Environmental

Since the enactment of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund) in 1979, the environmental lawyers of Quarles & Brady have been representing a wide range of clients with potential liability under Superfund or corresponding state laws. We have represented a wide variety of both individual companies and groups of Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs) as lead counsel or group chair.

Our Environmental Law Group has a long history assisting clients in the defense and settlement of claims asserted by state and federal governments, including work required under administrative orders or consent decrees. We have successfully addressed contested allocation issues through extensive discovery, negotiations and mediation, all with an eye toward minimizing liability for our clients. Additionally, our environmental attorneys have worked extensively with qualified environmental consultants and engineers in order to develop and ensure implementation of cost-effective remedies. This work extends to all aspects of the remedy selection and implementation process, from remedial investigations and feasibility studies through remedial design and remedial action. We have taken Superfund sites to the completion of all obligations, including de-listing from the National Priorities List (NPL).

In addition, our environmental lawyers have traditionally assisted clients seeking to ensure compliance with obligations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), including the defense of both private party claims and enforcement actions brought by the government.

Representative Engagements/Experience: 

• National representation of a large manufacturing client with retained environmental liabilities for printing, chemical, packaging and paper-making operations divested in the 1980s.
  
  
• Extensive representation of clients in resolving contested allocation issues through extensive discovery, negotiations and remediation.
  
  
• Serving as group counsel or chairing responsible party groups at multiple municipal landfill or industrial Superfund sites throughout the United States.
  
  
• Representing a paper company at a Superfund mega-site encompassing the cleanup of a 39-mile river as well as federal, state and tribal NRD claims to the river and Lake Michigan. This matter includes extensive experience in investigating and remediating PCB-contaminated sediments.
  
  
• Taking federal Superfund and state-lead hazardous waste remediation sites to the completion of all remediation and monitoring, resulting in site de-listings.

For more information on how our Environmental Group can help you address potential or actual environment-related legal and business concerns, please contact Arthur A. Vogel Jr. at (414) 277-5545 or , or your local Quarles & Brady attorney.