Rachel Miguel Goldberg

Rachel M. Goldberg is a natural resources and land use attorney specializing in CEQA/NEPA compliance, and entitlement and permitting matters. She counsels private and public sector clients in navigating environmental regulatory frameworks, including the ESA, CESA, CAA, the Porter-Cologne Act, SMARA, the Subdivision Map Act, Williamson Act, and the Brown Act. Ms. Goldberg has specific expertise with conservation and mitigation banking and mining and industrial development projects.

Ms. Goldberg earned her J.D. from the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where she completed certificates in Environmental Law and Native Hawaiian Law, and served as a Senior Editor of the Asian Pacific Law & Policy Journal. She was awarded the Samuel L. Cohen Fellowship for Human Rights, and was a UNFCC COP25 student delegate. Ms. Goldberg earned her B.A. in Geography, with minors in Botany, English, and History, from the University of Hawai‘i and Sarah Lawrence College. After law school, she clerked for the Intermediate Court of Appeals of the State of Hawai‘i. Past roles include developing urban forestry policy to address Hawai‘i’s adaptation and mitigation goals; participating in utility commission dockets tied to renewable energy markets; and securing legislation related to streamlined permitting of water leasing for indigenous agriculture cultivation. As an associate at Mitchell Chadwick LLP and Harrison Temblador Hungerford & Guernsey, Ms. Goldberg provided strategic guidance on CEQA/NEPA compliance, zoning law matters, the entitlement and permitting of large-scale restoration projects, and mining and industrial development projects throughout the state.

Ms. Goldberg is admitted to practice in both California and Hawai‘i. Originally from San Francisco, she spent ten years in Hawai‘i where she studied political ecology and climate systems. This interdisciplinary background continues to inform her work as a Climatebase Fellow, where she researches finance and policy mechanisms to advance adaptation and mitigation projects. Recently, Ms. Goldberg co-authored the article, “Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act: Turning Lemons into Lemonade,” analyzing the compensatory mitigation framework for restoration projects within the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act. She is a member of the California Ecological Restoration Business Association, Urban Land Institute, and the Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law.