Environmental & Land Use

We are experienced in the permitting of projects under state and federal air, water, natural resource, wetland, land use, and hazardous waste statutes.  We counsel clients in licensing matters beginning with initial identification of the issues and formulation of a permitting team and strategy, through agency negotiations and public administrative hearings and, if necessary, in administrative and judicial appeals.

Many members of our Environmental Practice Group also are members of our interdisciplinary Land Use Team.  These attorneys regularly work with clients to obtain all the municipal permits required for a project, including zoning, subdivision, site plan, wetland, and shoreland approvals.

We routinely represent businesses with air emissions and wastewater discharge permitting.  This includes licensing new sources and helping existing facilities with license renewals or modifications associated with the integration of new technologies.  We also counsel numerous municipalities and municipal water and sewer districts on permitting issues.

Everyday commercial and residential activity generates waste.  The management of this waste is highly regulated and often scrutinized by the public and third party groups.  We routinely assist clients who manage waste, whether solid or hazardous, with facility permitting, compliance, and, when necessary, defense of their permits.

We work with clients, whether utilities, private businesses, or developers, to bring their energy projects to life.  When a project is still in the conceptual stage, our environmental attorneys partner with members of our Business, Energy, and Tax groups to help clients finance their energy projects.  Successful completion of a project often requires understanding both the environmental laws and regulations and the political influences that affect how a project proceeds through the permitting process. In some cases, we work with clients to amend the law or local ordinances so their projects may proceed.

For projects previously developed and already operational, we assist clients with permit compliance and license renewals and modifications.  For example, we have experience helping owners of hydropower projects address fish passage and endangered species issues, achieve desired results in complex stakeholder negotiations as part of FERC licensing, and obtain state water quality certifications.  When a project's useful life comes to an end, we also assist with license surrender and decommissioning.

Environmental policy decisions directly affect our clients.  Our attorneys understand the intricacies of both existing environmental laws and the legislative process.   Whether seeking to advance a client's own bills or respond to bills proposed by others, we develop an overall strategy to achieve favorable legislative results.  This may involve counseling a client through the legislative process, actively working with legislators and legislative committees, and forming coalitions.  We also represent clients in rulemakings conducted at the national and state levels, including under the Superfund Law, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Federal Power Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and state air, natural resource, water, solid waste, land use, and superfund laws.

Contaminated or potentially contaminated properties present risks and opportunities.  We work with both buyers and sellers to identify and minimize the former and maximize the latter.  We have experience providing a range of services associated with contaminated property and brownfields redevelopment, including:

• Analyzing and resolving liabilities among multiple parties
• Conducting due diligence and all appropriate inquiry assessments
• Drafting and negotiating environmental covenants
• Managing consultants and cleanup
• Recovering investigation and remedial expenses
• Defending and resolving government claims for liability and windfall liens

Also, in Maine we have guided many clients through the VRAP program and successfully secured liability protections under State law.

Finally, not all real estate and business deals involve contaminated property.  We regularly work with buyers and sellers to perform environmental due diligence and to coordinate the transfer of existing permits with federal and state regulatory agencies.

We advise private parties on Superfund liabilities (and how to avoid them, where possible), and have done so since Superfund was enacted in 1980.  Over this period we have addressed, and continue to address, Superfund sites of all sizes on behalf of clients whose potential liability range from being one Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) at a multi-million dollar site to de minimis parties.  In addition to counseling clients on strategies for limiting their liabilities, when necessary, we have actively litigated Superfund matters in New England and elsewhere.

Projects requiring environmental permits are closely scrutinized by regulators and often by other interested parties.  We represent our clients in all types of administrative and judicial appeals to both challenge and defend agency decisions.  While the goal is always to achieve the desired result without litigation, our lawyers have the expertise and experience to advise clients during the agency process on ways to improve the odds of success on appeal, such as by building an adequate record during the permitting process and preserving legal arguments that pay dividends later in court.