Areas of Practice
Environmental law is a body of federal, state, and local legislation plus court-made legal doctrines governing activities affecting natural resources and public health. Environmental law concerns not only the natural environment (the physical condition of the land, air, and water), but also the human environment (health and safety, jobs and housing, historic sites, community character, and aesthetics).
Cities and towns, water districts and water companies, private landowners, public interest groups, and development entities need advice on how residential development, industrial and commercial expansion, water or sewer extensions, chemical storage and manufacture, solid waste disposal, and land acquisition fall under the wide range of regulatory, technical assistance, research, funding, and land management programs administered by EPA and several other federal and state agencies. But these monitoring, protection, or conservation efforts are not comprehensive and consistent.
The Massachusetts Superfund law, G.L.c.21E, imposes responsibility and liability for releases of hazardous materials as well as oil and other petroleum products into the environment, and for suspected or confirmed disposal sites. DEP’s comprehensive regulations, known as the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP) govern cities and towns like anyone else who is a present or former site owner or operator who generated, stored, transported, or disposed of oil or hazardous materials (OHM).
Municipalities can create historic districts for managing sites and structures therein. They may do so by special act or, more commonly, by an enabling act under the Historic District Act, G.L. c.40C. The resulting Historic District Commissions are city or town boards with power to regulate and restrict various changes within the district. More than 220 local historic districts were established in more than 100 communities.
By existing state law, called the Conservation Commission Act, all 351 Massachusetts municipalities have created Conservation Commissions. These volunteer local boards have considerable land management, environmental education, and policy formulation roles. The state Wetlands Protection Act charges them with administering and enforcing that permit program, since 1972.
Light and heavy industries of all sizes and shapes face environmental issues and problems. These range from satisfying regulations to defending enforcement actions. We deal with the maze of environmental laws and rules at the federal, state and local levels. We dedicate ourselves to taking the mysteries out of these requirements and making the most of our experience and expertise in the origin, purposes, procedures, permits and standards of these environmental laws. By virtue of our long history in the field, we easily recruit the leading experts to assist and we easily relate to agency staff who regulate your industrial operations and projects.
Project sponsors propose subdivisions, shopping centers, industrial parks, condominiums, and single-family homes faster than ever before, often on land once thought undevelopable. Overworked municipal boards and their staff struggle with their important responsibilities and the burden of paperwork. Communities adopt bylaws on zoning, subdivision control, floodplain management, wetlands protection, building moratoria, phased development, environmental studies, water and sewer bans, and impact fees. Neighbors and interested groups utilize public hearings, open meetings, and public records to maximize their participation in decisions.
Mr. McGregor for decades has served on government advisory committees for Massachusetts agency programs during their original creation or substantial revision. We often are invited by agencies to review their ideas for new legislation, proposed regulations, and reform initiatives.
Controversies over industrial, commercial, and residential development erupt in court. Challenges can be brought to government regulations and permits. Federal, state, and local agencies bring enforcement actions to secure compliance. Landowners sue in eminent domain cases for increased money damages. Government goes against responsible parties for reimbursement for the costs of assessing, containing, and cleaning up hazardous waste.
It is not hard to identify the problems with existing environmental dispute resolution mechanisms. Litigation is time-consuming and expensive and quite often does not produce victory even for the successful litigant. Even when the parties to a dispute voluntarily try to work out their differences, stalemate is common. Lack of communication skills, early posturing and hardening of positions, inadequate information on technical matters, unreasonable expectations, and unwillingness to accept less than full victory sometimes prevent agreement.
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Across the spectrum of environmental law we offer advice and representation
with practical, results-oriented lawyering.