Eric W. Nagle has been an environmental lawyer with the federal government since 1986. Since 1998, he has worked in the Portland office of the Office of the Solicitor, U.S. Department of the Interior, where he advises the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the Endangered Species Act.   

Before joining the Department of the Interior, he was a prosecutor in the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, enforcing federal pollution-control laws. Among his cases was the successful prosecution of Exxon Corporation for the Exxon Valdez oil spill. He has also worked for the Environmental Protection Agency, the Environmental Law Institute, and the National Outdoor Leadership School. He received his J.D. in 1986 from the University of Virginia, where he was an editor of the Journal of Natural Resources Law.