Drew Caputo

Vice President of Litigation for Lands, Wildlife, and Oceans

Drew looks directly at the viewer with a serious expression. His arms are crossed in front of him, and his body is slightly angled to the viewer's left. He's in a verdant, outdoor area. The greenery in the background is blurred. Drew is wearing a red and white checkered collared buttoned down shirt.

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Drew Caputo

Vice President of Litigation for Lands, Wildlife, and Oceans

Media Inquiries

Jackson Chiappinelli
Media Relations and Communications Strategist
jchiappinelli@earthjustice.org

Drew Caputo is Vice President of Litigation for Lands, Wildlife, and Oceans, leading Earthjustice’s expansive docket of litigation to protect the nation’s public lands and cherished wild places, irreplaceable species, and ocean fisheries and habitats. He also leads Earthjustice’s international advocacy.

He has mounted challenges to fossil fuel development on public lands and waters, defended the Endangered Species Act and its implementing regulations, and created new initiatives to protect biodiversity and partner with Indigenous communities. He began his legal career as an associate attorney in Earthjustice’s Rocky Mountain regional office in Denver, litigating cases to protect the public lands, rivers, and endangered species of the Rocky Mountain West.

Drew previously worked at the Natural Resources Defense Council for a total of 14 years. He served initially as a senior attorney at NRDC, where he successfully worked to reform federal management of overfished fisheries; force revocation of the largest source of permitted wetlands loss in the United States; block legislative attacks on the Clean Water Act; and advance air quality protections. He later became NRDC’s Chief Program Officer, where he had overall strategic and operational responsibility for NRDC’s programmatic advocacy to protect public health and the environment in the United States and internationally. Drew also served for eight years as an Assistant United States Attorney in San Francisco, where he prosecuted federal civil rights, public corruption, and national security crimes.

Drew received a B.A. in history from Brown University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Expert Posts & Articles

An owl perched near a white tree trunk, looking towards the camera.
May 5, 2025

The Trump Administration Aims to Gut Critical Habitat Protections for Endangered Species

Habitat destruction is the number one cause of extinction. This lawless proposal would eliminate the Endangered Species Act’s core protections against it.
A person in a bright blue hard hat walks past pumpjacks operating in the hazy air at the Kern River Oil Field in Bakersfield, California, in 2015.
March 9, 2022

The Oil Industry’s Dishonest Effort to Wring Profits from Pain

While Ukrainians fight for their lives, the oil industry has pounced on an opportunity to profit economically and politically.
stellalevi/iStock
June 23, 2016

This Land Is Our Land

As the National Parks Service turns 100 this summer, Earthjustice continues to defend public lands so future generations can always find refuge in these magnificent places.
Erik Mandre/Shutterstock
April 11, 2016

Judge: Refusal to List Wolverine as Endangered “Borders on the Absurd”

The iconic wolverine has a fighting chance at survival thanks to a recent court ruling on behalf of eight conservation groups represented by Earthjustice.
Josef Friedhuber/iStock
March 15, 2016

Leadership to Protect Atlantic Ocean Should Extend to the Arctic

A proposal that protects the Atlantic Ocean leaves the Arctic Ocean open to new offshore oil drilling, undermining our nation’s commitment to take meaningful action on climate change and increasing the risk of oil spills.
March 10, 2016

Lo Que Puede Significar El Acuerdo De Clima De EE.UU./Canada Para El Futuro

El Presidente Obama tiene importantes oportunidades de cumplir la promesa de este acuerdo en venideras decisiones a tomar acerca de la perforación de petróleo y gas en el Océano Ártico.

Media Inquiries

Jackson Chiappinelli
Media Relations and Communications Strategist
jchiappinelli@earthjustice.org

Bar Admissions

CA

Quoted in the News

April 6, 2025

Rolling Stone

Trump and Conservatives Lead Attack on Clean Water

“We’re in a situation where efforts to weaken clean water protections are not only terrible public policy, because all Americans need and deserve clean water, it’s also a situation where we would be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.”
March 11, 2025

The Guardian

Trump orders likely to drive species’ extinction, wildlife advocates warn

“Industry cannot stand that their ability to profit is sometimes limited by the need to protect wildlife that has been on earth for millions of years. The harsh reality is that extinction means forever.”
January 28, 2025

The New York Times

Could Trump Use the ‘God Squad’ to Override Environmental Law?

“It seems like they believe that the God Squad can wave its hand and declare a particular species no longer within the protection of the Endangered Species Act. That’s not how the process works at all.”
January 21, 2025

Politico

States, industry sue to reopen federal waters for drilling

“Big Oil … already had more offshore acres under lease than it could ever safely develop. This lawsuit is a misguided attempt to undo widely supported protections. We will do everything possible to defend President [Biden]’s lawful protective orders.”
January 3, 2025

CNN

Biden plans to ban some offshore drilling in a way Trump would struggle to undo

“Every president this century has recognized that some areas of the ocean are just too risky or too sensitive to drill.”

Latest Press Statements

Geese and waterfowl swim in a pond with mountains in the background.
November 17, 2025

In a Serious Blow to Communities Across the Country, Trump Administration Proposes to Weaken Clean Water Protection 

The agencies have proposed to narrow the universe of waters protected under the Clean Water Act, yet again
Clearcut area north of Thorne Bay on Prince of Wales Island on U.S. Forest Service land within the Tongass National Forest, Alaska.
August 27, 2025

Earthjustice Responds to Trump Administration Attack on Cherished National Forests

The Roadless Rule has protected millions of acres of U.S. public lands for a generation
July 3, 2025

Earthjustice Applauds Significant International Human Rights Ruling on Climate Change 

The Inter-American Court lays out important measures that governments must take to protect human rights in the face of the growing climate emergency.
Elk in the Rapid River Roadless area in Idaho’s Nez Perce National Forest.
June 23, 2025

Earthjustice Responds as Trump Administration Takes Aim at Longstanding Rule Protecting National Forestlands

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins today announced a rollback of the Roadless Rule
The Wolfman Panel in Bears Ears National Monument.
April 24, 2025

Report: Trump Administration Considers Attacking Six National Monuments for Energy Development

The monuments comprise over 5 million acres of national public lands across the west
A manatee calf with its mother at Three Sisters Springs in Florida.
April 16, 2025

Trump Administration Plans to Remove Habitat Protections for Endangered Species

Proposed rule would eliminate habitat protections for endangered species in the midst of extinction crisis