities for alleged PFAS contamination of drinking water, with the remedy sought being a proportionate share of replacing a local land application system from process water discharge.

Professional & Community

• Greater Ohio Policy Center, Former Board Chair and Member
• Volunteer Mediator, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio
• Ohio State Bar Association, Member
• Columbus Bar Association, Member
• Nature Conservancy, Ohio Chapter, Former Chair of the Board of Trustees
• Lake Erie Commission, Past Chairman
• Great Lakes Commission, Former Governor-Appointed Member
• Ohio Air Quality Development Authority, Former Member
• Ohio Water Development Authority, Former Member
• State Power Siting Board, Former Member
• Clean Ohio Council, Former Original Member

Client Feedback

• "Chris not only provides a wealth of knowledge and a strong technical background but he is also an incredibly strong negotiator." – Calfee client, as reported in the Chambers USA 2023 Guide
• "I work as national counsel for a large firm. Calfee assisted us as local counsel. The lawyer we worked with, Christopher Jones, had prior experience as a high-level agency employee and had great insights into the views of the agency, the state government, the attorney general, and other significant parties and stakeholders in a variety of areas. He was able to assist us in meeting with the right individuals and negotiating an end to a consent decree, general advice on air permitting and compliance, and guidance on local law issues. Everything one would want in local counsel." – Calfee client, as reported by U.S. News – Best Lawyers^® in the 2021“Best Law Firms” rankings report
• "Christopher Jones's strength includes 'his great knowledge of the local regulatory environment and procedures,' where he benefits from prior experience serving as the Director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. He provides market-leading expertise in various permitting, compliance, and remediation matters." – Calfee client, as reported in the Chambers USA 2020 Guide

Presentations

• Leadership Honors Roundtable Series, Panelist, University of Dayton (February 9, 2024)