Environmental Law

Practice Area

Whether facing the scrutiny of federal and state regulatory agencies in addressing ever-changing standards or responding to private-party claims, clients trust our environmental attorneys to minimize and or avoid the risks associated with the lack of compliance with environmental statutes. The Harris Beach Environmental Law Practice Group has decades of experience providing counsel on evolving  federal, state, and local environmental statutes, rules, and regulations, including advising private and municipal clients on the extensive environmental review processes required to successfully complete projects, counseling clients on regulatory  compliance, and representing clients in administrative enforcement proceedings and in private environmental litigation.

Our services include:

Environmental Regulatory Counseling

We are fully familiar with the statutes, rules, regulations, and guidance at the local, state, and federal level that directly impact commercial and industrial operations associated with all environmental media. As such, our attorneys are able to counsel clients to ensure compliance with environmental regulations and standards whether the client is seeking counsel on the permits necessary under local, state, and/or federal law to embark on significant new development in potentially sensitive environmental areas or Brownfield sites or seeking counsel on securing or modifying permitted emissions to air or water from regulators. In so doing, we pride ourselves in developing constructive, pragmatic methods that are tailored to a client’s business and compliant with applicable law.  

Permitting

Harris Beach attorneys have substantial experience working on various permitting matters before the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the New York Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation,  the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the New York State Department of Labor, and other state and federal regulatory agencies. Among other high-profile projects, our regulatory practice has represented several significant mining concerns on compliance issues associated with their operations across several states and a large regional food production company that undertook an extensive rebuilding of its infrastructure – completely changing the manner in which it operates, including how it undertakes permitted discharges to air and water. These and other projects require our attorneys to regularly negotiate with local, state, and federal regulators concerning permit conditions and, where necessary, to represent clients in administrative hearings and litigation on such matters.

Audits and Assessments

Our attorneys review internal environmental audits and site assessments and advise clients on how to correct issues that are not in compliance with applicable regulations and standards and on how to minimize client exposure to penalties and fines. We have represented health care and other industrial and commercial clients on compliance issues when dealing with the DEC and EPA, and we have successfully counseled clients through voluntary self-audit programs with those agencies. This representation helps our clients achieve environmental compliance and thus avoid significant penalties. Further, our attorneys work with our corporate group in reviewing available information regarding industrial and commercial operations as part of due diligence in completing purchases and leasing transactions. Environmental practice group attorneys have been involved in hundreds of transactions working with our corporate group to review extensive information available on environmental conditions associated with those transactions and then fashioning creative provisions in transaction documents that protect our clients’ interests (e.g., indemnifications, the establishment of escrows post closing to ensure that environmental concerns are appropriately addressed) and facilitate the closing of the transaction as efficiently as possible. Our attorneys also represent sellers of properties with environmental concerns to protect their interests in such transactions. We have represented buyers and sellers across the state where addressing pre-existing environmental issues was critical to successfully completing transactions. Representative matters include the former Kodak Park Facility; the redevelopment of a large manufacturing facility located on Jefferson Road in Henrietta, New York; the sale and redevelopment of a regional manufacturing facility located in Norwich, New York, and the redevelopment of waterfront property in Troy, New York.

Health and Safety

Harris Beach offers legal counsel on compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) regulations and other federal and state regulations and programs, including the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act Title III (SARA) and the EPA’s Risk Management Program.  For example,  we work with both public and private sector clients on interpreting  the myriad regulations associated with asbestos containing material (ACM), ranging from required permitting and disclosures when it is necessary to complete renovations or construction on buildings and structures containing or potentially containing ACM to addressing required notifications to  regulatory agencies when ACM is inadvertently disturbed, and working with clients on performing required testing and clean up of ACM when such disturbances have occurred.

Project Development

We provide guidance and counsel to clients on a wide variety of project development issues, including assisting in the environmental impact, zoning, and land use review processes required under the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the New York City Environmental Quality Review Act (CEQR), and the New York Uniform Land Use Review Procedures (ULURP), among others. On numerous projects, we are required to counsel clients on compliance with the various local, state, and federal laws and regulations that must be complied with in order for projects to receive needed approvals, including counseling clients through the successful completion of simultaneous environmental reviews under state and federal law (including pursuant to SEQRA and NEPA). Recent representative projects include a number of regional wind farm projects, a transportation project of regional significance for a Fortune 500 transportation company, waterfront redevelopment efforts in a large northeastern city, a multi-purpose facility having public transportation and retail components, solid and hazardous waste facilities, manufacturing facilities, large retail centers, commercial office developments, and recreational facilities.

