Pierce Atwood’s environmental and land use lawyers have decades of experience and expertise in representing clients in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and nationally in all aspects of environmental permitting, environmental compliance, environmental regulation, and environmental defense. 

The diversity of our Maine and national clients and their issues -- together with our years of practice as the most experienced and most successful group of environmental lawyers in northern New England -- means we can bring our experience in environmental law  to your service. 

Our environmental law practice started in 1970, with the establishment of many federal and state environmental laws, such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, and has grown to 22 lawyers working on regional and national environmental matters.  Before coming to Pierce Atwood, our environmental lawyers have served in the Office of General Counsel of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C.; the Maine Attorney General’s Office (including the former Chief of the Natural Resources Section); and as staff to federal legislators on environmental regulation, legislation, and litigation. 

Our depth and breadth allow us to work on a wide variety of environmental matters, including cutting edge issues in New England and nationally.  The firm’s environmental lawyers represent clients on the full range of environmental, land use, natural resource, energy and renewable energy, remediation, and toxic tort issues, as well as the interrelationship of these issues to real estate, local land use, commercial, banking, and corporate transactions. Some recent matters have included:

• Defense of toxic tort lawsuits for MtBE, allegations of air releases from manufacturing facilities, and groundwater contamination;
  
• Permitting assistance and advice to Poland Spring on acquisition and development of new water sources;
  
• Permitting of private, commercial, and state-owned landfills;
  
• Assisting in cleanup, development, and permitting of a former paper mill for a modern manufacturing facility in Brewer, Maine;
  
• Due diligence for the acquisition and sale of industrial, commercial, and energy facilities of all sizes, addressing contaminated property issues, as well as environmental compliance and OSHA matters;
  
• Permitting assistance to developers of tidal power, wind power, biomass, oil and natural gas powered electricity generation, and LNG projects;
  
• Advice on environmental matters arising from decommissioning of Maine Yankee Atomic Power facility;
  
• Counsel for S.D. Warren Co. before the U.S. Supreme Court in S.D. Warren Co. v. Maine Board of Environmental Protection;
  
• Leading groups of Potentially Responsible Parties at federal and state Superfund sites in New England, and representation of parties at sites outside of New England.

Where the need arises, we work seamlessly for the client’s benefit with Pierce Atwood’s outstanding litigation, real estate, business and tax, employment, and energy practice groups.  We are proud to serve our clients and we appreciate that others have also recognized the quality of our group; a number of our environmental attorneys regularly appear in Woodward/White’s The Best Lawyers in America, the Chambers USA listing, and New England Super Lawyers. 

Related Publications

Practice Leader

• Matthew D. Manahan - Partner

Practicing Professionals

Commercial, Resort/Hospitality, Industrial, Residential, and Retail Facility Permitting   Commercial, Resort/Hospitality, Industrial, Residential, and Retail Facility Permitting  

Click here to learn more about our land use experience representing clients in the commercial, resort/hospitality, industrial, institutional, residential, and retail sectors.

Consumer Product Facility Permitting Consumer Product Facility Permitting 

• Serve as lead counsel to Louisiana-Pacific in obtaining all required permits and approvals (including approval of NOx offsets for VOCs) for its new manufacturing line for Oriented Strand Lumber in New Limerick, Maine, including a biomass-fired central heating unit.
• Assisted Georgia-Pacific Corporation in obtaining all necessary permits and approvals for installation of a new, large multi-fuel co-generation boiler.
• Serve as lead counsel to Huber Engineered Woods, LLC in obtaining all required permits and approvals for replacement of dryers and installation of biomass furnace at its Oriented Strand Lumber facility in Easton, Maine.
• Assisted S.D. Warren Company – Westbrook, Maine Mill and Fraser Paper – Berlin, New Hampshire Mill to create and certify NOx and VOC emission reduction credits and NOx emission reduction credits, respectively.
• Assisted Fraser Paper – Berlin Mill in New Hampshire to obtain all permits for a new oil-fired co-generation boiler.
• Assisted Fraser Paper – Berlin mill in New Hampshire and five pulp and paper mills in Maine in meeting the requirements of EPA’s Cluster Rule relating to air emissions and wastewater discharges.
• Represented a pulp and paper mill in the Midwest in the first phase of EPA’s cluster rulemaking proceeding; persuaded EPA to modify a key definition to allow this mill to operate as part of an elemental chlorine free (ECF) rather than totally chlorine free (TCF) segment.
• Represented a paper products manufacturing facility in California to create and sell VOC emissions reduction credits.
• Represented of a group of wastewater discharge licensees in Maine v. Johnson, 498 F.3d 37 (1st Cir. 2007), in which EPA had withheld NPDES permitting authority from the State for Tribal discharges, and had applied a case-by-case analysis for determining State authority over the non-Indian discharges.  The First Circuit Court of Appeals held that Maine has authority under the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act to regulate all wastewater discharge facilities in the State, including those owned by Indian Tribes and those owned by non-Indians but discharging into disputed “Indian Territory.”
• Represented Dragon Products Company in a contested proceeding to close and fully reclaim two large stockpiles of waste material (CKD and waste clinker) from the cement manufacturing process.  The Board of Environmental Protection issued an approval order.  Closure and reclamation activities are in process.
• Serve as counsel for Nestlé Waters North America/Poland Spring in Maine; assist efforts to site and obtain all necessary permits and approvals for spring water bottling facilities and additional water sources in Maine.  Recent matters include successfully defending challenges to permits for facilities in Nestle Waters North America, Inc. v. Town of Fryeburg, 2009 ME 30.
• Serve as lead counsel for Backyard Farms, LLC; involved in all aspects of company’s successful efforts to obtain all required permits and approvals to construct a 24-acre greenhouse, heated by a biomass-fired co-generation boiler, to grow tomatoes.  Recently, led successful federal and state licensing of the company’s proposed expansion to add two large production greenhouses (approximately 29 acres and 18 acres), two research and development greenhouses, and related facilities and infrastructure.
• Represented New Hampshire pulp and paper mills on NPDES permit proceedings and appeals.
• Represented several Maine pulp and paper facilities on MEPDES licensing renewals and modifications.
• Represented agricultural associations and growers in natural resource and wetland permitting proceedings.

