Bogoshian '88 Appointed to Cal/EPA

Matthew Bogoshian '88 was appointed general counsel and deputy secretary for law enforcement at the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) by Governor Schwarzenegger.

 

Bogoshian founded the Monterey County District Attorney's Environmental Protection Unit six years ago and is the leader of the Tri-County Environmental Task Force, encompassing enforcement in Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito counties. He has helped prosecute a series of landmark environmental cases there and throughout California, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in fines against violators.

Among the biggest cases in which he has been involved were multicounty prosecutions of AT&T and 7-Eleven for underground storage tank violations that resulted in $25 million and $15 million fines, respectively. He is participating in the statewide prosecution of Home Depot for hazardous-waste violations that is expected to draw a fine of nearly $13 million.

Cal/EPA oversees six state agencies that regulate environmental laws, including the water boards, the air board and the department of pesticide regulation. Historically, Bogoshian said in an article in the Monterey Herald, the agencies have tended to use administrative penalties to punish violators.

A big part of his role in Sacramento, he said, will be to increase the number of cases that are forwarded to local prosecutors "so we have a level playing field for businesses to compete."

Bogoshian joined the Monterey County District Attorney's Office in 1995 after two years in private practice. He began his law career in the Navy JAG Corps and was a high school teacher in San Diego from 1984 to 1985.

He served as president of the Salinas Union High School District board of trustees. Bogoshian is on the board of low-income housing developer Community Housing Improvement Systems and Planning Association, familiarly known as CHISPA, and plans to continue in that role as he commutes between Sacramento and Salinas.