Blank Rome LLP

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The strategic use of natural resources and responsible growth place environmental law at the forefront of business concerns. Blank Rome’s nationally recognized environmental practice provides counsel to clients in every major business sector, including:   manufacturing, real estate, commercial development, public and private finance and investment, healthcare and transportation.  We also provide counsel to municipal and county governments, and redevelopment authorities.

Our practice covers every substantive area of environmental law, including:

• due diligence, compliance auditing and environmental management systems
• corporate, real estate and lending transactions
• construction and operating permits for project development
• underground and aboveground storage tanks
• medical waste management
• civil and criminal enforcement and litigation
• internal corporate criminal investigations
• natural resource damages claims
• toxic tort claims
• Clean Air Act
• Clean Water Act and wetlands
• Toxic Substances Control Act and pesticide laws
• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and hazardous waste  management
• Superfund and voluntary remediation programs
• Hazardous Materials Transportation Act

We have particular experience in the following areas:

Environmental Enforcement and Litigation (Civil, Criminal, and Administrative Proceedings)

Our environmental attorneys provide representation in federal and state, civil and criminal enforcement actions and with respect to judicial consent decrees, administrative compliance orders, civil penalty assessments, natural resource damages assessments, and citizens’ suit actions to enforce federal and state environmental laws.  We also litigate complex, multi-party actions involving private cost-recovery, cleanup-cost allocation, and "toxic tort" claims.

Environmental Due Diligence and Risk Management

In any business transaction, the ability to quantify and qualify potential risk can ensure a successful outcome.  Blank Rome’s environmental attorneys team up with other attorneys in the real estate group and attorneys in the Firm’s corporate and financial groups in connection with complex private and public commercial transactions.  Our services include identifying, quantifying, qualifying, allocating, and documenting environmental issues and matters related to asset and stock acquisitions, sales of industrial and commercial companies (both private and public), credit agreements and secured financings, and strategic investments in industrial and commercial properties. We help our clients obtain environmental insurance coverage when they wish to minimize environmental and business risks and ensure a successful transaction.

Counseling, Compliance Auditing, and Environmental Management Systems

In a constantly evolving regulatory environment, it is essential to have a proactive compliance strategy. We counsel clients across the nation on compliance issues arising under all major state and federal environmental laws.  These laws include:  Superfund and state voluntary cleanup laws, RCRA and state solid and hazardous waste management laws, Clean Water Act and wetlands laws, clean air laws, community and worker right-to-know laws, and the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act.  In addition, we assist clients with environmental permitting, land development, facility siting, reporting obligations, and meetings with federal and state regulatory agencies related to compliance matters.  We conduct environmental, health, and safety compliance audits to determine the scope and extent of compliance issues, if any, and the corrective actions that must be undertaken, if required.  We work with consultants to design environmental management systems to address any issues identified during the scope of the auditing program.

Representation Before Regulatory Agencies and Congress

If an environmental matter involves executive policy issues or requires legislative input and action, we work on this matter with our affiliate, Blank Rome Government Relations LLC, a leading lobbying and strategic communications firm.  We also monitor and comment upon state and federal agency rulemakings and pending state and federal legislation.

Select Engagements

• Chemical manufacturers, oil refiners, pipeline operators, and other manufacturers in responding to federal and state grand jury subpoenas for alleged environmental violations, and conducted related internal investigations.
• Conducted environmental, health and safety compliance audits for manufacturers, educational institutions, and service-related companies to identify potential and actual violations of environmental laws to assist them with development of environmental management systems, and to counsel them regarding required disclosures to government agencies and applicable federal and state immunity policies.
• Provided environmental counsel to a privately held construction company involved in highway construction and quarry operations, regarding the expansion of its businesses in connection with permits, agency meetings, negotiations, and community relations.
• Successfully opposed EPA's proposal to list the properties of several clients on the Superfund National Priorities List.
• Convinced federal and state agencies to change "final" remedies for federal and state Superfund sites.
• Convinced a citizen's group and state and federal regulators to accept alternative air pollution controls for incinerator facilities.
• A developer in multi-party litigation involving the closure and redevelopment of a contaminated municipal landfill located in Linden, New Jersey.
• A major airline in a nationwide criminal investigation of alleged violations of the Clean Water Act, RCRA, CERCLA, Title 18 of the United State Code, and the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act.
• A manufacturer in a state criminal investigation of alleged violations of State's solid and hazardous waste laws, clean air act laws and civil OSHA proceedings.
• A client in multi-party mediation of $15 million claim involving a state hazardous waste site in California.
• Served as national coordinating counsel for a multi-national chemical company in the defense of more than 20 class action cases involving toxic torts and environmental pollution.
• A Fortune 500 shipping company in connection with the government's attempt to revoke corporate probation for environmental violations and an effort to impose a $1.2 million penalty.
• Served as lead counsel for a county government with two NPL Superfund sites; negotiated consent decrees and cost-sharing agreements with other parties and obtained a mixed funding agreement with EPA for site remediation costs.

Experienced Attorneys, Recognized in Their Fields

Blank Rome's environmental practice is comprised of attorneys who bring a wealth of experience from diverse backgrounds in industry and government. The group includes former trial attorneys from the Department of Justice, former officials of the Environmental Protection Agency, and former assistant United States attorneys. Members of the group write, lecture, and teach on environmental law topics. They have earned public recognition, including in the International Who’s Who of Environment Lawyers.