Environmental Law

Our practice in the environmental field began with legislation establishing water quality standards in 1949 and has developed dramatically ever since. It encompasses the full range of environmental issues with an emphasis on regulatory compliance and enforcement including, for example, matters relating to asbestos projects, hazardous and nonhazardous wastes, disposal of laboratory wastes and radioactive materials, lead-based paint, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, environmental assessments under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, and related litigation. Our experience involves substantial contacts and negotiations with federal and state agencies handling environmental issues.

Among the matters we have handled for higher education clients are:

• Environmental issues involved with a private university's development of a research and technology park.
• In one of the earliest pollution cases against an educational institution, arising out of a coal pile fire and major fish kill, negotiated a consent order requiring a $2,500 community oriented environmental study in lieu of the $500,000 fine initially threatened.
• Handled and successfully defended the environmental review associated with construction of a 50,000 seat domed-stadium.
• Provided counsel and conducted compliance reviews for a number of colleges and universities in response to EPA Region 2's regulatory compliance initiative and assisted in the development of the first Voluntary Audit Agreement between EPA and a private higher education institution.