Spills & Releases

Nijman Franzetti advises clients on management of chemical spills, releases and discharges including matters arising under Section 311 of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Our lawyers have the practical, operational insight, regulatory knowledge and enforcement experience to counsel clients on preventing, detecting, reporting, and responding to oil and hazardous substance spills, releases, discharges and other incidents requiring emergency response.
Upon discovery of a spill, release or discharge, we support clients in implementation of appropriate emergency response activities including a determination regarding whether emergency notification to federal, state or local authorities is required. If so, we counsel clients on the notification procedures required to timely report including management of any follow up written reports. We have worked on incidents in connection with spills, releases and discharges from stationary facilities (equipment malfunctions, fires and explosions, tank farms, wastewater treatment plants), pipelines, marine vessels, underground storage tanks, aboveground storage tanks as well as transportation-related matters involving rail cars, tanker trucks, ships and barges.

We partner with clients to assist with internal investigations of release incidents including root cause analyses and counsel on management of inspections by governmental authorities. For significant matters, we assist with emergency response activities including evacuation plans, develop internal and external messaging and provide strategic advice regarding toxic tort litigation risks. We defend enforcement actions, including negotiating with governmental agencies regarding post-incident remediation and testing considerations. We also defend any toxic tort litigation that may arise from emergency incidents.

Our experience managing spills, releases and discharges includes enforcement and litigation arising under CERCLA, EPCRA, CWA, CAA, TSCA, OSHA and HMTA as well as state and local laws, regulations, and ordinances. This work also includes compliance advice, auditing and enforcement defense with regard to the CWA’s Section 311 spill and release reporting requirements, including prevention, control, and countermeasure (SPCC) plans and Facility Response Plan (FRP) requirements, and applicability of and requirements under the Oil Pollution Act.

Recent matters handled by our lawyers include:

• Advised client regarding Clean Water Act’s regulation of discharges from marine vessels
• Counselled a client regarding evaluation of ethylene oxide emissions and related compliance concerns at facilities in Illinois and Georgia
• Assisted a client with legal assessment of historical chemical and waste-related releases in conjunction with the sale of industrial property in Rochester, New York
• Advised a client on stormwater discharge inspection report response to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the compliance assessment of offsite discharges of black carbon and associated cleanup at a former manufacturing facility in Connersville Indiana
• Defended a client against a cease & desist order issued by the City of Pueblo related to wastewater treatment plant discharges and identification of sulfate exceedances in wastewater sampling data
• Defended a lawsuit by West Virginia City Water Board related to alleged releases of wastewater containing PFAS
• Counselled client on federal, state and local notification obligations and release reporting requirements related to onsite releases of pentachlorophenol waste arising from contractor error and mishandling of construction equipment
• Defended a client in Section 43 of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act referral to Office of the Illinois Attorney General related to allegations of offsite chemical emissions from a Central Illinois operation
• Participated in multiparty mediation related to chemical releases from a marine vessel docked in the Port of Houston resulting from an onboard fire incident and associated emergency response