Pete Nyquist chairs Greenberg Glusker’s Environmental Practice Group.
He has been named “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers for Environmental Law in Los Angeles three times (2020, 2024, 2026) and is listed in Chambers USA (Environment, 2007-present) and Best Lawyers (Environmental Law and Environmental Litigation, 2012-present) as among the leading environmental lawyers in California. Clients have noted, "Pete is an outstanding environmental lawyer and has provided us with exceptional legal representation, done with great care" and “[he] has the ability to sort through complex issues in a short period of time, and chart a course of action that is practicable, efficient and successful." (Chambers USA).
Pete’s practice encompasses complex environmental litigation in federal and state courts under CERCLA, RCRA, the Clean Water Act, the Hazardous Substances Account Act, and related statutory and common law claims. He has been engaged as “parachute” trial counsel in several environmental cases on the eve of trial, resulting in very favorable outcomes for our clients. He has extensive experience in multiple high-stakes environmental litigation matters, including the Omega Chemical Superfund Site litigation, the Diamond Alkali Site (Passaic River), the San Diego Shipyard Sediment Site, and the San Gabriel Valley Superfund Sites.
In addition, Pete represents clients in a broad array of matters involving investigative, remedial or corrective action requirements at contaminated sites, including brownfield development projects, voluntary cleanups, and regulatory agency enforcement proceedings. For example, he currently represents San Diego Gas & Electric Company in a multi-party matter addressing sediment contamination in the San Diego Bay from decades of shipyard and other alleged industrial activities.
His diverse counseling practice includes advising clients such as Southern California Edison in connection with the renewal of NPDES Permit No. CA0109282 (Order R9-2023-0011) for the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (resulting in unanimous agency board approval), among various complex and emerging subject matter areas. Notably, this includes active involvement with evolving PFAS regulations and requirements, which extends to defending clients in response to governmental subpoenas and investigative orders.
Pete also serves as environmental counsel to various developer clients in Southern California, including for several of the most significant brownfield projects in the region: e.g., the Millennium Residences in Beverly Hills ($400+million mixed-use project that will stand 34 stories high making it the tallest building in Beverly Hills, with 211 new homes, including 32 affordable units: https://www.8300wilshire.com/); the 777 Front Street project in Burbank ($375+ million mixed-use project with 573 housing units at the former Zero Corporation site within the San Fernando Valley Superfund Sites: https://laterradev.com/projects/line-burbank/), The Point in El Segundo (https://thepointsb.com/, and the Palisades Village in Pacific Palisades (https://palisadesvillageca.com/). He regularly interfaces with USEPA, Cal-EPA, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, and the statewide regional water quality control boards, and has helped navigate numerous cleanup sites to “no further action” or site closure determinations. Pete has also represented clients in many administrative proceedings, appeals and writ actions challenging improper agency actions.
Pete is a former Chair of the Los Angeles County Bar’s Environmental Law Section. He remains an Advisor to the Executive Committee of the California Lawyers Association Environmental Law Section, and Co-Chaired the Yosemite Conference, nationally recognized as the largest and most prestigious gathering of California’s leaders in environmental law. Pete is a proud husband and father of two adult daughters, and enjoys ocean paddle boarding and mountain life as a lifelong skier. He somehow clings to a single-digit golf handicap.
