Partner
Environmental & Natural Resources
“I enjoy collaborating with my clients toward successful outcomes. My experience on both sides of the enforcement docket and as a final decision-maker on permitting matters helps clients find the best posture for resolving alleged violations and securing authorizations for their projects.”
Jon draws on high level government experience to advise clients on complex environmental permitting challenges and their most critical civil environmental enforcement investigations and litigation. His extensive experience includes contested project permitting matters, where securing environmental permits is crucial to project success.
Before joining the firm, Jon served nearly a decade as Chairman and Commissioner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), responsible for TCEQ’s final actions on matters including project permitting, enforcement, and rulemakings and for oversight of the State’s implementation of state and federally delegated environmental laws. He also represented the agency before the Texas legislature and served in leadership roles in various associations of state and federal environmental regulators.
Jon’s appointment to TCEQ followed his nearly 15 years as an environmental lawyer both in private practice and with the Office of the Attorney General of Texas, where he represented Texas’s natural resource, energy, and utility agencies as an Assistant Attorney General and Chief of the Environmental Protection Division.
Advised Pacifico Energy in securing air permit authorizing 7.65 gigawatts of gas-fired generation for its GW Ranch hyperscale data center
Advised Fermi America in securing air permit authorizing 6 gigawatts of gas-fired generation toward the buildout of its 11-gigawatt Project Matador hyperscale data center campus
Chaired meetings of the TCEQ to hear and decide on the issuance of nearly every contested air, water, and waste permit from 2018 through 2024
Served as administrator of Texas’s $209 million Volkswagen Diesel Emissions Environmental Mitigation Trust, funding projects to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides
Secured approximately $1 billion for Texas to help restore the Gulf’s resources following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
(5th Cir.) – Briefed and argued petitions for review, obtaining vacatur of EPA’s unlawful disapprovals of Texas air permitting rules
(Tex. Dist. – Travis Cnty.) – Secured $50 million in civil penalties for environmental violations related to a refinery explosion
Represented metals manufacturer in toxic tort action relating to groundwater contamination
Texas v. EPA, 690 F.3d 670 (5th Cir. 2012)
Luminant Generation Co. v. EPA, 675 F.3d 917 (5th Cir. 2012)
Education
Admissions
Client Alerts
Colorado and Wyoming Formalize Cross-Border Carbon Storage Coordination
In May 2026, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (“WYDEQ”) and the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (“ECMC”) executed …
May 28, 2026
May 28, 2026 • 3-minute read
Client Alerts
Last fall, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) gave project developers a valuable thing in Clean Air Act permitting: a usable …
May 14, 2026
May 14, 2026 • 6-minute read
Client Alerts
EPA Poised to Grant CCS Primacy to Colorado
On March 19, 2026, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) published a proposed rule to grant Colorado the authority to …
March 19, 2026
March 19, 2026 • 3-minute read
Client Alerts
TCEQ Proposes Expedited Compliance Orders to Increase Efficiency
UPDATEOn February 11, 2026, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality considered and approved the Expedited Compliance Order process. During Q&A, …
January 9, 2026
January 9, 2026 • 4-minute read
Client Alerts
EPA Approves Texas CCS Primacy
On November 7, 2025, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Administrator Lee Zeldin signed a final rule granting Texas primary permitting authority over Class VI Underground Injection Control (“UIC”) permits within the state.
November 13, 2025 • V&E Environmental Update
November 13, 2025 • 6-minute read
Awards & Rankings
The Legal 500 US 2026 recommended Vinson & Elkins as a leading law firm in 47 practice categories. In total, …
June 10, 2026
June 10, 2026 • 3-minute read
Deals & Cases
Vinson & Elkins Helps Fermi Secure Air Quality Permit for Texas Data Center
Vinson & Elkins advised Fermi Inc., which today announced that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has granted final approval …
February 25, 2026
February 25, 2026 • 1-minute read
Deals & Cases
Vinson & Elkins advised Pacifico Energy in connection with securing a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (“TCEQ”) air permit authorizing …
January 29, 2026
January 29, 2026 • 1-minute read
Deals & Cases
Fermi America Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering
Vinson & Elkins represented the underwriters, led by UBS Securities LLC, Evercore Group L.L.C., Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., and Mizuho Securities USA LLC, in connection with the initial public offering of 32,500,000 shares of common stock of Fermi Inc. at a price to the public of $21.00 per share.
October 2, 2025
October 2, 2025 • 1-minute read
Firm News
The Texas Water Association Dedicates its 81st Annual Convention to Jon Niermann
The Texas Water Association dedicated its 81st Annual TWA Convention to Vinson & Elkins Partner Jon Niermann, whose practice focuses …
March 10, 2025
March 10, 2025 • 1-minute read
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