Irene Hantman

Attorney

202-828-1233

Irene Hantman focuses on the domestic regulation of chemicals and has written extensively on these issues. Ms. Hantman advises clients on the practical implications of final and proposed state and federal legislation and regulations; for example, the implications of California’s Covered Electronic Devices regulations for redesign of complex electrical goods. For chemical manufacturers, she develops recommendations for hazard communication compliance, with both federal and California Prop 65 requirements. Her practice also includes enforcement defense.

Ms. Hantman joined Verdant after working at the USEPA in the Waste and Chemical Enforcement Division on TSCA and RCRA enforcement matters and in the Office of Transportation and Air Quality on compliance programs for traditional and renewable fuels. While at EPA she also worked with the Office of Solid Waste and Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery on the development of rulemaking proposals.

Ms. Hantman has written extensively on TSCA and FIFRA issues. Her work appears frequently in American Bar Association publications. For example, she wrote about facility emergency planning obligations under the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), and the Clean Air Act (CAA) for the May issue of the In-House Counsel Newsletter, Uncle Sam Wants You . . . to Report: Emergency Planning and Reporting Responsibilities; new requirements for chemical use, manufacturing, and importing requirements, EPA’s Plans To Modify TSCA Inventory Update Reporting for the Pesticide, Chemical Regulation, and Right-to-Know newsletter; and implications of EPA’s Chlorpyrifos Risk Assessment for the use and availability of organophosphate pesticides, EPA Signals New Organophosphate ‘Use Restrictions’ are Likely the Pesticide, Chemical Regulation, and Right-to-Know newsletter. Hantman has also written for the Bureau of National Affairs, Nanogovernance: Federal Progress on Regulating Tiny Technology.

She serves in a leadership position for the American Bar Association’s Pesticide, Chemical Regulation, and Right-to-Know Committee, for which she has chaired and moderated numerous programs including:

  • Suspension and Debarment an Administrative Tool for Addressing Noncompliance: Perspective From EPA;
  • Meet Rosemarie Kelly, Director Waste and Chemical Enforcement, US EPA; A Brown Bag Program on EPA Pesticide and Chemical Enforcement Priorities;
  • The NPDES Pesticide General Permit: Perspectives from the Hill, EPA, the Regulated Community, and Environmental Advocates;
  • Nano Governance: The Current State of Federal, State, and International Regulation; and
  • Right to Know Versus Right to Intellectual Property: EPA’s Evolving Approach to Confidential Business Information

Ms. Hantman is also vice-chair for newsletters for the ABA’s Air Quality Committee.

Ms. Hantman also teaches a course on practical legal writing at the University of Maryland School of Law. The course focuses on helping students develop the ability to distill complex legal developments and regulatory issues. Their final work product is an article strong enough to meet ABA publication guidelines. She has also taught the course at EPA’s National Enforcement Training Institute.

Ms. Hantman lives in Annapolis, Maryland where she has been involved in numerous civic efforts with the County Office of Planning and Zoning, a Conservancy governing board, and her neighborhood Community Association. She received a Governor’s citation for her work on State Bay restoration efforts.

Practice in DC limited to matters and proceedings before the EPA under District of Columbia Court of Appeals Rule 49(c)(5).