DANA L. HOFSTETTER has practiced law in Idaho for over 13 years. Her practice emphasizes water right, water quality and land use matters. She graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor's degree in chemical engineering and received her Master's and law degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. Upon obtaining her undergraduate degree, Ms. Hofstetter worked as a product development engineer for Procter & Gamble Company in Cincinnati, Ohio for 2 years. After graduating law school in 1988, she began her legal practice with the private law firm of Holland & Hart in its Boise, Idaho office where her practice included a wide variety of water right, environmental and public land matters for the firm's large mining and industrial clients. Ms. Hofstetter has continued her legal practice with other private law firms in Boise, maintaining a focus on water rights and other natural resources matters. She is a member of the Idaho State Bar Association and is admitted to practice before the Idaho courts and the United States District Court for the District of Idaho.

Ms. Hofstetter has extensive experience with water right litigation involving the ongoing Snake River Basin Adjudication (SRBA), both with respect to individual water right subcases and overarching (basin-wide) issues. She actively has litigated over 100 individual contested water right subcases in the SRBA. Also, she has advised clients with respect to completing and filing SRBA claims for their own water rights and has shepherded numerous water right claims through the SRBA process. In recent years, she has briefed and argued several significant SRBA cases on appeal to the Idaho Supreme Court.

A substantial part of Ms. Hofstetter's legal practice involves advising clients with respect to water right status for both transactional matters and compliance assurance. Also, she has been involved in numerous water right administrative proceedings, including new water right applications, water right transfers, water supply banks, enforcement cases and rulemakings. She has represented both applicants and protestants in water right administrative proceedings that have reached resolution through either settlements or contested case hearings. She also has been involved in drafting and negotiating new water law statutory language.

Various kinds of water organizations, including irrigation districts and ground water districts, have sought Ms. Hofstetter's assistance on water right, organizational, operational, and corporate matters. She also has been involved with water delivery easements for residential subdivisions and individual water users. She frequently drafts water right related legal documents, including deeds, leases, sale contracts, and corporate materials.

Ms. Hofstetter also has represented a number of industrial clients with sophisticated mining and manufacturing facilities on environmental compliance matters. She has extensive experience working with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), concerning hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. This experience includes representing businesses in preparing for hazardous waste inspections by regulatory personnel and in responding to enforcement actions brought by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Contaminated site issues have been an important part of Ms. Hofstetter's legal practice. This representation has included advice concerning potential liabilities in real estate transactions, defense of potentially responsible parties in cleanup actions and seeking cost recovery from other potentially responsible parties through the initiation of lawsuits. She also has assisted clients with Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) reporting and clean up matters, as well as with leaking underground storage tank issues. Presently, Ms. Hofstetter has a lead role in seeking designation of an area of drilling concern to address a contaminated ground water area in the City of Twin Falls.

Her background extends to the Toxic Substances Control Act, the federal statute regulating the manufacture, distribution, processing and use of chemical substances. Her experience in this area includes polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) compliance issues. Ms. Hofstetter also has assisted clients with Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (SARA Title III) compliance matters.

Ms. Hofstetter has represented clients on a full range of Clean Water Act matters, including the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), total maximum daily load (TMDL) and wetlands programs. Additionally, Ms. Hofstetter has advised clients on Clean Air Act matters, including Title V permitting and asbestos remediation.

Much of Ms. Hofstetter's legal practice also invokes real estate and public land law issues. Ms. Hofstetter has worked on Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA) projects in connection with land-based developments. Further, in connection with land development projects, she frequently has advised clients on local planning and zoning matters, Bureau of Land Management and state easement rights, mining claims, grazing rights and title issues. Ms. Hofstetter also has provided legal representation with respect to local and federal transportation projects and hydroelectric power plants and other kinds of energy facilities.

Overall, Ms. Hofstetter's natural resources based legal practice has included all three governmental branches: administrative, legislative, and judicial. She has developed numerous working contacts at key state and federal regulatory agencies. Ms. Hofstetter has worked both with the Idaho Legislature and with congressional staff on legislative matters. She also has both defended and prosecuted cases in state and federal courts and has undertaken significant appellate work.

Dana and her husband, Victor Hofstetter, live on 5 irrigated acres in Eagle, Idaho. Victor grew up on a ranch in Blaine County, near Carey, Idaho and now teaches physics at Eagle High School. Dana and Victor have 3 children, Sara (20), Lorne (17), and Ryan (13).

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