A CAREER DEDICATED TO RURAL PENNSYLVANIA
William J. Cluck is an environmental, energy and land use attorney based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Bill has an interesting and diverse law practice, concentrating on environmental, energy and land use law.
His work focuses on zoning appeals, environmental permitting, SALDO challenges and litigation involving industrial development proposed in rural districts. Bill's practice is rooted in the belief that rural communities deserve strong, informed and persistent advocacy. Local governments face increasing pressure from data centers, pipelines, warehouses and large-scale industrial projects. These developments often arrive quickly, strain local infrastructure and threaten the landscapes and character that define rural Pennsylvania. Bill's mission is to ensure that these communities have a voice and a defender when land use decisions carry long-term consequences.
EXPERIENCE AND REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
Bill has represented members of the regulated community in all aspects of environmental law, including permitting, defense of administrative, civil and criminal enforcement actions, transactional matters and regulatory counseling.
His work includes:
> He has negotiated environmental permits for graphic arts companies, chemical manufacturing companies, an electric utility, landfills, a pollution control device manufacturer, steel tube manufacturer, and a waste tire processor.
> Bill has defended a construction company from criminal charges for lead paint violations under the Toxic Substances Control Act.
> He has also defended companies charged with criminal offenses related to spills of fracking fluids into the environment.
> He has represented landowners analyzing mineral rights and negotiating oil and gas leases in the Marcellus Shale.
> His litigation experience includes serving as one of the court-appointed liaison counsel for a large number of small businesses in the Keystone Sanitation Superfund Litigation. Bill's efforts were instrumental in securing both a de micromis and de minimis settlement for his clients and members of the group.
>Special exception matters involving warehouses and data centers
> Spot zoning challenges to zoning ordinances
> Validity challenges to zoning ordinances
> Appeals of environmental permits for data centers
> CAFO litigation
> Air permits for compressor stations
REPORTED DECISIONS
Lebanon Solar I LLC v. N. Annville Twp. Bd. of Supervisors, 340 A.3d 1071 (Pa. Cmwlth 2025)
WHERE BILL PRACTICES
He represents clients before the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board, Pennsylvania State courts and he is admitted in the Eastern, Middle and Western District Federal Courts of Pennsylvania. He has argued cases before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and Commonwealth Court.
LEGAL AND COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
After graduating, cum laude, from Temple Law School, Bill began his legal career as a summer associate in 1987 in the Philadelphia office of Saul Ewing. In 1991, he relocated to Harrisburg and was the first associate in Saul Ewing's Harrisburg Office. He was named Special Counsel in 1999 and started his solo practice in July 2000.
He is a past chair of the Environmental and Energy Law Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. He currently chairs the Section's Membership and Diversity Committee. He is a member of the PBA Appellate Advocacy Committee, Minority Bar Committee, Agriculture Law Committee and Medical Marijuana and Hemp Committee.
Bill served eight years on the Board of Directors of Capital Region Water. In 2013, he was chairperson of the Board and oversaw the sale of the Resource Recovery Facility and the transition of Harrisburg water and sewer systems from the City of Harrisburg to the Harrisburg Authority, now known as Capital Region Water. Mr. Cluck is a founding member and former Chairperson of the City of Harrisburg's Environmental Advisory Council. He co-chaired the Advocacy and Resource Development Board of the Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers from 2000 until 2013 and was instrumental in obtaining initial state funding for the SBDC's award-winning Environmental Management and Assistance Program.
Mr. Cluck was a Barrister in the Delaware Valley Environmental American Inn of Court from 1999 to 2004. Bill is a member of the Phildelphia Bar Association, and in 1994, served as co-chair of its Environmental Law Committee. He was a member of the 2010 Leadership Class of the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the MS Society.
Bill received his B.A. degree from Penn State in 1982. While at Penn State, Bill was president of the Undergraduate Student Government. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Skull and Bones Alumni Interest Group, has served on the Board of Directors of the Mount Nittany Conservancy and is a past president of the Lions Paw Alumni Association.
Mr. Cluck earned his J.D., cum laude, in 1988 from Temple Law School. While in law school, Bill was executive editor of Temple Environmental Law and Technology Journal. He is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania.
