Practice Areas
Environmental Law
Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel’s environmental law practice focuses on compliance counseling, transactional advice, development of practical solutions to environmental problems, and representation of clients' interests in environmental enforcement actions and litigation. Our services include:
Compliance Counseling. We assist clients in complying with environmental requirements with practical and cost-effective compliance programs. We regularly complete environmental assessments for our clients and develop strategies and design programs to meet air, water, hazardous waste, and other environmental requirements. We also develop and provide training and reference materials for many client compliance programs, and we identify permitting needs and help clients prepare permit applications and renewals.
Transactional Advice. Environmental risks and regulatory requirements should be promptly identified and addressed for any transaction involving real estate or operating assets. Our attorneys work with buyers and sellers and their environmental professionals to focus on relevant issues to avoid unnecessary time and expense. When assessments are complete, we help clients understand the practical implications and design solutions to any problems that are identified. We have experience in structuring agreements to allocate responsibility for both known environmental issues and unknown environmental risks.
Practical Solutions. We work with clients to develop and implement cost-effective solutions to environmental problems. Our efforts to permit clients to market and develop Brownfields sites, even those with extensive contamination from historic uses, have been successful.
Enforcement Actions and Litigation. Our litigation experience allows us to develop a cost-effective litigation or settlement strategy in a client's environmental enforcement action or litigation. We have helped design and obtain approval for a variety of alternative settlement approaches, including the use of Supplemental Environmental Projects (“SEPs”). We have represented clients on environmental matters in local courts in Chattanooga and Hamilton County, state courts, and federal trial and appellate courts throughout the United States.
Recent Representative Matters
- Settled claims for violations of stormwater regulations. In a representative case, our investigation of the facts showed that another landowner was responsible for one significant problem and that other conditions that were the subject of a Commissioner’s Order had been fully resolved. After filing an appeal, we helped the client avoid all of the remedial aspects of the Order and settle the civil penalty assessment on favorable terms
- Negotiated settlements of notices of violations under air, water, toxic substances, and hazardous waste statutes
- Negotiated settlements of cost recovery claims under federal and state superfund statutes
- Completed multi-media environmental compliance assessments in several business sectors. Developed compliance programs and training
- Drafted scopes of work for environmental professionals, focusing on priority risks and issues, and assistance in the oversight of environmental assessment work. We assisted in reducing the cost of a six-figure environmental assessment by more than one-third
- Obtained construction and operating permits for industrial and land development clients
- Obtained approval of cost-effective Brownfields agreements for redevelopment of former industrial sites
- Developed and implemented negotiation strategies for limitation of seller responsibility for environmental risks and liabilities
- Successfully defended superfund claims at trial and appellate court levels against a municipality that had used a lease arrangement to help finance an industrial development project. The appellate decision confirmed a broad interpretation of lender liability protections under the federal superfund law. Monarch Tile, Inc. v. City of Florence, 212 F.3d 1219 (11th Cir. 2000).