Garrett D. Trego, a partner with Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox LLP, is an environmental litigator and regulatory attorney with experience in state, federal and administrative courts across the country. 

He has successfully resolved environmental litigation matters through jury trial, pre-trial motion, and various forms of negotiated settlement.  Garrett’s approach to environmental litigation is to simplify complex legal and environmental technical issues for lay audiences.  He uses his thorough understanding of litigation e-discovery, the firm’s in-house technical expertise, and an appreciation for clients’ bottom-line business objectives to return positive results for his clients.  Garrett has achieved successful outcomes for a variety of corporate, governmental, and institutional clients in complex environmental matters.  His environmental litigation experience includes matters involving tort and contract defense, cost recovery, stormwater issues, CERCLA/Superfund, RCRA, and state statutory environmental claims, as well as other environmental business disputes. 

On the regulatory side, Garrett’s practice focuses on site remediation matters and FIFRA.  He assists clients addressing historical site impacts by navigating state and federal environmental site remediation requirements, including under RCRA, CERCLA, CWA, CAA, and related state-law programs.  On FIFRA, Garrett counsels manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers of pesticide products and devices on compliance and enforcement issues related to registration, promotion, and data use and protection.  

Garrett earned his law degree cum laude from the College of William & Mary’s Marshall-Wythe School of Law.  He began his legal career as a commercial litigator in the Philadelphia office of an AmLaw 100 firm. 

Prior to law school, Garrett obtained his undergraduate degree from Hampden-Sydney College in central Virginia, and he completed one year of national service through AmeriCorps NCCC, working with the U.S. Forest Service in the Arapahoe-Roosevelt National Forest in northern Colorado and with Rebuilding Together in New Orleans.  Garrett lives in Fairmount in Philadelphia with his wife, children and a rescue dog.

Garrett has a proven track record as a legal problem solver for an array of private and public clients navigating complex environmental issues.  He blends his litigation skills and grasp of environmental regulatory issues to further clients' goals.  His experience includes:

• Defending Berks County and the Berks County Solid Waste Authority at jury trial and on appeal against breach of contract and other claims from the owner of a disposal facility regarding the payment to the County of tens-of-millions of dollars in “host fees,” New Morgan Landfill Co., Inc. v. Berks Cnty Solid Waste Auth. et al., 266 A.3d 1211 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2021) appeal denied 279 A.3d 32 (Pa. 2022);
  
  
• Negotiating on behalf of the School District of Philadelphia settlement of constitutional and other challenges to a Philadelphia city ordinance related to regulation of environmental hazards in district buildings, The School District of Philadelphia v. the City of Philadelphia, No. 23-cv-238-WB (E.D. Pa. 2023);
  
  
• Navigating regulatory obligations, defending enforcement actions, and negotiating settlements under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or “Superfund”) for numerous potentially responsible parties at sites around the country, including proceedings involving removal actions, assessments and investigations, listing/de-listing, remedial investigation/feasibility studies and remedial design/remedial actions;
  
  
• Defending against “toxic tort” claims involving negligence, trespass, nuisance and other alleged property damages, including defending long-running state trespass and nuisance claims against a manufacturer in south Georgia filed by a neighboring property owner of another historical manufacturing facility, Lanier Parkway Associates LLC v. Hercules et al., No. 22-C-1681-S1 (Gwinett Cnty. 2022), No. CE15-1452-63 (Glynn Cnty. 2015);
  
  
• Counseling owners/operators of facilities regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and others subject to RCRA or state equivalents through waste issues and site remediation issues including facility investigation, permitting, corrective action, purchase/sale of all or a portion of a regulated facility, and facility closure, and involving contaminants of concern including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chlorinated solvents, perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and metals;
  
  
• Advising responsible parties in state and federal environmental permitting and site remediation matters, including matters involving air emissions, surface water discharges, contaminated soil and groundwater, and vapor intrusion/indoor air;
  
  
• Counseling clients through potential vapor intrusion issues, including assisting a national residential developer and a national manufacturer in resolving potential vapor intrusion concerns in their respective occupied residential development and manufacturing facility after unexpected reports of elevated concentrations of hazardous substances in soil gas or indoor air; 
  
  
• Defending a private wastewater treatment plant operator against threatened closure of its facility and assisting the operator in negotiating a settlement that provided for continued operation, Wind River Environmental LLC v. Warminster Municipal Authority, Nos. 2023-3169 & 2023-5241 (Bucks Cnty. Ct. Com. Pl. 2023);
  
  
• Enforcing the exclusive FIFRA proprietary data rights of an antimicrobial pesticide product manufacturer against competitors seeking registration of similar products and uses;
  
  
• Advising national retailers, service providers, and suppliers on FIFRA compliance issues associated with various antimicrobial, pesticide, and pesticide device products;
  
  
• Prosecuting and defending civil and administrative matters involving alleged violations of FIFRA and related state statutes, i.e., Weis Markets v. SF Group et al., No. 22-cv-118 (M.D. Pa. 2022).

• Best Lawyers® "Ones to Watch" listing (environmental law), since 2024. The Best Lawyers list is issued by Woodward/White Inc. Click here to view the selection methodology.
  
  Pennsylvania Super Lawyers“Rising Star” listing (environmental law and litigation), since 2017. The Super Lawyers list is issued by Thomson Reuters. Click here to view the selection methodology.
  
  Eastern District of Pennsylvania Roll of Honor for Pro Bono practice
  
  Burton Award for Legal Achievement
• 2012 Stephen E. Hermann Environmental Law Writing Contest (first place)
  
  
  No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey or any other jurisdiction.

"Solutions to Patent Hold-up Beyond FRAND: An SOS to SSOs," The Antitrust Bulletin, August 2014

"We Didn't Start the Fire...And We Won't Pay to Stop It:  Financing Wildfire Management in America's Wildland-Urban Interface," 36 Wm. & Mary Envtl. L. & Pol'y Rev. 595 (2012)

"Placing Your Company on (Litigation) Hold" presented at the Association of Corporate Counsel's In-house Counsel Conference, Philadelphia, PA, April 20, 2023

"The ARCO Decision: Third-Party, State Law Claims and Superfund Challenges", a webinar presented on behalf of the American Law Institute, August 6, 2020

"The Deal is Done: How to Avoid and Manage Post-Transaction Remorse with a Focus on Environmental Liabilities" presented at the Association of Corporate Counsel’s In-House Counsel Conference, Philadelphia, PA, April 17, 2017