Before joining Arent Fox, Jack was Managing Partner and General Counsel for the energy consulting firm EnergyNorthAmerica, LLC in Washington, D.C., which provided an array of services for clients, including government relations, energy regulatory consulting, energy policy consulting, and energy project development. While there Jack was a co-founder of the National Ocean Policy Coalition.
Prior to this, for six years Jack was the Energy and Minerals Counsel, and later Republican General Counsel, for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources. As the Republican General Counsel, Jack was the lead counsel on policy matters for the Committee with jurisdiction over the entire Department of the Interior and also major parts of the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, and Energy, and major environmental, energy, and other natural resources laws. Jack’s work there focused on energy, power, and minerals production from federal onshore and offshore lands, including oil and natural gas, coal, renewable power, power transmission, and energy pipeline issues. In addition, Jack worked closely on matters related to Native Americans, public lands, fisheries, national parks, monuments, wildlife refuges, and forests.
Jack was the primary drafter and negotiator for many provisions included in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, including provisions related to onshore and offshore oil and gas production from federal lands; the Oil Shale, Tar Sands, and Other Unconventional Fuels Act of 2005 which provided the legal authority for the leasing and production of liquid fuels from America’s giant oil shale, tar (oil) sands, and coal resources; the Set America Free Act which established the U.S. national energy policy of North American energy self-sufficiency by 2025; the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) statutory categorical exclusions provisions that streamlined environmental reviews for certain categories of activities on public lands; and numerous other provisions.
Further, among other legislation, Jack drafted the bill and developed the strategy for the House on a bipartisan basis to pass the landmark Deep Ocean Energy Resources (DOER) Act of 2006 (HR 4761) – the first and only comprehensive bill to end the offshore drilling moratoria and amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act that has passed either House of Congress since 1978.
Prior to his work for the House of Representatives, for more than a decade, Jack served as Senior Attorney for Royalty and Offshore Minerals, advising the Minerals Management Service (MMS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of the Department of the Interior, and litigating regarding oil and gas leasing and operations, and royalty. Jack’s key cases include:
- Mobil v. U.S., 530 U.S. 604, 120 S.Ct. 2423 (2000). For eight years Jack served as the lead Interior Department attorney for this landmark case that began as Conoco v. U.S., 35 Fed. Cl. 306, and which later became Marathon v. U.S., 177 F. 3d 1331. The case involved breach of contract claims by 17 oil companies exceeding $700 million related to later statutory restrictions on the rights of the lessees to explore for oil and gas resources on leases off Alaska, Florida, and North Carolina;
- Edwardsen et al. v. Department of the Interior, 268 F. 3d 781 (9th Cir. 2001). Jack served as the lead Interior Department attorney for this case challenging approval of the Northstar oil production project in the Beaufort Sea, with the result a decision in support of the Department of the Interior on all points.
- Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope et al. v. Minerals Management Service, 02-70951 (9th Cir. 2002). Jack served as the lead Interior Department attorney for this case challenging the approval of the McCovey oil exploration project in the Beaufort Sea, with the result of a decision in support of the Department of the Interior.
- California et al. v. Norton, 150 F.Supp. 2d 1046 (N.D. Cal. 2001). Jack served as the lead Interior Department attorney in this case involving Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) issues related to MMS approval of suspensions for the 36 undeveloped offshore oil and gas leases in the Pacific.
- Chevron et al. v. United States, 00-431 C (Fed. Cl. 2000). Jack served as the lead Interior attorney for the giant Destin Dome 56 natural gas development project offshore Florida and the related breach of contract litigation challenging actions by NOAA and the EPA. Jack was the lead U.S. government negotiator of the litigation settlement resulting in payments by the U.S. to the plaintiffs in the amount of $115 million.
- Amber Resources Co. et al. v. United States, 538 F. 3d 1538 (Fed. Cir. 2008). Jack served as the lead Interior attorney during the early stages at the trial court level for this breach of contract litigation filed by the lessees of the 36 undeveloped oil and gas leases offshore California with claims totaling $2 billion.
Jack’s first job at the Department of the Interior was serving as the Senior Attorney for Environmental Protection. In that role, Jack was the lead environmental attorney and NEPA expert advising the Department’s Office of Environmental Affairs. Jack negotiated a CERCLA consent decree, U.S. v. Schlumberger Industries, Inc., (S.D. Ill., 1992), for the cleanup of a National Priority List (NPL) Superfund site under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior. In addition, Jack participated in the Department of the Interior’s response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill, including analysis of the large number of statutes touching on various aspects of oil spills and worked on legislation which became the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.
Prior to his work at the Department of the Interior, Jack was the chief executive officer of the Contract Services Association of America, the national trade association of government technical service contractors. While there, Jack initiated and drafted two new Executive Orders addressing contracting for commercial activities and privatization which were approved by the President. Jack was a member of the Procurement Council of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and was integrally involved in numerous multi-association efforts addressing government contracting laws and issues. Jack’s leadership resulted in a 250% growth in association membership in less than two years.
Prior to his work at the Contract Services Association, Jack spent more than three years as Special Assistant in the Office of the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. As such, Jack was the principal advisor to a Presidential appointee having the rank of Assistant Secretary. Jack assisted in the day-to-day leadership and management of an agency with an annual budget of $1.2 billion and 14,000 employees. Jack’s work included overseeing the contracting and procurement function of the agency; and interagency coordination of major environmental matters such as wetlands protection, air and water pollution, offshore oil and gas issues, coastal zone management, fisheries regulation, endangered species protection, climate change, and many other issues.
Jack’s first job after law school was serving four years on active duty as an Army Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps Captain at Fort George G. Meade, MD. Jack served as the Chief of the Administrative Law Branch of the Post Staff Judge Advocate’s Office, and as such was the contracting office legal advisor, the post environmental law officer, the Military Magistrate, together with other responsibilities. Jack was twice awarded the Army Commendation Medal, including one for the successful defense of a Special Forces Sergeant Major who was wrongfully being administratively boarded out of the Army on unsuitability charges.
