Accomplished, first-chair environment litigator with over 26 years of experience in water quality, water resources, and complex environmental litigation, with particular expertise in Clean Water Act permitting and regulatory compliance, CERCLA (Superfund) site remediation, and emerging contaminants.
Jeff regularly advises businesses and local government in water quality permit compliance and defense matters, responding to emerging contaminants (including PFAS) in water supplies, stormwater pollution prevention, hazardous waste spill prevention and cleanup, and cost recovery litigation. He also frequently consults with water rights owners and purchasers on preserving, acquiring, and transferring water rights. He has assisted a broad range of clients, including water suppliers, irrigation districts, municipalities, developers, manufacturers, commercial and timber landowners, interstate transporters, lumber mills, and ports.
Jeff is a frequent speaker and writer on water law and policy, particularly on the intersection between water rights and water quality. He has lectured extensively on the Clean Water Act, state water quality laws, and state and federal water rights. He has held leadership positions in the Water Resources and Water Quality and Wetlands Committees of the American Bar Association's Section on Environment, Energy, and Resources.
- Lead counsel in advising multiple municipal water suppliers on responding to PFAS contamination to groundwater and providing representation on cost recovery for response costs, water quality treatment, and Safe Drinking Water Act compliance.
- Lead counsel in multiple cases successfully prosecuting and defending claims to recover cleanup costs under CERCLA and Washington's Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) or similar state laws in Oregon, Alaska, and California. Cases have involved industrial dry cleaners, former landfills, gas stations, salvage and recycling facilities, manufacturing facilities, and lumber mills.
- Lead defense counsel in over thirty Clean Water Act citizen actions.
- Member, American Bar Association; Sections of Environment, Energy, and Resources, and Litigation
- Editor, American Bar Association Water Resources Committee newsletter (2009-Present)
- Chambers USA, Washington - Environment, Band 3
- "Super Lawyer®," Washington Law & Politics magazine
- Martindale Hubbell AV ® Preeminent Rated
- Listed in The Best Lawyers in America © (2011-Present)
- Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation
- Listed in the International Who’s Who of Environmental Lawyers 2010
- Vice President, Pacific Northwest Ski Association (2015-Present)
- President, Crystal Mountain Alpine Club (CMAC) (2010 - 2014)
- Alpine Race Official, United States Ski & Snowboard Association (2008 - Present)
- Pierce County Conservation District "Stream Team" Volunteer (1998 - 2002)
- Co-Author, "Stormwater Permitting and Management Requirements: A Practical Guidance® Practice Note by Jeff B. Kray and Jack L. Ross, Marten LLP" (December 2020)
- Co-chair and Speaker, Washington Water Code: Law, Policy, and Planning, The Seminar Group (November 2020)
- Moderator and Speaker, ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources, 48th Annual Spring Conference, PFAS: Impacting Site Remediation and Litigation for Years to Come? (March 2019 – Denver, CO)
- Speaker, “What You Need to Know About Buying and Selling Contaminated Property,” Commercial Real Estate Purchases & Sales, Law Seminars International (May 2018)
- Co-Chair, ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources, 26th Annual Water Law Conference (2008)
- Contributing Author, Water and Water Rights (Third Edition, Michie 2009)
- J.D., cum laude, Seattle University School of Law (1992)
- B.A., University of Colorado at Boulder (1987)
- State Bars of Washington and Oregon
- U.S. Supreme Court
- Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals; Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals
- U.S. District Courts, Eastern and Western Districts of Washington
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
