For more information about this practice area, please contact Sarah E. Lynn.

Bailey Cavalieri's Environmental Practice Group provides a full range of environmental law services to businesses and governments in Ohio and nationally. Our attorneys have experience in the areas of environmental enforcement and compliance counseling as well as environmental matters that arise in real estate development and commercial transactions.

State and Federal Regulatory Matters

Our experience involves providing assistance to large and small businesses and governmental clients on all matters relating to compliance with State and Federal environmental regulations. We have experience with permitting of solid and municipal waste facilities and hazardous waste facilities. In addition, we guide clients through the process of application and implementation of permits to install water discharge sources including NPDES, stormwater and pretreatment permits for private business operations as well as publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) and have worked with clients with an interest in regional sewer and water planning.

Our work includes business wide environmental compliance counseling including development of systems for compliance auditing and systematically informing clients of the new developments in environmental regulation. We assist with air permitting issues including Federal Clean Air Act Title V compliance. Our attorneys provide legal counsel on all matters involving RCRA, TSD compliance, closure and corrective action, generator compliance and SARA Community Right to Know and release reporting as well as Toxic Substances (TSCA) requirements. Our experience also includes wetlands and underground storage tank (UST) regulation.

Business and Real Estate Transactions

Whether in the large scale merger and acquisition environment or simply the sale or acquisition of a single business or facility, a myriad of environmental issues can come into play. We have assisted business clients with planning and negotiating all environmental aspects of such transactions through the implementation and post transaction period. We have assisted business and governmental clients alike in the sale and purchase of operating and abandoned manufacturing facilities, negotiating the contract provisions for environmental due diligence, risk management and environmental indemnities.

We have significant experience in the area of real estate transactions and real estate development where we draw upon decades of traditional real estate work combined with our experience with Brownfields redevelopment and financing. We assist clients seeking federal and State funding including Clean Ohio Revitalization Funds (CORF) and developing strategies for complex brownfields redevelopment projects and have utilized Ohio's Voluntary Action Program and other strategies for streamlined, cost-efficient cleanup.

Superfund Enforcement Actions and Cost Recovery

Bailey Cavalieri attorneys have represented parties on both sides of the federal Superfund (CERCLA) law: in PRP defense and as counsel for plaintiffs seeking cost recovery for clients involved in a site cleanup. We have broad experience in the nuts and bolts of CERCLA enforcement and the nuances of potential CERCLA liability.

Litigation: Government Enforcement Actions , Toxic Tort and Citizens Suits

Bailey Cavalieri's environmental practice group defends environmental enforcement actions brought by state and federal regulators. We have experience in both civil and criminal enforcement. Our attorneys include a former Assistant State Attorney General with experience in state criminal enforcement and joint federal/state prosecutions. In addition, we have experience defending third-party or private party actions sometimes know as Citizens suits. Such actions involve common law tort theories of liability alleging environmental harm or private actions (citizens suits) based on RCRA or CERCLA liability.

Our understanding of and relationships with state and federal environmental agencies has proved invaluable in negotiating settlements on behalf of our clients and in helping our clients avoid liability altogether where potential enforcement is a threat. Our litigation experience combined with experience in environmental regulation enable us to serve our clients in the courtroom and before regulatory review commissions such as the Environmental Review Appeals Commission (ERAC).

We also have considerable experience defending toxic tort actions involving asbestos, silica, coal tar volatiles, welding rods, vinyl chloride, silicone breast implants and other substances. Our lawyers have served as National Coordinating Counsel for asbestos litigation for an engineering company world renowned in the design and construction of refineries and as National Coordinating Counsel and trial counsel for asbestos litigation for Combustion Engineering, Inc. and Basic, Inc. in various courts throughout the United States.