Walter
E. Mugdan has worked since 1975 in Region 2 of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. Since 2002 he has served as Director of the Division of Environmental
Planning and Protection, where he manages a staff of about 200 engineers,
scientists and planners. His responsibilities include the region’s air, water,
hazardous waste and environmental impact assessment programs.Mr. Mugdan previously served since 1995 as Regional Counsel, where he headed a staff of 80 attorneys. Prior to that time, he served as Deputy Regional Counsel for ten years. He started his EPA career as a staff attorney handling some of the region’s most important cases. He subsequently served in various supervisory positions including as chief of units responsible for Superfund, RCRA, TSCA and the Clean Air Act. In 1998 Mr. Mugdan spent eight months on a detail as Director of Region 2's Division of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance.
In 1995, Mr. Mugdan received EPA’s Gold Medal, the Agency’s highest award; and in 2004, he received the Presidential Meritorious Rank Award, among the highest honors for a career executive in the federal government.
Mr. Mugdan has authored numerous publications on environmental law topics, including an article on “Environmental Law Issues Raised by Terrorist Events of 2001” published by the Albany Law School Environmental Outlook Journal. He is a frequent speaker and lecturer on environmental subjects. From 1991 to 1997, he was an Adjunct Professor at Pace University Law School, where he taught a course on Superfund law. Since 1992, he has been the Director of the U.S. EPA’s annual Trial Advocacy Institute.
Since 2002, Mr. Mugdan has been an officer of the New York State Bar Association’s Environmental Law Section. He currently serves as First Vice Chair, having previously served as Second Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. He will serve as Chair of the Section for a one-year term starting in June, 2006. He has also served as Co-Chair of the Section’s Solid & Hazardous Waste Management Committee (1985-1993); Co-Chair of the Hazardous Site Remediation Committee (1993-2002); and Chair of the Nominating Committee (1987, 1990 and 2003). Mr. Mugdan earned his J.D. (1975) and his B.A. (1972) from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Mr. Mugdan has been on The Udalls Cove Preservation Committee Board of Directors since 1977. In 1994, he became Vice President, and in 2002, he became the group’s fourth President. Over the past several years, he has led UCPC’s campaign to protect The Udalls Cove Ravine from imminent threats of development, its successful efforts to ensure the restoration of Aurora Pond, and its ambitious Ravine Restoration Project. He also developed the group’s informative website.
Mr. Mugdan has served since 1985 on the Board of Directors of Westmoreland Association, which represents residents of the Westmoreland area in Little Neck. In 1993, he became Vice President, and in 2002, he became president of the organization. He has been a leader in the group’s legal efforts to enforce the protective covenants included in the deeds of all Westmoreland area homeowners; and its successful implementation of a security program for a local playground. He also developed the Association’s web site.
From 1994 until 2002, Mr. Mugdan worked with his wife, Vivienne Lenk, to build the Little Neck/Douglaston Memorial Day Parade floats for PS 94 and later MS 67, which have commemorated the valor and dedication of America’s service men and women. Nearly every year these floats won awards for best embodying the parade theme.
Mr. Mugdan is a long-time member of the Community Church of Douglaston. From 1998-2000, he chaired the committee that planned and oversaw a complete renovation of the Church sanctuary.
For many years, Mr. Mugdan presented workshops at the Alley Pond Environmental Center on cross-country skiing (although in all those years it never once snowed when the workshop was given). Mr. Mugdan has also been a speaker at a number of other APEC programs, and has been a member of the group since it was founded.
Mr. Mugdan is a recipient of the 2004 Douglas S. MacKay Friend of the Environment Award from the Alley Pond Environmental Center; the 2003 Van Zandt Award for Community Service presented by Zion Episcopal Church in Douglaston, Queens; and the 2005 Award from the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Lawyers in Public Service.
Mr. Mugdan is a lifelong resident of the Douglaston/Little Neck area in Queens, NY. He attended New York City public schools: PS 98, Junior High School (now Middle School) 67, and Bayside High School (class of 1968). He is married to Vivienne Lenk; they have one child, Elana, age 17, who is a senior at Townsend Harris High School in Queens.
