FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ENR WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1995 (202) 514-2008 TDD (202) 514-1888 JUSTICE FILLS OUT ENVIRONMENT DIVISION MANAGEMENT TEAM WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice announced today the appointment of three Deputy Assistant Attorneys General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. Lois J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Division, named Jim Simon, Nancy Firestone and John Cruden as her new deputies. Simon, who has served recently as Acting Deputy, will oversee the Environmental Crimes Section and the Indian Resources Section. Prior to joining the Division in January, 1994, he was a staff attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. A graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School, Simon also worked with the New York City Corporation Counsel. Firestone returns to the Division -- where she worked for 13 years -- from the Environmental Protection Agency. She was EPA's Associate Deputy Administrator and a judge on the Environmental Appeals Board. Her new duties will include the Appellate Section and the Environmental Defense Section. She graduated from Washington University and the University of Missouri Law School. Cruden, chief of the Environmental Enforcement Section since 1991, will be responsible for the Land Acquisition Section, the Environmental Enforcement Section and the Administrative Office. He was special counsel in the Civil Division in 1987-88. He also worked for the Department of Defense and as Chief Legislative Counsel at the Department of the Army. Cruden is a graduate of West Point and the University of Santa Clara Law School. For the Environmental Enforcement Section, Joel Gross and Bruce Gelber will rotate as Acting Section Chief. In other personnel actions, Schiffer designated Jim Kilbourne, a department veteran, to run the Division's Appellate Section. He moves over from the Wildlife Section, where he has been chief since 1989. Kilbourne joined the Division in 1979 as an Honor Graduate. He graduated from the University of Montana and the University of Montana Law School. Eileen Sobeck, current Assistant Chief in the Wildlife Section, becomes the Acting Section Chief. Jim Clear will now head the Indian Resources Section. An Assistant Section Chief since 1986, Clear has been with Indian Resources for 20 years. Before coming to the Department, Clear was with the Division of Indian Affairs at the Department of Interior's Solicitor's Office. He is a graduate of Georgetown College and Georgetown Law School. In addition, Kalyn Free joins the Indian Resources management team as Senior Counsel. One of her focuses will be to supervise cases related to pollution on Indian lands. She moves over from the Environmental Enforcement Section where she has been since 1987. She graduated from the Southeastern Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma Law School. Free is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. ### 95-462