Contaminated Properties & Remediation

Nijman Franzetti has extensive experience assisting clients in shepherding contaminated properties through federal and state cleanup programs, including the defense of USEPA or state enforcement actions to compel remediation under CERCLA and its state equivalent laws as wells RCRA corrective action enforcement matters. We have negotiated numerous federal and state settlements on these matters which have achieved limitations on the required scope of remedial or corrective action while being mindful of a client’s costs and needs.

We assist clients in developing plans and strategies for addressing contamination on their properties, including providing guidance on property investigations and potential corrective actions with the ultimate goal of obtaining “no further remediation” determinations from regulatory authorities. Our experience covers the gamut from relatively small releases (e.g., a single leaking underground storage tank) to complex and extensive contamination of industrial properties, involving emerging contaminants such as polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and 1,4-dioxane, affecting all types of media. When needed, we recommend knowledgeable consultants with whom we have collaborative relationships to provide needed technical investigations and analysis. When sites present unique problems, we assist in creating effective, combined legal and technical strategies, and regulatory communications to persuade federal and state decision-makers to adopt our client’s position.

When clients are faced with federal or state enforcement actions, we provide advice based on years of experience regarding what technical and legal arguments will be most effective in disputing the alleged claims. Our legal judgment and advice is informed by having both settled and litigated enforcement actions at the municipal, state and federal levels. We listen to our client’s goals and present alternative legal strategies, along with their expected costs, for our client’s consideration, along with the relative levels of risk involved in those strategies. We keep our clients promptly informed of enforcement action developments and work together to find mutually agreeable solutions to resolve the alleged claims. Where reasonable settlements are unattainable, we have the litigation experience to challenge effectively the claims filed in a court or administrative forum.

We are at the forefront of understanding issues related to emerging contaminants detected at historically contaminated properties, like PFAS and 1,4-dioxane. We are advising our clients on how ever-evolving PFAS regulations may affect their plans for remedial actions.

We also assist clients in taking preventive measures to avoid releases, including assisting in preparing release/spill prevention policies and procedures, including assisting in preparing Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures (“SPCC”) Plans, Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plans (“SWPPPs”), and overseeing privileged compliance audits.

We can provide our clients with guidance and support on:

• Site cleanups to achieve closure and/or no further action determinations from regulators
• Preparing pollution prevention plans
• Defending Superfund (CERCLA) Enforcement and State RCRA Compliance Orders
• Addressing PFAS and Emerging Contaminants

Recent matters handled by our lawyers include:

• Resolved USEPA and State of Illinois claims on behalf of a property owner that inherited a property historically contaminated by an out-of-business dry cleaning facility
• Settled a property owner’s RCRA citizen suit claim against its lessee, claiming contamination from decades of industrial use by convincing the property owner to accept our client’s preferred corrective action
• Served as lead counsel on behalf of an industrial company to defend and ultimately settle a federal RCRA citizen suit, a State common law citizen suit, and an enforcement action by the State of Illinois all related to historic property contamination and assisted in the implementation of the required corrective action
• Provided guidance on historically contaminated property investigations to achieve a solution through application of the state voluntary cleanup program