Related Practices
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Since 1980, the firm has been deeply engaged in Superfund matters, including legislative deliberations leading to the enactment of Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, its amendment in 1986, and reform issues of the 1990s. Firm lawyers have been involved in scores of leading Superfund cases across the country, gaining extensive expertise in negotiation of consent decrees, voluntary allocation agreements, remedy selection, and litigation of public and private claims for response costs. At the same time, we have represented numerous clients in respect to cleanup of historical contamination at active industrial sites under both Superfund and the corrective action provisions of RCRA. Drawing upon their experience at the firm, Allan Topol and Rebecca Snow have published a comprehensive treatise, Superfund Law and Procedure (West Publishing Co. 2005).
Superfund authorizes federal and state officials and Indian tribes to bring actions as public trustees for damages to “natural resources” caused by releases of various hazardous and toxic substances to the environment. In such suits, trustees may claim damages in the hundreds of millions of dollars based on the cost of “restoration” and compensation to the public for “lost use.” Many now recognize that these natural resource damage provisions constitute an “awakening giant” in environmental law. We helped represent Exxon to negotiate a resolution of natural resource damage claims in Prince William Sound. We have represented clients in rule-making comments and appellate challenges to federal rules addressing assessment of natural resource damages. We also have represented companies in the defense of suits by public trustees to recover natural resource damages at various sites, including one of the few cases to go to trial on NRD issues.
Representative Matters
- Litigation concerning cleanup and NRD matters at the Coeur d’Alene site in Idaho.
- Litigation concerning NRD and representation concerning remedy selection and implementation at the Blackbird Mine in Idaho.
- Litigation and representation concerning remedy selection at the Stoller site in Jericho, S.C.
- Lead counsel for a group of generators at the Western Processing site near Seattle, Washington, where we reached a favorable settlement with the U.S. EPA.
- Representation of several aerospace companies in litigation at the Stringfellow Superfund site in California.
- We were counsel for a client who prevailed on a successful motion for summary judgment on liability at the Liberty site on Long Island, New York.
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