Lewis B Jones

Practice Areas

Lewis Jones is a nationally recognized expert in environmental law, specializing in water, natural resources, and infrastructure development. He advises water utilities on water supply and wastewater issues, environmental compliance, permitting, and fee setting; helps clients obtain and defend permits to build infrastructure; and assists with a wide range of issues relating to the civil works and regulatory programs of the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

Lewis is experienced in working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on reservoir permitting and management, contracting and licensing, and matters relating to wetlands and endangered species. With a Master’s degree in ecology, extensive experience with the permitting and environmental review processes, and a record of success in court, Lewis is adept at finding strategic solutions to difficult legal and environmental problems to achieve his clients goals.

Career

Jones Fortuna LP (2022-present): Partner

King & Spalding LLC (1998-2022): Associate, Counsel, Partner

Professional Memberships

Fellow, American College of Environmental Lawyers

Member, ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources

Personal

Board Member & Governance Chair, Institute for Georgia Environmental Education (2023-present)

Board Member & Program Committee Chair, Trees Atlanta (2019-present)

Board Member, Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education (2019-2022)

Elected Member & Board Chair, City of Decatur Board of Education (2014-2022)

Clients

Atlanta Regional Commission; Brazos River Authority, Texas; City of Atlanta, Georgia; Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority, Georgia; Columbus Water Works, Georgia; DeKalb, Fulton, & Gwinnett Counties, Georgia; Sea Island Company; Joint Municipal Water District of Southwest Missouri; Tarrant Regional Water District, Texas; San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, California; City of Murfreesboro and Consolidated Utility District of Rutherford County, Tennessee; Twin Pines Minerals LLC

Publications

Georgia Editor, Foundation for National Resources and Energy Law

Managing Editor, Georgia Environmental Law, Lexis-Nexis (1st and 2d Ed.)

Work Highlights

WATER SUPPLY, WATER RIGHTS, AND RELATED LITIGATION

Ongoing and successful representation of Atlanta-area water providers in the “Tri-State Water Wars” litigation involving the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) and Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa (ACT) River Basins. Successes include:

o Alabama v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, No. 1:15-cv-696 (D.D.C.), 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 60988 (D.D.C. Mar. 31, 2025) (dismissing the State of Alabama’s challenges to the Corps’ decision approving water storage contracts and granting credit for “made inflows” at Allatoona Lake)

o Alabama v. United States Army Corps of Eng'rs, 704 F. Supp. 3d 20 (D.D.C. 2023) (dismissing claims by Alabama, Alabama Power, and other Alabama entities challenging the Corps’ update to the Master Water Control Manual for the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basin)

o In re ACF Basin Water Litigation, 554 F. Supp. 3d 1282 (N.D. Ga. 2021) (granting summary judgment on challenges by Alabama and environmental groups to the ACF Master Water Control Manual)

o In re ACF Basin Water Litigation, 467 F. Supp. 3d 1323 (N.D. Ga. 2020) (dismissing challenges by Alabama and environmental groups to the ACF Master Water Control Manual)

o In re Tri-State Water Rights Litigation, 644 F.3d 1160 (11th Cir. 2011) (establishing Lake Lanier was authorized for water supply and vacating injunction threatening water supplies in Metro Atlanta)

o Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, No. 1:14-cv-400 (N.D. Ga.); Georgia et al. v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, No. 1:14-cv-3593 (N.D. Ga.) (finding the Corps unreasonably withheld action on water supply requests at Allatoona Lake, resulting in successful completion of a reallocation study and reconsideration of longstanding Corps policy regarding the crediting of “return flows,” a multibillion-dollar issue for our clients)

Secured the largest reallocation of storage in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers history at Lake Lanier, Georgia and a related reallocation at Allatoona Lake, Georgia, despite interstate opposition noted above

Secured reversal by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of a longstanding Corps policy against the crediting of “return flows” and “made inflow,” a matter of national interest

Secured a contract amendment revisions reducing the price of storage by millions and and cutting the perpetual "operations & maintenance" bill by half

Secured a reallocation of storage at Stockton Lake, Missouri for the Joint Municipal Utility Commission of Southwest Missouri — the first step in a process that will deliver needed supplies to communities throughout Southwest Missouri

Negotiated and secured a provision of the Thomas M. Carper Water Resources Development Act of 2024 to allow the Stockton Lake, Missouri reallocation to be approved without litigation under terms that will save the client tens of millions of dollars

Secured a reallocation of storage for the City of Murfreesboro and Consolidated Utility of Rutherford County, Tennessee at J. Percy Priest Reservoir, Tennessee, including credit for return flows

Helped to create, and now provide continuing support, to the National Water Supply Alliance, a national alliance of water providers that has proved to be increasingly effective in shaping federal water supply policy

ENVIRONMENTAL PERMITTING AND PROJECT DEVELOPMENT:

Successfully challenged a Combined Sewer Overflow (“CSO”) Permit issued to the City of Columbus by Georgia Environmental Protection Division due to the inclusion of an unnecessary and exorbitantly expensive “end of pipe limit” inconsistent with the facility’s approved Long-Term Control Plan, including victories at the Georgia Court of Appeals and the Georgia Office of State Administrative Hearings

Secured agreement from Tennessee Department of Environmental Control that an existing wastewater discharge into impaired an water can be expanded, an effort that included overseeing the development of a water quality model described by state agency officials as the best they had ever seen

Assisted Twin Pines Minerals LLC to secure all permits necessary for the Saunders Demonstration Mine, a heavy minerals sands mine to be located in Charlton County, Georgia, near the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge

Successfully sued the Assistant Secretary of the Army to reverse an order unlawfully rescinding “approved jurisdictional determinations” issued to Twin Pines Minerals, LLC

Obtained permits without litigation -- despite intense interstate opposition and the ongoing Tri-State Water Wars -- for Paulding County's Richland Creek Reservoir in the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basin, the largest private water supply reservoir constructed in Georgia in decades

Continuing representation of Tarrant Regional Water District on contract issues with the United States Army Corps of Engineers relating to the billion-dollar Central City Flood Project

Secured formal agreement from EPA Region 6 that ditch maintenance activities by the Fort Bend Drainage District, Texas, which the Corps erroneously targeted for enforcement, were exempt from the Clean Water Act

Advised multiple clients on matters related to wetlands development, application of nationwide permits, and Section 404 compliance

Advised multiple clients on matters related to the permitting and operation of mitigation banks

Education