Drew Caputo

Vice President of Litigation for Lands, Wildlife, and Oceans

Drew Caputo, Vice President of Litigation for Lands, Wildlife, and Oceans.

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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 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. He is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he lives with his wife, their two children, and their crazy rescue dog.

The Latest by Drew Caputo

Pumpjacks operating 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.
An alpha male Arctic wolf bounds across the ice floes.
March 10, 2016

What the Joint US/Canada Climate Agreement Could Mean for the Future of the Arctic

Today, the leaders of the U.S. and Canada announced an agreement that includes a major commitment to joint climate action and Arctic conservation. Upcoming decisions create opportunities to fulfill its promise.
"Malheur NWR, OR" by Don Barrett https://flic.kr/p/ahgGfv
January 19, 2016

Stealing America’s Birthright

There's a lot at stake in the armed standoff at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
A humpback whale feeding in Monterey Bay, California.
June 12, 2015

To Save the Whales, You Must First Save the Sardines

Sardines are in need of protections like those the menhaden, a similar species, received after their population reached the verge of collapse.