Contaminated Properties and Real Estate Transactions Contaminated Properties and Real Estate Transactions 

• Conducted a comprehensive environmental compliance assessment in connection with the sale of a manufacturing facility in New Hampshire.  Assisted the company to address discovered deficiencies, thus reducing its enforcement exposure and business risk.
• Assisted in cleanup, redevelopment, and permitting of a former paper mill on a 40 acre river site into a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Brewer, Maine, which is now constructing large-scale building components for an oil refinery and shipping them via ocean barging.
• Assist multiple clients in environmental due diligence for transactions of all sizes and types for properties and businesses with environmental issues in Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.
• Represent multiple manufacturing and other commercial and industrial facilities in Maine in obtaining no action assurances for historic contamination pursuant to the Maine Voluntary Response Action Program.

Energy Facility Permitting Energy Facility Permitting 

• Serve as lead counsel for large-scale wind energy facilities proposed by Aroostook Wind Energy and Horizon Wind in northern Maine.
• Represent Portland Pipe Line Corporation in the federal, state, and local environmental permitting of its oil reversal project that will allow it to transport Canadian crude oil from Montreal to its marine terminal in South Portland, Maine for loading on tankers to deliver the oil to refineries along the Atlantic seaboard.
• Represent Central Maine Power on its approximately $1.5 billion Maine Power Reliability Program to ensure the reliability and safety of its high voltage transmission system.  This representation includes serving as lead counsel in the federal, state, and local environmental and land use permitting for construction of approximately 350 miles of transmission lines and associated infrastructure such as substations.
• Represent Transmission Developers Inc. with respect to the Maine Express HVdc Project, a proposed 1,000 MW High Voltage direct current (HVdc) merchant underwater power line from an HVdc converter station near Wiscasset, Maine, to an HVdc converter station situated on the waterfront in Boston Harbor. The Maine Express will link renewable energy under development and proposed in Maine with the ever increasing load of Boston.  The two six-inch diameter submarine power cables will have a length of approximately 150 miles and will be buried on the ocean floor at a depth of three feet.
• Represent potentially affected facilities during legislative and rulemaking processes to implement the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in Maine.
• Responsible for handling all state permitting issues associated with Downeast LNG, LLC’s proposed development of a liquefied natural gas import terminal and pipeline in Robbinston, Maine.
• Advised Florida Power and Light on federal, state, and local environmental permit transfers for acquisition of Seabrook, New Hampshire Nuclear Power facility.
• Assisted Champion International Corp., Casco Bay Energy Co., and American National Power -- three independent developers of major gas turbine power projects -- in obtaining all federal, state, and local environmental and land use permits; one project included the first NOx offset trade in Maine.
• Provided all legal services to Acadia Bay LLC in connection with the permitting of a 500 MW greenfield gas-fired electrical generation facility in Indiana.
• Hydropower -- Click here to learn more about our experience representing clients with the development, permitting, and acquisition and sale of hydropower projects.
• Renewable Energy – Click here to learn more about our Renewable Energy Practice.

Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Defense Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Defense 

• Regularly advise clients on all aspects of compliance with environmental laws and conduct environmental compliance audits at facilities of all types and sizes, including recent audits at a semiconductor manufacturing facility and a pulp and paper mill.
• Regularly defend clients on alleged air, waste discharge, wetland, hazardous waste, stormwater, and reporting violations in federal and state administrative, civil, and criminal court proceedings.
• Advise on environmental matters arising from decommissioning of Maine Yankee Atomic Power facility.
• Represented paper company defendant in simultaneous (one publicly disclosed) federal criminal and state civil environmental prosecutions including significant RCRA claims, and took challenge to local environmental ordinance to the First Circuit.
• Defended clients in federal debarment proceedings based on alleged violations of hazardous waste laws.

Governmental Relations Governmental Relations 

• Represent the Maine Pulp and Paper Association, the trade association representing 9 pulp and paper facilities in Maine, on a wide variety of environmental issues.
• Represent the Maine Forest Products Council, a trade association representing Maine timberland owners, forest products companies, and related suppliers on environmental, tax, and antitrust issues.
• Represent Maine’s premier real estate development association on all issues of interest and concern to the members including land use, environmental compliance, taxation, and economic development activities.
• Represent national petroleum and gas association on a wide variety of environmental, and energy related matters.
• Represent Maine’s largest paper manufacturer on a wide variety of environmental, energy, taxation, and human resource issues.

Superfund and Environmental Cleanup Matters Superfund and Environmental Cleanup Matters 

• Leading groups of Potentially Responsible Parties at federal and state Superfund sites in New England, and representation of parties at sites outside of New England.
• Serve as lead PRP counsel and Chair of Steering Committee for over 100 participating PRPs at an NPL site; representation in Removal Order, RI/FS Order, Remedial Design AOC and ongoing Technical Impracticability Waiver effort; management of all site issues with EPA and state including PCB issues and Natural Resource Damage Claims.
• Represented multiple large clients at the Wells, Maine Waste Oil site as lead PRP counsel and Chair of Steering Committee in case with over several hundred participating PRPs.  Nationally recognized innovative cashout settlement with state, involving property and liability transfers, insurance protections, and toxic tort protections.
• Successfully represented paper company in defense of EPA CERCLA proof of claim for $64 million in future costs, and a second claim brought by U.S. DOI on behalf of Indian Tribe for $64 million in NRD and toxic tort damages.  These claims were presented in bankruptcy court.
• Regularly represent owners and operators (including former owners and operators) at federal and state RCRA Corrective Action sites, off-site VOC plumes, and advised on all aspects of compliance and liability including Corrective Action Orders and Licenses, negotiation of toxic tort settlements, land swaps, transfers of property to new owner/operator, Natural Resource Damage claims, and financial assurance.
• Prosecution and defense of private party cost-recovery actions and contribution actions under federal and state law.

Toxic Tort Defense Toxic Tort Defense 

• Defend against toxic tort lawsuits and class action status claims for MtBE in several states.  Represented major U.S. MtBE manufacturers in successfully defeating class and individual suits seeking to impose liability for statewide groundwater MtBE contamination, and represented the same parties on administrative claims as well as statutory and common law actions in both state and federal court, including the First Circuit Court of Appeals arising from alleged leaking underground storage facilities.
• Defend against allegations of air releases and groundwater contamination from various types currently-operating and former manufacturing facilities.  For example, represented a former owner of hazardous substance site against CERCLA cost recovery, RCRA claims, and common law toxic tort claims arising from state demands for remediation of coal tar at former MGP Site.
• Regularly assist Pierce Atwood’s nationally recognized litigators in defending a wide variety of environmental and toxic tort claims, recently including the State of Rhode Island’s claim for public nuisance abatement that had been estimated to represent a multi-billion dollar liability for three lead pigment manufacturers, and defense of so-called “cancer-cluster” cases brought by Baron & Budd arising out of paper-waste landfill and alleged air emissions from pulp and paper mills.

Waste Management Facility Permitting Waste Management Facility Permitting 

• Assisted New England Waste Systems of Maine, Inc. with three separate expansions of the Pine Tree Landfill by working with state and local regulators and elected government officials to obtain all required permits.  This representation included successfully arguing in favor of State preemption of a local zoning ban on landfills, in Sawyer Environmental Recovery Facilities, Inc. v. Town of Hampden, 2000 ME 179.
• Served as lead counsel on licensing of a 1,000 ton-per-day solid waste transfer station and construction and demolition debris processing facility approved after contested adjudicatory hearings before the Maine Board of Environmental Protection.
• Represented NEWSME Landfill Operations, LLC, the operator of Maine’s only state-owned landfill, in the successful licensing of a 7 million cubic yard vertical increase in disposal capacity before the DEP and BEP.
• Represent the owners and operators of multiple generator-owned solid waste landfills in the successful licensing, relicensing and expansion of their landfills. 

* The identity of the client appears only where our representation is a matter of public record.