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Our environmental practice
is conducted by a group of attorneys who bring diverse skills
and insight to handling the full array of environmental
issues, including both counseling and litigation. Our environmental
practice counsels clients about federal, state and local
laws and regulations. We work with and appear before state
and federal regulatory agencies. We also handle the environmental
aspects of commercial transactions and substantial litigation
in federal and state courts, involving a broad range of
environmental issues.
We work closely with experts in various disciplines including
toxicology, hydrology, geology, wetlands, land use, biology
and chemistry. Our attorneys also routinely work with consultants
regarding pollution control and permitting issues involving
water pollution, hazardous and solid wastes, air pollution
and radiation.
Our firm represents clients in a variety of industry areas,
including public bulk liquid storage and handling, railroad
transportation, petrochemical manufacturing, the pulp and
paper industry, the waste management industry, petroleum
refining, oil field and environmental remediation equipment,
marine transpiration, fuel storage, real estate investments
and interstate pipelines.
In our regulatory practice, we counsel clients and work
with regulators and experts regarding permitting issues,
compliance orders, penalties and environmental assessments.
We also assist clients in preparing comments to proposed
federal rule making and state administrative regulations,
as well as in challenging federal and state rule making.
In commercial transactions the work of our environmental
attorneys includes not only preparing transaction documents
(including, for instance, indemnity and hold harmless provisions,
representations and warranties and environmental opinions
of counsel), but also considering and analyzing other issues,
such as counseling with clients and experts regarding site
assessments and investigations, insurance and interactions
with regulatory agencies.
In addition to handling toxic tort litigation, our environmental
attorneys regularly defend clients in administrative and
judicial forums involving environmental law issues. The
following are recent examples:
- Representing two waste management
companies in an environmental damages and trespass suit
arising from alleged oil field waste contamination. The
case was settled for a minimal sum, coupled with one client's
land purchase from the plaintiffs, which allowed it to
expand its facility.
- Representing a South Louisiana
municipality in defense of EPA claims of wastewater violations
at a POTW.
- Bringing a successful conclusion
to a multimillion dollar, multifaceted cost recovery case.
We represented a major chemical company. It paid for the
cleanup of a tank rupture spill and pursued recovery from
nonparticipating parties under CERCLA and its Louisiana
counterpart.
- Bringing a cost recovery action
arising out of sulfur dioxide air emissions from a Louisiana
plant site.
- Bringing cost recovery claims
arising from solvent contamination on behalf of current
site owner against previous site owners.
- Litigation with the Louisiana
Department of Environmental Quality regarding remediation
cost recovery associated with UST removal.
- Defense of air regulations proceeding
before a regulatory agency in Texas.
- Defense of civil claims arising
out of poultry processing industry in Mississippi.
- Defense of a railroad tankcar
company in a suit brought by the EPA, through the Department
of Justice, with regard to claims under the Clean Water
Act.
- Obtaining storage tank trust
fund cost recovery for an industrial client in Texas.
- Assisting an industrial client
in protection of its interests in a wide-ranging governmental
environmental investigation in Ohio.
- Defending an industrial client
in state air violation penalty proceeding in Wyoming.
- Representing a specialty chemical
manufacturer in litigation and in an administrative rulemaking
action involving hazardous waste injection wells.
- Defense of a major waste management
company in flow control ordinance litigation.
- Representing a railroad in matters
involving spill notification and defense of environmental
claims.
- Representing a major chemical
company in litigation over challenges to air permit and
in environmental justice matters.
- Representing an industrial client
in a matter involving potential air permit violations
pertaining to toxic air pollutants.
- Handling the environmental aspects
for a utility company concerning a $200 million sale of
a large electric generating station.
- Handling the environmental aspects
of a $20 million sale of a transportation company.
While our environmental attorneys reside
in the firm's offices in Baton Rouge, Jackson, Gulfport, and
New Orleans, the firm's state of the art technology enables
the lawyers throughout the firm to coordinate and communicate
while handling matters in other locales.
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