We have worked with clients and private project sponsors to ensure that appropriate environmental reviews are taken under state, federal, and local law while balancing the need to develop projects in a timely and cost-efficient manner. Our attorneys are also experienced in successfully defending challenges to both environmental impact and zoning reviews and permit approvals in state and federal courts, as well as governmental agencies such as zoning boards of appeals, DEC, EPA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC). Our environmental practice group takes a collaborative approach that includes consultations with non-legal environmental professionals, including engineers, legislative representatives, and public relations professionals.

Brownfield Redevelopment

Harris Beach assists clients in navigating their way through New York’s evolving Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP). This includes both assisting in the preparation of BCP applications that give our clients the best opportunity of gaining acceptance into the BCP and working with the DEC in fashioning investigations and remedial solutions that pass regulatory muster. Our environmental attorneys also work with our public finance and real estate group attorneys and non-legal professionals to maximize funding sources that may be available under the BCP. We work with consultants to find cost effective and appropriate remedial measures necessary to satisfy BCP requirements. In addition, we help clients properly structure transactions involving the sale or acquisition of contaminated parcels to achieve the maximum benefits under the BCP and other related programs. Further, we assist organizations in investigating and remediating contaminated properties through New York’s Environmental Restoration Program and the Bond Act Site Restoration Program and other state and federal programs.

Zoning and Development

Our attorneys and non-legal professionals have extensive experience in land use, zoning and development. As zoning and development counsel, the firm regularly counsels clients in each phase of the development of a project, including working with local municipalities to obtain the necessary zoning approvals to site a particular project and working with the client through required SEQRA and NEPA reviews. We represent both private and public sector clients in such matters. As a result, our clients benefit from our experience of having provided counsel on successful projects from both the municipal perspective and the private developer perspective.  We have also defended and successfully prosecuted cases under New York’s CPLR Article 78 concerning zoning matters. Our attorneys also assist clients in site acquisition (whether by negotiated purchase or government assisted condemnation); financing for the project (which may include conventional construction and permanent mortgage loans or lease financing); negotiation of agreements with architects, general contractors, and/or construction managers; and negotiation of leases.

Environmental Enforcement Action Defense Including those Involving Federal and State Regulatory Agencies

Harris Beach environmental attorneys have extensive experience defending enforcement actions initiated by the EPA and the DEC and other regulatory agencies including in local, state, and federal courts and administrative tribunals. These efforts include representing clients in civil and criminal cases prosecuted under federal law, including the Clean Water Act (CWA) the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and applicable regulations as well as under New York State Law, including the Environmental Conservation Law (ECL) and the New York Navigation Law. Current representative cases include representing municipalities in CERCLA cost recovery actions in central and western New York, representing municipalities in defending claims by the DEC arising from the operation of disposal facilities and counseling those clients on contribution claims that may be asserted against others, representing a city in a Navigation Law enforcement action commenced by the DEC, and representing property owners in pesticides, air emissions, and Navigation Law enforcement actions commenced by the DEC.  In addition, our attorneys work with our governmental compliance and investigations group to develop defense strategies in responding to criminal enforcement proceedings and criminal investigations. Our attorneys have decades of experience in negotiating settlements, including consent orders with the EPA and the DEC.

Environmental Litigation Matters Involving Private Parties

Our attorneys handle a variety of environmental litigation matters involving private parties, from defending and prosecuting claims under New York law (ex, Navigation Law) and federal law (ex, CERCLA and RCRA). Representative matters include defending CERCLA generators, property owners, and other potentially-responsible parties (PRPs) in cost recovery actions across the state, as well as representing parties against other PRPs in CERCLA cost recovery actions.

Community Outreach

Harris Beach recognizes that our clients face challenges that can require assistance beyond the legal counsel that we regularly provide.  In response to these needs, we have established HB Solutions LLC, a non legal consulting subsidiary that provides our clients comprehensive solutions in the areas of communications and community relations, among others.

HB Solutions can develop a strategic communication program that can enhance an organization’s ability to effectively move projects forward. Our communications professionals work with organizations to ensure that the communications preserve and enhance their reputations with key stakeholders, as well as reinforce community and consumer confidence and employee morale. Our team has earned a reputation for effectively managing such complex development projects by strategically applying communications, community relations, and marketing tactics as needed to gain community acceptance and move projects and government approvals forward. We have a proven track record of educating and mobilizing the public through community relations outreach such as hosting public meetings, producing newsletters, conducting editorial board meetings with regional media outlets, reaching out to community leaders, and creating informational public service websites.We are also skilled at controversial crisis communications and management, including training clients on communication skills, media interviews, and public forum preparation.