Environmental Regulation

Environmental issues rarely arise in isolation. A permitting question may affect operational capacity, an audit may uncover transactional exposure, and a legacy contamination issue may complicate corporate restructuring efforts. Companies need integrated legal advice that addresses environmental obligations as both regulatory matters and operational risks with significant commercial implications.

Verdant attorneys have decades of experience advising clients across federal and state environmental programs, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, RCRA, CERCLA, and EPCRA. We understand that environmental compliance is one of many legal and business risks companies must manage, and we help clients develop practical strategies that account for their operational realities and commercial objectives. Our environmental regulatory practice also extends to occupational and workplace safety matters arising under OSHA, where compliance obligations frequently intersect with environmental requirements.

Our work includes advising clients on:

• Compliance and permitting under the CAA, CWA, RCRA, and EPCRA, including air emissions, wastewater and stormwater discharges, hazardous waste management, release reporting, and industrial facility permitting.
• Enforcement defense and agency proceedings, including inspections, information requests, notices of violation, administrative actions, and penalty negotiations (see Regulatory Litigation and Enforcement Defense).
• Environmental audits and voluntary disclosures, including compliance assessments and strategic use of EPA and state audit policies.
• Spill response, remediation, and contaminated site liability, including CERCLA cleanup negotiations and state-level voluntary cleanups.
• Hazard communication, including GHS-compliant SDS requirements, workplace labeling, and employee training obligations.
• OSHA General Duty Clause and occupational exposure standards, including hazard identification and abatement, defense of General Duty Clause citations, and matters involving permissible exposure limits and threshold limit values.
• Risk Management Programs (RMP) and Process Safety Management (PSM), including facility compliance, hazard assessments, emergency response planning, and incident investigation.
• Community right-to-know, including EPCRA chemical inventory reporting and Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting requirements.
• Transactional and project risk, including environmental due diligence, Phase I and Phase II ESA coordination, and environmental risk management in mergers, acquisitions, and other transactions.

To discuss how we can help manage your environmental obligations, please email info@verdantlaw.com or call +1 202-828-1233.