Mr. Scott Fulton
Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for International Affairs, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC
Scott Fulton is currently serving as Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Office of International Affairs at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). As such, he is the senior ranking career official in EPA’s international program and is responsible for the full range of U.S. EPA’s international environmental policy development and program implementation. In this capacity, Fulton represents U.S. EPA within the United States government and before foreign governments and international organizations on matters relating to environmental foreign affairs. Fulton’s career in environmental policy and law prior to his current appointment can be briefly described as follows. From 1982 to 1990, he served as an environmental prosecutor and manager at the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), where he contributed to the development of many of the liability principles that underpin the United States’ environmental protection program. From 1990 to 1995, Fulton held leadership positions in U.S. EPA’s enforcement program, first as Director of Civil Enforcement (February 1990 to December 1991) and subsequently as Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance – the top career environmental enforcement post at U.S. EPA. From 1995 to January of 1999, he served as U.S. EPA’s Principal Deputy General Counsel – the Agency’s senior career legal counselor. From 1999 until August of 2007, Fulton served as a Judge on U.S. EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board, where he adjudicated a variety of administrative cases, including appeals of decisions by trial-level Administrative Law Judges in enforcement cases, petitions to review U.S. EPA (and state) permit decisions, and petitions for reimbursement from the “Superfund” (hazardous waste and emergency response fund).
Fulton has been actively involved in international environmental protection efforts for the better part of two decades, particularly in the effort to build good governance mechanisms for environmental protection. His efforts in this regard have included, for example, negotiating with Mexico the enforcement provisions of the United States/Mexico Border Plan for the Environment and developing with Mexico bi-lateral implementation strategies; working with the countries of Central America on the development of legal infrastructure for environmental protection; serving as the United States’ legal expert and representative on the Environmental Legislation and Enforcement Project, Middle East Peace Process Working Group on the Environment (1999 – 2000); representing the United States as a judicial delegate to the Global Judges Symposium on Sustainable Development and the Role of Law (Johannesburg, South Africa, August 18-20, 2002); serving as a member of the Editorial Board for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)-sponsored Judicial Handbook on Environmental Law and Sustainable Development and related judicial training materials; and generally assisting and advising UNEP in its efforts to build the capacity of the international judicial community to adjudicate environmental cases.
Fulton has extensive experience as a lecturer on environmental topics, having presented speeches and papers at fora throughout the United States and in every major region of the world.