Summary

Our Natural Resources and Emergency Services Team are resourceful, experienced attorneys focused on efficiently solving your complex problems so that you can focus on your business.

Our team offers coordinated services in the following practice areas:

Natural Resources

With practitioners dedicated to matters affecting the environment, our Natural Resources attorneys can assist you in any matter affecting land, water and air, along with the multitude of regulations and laws that govern this area. Our attorneys have practiced in this arena since the inception of the major environmental laws. We understand the nuances and the reasons the laws have been enacted—and how best to defend our clients against their improper application. We don’t stop with defense—we also create innovative solutions to complex problems and provide strategic counsel regarding compliance and risk management. We are committed to finding creative and practical ways both to respond to immediate challenges and to implement long term legal responses so that our clients can focus on their core business.

Representative Experience:

  • Regulatory compliance in the chemical, steel, manufacturing and municipal sectors
  • Transactional due diligence
  • Complex contaminated property redevelopment
  • Environmental permitting for industrial facilities, wetlands and landfills
  • Industrial facility siting, expansion and closure
  • National CERCLA (Superfund) defense and cost recovery litigation
  • Underground Storage Tank closure and remediation
  • Municipal infrastructure improvement and compliance projects for public drinking water systems, wastewater treatment plants, storm and sanitary sewers
  • National environmental counsel for various polymer, pulp and paper, coating and plastic extrusion manufacturers
  • Corporate Environmental Management System evaluation and creation (national and international)

Energy

Energy production takes many forms: oil and gas, electric, mineral and renewable sources. Our practitioners recognize the importance of understanding the unique value of each production form and the broad range of complex legal issues and challenges that arise with respect to each form.

Representative Experience:

  • Oil and gas development, extraction and distribution
  • Pipeline siting, construction and regulatory compliance
  • Renewable energy including solar, wind and biomass projects
  • Coal, uranium and mineral mining operations
  • Electric Cooperative counsel

Emergency Response

Emergencies happen at inconvenient times and can become extremely chaotic and disruptive to business operations. Trained and educated for emergency response, our Emergency Response Team has true “24 Hour On Call” experience and can act as your representative with respect to governmental authorities, regulatory investigations, internal confidential investigations and crisis communications.

And when your company is creating or updating its security plan, or responding to a security breach event, our attorneys’ experience with Law Enforcement, Homeland Security and general security matters can help bring the protection and governmental compliance that best practices demand.

Representative Experience:

  • Responded to a chemical release to an interstate waterway during extreme weather conditions, which resulted in wildlife impact and implementation of protective measures for municipal water intake sources. Over multiple months oversaw confidential internal investigations and provided representation during governmental investigations. Identified and retained experts and provided legal guidance during remedial and subsequent capital improvement activities.
  • Responded to an after-hours weekend fire at a manufacturing facility and supervised confidential internal investigations and provided representation during governmental investigations.
  • Developed an Environmental Response Manual for attorney and client use during environmental emergencies.
  • Assisted confidential client and assumed primary contact role with federal and state criminal investigative authorities as a result of environmental sabotage by third parties.
  • Evaluated and revised client’s comprehensive Chemical Facility Response Plan for environmental incidents and releases including identifying and retaining specialized experts to develop state of the art facility capital improvements.