Walter Mugdan

Walter MugdanWalter Mugdan is currently serving as Acting Regional Administrator for Region 2 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  He will serve in this role during the current administration transition period.  

Mr. Mugdan has served since 2008 as Director of the Emergency & Remedial Response Division for EPA Region 2, where he manages a staff of about 220 remedial project managers, on-scene coordinators, hydrologists, risk assessors and others.  The Division is responsible for implementing the “Superfund” hazardous waste site cleanup, emergency response and brownfields programs in the Region (which covers New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands).

Previously, Mr. Mugdan served from 2002-2008 as Director of the Division of Environmental Planning & Protection for EPA Region 2, where he headed a staff of about 180 engineers, scientists and planners responsible for the air, water, hazardous waste, environmental assessment and pollution prevention programs in the region.  

From 1995 - 2002, Mr. Mugdan served as Regional Counsel for Region 2, where he headed a staff of about 80 attorneys.  Prior to that, he served as Deputy Regional Counsel for ten years.  He joined EPA Region 2 in 1975 as a staff attorney, and subsequently served in various supervisory positions in the Office of Regional Counsel, including as Chief of units responsible for the Clean Air Act, Superfund, RCRA, TSCA and FIFRA.  

In 1998 Mr. Mugdan spent eight months on a detail as Director of Region 2's Division of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance, heading the Region’s staff of about 150 field inspectors and technical enforcement personnel.

Mr. Mugdan has authored numerous articles on environmental law and regulation. He is a frequent speaker and lecturer on these subjects.  From 1991 to 1997 he was an Adjunct Professor at Pace University Law School, where he taught a course on Superfund law; and since 1992 Mr. Mugdan has been the Director of the U.S. EPA’s annual week-long Trial Advocacy Institute. 

Mr. Mugdan has since 1985 been a member of the Executive Committee of the Environmental Law Section of the New York State Bar Association.  In 2006-2007, he served a one-year term as Section Chair, having served for the previous four years in the other officer positions – First and Second Vice-Chair, Treasurer and Secretary.  He has 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); Chair of the Nominating Committee (1987, 1990 and 2002); and Chair of the Bylaws Revision Committee (2007).  

Mr. Mugdan earned his J.D. (1975) and his B.A. (1972) from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In his private life, Mr. Mugdan heads a local conservation organization in northeastern Queens County, NY; and also heads his local homeowners’ civic association.