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John G. Valeri, Jr. joined Wolff & Samson in March 2011 as a member in the firm's Environmental Group. Previously, John was the acting general environmental counsel for PSEG Services Corporation. His experience involves advising on complex state and federal environmental issues, including significant power plant, electric and gas transmission and distribution permits, and approvals in multiple jurisdictions, including New Jersey Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NJPDES), freshwater wetlands permits and air permits.

Notably, John provided significant legal and policy advice regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s development of rules governing cooling water intake structures for large electric generating facilities under Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act, and PSEG’s participation in the subsequent rulemaking litigation before the Supreme Court of the United States in Entergy et al v. Riverkeeper, Inc. et al. John also negotiates environmental agreements and provides strategic policy advice on major state and federal legislative and regulatory initiatives, including drafting testimony and substantive regulatory comments.

John has extensive and significant experience at high levels of both federal and state government. Most recently, John was associate deputy general counsel in the Office of General Counsel at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and also served as counselor to the administrator under former Administrator Christine Todd Whitman. John also served as senior assistant counsel for Governor Christine Todd Whitman, where he was responsible for advising the governor on significant environmental and public utility legislation and regulations, including negotiating the passage of the Brownfield and Contaminated Sites Act and the Electric Discount and Energy Competition Act. John was chief of staff to the Board of Public Utilities, where he had responsibility for overseeing the implementation of energy deregulation, as well as aspects of the transition of the telephone and cable television industries into competition.

John received his J.D. from New York University School of Law. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Bucknell University, magna cum laude, where he was a member of the Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society.