The field of chemical and waste management has grown rapidly in recent years. There are new programs in the management and siting of storage, treatment, and disposal facilities and much stricter regulation of those who generate hazardous waste. There is regulation of hazardous materials throughout industry, not just waste products. "Toxic tort" liability attaches when chemicals are released into the environment.
This liability has made compliance very important. At the same time, new advances in technology have given companies the tools to alter manufacturing processes so that they are more efficient, economical, and protective of the environment.
These new laws, especially regarding waste management and chemical right-to-know, affect industrial manufacturers of all types. Also affected are their chemical suppliers; those who treat their liquid or solid wastes; hazardous material transporters; municipalities where hazardous wastes are generated, stored, transported, treated, or disposed of; and private citizens interested in their own health, safety, and welfare. The new legal requirements expand responsibility of companies, corporate officers, plant managers and superintendents, public officials, and others who have anything to do with manufacturing, importing, using chemicals, generating, storing, transporting, treating, or disposing of hazardous waste.
Court-made law, known as common law, has adopted traditional principles of liability for nuisance, negligence, trespass, violation of water rights, and liability for ultra-hazardous materials.
We are familiar with hazardous substance law, policy, and enforcement. We work for clients in a range of regulatory matters, such as hazardous waste facility siting in federal, state, and local licensing proceedings; effects of waste sites on regional groundwater, drinking water, and air pollution; property contaminated by oil or hazardous waste spills, or by pesticides and herbicides; pressing claims against responsible parties and their insurance carriers; exposure to toxic substances; government approvals needed for new proposals; assessing, cleaning up, and restoring contaminated sites, and seeking compensatory damages.
We recommend engineers and consultants to perform site assessments of real estate and to clean up contaminated property. We advise on the legal implications and suggest strategies to minimize legal and environmental risks.
