Every day we help our clients comply with and maximize opportunities presented by the complex web of environmental, health and safety regulations. From issue specific analyses to design and implementation of comprehensive Environmental, Health and Safety (EH&S) management systems, our lawyers work with client resources to meet compliance and operational objectives. We help find solutions that are consistent with management and compliance goals as well as regulatory trends and company cultures.

We also know how to obtain positive results with permit writers, regulators and enforcement personnel, utilizing strategies ranging from white papers, self-disclosures and settlement negotiations to thoughtful, strategic and effective representation in administrative and judicial enforcement proceedings.

In those circumstances requiring the defense of an action brought for enforcement purposes, whether administrative or judicial, our experienced practitioners are prepared to defend your interests vigorously, all with an eye toward achieving compliance with lawful requirements while minimizing exposure to fines and penalties.

Representative Engagements/Experience: 

• Providing immediate advice to a client in response to requests made by an inspector on-site at the client's facility and prepared regulatory analysis of issue identified by the inspector, which formed the basis of submittal prepared for the inspector's supervisor, who was convinced by our analysis to remove the report from the agency's violations database.
  
  
• Performing formal and informal negotiations and hearings with regulators regarding terms of air, wastewater discharge and other types of regulatory permits required for our clients' operations.
  
  
• Assisting clients to draft and resolve self-disclosures of regulatory violations at their facilities.
  
  
• Undertaking comprehensive evaluations of client EH&S policies and procedures and participating in internal audits of individual departments and facilities.
  
  
• Representing a manufacturing client in an enforcement action brought by U.S. EPA Region 5, concerning alleged violations of regulations governing the emissions of volatile organic compound (VOC) and styrene from mold compounding equipment. The case was of national significance, since it addressed the first economically and technologically feasible VOC and styrene capture and control system for compounding equipment in the Reinforced Plastics Industry.
  
  
• Defending against an enforcement action brought by U.S. EPA Region 5, concerning alleged violations of the federal Cluster Rules regulating the emission of methanol from pulp and paper mills. The Cluster Rules are federal hazardous air pollutant regulations that were promulgated by U.S. EPA under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act. This was the first and only enforcement case brought by EPA against a sulfite paper mill. The case raised issues of first impression regarding the interpretation and application of the Cluster Rule requirements to sulfite mills, including the use of the WATER 9 computer model to estimate fugitive emissions of methanol from process sources discharging condensate to a wastewater treatment facility.
  
  
• Representing a manufacturing client in an enforcement action brought by the State of Wisconsin (on behalf of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources). The State asserted 17 different claims arising from alleged violations of air permits issued to the company in 2004 and 2007. The litany of claims include a number that arise from the alleged failure of the company to comply with a 2004 permit requirement that the company control VOCs by 85%. The company was ultimately able to convince DNR that doing so was technically infeasible, resulting in the DNR issuing a revised permit in 2007 that removed this requirement. The defense of a demand for civil penalties continues.

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.