Environmental Litigation & Counseling Practice

Attorneys at Heller Ehrman have handled environmental matters ranging from government and private party litigation, administrative orders and proceedings, and civil and criminal enforcement actions to permitting, regulatory compliance counseling and transactional support. We work with clients to find practical, economical solutions to their environmental issues. Our clients include large and small companies engaged in manufacturing, mining, oil refining, hazardous and solid waste management and disposal, real estate and financial services, as well as municipal governments and public ports.

We make it a priority to understand our clients’ businesses. We also understand the technical aspects of environmental law, including toxicology, epidemiology, hydrogeology, biology and engineering. Many of our attorneys have formal technical training in the area of environmental science. In addition, we consult with environmental analysts – both in-house and outside the firm – who have advanced science or engineering degrees. We also draw on the multidisciplinary resources of attorneys throughout the firm, particularly in the areas of real estate, consumer defense and insurance coverage.

Facts About Our Practice

• Recognized nationally for our litigation, regulatory and compliance counseling practice, with 15 attorneys whose practices are dedicated to environmental law. Our environmental lawyers have extensive experience before federal and state courts and environmental regulatory agencies at federal, state and local levels.
• Possess depth of experience with Superfund and its state equivalents on behalf of clients such as Aerojet General Corporation and Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation, stretching from the latest on brownfields redevelopment back to the Times Beach cleanup and the birth of these laws. Our practice includes negotiating consent decrees and agreements among parties, supervising cleanups, coordinating Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) groups, handling third-party cost recovery actions and federal and state enforcement actions, resolving claims in bankruptcy, defending attendant tort claims and pursuing insurance coverage.
• Offer extensive experience in regulatory compliance and environmental due diligence on behalf of clients such as American Honda Motor Co., Inc., whom we have represented for many years in connection with site acquisitions throughout the United States.
• Help clients obtain the permits they need for existing facilities and new projects, including brownfields redevelopment. We also represent clients before agencies and in the courts when compliance with rules and permits is at issue.
• Routinely involved in the rulemaking process, on behalf of individual clients, trade associations and informal coalitions, as well as in the shaping of legislation.
• Possess particular experience in environmental litigation, including defense of:
• Natural resource damage claims, including a significant victory in the largest NRD claim brought to trial by the United States.
• Cost recovery claims (and prosecution of such claims as well) connected with environmental cleanups.
• Toxic tort suits (including class actions) brought in many states across the country.
• Prop 65 claims, whether "bounty hunter" claims or those brought by the state attorney general.
• Citizen suits under all of the major environmental statutes.
• Environmental and land use permits in state and federal courts.

Our Capabilities

Toxic Torts

We have a long and successful history of defending major mass tort and environmental class actions. Our experience includes suits ranging from five-plaintiff, single-exposure situations to class actions involving thousands of plaintiffs and decades of alleged exposures.

California Proposition 65

An increasing number of engagements involve California’s complex Proposition 65 law. We have defended both in-state and out-of-state companies – including national chemical companies, regional manufacturers and local hospitals – in Proposition 65 litigation brought by both "bounty hunters" and the state Attorney General. We also advise clients on Proposition 65 compliance.

Superfund – Cleanup, Cost Recovery and Natural Resource Damages

Our attorneys have extensive experience with every aspect of Superfund and its state counterparts. We have represented individual defendants at major sites, represented groups of de minimis PRPs, acted as common counsel to large groups of PRPs in defending against government actions, and prosecuted and defended contribution claims among PRPs.

Government Enforcement and Prosecutions

We have defended clients in all phases of civil, criminal and administrative environmental enforcement actions, including actions by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and state and local agencies as well as actions brought by state and local district attorneys.

Citizen Suits and Private Cost Recovery Litigation

Our attorneys have represented clients in citizen suits filed under virtually every environmental statute authorizing such cases. We have defended and prosecuted "private cost recovery" suits brought under CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act), RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) and the HSAA (Hazardous Substance Account Act) as well as under common law (typically trespass, nuisance or contract) theories.

Permitting, Project Development, and General Compliance Counseling

We advise clients on permit and compliance issues in connection with federal and state water, air, hazardous waste, endangered species and other environmental regulations affecting existing facilities and proposed projects. We assist with permit applications, represent clients in challenges to federal and state regulations, and defend enforcement litigation, administrative actions and citizens suits.

Preventive Programs and Environmental Audits

Our attorneys have extensive experience conducting audits and designing programs that help clients avoid unnecessary fines and litigation. Our work ranges from broad environmental reviews to specific counseling related to areas such as hazardous waste handling and disposal, release reporting, the crisis management of chemical spills and compliance with federal regulations under the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, RCRA and OSHA, among other regulatory programs.

Property Acquisition and Brownfield Development

We have worked on all aspects of real property acquisitions and leases involving environmental issues at residential, commercial and manufacturing sites. We work with property owners, lenders, regulatory agencies, local communities and other stakeholders to create innovative plans for the remediation and redevelopment of “brownfields” and other contaminated sites.

Proposed Legislation and Regulatory Rulemaking

Our environmental attorneys regularly comment on and redraft proposed statutes and regulations. In addition, we frequently participate in agency and industry workgroups assigned to develop new legislation, regulations and agency polices.

Engagements

• Won a decisive victory for an international mining and smelting company in the largest natural resource damages case ever to go to trial. The case, involving the Coeur d'Alene River basin in Idaho, was brought by the United States and an Indian tribe.
• Secured approval of modifications to a federal consent decree governing the investigation and cleanup of contamination at a Sacramento industrial facility that has been listed as a Superfund site. The modifications "carved out" 2600 clean acres from the 8500-acre Superfund site,  enabling our client to put these 2600 acres to productive use.
• Retained to assist in defense of natural resource damages claims relating to alleged contamination of the Hudson River.
• Represent a coalition in a series of actions under the Endangered Species Act seeking reform of salmon fisheries which harvest substantial numbers of ESA-listed Northwest salmon. The current cost of measures to restore regional salmon runs exceeds $700 million per year and is expected to increase. Meanwhile, harvest rates on returning adult salmon range as high as 60 percent each year.
• Defense of one of the largest mining companies in Canada in a lawsuit filed by the California Attorney General's Office over cleanup of groundwater contamination at the Jamestown Gold Mine in Tuolumne County, CA.
• Settled a lawsuit brought by the California Attorney General's Office for cleanup of contamination caused by a major tire fire. Client owned and operated a waste tire-to-energy facility adjacent to the historic tire pile that burned in the fire.
• Negotiated a Bankruptcy Court-approved settlement with the United States and several states resolving a major aluminum company's cleanup liability at more than 66 contaminated sites across the country.
• On behalf of a county that operates a municipal landfill which has released contaminants into the environment, we are negotiating the scope of response, pursuing grant funding, insurance recovery and contributions from other potentially liable parties and negotiating a cost-sharing agreement with the former owner and operator.
• Culminating a 10-year effort, we successfully converted our client's RCRA corrective action permit into an Agreed Order under Washington's contaminated site statute. The deal involved a complicated three-party negotiation that resulted in two agreed orders and one enforcement order against a recalcitrant neighbor.

Contacts

Michael R. Thorp
michael.thorp@hellerehrman.com
+1 (206) 389-6200

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