Environment and Natural Resources

Environmental regulations affect a wide variety of organizations. The pace of change and degree of complexity of environmental regulations is ever-increasing.  The current regulatory climate creates unique challenges but also opportunities.

Consequences of environmental non-compliance include potentially major financial cost, reputational damage, and even criminal liability.  Organizations that understand and are strategic about environmental regulatory matters not only minimize the costs but may be able to realize benefits in the form of favorable regulatory treatment, tax incentives, and reputational enhancement.

Eversheds Sutherland’s environmental practitioners counsel clients on the wide array of environmental regulations that affect them. We assist clients in obtaining, modifying, and transferring environmental permits for industrial facilities and real estate developments.  We assist clients in agency rulemakings and in seeking chemical product approvals.  And we represent businesses, state and local governmental entities, and individuals in environmental investigations and enforcement actions. Among our environmental regulatory clients are leading real estate developers and manufacturers of chemicals, paper, cement, and electronics.

Our experience includes regulation of:

• Air emissions
• Wastewater and stormwater discharges
• Water supply
• Hazardous waste
• Pesticide and other chemical manufacture, and import
• Endangered and threatened species
• NEPA and state equivalents

The stakes in environmental litigation are often high.  The penalties, damages, and costs can be significant.  Organizations having to initiate or defend environmental litigation need attorneys who are seasoned in not only litigation but the unique issues present in environmental disputes.

Our team boasts a national record of accomplishment in federal and state trial and appellate courts and administrative tribunals.  Our lawyers have successfully argued suits brought under  the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and others.

Selected environmental litigation experience includes:

• Successfully defending one of the largest municipal sewer systems in the U.S. against a Clean Water Act citizen suit in federal trial and appellate courts.
• Defeating a challenge brought in the U.S. Court of Appeals to a Clean Air Act Title V permit issued to a chemical manufacturer.
• Obtaining dismissal in state trial and appellate courts to issuance of a permit for construction of a project in coastal marshlands.
• Favorable resolution of enforcement actions under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Toxic Substances Control Act. 

The manner in which federal, state, and local governments and private parties approach contaminated sites has evolved greatly over the four decades since the Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA).   Environmental contamination no longer has to mean financially crippling, decades-long investigation and remediation.  Responsibility for governmental oversight has shifted from federal to state regulators, and, in some instances, specially-licensed private environmental professionals.  And many jurisdictions offer financial tax credits and abatements, and other financial incentives for redevelopment of brownfields.

Our team has assisted private and municipal governmental clients addresses contaminated sites throughout the United States.  Our clients include owners and operators who are legally responsible for releases of hazardous substances, prospective purchasers looking to redevelop brownfields, financial institutions who lend against impacted property, and parties who have been targeted in suits for recovery of clean up costs.

Our forward-thinking team of environmental attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland specialize in facilitating a diverse range of transactions for a vast array of clients. Navigating environmental considerations when acquiring or selling real estate or a business requires a legal partner with specialized expertise. At Eversheds Sutherlands, our dedicated team of environmental attorneys bring a wealth of experience to the table, ensuring that our clients’ transactions proceed seamlessly while mitigating potential environmental risk.

Our team has nationally recognized expertise in conducting environmental due diligence to identify potential risks and liabilities associated with business operations. We have a deep bench that regularly provides a comprehensive review during business transactions assessing compliance with environmental laws, regulations, and permits. This review factors into the transaction structuring to safeguard our clients’ interest.

Our experience with environmental regulations in jurisdictions throughout the U.S. allows us to provide valuable counsel wherever assets and activities may be.  Among other things, we assist clients in obtaining regulatory permits and approvals for industrial projects and remedies for brownfield sites throughout the country.

When things go wrong, you need experience and excellence in your legal team. Our multi-award winning Health and Safety team has dealt with many and varied crises.

Whether investigating a train crash, a fatality in a factory or an environmental spill to controlled waters, we have guided organizations like yours through tough times. We deal with all aspects of preparing for and handling safety issues, lead investigations and interfaces with regulators. We also redesign safety management systems to improve resilience.

When an incident does occur, the number of stakeholders interested will be a surprise. We regularly assist clients with markets, communications, internal briefings and investor provisioning. We have briefed chief executives immediately before TV appearances and have advocated in tribunals and courts around the world.

Most importantly, we can help you devise safety improvement strategies to explain confidently how you will respond to emerging concerns. We are a global team and, by working with us, you will benefit from worldwide experience combined with multi-jurisdictional local knowledge. We also think it's important to work with other professional bodies and our team are Chartered Members of IOSH, fellows of the International Institute of Risk Managers and work as coroners.

Our team is always ready to provide the around-the-clock support and guidance you need to prevent a problem escalating to a crisis.

Our team have worked on everything from headline-making safety issues to environmental disasters and everything in between. Our experience includes:

• rebuilding the safety management system of the one of the largest energy companies in Asia

• serving as lead counsel in the BP oil spill litigation and guiding the drilling contractor through crisis management and regulatory issues

• putting a team in place within hours of the Macondo oil spill to represent the owner of the drill rig. Our work included reviewing over 70 million pages of data

• providing the legal opinion on COVID-19 which allowed UK universities to re-open with confidence after unions had claimed face to face teaching would be tantamount to manslaughter

• representing a large fuel terminal on all aspects of Clean Air Act Title V permitting, compliance and enforcement

• advising a global industrial company involved in two fatal incidents in UK. Our six-week review program of practices and procedures discharged enforcement notices and provided the non-UK board with a road map towards compliance

Carbon offsets and carbon credits have become a mechanism for business organizations to prioritize climate change and Environmental, Social, and Governance policies while simultaneously creating an additional line of revenue.

We have experience working with clients from the first step where a product is identified for it emissions reductions all the way to the selling of the carbon credits. During the verification and certification of carbon credits, there is a rigorous review of data supporting emission reductions that requires an expert in the legal field that understands and appreciates the technical components.

Our experience also includes representing clients in the purchase and sale of credits on the secondary market.

• Represented clients on environmental liabilities in acquisition, financing and redevelopment of BRAC (former military) sites.
• Represented the State of Georgia for 15 years in litigation, interstate negotiations and regulatory matters in the so-called “Tri-State Water Wars.”
• Represented clients on environmental matters associated with the purchase, sale and permitting of energy facilities, including gas, wind and solar.
• Represented a leading international manufacturer of conveyor belts in regulatory issues associated with manufacture and marketing of antimicrobial belt.
• Assisted developer in creation of endangered species protection plan.
• Represented clients in negotiation of brownfield agreements and environmental insurance policies for industrial, multi-family residential and entertainment facilities.
• Served as environmental counsel to major waste management company in acquisition and permitting of new municipal waste landfill.
• Represented local governments in acquisitions and privatizations of water and sewer facilities.
• Won dismissal in state trial court and court of appeals of a lawsuit challenging a permit for development under the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act.
• Advised multinational company on environmental issues associated with acquisition of a division of a major US chemical company.
• Defeated a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals challenging a Clean Air Act Title V operating permit for a chemical manufacturer.
• Won dismissal in the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals of a Clean Water Act citizen suit against the operator of one of the largest municipal sewer systems in the US.