FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         ENR
MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1995                           (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

    DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE FILLS THREE LEADERSHIP POSITIONS IN
         THE ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISION


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice today filled
leadership positions in two sections of its Environment and
Natural Resources Division.

     Lois J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Division, appointed Joel Gross and Eileen Sobeck as section
chiefs, and Bruce Gelber as principal deputy section chief.

     Gross will become chief of the Environment Enforcement
Section.  A deputy section chief since 1992, Mr. Gross has also
been an assistant section chief and a trial attorney in the
Environment Enforcement Section.  A graduate of New York
University Law School, Gross also holds a Master's Degree in
Mathematics, from Yeshiva University.  A recognized expert in
environmental bankruptcy law, he first came to the Department in
1983, from private practices in New York and Washington.

     Gelber will be the principal deputy chief of the Environment
Enforcement Section.  He joined the Department in 1985, rising
through the ranks to become an assistant chief and then deputy
section chief in 1992.  He was general counsel for the National
Committee Against Discrimination in Housing from 1978-1985.  A
graduate of Harvard Law School and Cornell University, Mr. Gelber
has clerked for the New Jersey Supreme Court, and worked in
private practice in Washington, D.C.
     
     Sobeck becomes the new chief of the Wildlife and Marine
Resources Section.  Previously an assistant chief of the section,
Ms. Sobeck began her career in public service in the Office of
the General Counsel at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, where she served from 1979-1984.  She began her
legal career as Visiting Fellow at the Center for Law in the
Public Interest in Los Angeles.  A graduate of Stanford
University and Stanford Law School, Sobeck joined the Department
of Justice in 1984.
                              (MORE)

     The Environment and Natural Resources Division is
responsible for enforcing the nation's civil and criminal
environmental laws in order to protect its citizens' health and
environment.  It represents the United States in all matters
concerning the protection, use and development of the nation's
natural resources and public lands, wildlife protection, Indian
rights and claims, the acquisition of federal property and the
clean up of hazardous waste sites. 

     
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