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Gabe Racz

Member

Gabe Racz guides public and private clients through state and federal environmental, water quality, and water rights challenges.

Gabe advises municipalities, agriculture, mining, industry, and utilities on all aspects of compliance with the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Colorado Water Quality Control Act (CWQCA). He regularly represents clients in hearings and public comments regarding water quality standards, Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs), rule makings, and policies. His experience also includes all aspects of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and Colorado Discharge Permit System (CDPS) permits including public comment, adjudications, litigation, compliance advice, enforcement, and citizens suits.

Gabe regularly provides comment and testimony on the intersection of water quality and water resources regulation and legislation. With an emphasis on the unique challenges of water supply projects in the arid west, Gabe counsels clients through environmental permitting, including CWA Section 404 dredge and fill and wetland permitting, water quality certifications, Endangered Species Act consultation and permitting (ESA), and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). He also represents clients in acquiring, protecting, and using water rights, including water rights adjudication for surface and groundwater rights, changes of water rights, and plans for augmentation, as well as water rights purchase and sale transactions.

Education

J.D., summa cum laude, University of Illinois College of Law, Champaign, Illinois, 2000
B.M., Ithaca College, 1994

Recognitions

  • Denver Business Journal – Leader in Agriculture (2026)
  • Best Lawyers in America® – Environmental Law (2024-2026) Water Law (2026)
  • Denver’s Top Lawyers (2022-2023)

Memberships

  • Colorado Bar Association, Environmental Law Section and Water Law Section
  • Boulder County Bar Association, Natural Resources/Environmental Law Section
    Chair, Colorado Water Congress Water Quality Committee
  • Board Member, Colorado Water Congress
    Chair, Colorado Chamber of Commerce, Energy & Environment Council Water Quality Committee
  • Colorado Mining Association
  • National Association of Clean Water Agencies

State Bar Licenses

Colorado

Court Admissions

U.S. District Ct, District of Colorado
U.S. Court of Appeals, 10th Circuit

Organizations

  • Board of Trustees, Rocky Ridge Music

Presentation

  • Presenter, “Complying with Water Quality Regulations,” Colorado Water Rights and Regulations webinar, Halfmoon Education, December 2025
  • Moderator, “Regulating Dredge & Fill Activities in State Waters,” Colorado Stormwater Symposium, December 2025
  • Presenter, “The Wrath of Dredge and Fill: Colorado’s response to Sackett and the Evolving Definition of WOTUS,” with Alex Timbas, Colorado Environmental Management Society Fall Conference, September 2025
  • Presenter, “PFAS Primer for the Public Sector,” with Tracy Williams and Chris Clare, July 2025
  • Presenter, “Discharges Into Surface Water: Produced Water, Oil and Gas Waste, and More,” 22nd Annual Law of the Rio Grande, April 2024.
  • Presenter, “Water Quality 101,” Colorado Bar Association Environmental Law Section, September 2023.
  • Presenter, “The Epic of WOTUS,” Colorado Water Congress Summer Conference Workshop, August 2023.
  • Presenter, “The Epic of WOTUS,” MINEXCHANGE: Colorado Mining Association 125th National Western Mining Conference and SME 2023 Annual Conference & Expo, March 2023.
  • Presenter, Murky Waters: Dredge and Fill Permitting & the Definition of Waters of the U.S., Colorado Environmental Management Society Fall Conference, September 2021.
  • Co-Presenter, Everything You Need to Know Now About WOTUS and PFAS, Colorado Water Congress Summer Conference, August 2021.
  • Presenter, “New EPA Water Quality Rules and Enforcement Actions” Continuing Legal Education, Held March 2017.
  • Presenter, “Colorado Temperature Standards, or, Misadventures in Haberdashery,” Colorado Water Congress Summer Conference, Aug 2016.
  • Presenter, “Water Quality 101,” Colorado Water Law 14th Annual Conference, May 2016.
  • Presenter, “The Colorado Water Plan and Water Quality,” Boulder County Bar Association (March 2016).
  • Presenter, “Trends in Water Quality Regulation,” Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Annual Conference & Expo (Feb. 2014).
  • Co-presenter “Colorado Nutrient Regulations: The End of the Beginning,” SDA Annual Conference, September 2012.

Publications

Articles

  • “Every Last Drop: Water Scarcity and Winegrape Vineyard Expansion in Arizona and Colorado,” The Wine Industry Advisor, August 4, 2025
  • Co-author, “Control of Nutrients in Colorado Surface Waters: Current Status”, The Colorado Lawyer Vol. 42, No. 7 (July 2013) (with Amy Woodis).
  • “Author, “Nutrient Regulations Will Challenge the State, Municipalities, Industry, and Agriculture.” Boulder County Bar Newsletter, May 2012.
  • Co-author, “Acquiring, Using, and Protecting Water in Colorado” (1st ed., 2004 and revised ed., 2011).
  • “Keeping Your Cool With Revised Temperature Standards,” South Platte Forum, Oct. 2007.
  • Represents clients before the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission, Colorado Water Quality Control Division, and Environmental Protection Agency concerning water quality standards, NPDES and CDPS permits, TMDLs, and control regulations.
  • Counsels clients on stormwater permitting and compliance, including industrial stormwater, mine stormwater, and Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permitting.
  • Litigates NPDES and CDPS permit terms and conditions before administrative agencies and courts.
  • Advises municipalities and industry on Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act compliance, including drinking water quality, stormwater management, wastewater treatment, and the operation of treatment plants.
  • Represents water providers in environmental permitting of reservoir and water pipeline projects.
  • Represents mining companies in matters related to the water conditions in mining and reclamation permits, and enforcement of water quality conditions.
  • Represented a mining company in a rule making hearing to update human health based water quality standards using the best available science.
  • Represented municipalities and industry in rule making hearings and agency engagement to obtain approval of water quality variances under the CWA and CWQCA.
  • Represented amici in litigation of a Clean Water Act citizen suit in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in the first reported appellate decision concerning indirect discharges considered the functional equivalent of discharges to waters of the United States under the U.S. Supreme Court Maui decision.
  • Represented water interests before the Colorado legislature in the development of legislation for state permitting of discharges of dredged and fill material following the U.S. Supreme Court Sackett decision.
  • Represented a water authority in obtaining all approvals for completion of a regional reservoir project, including adjudication of water rights, dredge and fill permitting from the Corps of Engineers, Endangered Species Act consultation, and land use approvals.
  • Counsels clients on regulatory and legislative developments related to PFAS and other emerging contaminants, including compliance strategies, risk management, and finance.
  • Represents public agencies and industry in Colorado water courts related to adjudication of water rights and augmentation plans.
  • Counsels clients on the evaluation, acquisition, protection, and utilization of groundwater and surface water rights.

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