Balch & Bingham LLP

Environmental & Natural Resources

Partner

Thomas Casey's practice focuses on natural resource regulation and litigation. He routinely represents utilities, natural resource managers, and other members of the regulated community in administrative matters, enforcement actions, and citizen suits. He also regularly represents permittees in permitting and rulemaking proceedings and interacts with federal and state agencies on behalf of clients.

Thomas maintains a close relationship with the Alabama Mining Association and regularly represents the Association and its members in all aspects of mining and natural resource-related environmental permitting and compliance, particularly in matters related to Clean Water Act and Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act compliance. Thomas has successfully defended a number of mining clients in citizen suits and enforcement actions.

Thomas also has deep experience in water quantity law, including multi-state disputes over water rights, litigation with federal water managers, regulation of hydropower reservoirs, and advising clients on water withdrawals and state water resources planning. In 2015, he was asked by the Governor of Alabama to serve on a panel of expert stakeholders to review Alabama’s water quantity law.

Additionally, Thomas is part of a cross-sectional team of attorneys developing strategies to address new regulation and litigation risks involving “forever chemicals,” such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), as they increasingly become the subject of legislative, regulatory, and media scrutiny.

Birmingham Bar Association

The University of Alabama School of Law, J.D., 2003, magna cum laude; Order of the Coif; Hugo Black Scholar Award; Managing Editor, Alabama Law Review

University of Montevallo, B.A., 1999, cum laude; Associate Student, New College, Oxford University, Oxford, England, UK, (1997-1998)