Jonathan Gendzier

Staff Attorney

Jonathan works on the Clean Water Defense Initiative, including the federal advocacy and outreach components of that work. He also represents the Virginia office on SELC’s water protection team. Some of his most meaningful work has included taking enforcement action under the Clean Water Act on coal ash storage facilities in Virginia and Tennessee, and the protection of communities and the environment across Virginia from the proposed, now-cancelled Atlantic Coast Pipeline. 

SELC’s place-based work, focused on protecting the environment and communities in the South, is exactly why I wanted to become a lawyer.

Jonathan Gendzier

Jonathan faces a difficult choice of one place that he loves. He has spent a lot of time in five of the six states SELC works in. 

“I really love the coastal barrier islands and salt marshes of Georgia and South Carolina, because the landscape, ecology, and culture are very similar to home in northeast Florida,” said Jonathan, who is from Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. “They are so ecologically rich and dynamic, and I spent time there growing up. I am also very fond of the southern Appalachians. The forests there are so beautiful, with magical places like Bob Stratton Bald in the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness.”  

Previous experience 

• J.D., Vanderbilt University Law School
• B.A., Vanderbilt University
• With SELC since 2015