Benjamin Fields, 56, EPA attorney for nearly three decades

Benjamin D. Fields, 56, of Wyncote, an attorney with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for nearly three decades, died Monday, April 20, of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and leukemia at home.

Mr. Fields was senior assistant regional counsel in the agency's Mid-Atlantic Region III from 1987 to 2015. During that time, he handled "some of the most environmentally significant and legally complex enforcement matters" in the region, said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for the EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.

"Along the way, [he] earned a well-deserved reputation as a dedicated public servant, skilled attorney, and tenacious environmental advocate," Giles wrote in a letter marking Mr. Fields' retirement in January.

Mr. Fields helped expand the agency's underground storage-tank enforcement beyond routine reporting and record-keeping.

He was lead attorney in a 2008 case that levied the largest civil penalty ever assessed in a contested EPA administrative case under any federal environmental statute, Giles wrote in her letter. The case centered on 72 leaky underground tanks at 23 gas stations in various states, and resulted in a $3.1 million penalty against Euclid of Virginia, Giles wrote.

In another case, Mr. Fields pressed for hazardous-waste enforcement action against a manufacturer before it could complete Chapter 11 bankruptcy; as a result, the firm, not the taxpayers, paid for cleanup, wrote Shawn M. Garvin, EPA regional administrator, in another retirement letter to Mr. Fields.

Born in Riverside, Calif., he earned a bachelor of arts degree in history and political science at Swarthmore College in 1980, and a degree in 1984 from Northwestern University School of Law.

Mr. Fields enjoyed outdoor activities - backpacking, canoeing, rock climbing - and once spent four weeks trekking in Nepal. He also loved listening to music, photography, and cooking Spanish tapas and Hungarian specialties for his family.

Mr. Fields is survived by his wife, Stephanie Nova Fields; son Jacob H.; daughter Cara S.; a brother; a sister; and nieces and nephews.

Services were Wednesday, April 22.

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