Chris Eaton

Senior Attorney

Oceans Program

Event_EarthJustice+PuipuiMeasina+Headshots-2660722-87 Gabby Faaiuaso

Bar Admissions

WA, NC

Chris Eaton

Senior Attorney Oceans Program

Julie Hauserman
Public Affairs and Communications Strategist
jhauserman@earthjustice.org

Chris Eaton is a senior attorney with the Oceans Program. His work focuses on fighting offshore oil and gas development and protecting marine ecosystems and wildlife.

Chris received his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 2013 and clerked for the Alaska Supreme Court in Fairbanks before joining Earthjustice in 2014 as an associate attorney with the Rocky Mountain office.

Chris was a marine biologist before becoming a lawyer. He obtained his B.A. from Williams College in biology and environmental studies, and then did field work studying salmon in Alaska and sea turtles in Costa Rica and Florida. He received his M.Sc. in aquatic and fishery sciences from the University of Washington, where he examined resource use by juvenile salmon in the Columbia River estuary.

Expert Posts & Articles

An octopus with its legs curled up on a sandy and rocky sea floor.
September 9, 2026

Why We Don’t Need to Mine the Deep Sea

As tech changes, better solutions are emerging
Many different corals and sponges of all shapes and sizes, and with colors ranging from white to yellow to blueish-purple, cover a rocky undersea area.
August 6, 2026

Breaking Down Deep-Sea Mining Regulatory Authority

Understanding the U.S. and international laws that regulate deep-sea mining.
A gray dolphin breaks the surface of the water as another swims next to it.
September 5, 2025

Court Victory for Earth’s Rarest Marine Dolphin

With fewer than 50 Māui dolphins remaining, they are the rarest marine dolphin on Earth. Their survival is primarily threatened by harmful fishing practices that net the dolphins.
Baby sea turtle crawls on the sand towards the ocean.
February 8, 2024

Animal Magnetism: Sea turtles may follow Earth’s pull to navigate home

We’re fighting to protect the Gulf’s imperiled species as oil and gas corporations run freighters through precious habitat, drill deeper, and blast along the Gulf floor.
Fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon.
April 16, 2020

Trump Administration Muzzles Own Safety Experts on Offshore Drilling Rule

Earthjustice attorney Chris Eaton explains how the Trump administration ignored the recommendations of its own engineers when it rolled back safety regulations, according to a news investigation.
Humo negro y fuego se ve en este incendio controlado en el Golfo de México luego de la explosión en el Deepwater Horizon, el 20 de abril del 2010
July 2, 2019

Estamos Demandando Con el Fin de Prevenir El Próximo Derrame de Crudo Como el de Deepwater Horizon

Exenciones y restricciones a la Regla del Control de Pozos ponen en riesgo muchas vidas

Julie Hauserman
Public Affairs and Communications Strategist
jhauserman@earthjustice.org

Bar Admissions

WA, NC

Quoted in the News

September 13, 2024

Politico

API fights ruling they say could hamper Gulf of Mexico drilling

"The oil industry's refusal to be even the least bit inconvenienced to prevent the extinction of the nation's most endangered whale is why we are where we are."
January 26, 2023

WUSF Public Media

Conservation groups go into mediation with NOAA Fisheries over endangered Gulf species protections

"These agencies are basically pretending that another catastrophic oil spill cannot possibly occur, cannot possibly be a risk for the Gulf of Mexico. And we know that that risk is real, and they need to be paying attention to that."
June 21, 2021

Inside Climate News

As the Gulf of Mexico Heals from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Stringent Safety Proposals Remain Elusive

“It's important to make sure that to the extent that there is oil and gas development still happening, that it's done safely.”

Latest Press Statements

Dozens of small, brown, round objects that look like stones lie in a pile.
September 30, 2026

Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration Greenlighting of International Deep-Sea Mining Exploration Permit

The groups seek transparency in NOAA decision to advance The Metals Company application
A school of rays swim in the Northern Mariana Islands, through a deep blue ocean, right above the ocean floor.
September 8, 2026

Lawsuit Challenges Mariana Islands Deep-Sea Mining Lease Sale 

Groups seek protection for imperiled species from destructive deep-sea mining activities  
Earthjustice attorney David Henkin stands, left, with Rudy Bartley, right, a member of the nonprofit groups Faʻasao Amerika Samoa and Puipui Measina a Amerika Samoa. They take part in the Stand with the Moana demonstration to support and protect the ocean on July 16, 2026 on the Utulei shore in American Samoa. Rudy holds a sign that says "Notice: Our Ocean Is Not An Extraction Zone."
August 18, 2026

Lawsuit Targets First Deep-Sea Mining Lease Sale in U.S. Waters

Groups seek to protect imperiled species from underwater mining activities in American Samoa
Dozens of small, brown, round objects that look like stones lie in a pile.
August 17, 2026

Second Deep-Sea Mining Lease Sale Announced Off of Mariana Islands and Guam

Trump administration accelerates reckless plan to open Pacific to deep-sea mining  
El rorcual de Rice, una de las ballenas más raras del mundo, observada en el oeste del Golfo de México en 2024. Esta especie es la única de gran tamaño que vive en aguas de Norteamérica alrededor del año.
May 21, 2025

Grupos Entablan Demanda para Proteger al Rorcual de Rice y Otras Especies Marinas

Una nueva opinión biológica federal no aborda los daños causados por la perforación de combustibles fósiles en el Golfo de México.
A Gulf of Mexico Rice’s whale – one of the world’s rarest whales– in the western Gulf of Mexico, observed by aerial survey in 2024.
May 20, 2025

Groups Sue to Protect Critically Endangered Gulf Rice’s Whale From Oil and Gas Impacts

New federal biological opinion fails to address harm from fossil fuel drilling in the Gulf