Environmental
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Project Permitting and Facility Siting
Quarles & Brady’s Environmental Law Group has substantial experience in a variety of areas related to project permitting and facility siting. These capabilities include:
Air Quality and Wastewater Issues
We have substantial experience advising clients regarding preparing permit applications and in the negotiation of operating and construction permit conditions.
Representative Engagements/Experience:
- Helping clients obtain Prevention of Significant Deterioration (“PSD”), Nonattainment New Source Review (“NSR”) and NPDES permits for facilities located throughout the United States.
- Representing a utility client in obtaining necessary regulatory approvals relating to a $7 billion generation expansion program, including:
- Construction of 1100 MW of natural gas-fired generation. We assisted the client in obtaining a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the construction of that facility and defended that authorization in subsequent judicial review proceedings. We also assisted the client during the development of the Environmental Assessment of the project required by state law and defended that assessment in subsequent judicial review proceedings in a proceeding brought in part to challenge the climate change impacts of the facility.
- We obtained and defended from third-party challenges a NPDES wastewater permit for a 1260 MW facility. The permit included a “§316(a)” alternative effluent limitation for a thermal discharge to Lake Michigan, which required a demonstration that the limitation was protective of a balanced indigenous aquatic community in the Lake. We also obtained one of the first regulatory approvals of an offshore cooling water intake structure as “Best Technology Available” under EPA's “§316(b)” rule applicable to new facilities. That approval required a detailed assessment of the impact on aquatic communities in Lake Michigan and the costs of the open cycle system as compared to other alternatives.
- We obtained a Clean Air Act construction permit for a 1260 MW coal-fired, baseload electric generating facility. An administrative law judge ruled in favor of our client. The decision was one of the first in the nation to rule that Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) process technology was not required by law to be considered as an alternative air emission control technology in the BACT and LAER analyses for two proposed Super Critical Pulverized Coal (SCPC) generating units. The judge also upheld the state-law NEPA and alternatives analysis for the facility that is now under construction. We successfully settled judicial review of the ALJ’s decision. For the same facility, we were successful in defending the practicable alternatives analysis for a wetlands alteration permit and a shoreland dredging approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
- Obtaining Certificates of Authority to retrofit controls on 1400 MW and 1130 MW of existing coal-fired electric generating capacity. The first project was not challenged. We successfully defended the second project in the face of an administrative challenge regarding the alleged climate change impacts of the project as well as the impact of future carbon regulation scenarios on the economics of the project.
- Advising clients regarding U.S. EPA’s 2002 NSR Reform rules.
- Assisting an electric utility in the Milwaukee-Kenosha nonattainment area to obtain construction and operating permits for the first baseload electric generating facility permitted in Wisconsin in two decades.
- Assisting clients in the transfer of hundreds of permits as a part of large-scale mergers and acquisition of Fortune 50 companies.
- Assisting clients in obtaining Title V and NPDES permits in Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Wisconsin and elsewhere.
Wetlands Management and Restoration
We have substantial experience in federal, state and local wetlands regulation, and have demonstrated the ability to navigate the ever-changing legal landscape governing permitting of projects impacting wetlands. Our attorneys partner with project personnel, and expertise in these matters allows our clients to avoid costly surprises and delays after a project is underway.
Representative Engagements/Experience:
- Negotiating permits for fill of state and federal wetlands, and successfully defending those permits in the face of administrative challenges.
- Establishing mitigation strategies for impacts to wetlands.
- Assisting clients with project planning to avoid wetland impacts when possible.
- Managing environmental consultants through the process of evaluating wetlands impacts and planning around them.
Endangered and Threatened Species
Our attorneys have substantial experience navigating the overlapping federal, state and tribal laws that protect threatened and endangered species, including the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Migratory Bird Treat Act, the Lacey Act, the National Forest Management Act and the numerous state and tribal equivalents of these acts.
We have substantial experience assisting clients in navigating the requirements of the ESA during project development. This includes working with clients during the Section 7 consultation process with the Fish and Wildlife Service and, where necessary, obtaining incidental take permits.
Representative Engagements/Experience:
- Assisting clients in retaining consultants to conduct studies and investigations of endangered and threatened species for the development of a manufacturing facilities and expansions; and reviewing and obtaining approvals for siting of wind farms with potential impacts on protected species.
Public Lands
Quarles & Brady has offices in states containing substantial public lands. This close proximity has given us substantial experience in dealing with issues regarding forestry, mining and mineral rights, parks, monuments, tribal property and cultural rights, electric generation and transmission, public trust issues and wilderness preservation.
Representative Engagements/Experience:
- Advising utilities siting transmissions line across federal and state lands.
- Counseling interested parties in negotiations with water supply developers.
- Advising mining interests in assessing and operating mining facilities.
- Counseling interstate pipeline developers regarding proposed project expansions.
- Negotiating with federal, state and tribal agencies regarding issues involving public lands.
NEPA and State Environmental Impact Assessment Laws
Our attorneys have substantial experience with the National Environmental Policy Act and with state “mini-NEPAs.” We work closely with clients and their consultants to ensure that the environmental review of proposed projects meets the standard under state and federal law.
Representative Engagements/Experience:
- Assisting in the preparation of, and defending in court, Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements for electric generating facilities.
- Successfully defending a challenge to the finding of No Significant Impact, issued as a part of a foundry expansion project.
- Supporting efforts by a project proponent to co-locate electric transmission capacity in existing right-of-way corridors across federal lands.
- Developing and submitting comments to federal agencies in support of contemplated jet fuel pipeline infrastructure improvements.
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.