Ronald J. Tenpas was named by President George W. Bush as the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the U.S. Department of Justice on May 30, 2007, and subsequently confirmed to the position by the Senate.

Mr. Tenpas has worked in the Department for a number of years, serving as Associate Deputy Attorney General; as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois; as an Assistant United States Attorney and Branch Chief in the District of Maryland; and as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Middle District of Florida in Tampa, Florida, starting in 1997.

As Assistant United States Attorney, Mr. Tenpas personally tried and investigated a variety of matters, including offenses involving narcotics transportation and distribution, violent crime, health care fraud, identity theft, government fraud, other white collar offenses, and public corruption. While in the Deputy Attorney General’s Office, he had oversight responsibilities for litigation matters and litigation policy, including matters related to the Environment and Natural Resources Division as well as several other Department components.

Before joining the Department, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Louis H. Pollak, U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; as a law clerk to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, United States Supreme Court; and as a law clerk to the Honorable Howard Holtzmann, judge on the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal located in The Hague, The Netherlands. He also was an associate with the Carlton, Fields law firm in Tampa, Florida.

Mr. Tenpas received an International Relations degree from the James Madison College of Michigan State University, graduating with high honors in 1985. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics, receiving a degree in 1987. After Oxford he was awarded a Hardy Cross Dillard Scholarship to attend the University of Virginia Law School from which he graduated in 1990. He served as Editor-in-Chief of the Virginia Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.

The Environment and Natural Resources Division, which is organized into ten sections, has primary responsibility for litigation on behalf of the United States regarding:

• Prevention and Clean Up of Pollution
• Environmental Challenges to Federal Programs and Activities
• Stewardship of Public Lands and Natural Resources
• Acquisition of Property for Federal Needs
• Wildlife Protection
• Indian Rights and Claims

With offices across the United States, the Division is the nation's environmental lawyer, and the largest environmental law firm in the country.