WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Attorney General Eric Holder today welcomed the confirmation of Ignacia S. Moreno as the new Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. Moreno was confirmed by the U.S. Senate late yesterday.

"I am pleased to welcome Ignacia back to the Department and the Environment and Natural Resources Division," said Attorney General Holder. "Reinvigorating the traditional missions of the Justice Department, including protecting our nation's environment, has been one of my top priorities since taking office. Ignacia is a talented and experienced attorney who will bring strong leadership to this important division. I hope for rapid consideration of the other Justice Department nominees pending before the Senate."

The Environment and Natural Resources Division handles litigation under more than 150 federal statutes, such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (Superfund), the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.

The Division's work includes affirmative civil suits to stop polluters and recover clean-up costs, prosecution of environmental and wildlife crimes, defense of federal agencies and their programs, including management of federal lands and other natural resources, defense of federal environmental regulations, litigation relating to tribes and Indian lands, and condemnation of land for congressionally authorized public use. The Division was created on Nov. 16, 1909, by Attorney General George Wickersham through a two-page order creating "The Public Lands Division." It celebrates its 100th anniversary in less than a month.

Moreno returns to the Environment and Natural Resources Division where she served from January 1994 until January 2001 as Special Assistant and then as Counsel and Principal Counsel to the Division's Assistant Attorney General.

Since September 2006, Moreno has been an in-house counsel at the General Electric Company.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

RELATED LINKS
http://www.justice.gov