Our Team

Katherine O’Brien

Senior Attorney Toxic Exposure & Health Program

obrien_katherine-800

Media Inquiries

Zahra Ahmad
Public Affairs and Communication Strategist
zahmad@earthjustice.org

Bar Admissions

ME, MT (inactive), CA (inactive)

Katherine O’Brien is a Senior Attorney with the Toxic Exposure and Health Program. Katherine engages in litigation and regulatory advocacy to protect people and wildlife from dangerous exposures to petrochemicals, PFAS, and other toxic chemicals. Before joining the Toxic Exposure and Health Program, Katherine was an attorney in Earthjustice’s Northern Rockies Office.

Katherine graduated with honors from the University of Washington School of Law, where she was a Gates Public Service Law Scholar and Editor-in-Chief of the Washington Law Review. Before joining Earthjustice in 2013, Katherine clerked for Judge Sidney Thomas on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

The Latest from Katherine O’Brien

September 30, 2024

In the News: ProPublica

EPA Says It Plans to Withdraw Approval for Chevron’s Plastic-Based Fuels That Are Likely to Cause Cancer

Quoted: Katherine O’Brien

“I would say it’s a victory with vigilance required. We are certainly keeping an eye out for a new decision that would reapprove any of these chemicals.”
November 7, 2022

In the News: Bangor Daily News

Maine gives companies more time to disclose PFAS use after requests from lobbying groups

Quoted: Katherine O’Brien

“The key concern with the department granting blanket extensions to many or all members of a trade association is whether it is making the required finding that each and every one of those companies qualifies for an extension.”
December 7, 2021

In the News: The Intercept

These Chemicals Disrupt the Sexual Development of Children — and They’re Everywhere

Quoted: Katherine O’Brien

“We are very concerned about how EPA is going to identify the fenceline communities and do a lawful and comprehensive risk evaluation without TRI data. The idea that the manufacturers can get in there by requesting a risk evaluation before EPA has the data that really we believe are necessary to support that is very troubling.”
Granite Lake, Cabinet Mountain Wilderness
July 17, 2015

Massive Mine Could Destroy One of the Last Best Places for Bull Trout and Grizzly Bears

By Katherine O’Brien

A major mine proposal in the heart of the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness threatens to destroy one of the last remaining blocks of undeveloped habitat for bull trout and grizzly bears.