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Nicole E. GranquistPartner Contact Info: Practice Areas: Additional Areas of Expertise Bio Nicole Granquist is among an elite group of attorneys whose practice is devoted entirely to water quality regulatory compliance and litigation. Described by clients as a “powerhouse,” who has a “tremendous grasp of the complex scientific, legal, and political issues” involved in California water quality regulation, her tenacious, creative, and pragmatic approach has garnered exceptional results for her statewide municipal and industrial clients. Her approach has also earned respect and credibility with regulatory agency staff and opposing counsel alike.
Nicole routinely negotiates NPDES Permits, WDRs, and water reclamation requirements with the State Board and Regional Water Boards for municipal wastewater, industrial process water, and all types of storm water discharges, as well as reclamation projects, and her involvement consistently results in more favorable and reasonable permit provisions. She is also heavily involved in the development of TMDLS and all aspects of Basin Planning, and has positively contributed to and influenced important statewide policies, a recent example involving her testimony that beneficially influenced the terms of the State Board's compliance schedule policy.
When unsatisfactory permits or enforcement actions (ACLs) are issued or undertaken by the State and Regional Boards, and all other avenues for conflict resolution have been exhausted, Nicole prosecutes administrative and judicial appeals before the State Board and all state courts. In doing so, she successfully invalidates or refines the interpretation of particularly problematic provisions, and reduces or completely eliminates the severity of penalties and excessive or unnecessary compliance requirements.
Given Nicole's extensive knowledge of the complex regulatory schemes created by the federal Clean Water Act and California Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, she is frequently retained to defend public and private entities against third-party citizen suits filed by Baykeeper, NRDC, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Northern California River Watch, and other similar groups in federal court, and she has successfully litigated or resolved over twenty-five such cases in the last ten years involving wastewater and storm water discharges.
To keep abreast of state and national developments in water quality regulation and litigation, Nicole serves on the Legal Affairs Committee of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, and is an active member of the California Storm Water Quality Association and California Association of Sanitation Agencies. Nicole received her law degree from the University of Oregon School of Law, where she completed the University's rigorous Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program with high distinction. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of California, San Diego.
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