Having advised on nearly 300 contaminated sites across federal, state, and local jurisdictions, we have unparalleled expertise handling environmental site remediation from inception to completion.
Why B&D?
We start with an acute understanding of the elaborate regulatory and legal schemes and proceed with developing a big picture strategy. We navigate client projects through investigations, objections, agency negotiations, agreements, contribution actions, and all associated needs. Because we have more experience across more sites than any other law firm, we know how and where to find creative solutions, as we apply lessons from different locations to new problems and new sites.
Our environmental lawyers provide value at every stage of the process—from handling properties before they appear on the National Priorities List to managing the sophisticated issues that arise when cases head to mediation or litigation. We address contaminated property issues under multiple programs, including the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA); the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA); and all related state statutes.
For buyers or sellers, when properties with historical contamination enter the real estate market, we can provide the necessary environmental support—within one firm—to close the transaction.
Clients
Our clients range from chemical companies and oil and gas manufacturers to municipal governments, utility companies, and everything in between. We represent local and state agencies in government-owned property remediation and often serve as common counsel for multiple parties involved in the cleanup or development of an environmental site. We also represent clients who work alongside other manufacturers and developers with a vested interest in a site and adeptly address the needs of these multiple stakeholders.
In large, complex matters we work with in-house environmental and general counsels of companies across a range of industries and properties, including petroleum refineries, smelters, manufactured gas facilities, steel mills, chemical plants, and pulp and paper manufacturing facilities. We also serve clients without in-house counsel, acting as the center point—taking the complex details off their desks.
Regardless of industry or property type, our clients rely on us to step in and shoulder the burden of the legal process surrounding site remediation. Each client has a specific set of needs that our experience and bench strength is optimized to handle.
Focus
From the moment an environmental remediation need is spotted, our team is poised to minimize our client’s exposure and potential liability. Whether developing an overall strategy for an individual client, helping technical consultants formulate persuasive arguments for response actions and damages issues, or negotiating administrative orders and judicial consent decrees with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), our lawyers are equipped to handle all challenges—from the common to the exceptional.
In significant, complex site developments, we help clients plan and execute cost-effective strategies that address all matters in an integrated manner. Our team negotiates allocation with other potentially responsible parties and, when necessary, will prosecute or defend against contribution litigation concerning those parties. We're accustomed to working with experts and merging them into the broader strategy. We work with clients in administrative and judicial litigation, alternative dispute resolution, and also assist clients with the interface between bankruptcy and environmental law.
When our clients face government cost recovery or natural resource damages (NRD) claims, we provide focused, individualized counsel. These claims differ significantly from the removal and remedial action claims brought by EPA and state response agencies. We are at the forefront of efforts to help clients resolve potential NRD liability, with a particular focus on contaminated sediment sites in rivers, bays, and estuaries containing substances such as PCBs, heavy metals, PAHs, and dioxins/furans.
We also work with NRD liabilities arising from contaminated groundwater, wetlands, and soils, where sediment and groundwater sites typically raise complex legal, technical, economic, and political issues associated with both remediation and NRD.
