Environmental Law

Audits

• Review plant procedures to confirm compliance with all applicable laws and regulations (including federal, state, city and/or county) for the audited plant location.
• Obtain, organize and distribute information to be given to plant personnel, environmental auditor, and attorney.
• If not already in place, develop procedures of stewardship at plant.
• Assist with ongoing stewardship of plant process, safety, and related programs; be familiar with programs and ensure periodic updates pursuant to applicable laws and regulations.
• Identify need and draft plans for waste minimization, reduction, reuse, and recycling.

Notice of Violation (NOVs) Penalties

• Check legal authority for issuance of violation.
• Interview plant personnel and document fact situation surrounding violation.
• Maintain ongoing record of penalties for reporting purposes.
• Review discharge records to determine if violation of permit occurred.

Parallel Disciplines

• Track and monitor medical, legal, scientific, and financial journals to analyze trends likely to impact exposure allegations.

Real Estate Concerns

• Conduct due diligence searches regarding actual and potential environmental liability in connection with real property purchases and sales, new bond issues, and tender liability considerations.
• Perform search at state environmental agency for inspection reports, NOV's, complaints, compliance, and permitting history.
• Compile pertinent documents in connection with search for due diligence, including opinion letters.

Rule/Regulation Tracking

• Monitor proposed state statutes and regulations as they proceed to enactment/adoption; maintain current copies of draft language through final text.
• Locate and monitor subscription services to compile federal and state environmental laws for specific industries.
• Research environmental regulations and conduct legislative history searches.

State and Federal: Regulatory/Permitting

• Review permit applications for compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Review draft permits issued by the agency, paying particular attention to "boilerplate" provisions.
• Prepare comments to be reviewed by attorney and submitted during public comment period (if any provisions seem to exceed the permitting agency's authority or are otherwise objectionable).
• Attend, monitor, and report on public hearings, meetings of advisory committees, and task forces relevant to issue; obtain copies of reports of these public hearings and meetings.
• Review final permit to see if objectionable provisions have been revised or deleted; if these provisions have not changed, consult with attorney to see if permit should be appealed.
• Retrieve and analyze applicable laws and regulations to assist in preparing permit appeal to administrative tribunal.

Superfund-Waste Allocation

• Contact plant personnel to initiate document search and collect invoices, bills of lading, purchase orders, weight tickets, and other supporting documents after investigating existing materials.
• Review in-house quality control documentation with waste accountant to identify duplication and errors in waste allocation.
• Gather and maintain information about volume conversion (i.e., gallons to pounds, solids to liquids).
• Coordinate incoming documents from various client locations.
• Assemble documents for production to government agencies or third parties.
• Respond to informational requests from government agencies or third parties.
• Interview personnel to determine company involvement.
• Participate in potentially responsible party (PRP) committee meetings and conference calls; maintain current committee mailing lists. Coordinate joint defense structure and repository.
• Maintain information concerning status of sites; track total number of sites and public record press releases about remediation plans from any party.
• Assist with clean-up budgeting based on estimated allocation amount and estimated total costs.
• Prepare summary reports based on available data.
• Maintain database and/or repository of information obtained.

Note - Some of the information contained in the Real Estate and Litigation sections of this publication also includes work performed in the Environmental Law specialty area.