Biography
BIOGRAPHY OF
SARAH D. LILE
Sarah D. Lile served as Director of the Department of Environmental Affairs for the City of Detroit from 1995 to 2005. Before coming to city government Ms. Lile was a partner in the law firm of Fink Zausmer P.C. where she specialized in environmental litigation and planning, eminent domain and commercial litigation. In addition to her legal and government experience Ms. Lile served as Assistant Dean and Lecturer in Law at Wayne State University Law School from 1982-84, where she taught employment law.
Ms. Lile has a comprehensive background in environmental law, planning, and policy, including brownfield redevelopment, water resources, solid waste management and enforcement. She worked extensively in the crafting of state and federal brownfields legislation and rules, including the Clean Michigan Initiative (CMI) Fund, Michigan’s Brownfield Redevelopment Financing Act and the state’s Part 201 Amendments to the Michigan Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act. She chaired the City of Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (DBRA) from 2001 to 2005. She served on the steering committee for the Southeast Michigan Water Quality Consortium, and was a member of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Advisory Committee and the state’s Air Quality Advisory Committee.
Nationally, Ms. Lile worked with the U.S. Conference of Mayors on its Brownfield Initiative and provided significant review of and input into drafting legislation for incentives and liability protection for the redevelopment of brownfields. Those efforts culminated in the passage of the federal Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Redevelopment Act and the All Appropriate Inquiries Rule promulgated under the Act. As a member of the Local Government Advisory Committee of USEPA, Ms. Lile authored the Committee’s advice to the Administrator on priorities for funding improvements to and expansions of water and wastewater infrastructure in the United States. She also served on Government Advisory Committee (GAC) to the USEPA Administrator for the Council on Environmental Cooperation (CEC) under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Other civic and policy initiatives include: Past President and Trustee of the Municipal Waste Management Association, an affiliate of the U.S. Conference of Mayors; Charter Member and Board of Directors, D Augustus Straker Bar Association 1990-1993; Executive Committee of the Institute for Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) 1984-86; Co-Chair of the Detroit Wayne County Roundtable on Sustainable Development; Co-Chair, ReUse-It Team for Brownfield Redevelopment; Local Host Steering Committee for the National Town Meeting on Sustainable Development; Coordinator for the Detroit-Toronto Clean Cities Corridor; and Co-Founder of the Midwest Environmental Network.
Ms. Lile holds a B.A. in Political Science from Wayne State University and graduated cum laude from the University of Detroit School of Law. From 1982 to 1984 she served as law clerk to the Honorable Julian Abele Cook, Jr., former Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. She formerly held the position of Product Coordinator at Difco Laboratories (now Becton-Dickinson) before attending law school.
Ms. Lile is presently of counsel to WilliamsAcosta, PLLC.