Environment & Energy

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Business today cannot be conducted without considering its impact on the environment. We guide clients through the complex laws and regulations designed to protect public health and the environment — with a focus on helping our clients achieve their business objectives efficiently and responsibly. And as expanding energy frontiers present new opportunities, we design solutions to help our clients succeed.

In a business climate increasingly driven by social and political forces, attorneys in the Hodgson Russ Environment & Energy Practice Group know that environmentally responsible behavior makes good business sense. Whether guiding green energy and other development projects from inception through completion and operation, assisting clients with climate change issues, counseling clients on complying with the requirements imposed by the broad panoply of federal and state environmental statutory and regulatory programs, or litigating disputes that arise under these programs, we provide practical and forward-thinking counsel and advocacy on the full range of matters involving alternative and renewable energy, land use and sustainable development, and management of environmental liability and risk.

Drawing upon the resources of our full-service law firm, we create multidisciplinary teams to provide integrated legal services and ensure matters are handled effectively and efficiently. Our clients — which include national and multinational corporations, commercial developers, municipalities, school districts, nonprofit corporations, energy developers, landowners, and financing entities — receive the quality representation they expect from the nation’s largest firms plus the value, personal attention, and access to top legal talent of a firm next door.

Alternative and Renewable Energy

Our team advises clients on virtually every aspect of renewable and alternative energy project development, financing, construction, and implementation. We have extensive experience with the unique challenges and opportunities that accompany green energy projects and provide comprehensive services that include:

• Site approvals, permits, and licenses
• Public and private financing
• Drafting municipal codes and regulations
• State and local tax issues, including tax credits and other incentives
• Real estate, zoning, and land use matters
• Development of carbon trading strategies
• Protection of intellectual property for green technologies
• Litigation

Our experience includes wind, solar, landfill, gas-to-energy, and biomass projects, and we have worked on some of the largest wind farms in the eastern United States. Members of our team are recognized authorities on green energy issues and have been interviewed by business and industry publications, including The Buffalo News, Business First, and North American Windpower. Hodgson Russ attorneys have also authored articles on renewable energy topics for publications such as North American Windpower and the Buffalo Law Journal.

Land Use and Sustainable Development

We help clients acquire, develop, construct, and operate commercial, industrial, residential, recreational, and public sector projects. Our attorneys provide assistance with environmental impact review obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR), industrial development agency projects, Empire Zone Regionally Significant Projects, site plan review, wetlands regulation, archaeological and historic resource compliance, and coastal zone management. We have successfully represented clients in state and federal administrative forums on all phases of project development.

As the green building movement picks up momentum, unique business and legal scenarios continue to emerge. Our attorneys can assist in a number of areas, including defending insurance companies in matters involving coverage related to green initiatives, helping contractors draft contracts that address the unique requirements of sustainable structures, and representing clients in contract disputes and other litigation involving green buildings. Additionally, we are experienced in helping companies draft and negotiate business agreements that help reduce each party’s carbon footprint.

Environmental Risk Management

We help clients manage environmental liability and meet their obligations on various fronts while maintaining their competitiveness and protecting the public health and the environment. Our team has extensive experience assisting clients with:

• Developing and implementing policies and procedures related to climate change and other environmental concerns 
• Identifying and managing environmental risk in acquiring or divesting industrial and commercial properties and businesses 
• Creating risk quantification, management, and transfer tools, including environmental liability transfers and highly manuscripted insurance products designed to address risk management in the unique context of a particular transaction

Environmental Litigation

Our attorneys represent clients in a wide range of civil, administrative, and criminal environmental cases, including statutory enforcement actions brought by the government, environmental citizen-action groups, or private parties; toxic tort lawsuits; and disputes over contaminated sites.

Contaminated/Superfund Sites

Clients turn to us for assistance in managing liability arising from waste disposal and petroleum-impacted sites. Our group negotiates and litigates with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), state agencies, and private parties across the United States.

Due Diligence / Compliance Counseling

We conduct due diligence on environmental, energy, and safety and health issues for all types of transactions. We also help clients comply cost-effectively with statutory and regulatory requirements in various areas, including:

• Air emissions, water pollution, and managing chemicals, petroleum, pesticides, and solid and hazardous waste 
• Planning for emergencies 
• Managing the decommissioning and demolition of manufacturing facilities 
• Assisting human resources in managing industrial health and safety, including defense of claims from regulatory violations and job-related accidents 
• SEC and Sarbanes-Oxley reporting requirements for disclosure of climate change risks and responses

Experience That Matters

Highlights of our success include:

• We assisted the developer with all legal aspects of the development, finance, and completion of a 75-turbine, 112.5 megawatt wind energy project in Western New York. Our work included obtaining environmental impact review approval; obtaining land use permits; defending the company in lawsuits from opposing neighbors; serving as local finance counsel; handling real estate issues; representing the developer in connection with the local IDA; and handling tax matters related to the project.
• On behalf of a town, our team secured the first-ever appellate New York State ruling upholding the rejection of a site plan based on anticipated hazardous air emissions, particularly greenhouse gases.
• We represented an industrial development agency in all aspects of a financing transaction for the development of a major renewable energy facility in Northern New York. The project was named North American Renewables Deal of the Year by Project Finance magazine, Renewables Deal of the Year by Infrastructure Journal, and Environmental Deal of the Year in the Americas by Project Finance International.
• Our team represented an industrial manufacturing company in a complex transaction whose results were favorable to our client and other parties in a number of ways: The client’s environmental liability was transferred to an environmental engineering firm for a lump sum fixed price; the engineering firm’s assumption of liability was supported by an indemnification promise backed by its balance sheet and a sophisticated and manuscripted environmental insurance policy; the facility was decommissioned, demolished, and transferred to the city, extinguishing our client’s carrying costs and other legal liabilities and risks; the transaction also extinguished the environmental and contract liability of a former owner of the property and, consequently, was instrumental in settling federal court litigation between that former owner and our client; and the transaction created a framework for the city to finance and arrange for the successful commercial redevelopment of the site.
• We have helped guide dozens of educational facility developmental projects through the SEQR environmental impact process and due diligence review process.
• We represent an industrial manufacturing company in helping it expand its operations with the benefit of industrial development agency aid and various state grant programs, working through utility issues, and obtaining various approvals such as wetlands permits needed to expand and provide additional jobs to our area.

Practice restricted to U.S. law