Environmental Law

Hancock & Estabrook, LLP serves environmental clients throughout the State of New York. Recognized for effective representation in regulatory matters, litigation, and preventative environmental auditing, our environmental attorneys serve clients that include Fortune 500, medium and small businesses, municipalities and individuals. Areas of expertise and recent projects include:

Regulatory Compliance

Hancock & Estabrook appears before the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the United States EPA and other regulatory authorities throughout New York State. We assist clients in air permitting, NPDES and SPDES permits, wetlands issues, siting of hazardous waste storage facilities, solid waste landfills, petroleum storage facilities and local industrial discharge authorizations to ensure compliance.

We have provided assistance to our clients in the following matters:

• Permitting and siting of significant (over 500,000 square feet) manufacturing facilities
• Addressed issues associated with the investigation and remediation of inactive waste, hazardous substance, and petroleum sites
• Represented petroleum distribution facilities who have been cited with violations of the New York Oil Spill Law (Navigation Law, Article 12) and/or the Environmental Conservation Law, including the negotiation of acceptable Consent Order terms and settlements minimizing impact of civil penalties
• Represented public, quasi-public and private entities in challenging wetland delineations and other determinations by the NYSDEC and US Army Corps of Engineers that affect desired land uses and development
• Negotiated Orders on Consent related to RCRA, the New York State SPDES program, air compliance and bulk storage, including representation of parties at administrative hearings when a negotiated solution was impracticable; and
• Represented companies in complying with the state registrations, state facility permits, air modeling, Title V permits, and continuous emission monitoring

Brownfield Program in New York

New York's Brownfield Program has created opportunities for owners, operators, tenants, municipalities and purchasers of contaminated properties. The program includes tax credit and liability programs. We facilitate early and open cooperative efforts with regulatory authorities. We advise clients on establishing Community-Based Organizations (CBO), designating Brownfield Opportunity Areas (BOA), the application process, citizen participation, maximizing liability protections, minimizing deed restrictions, expediting the remedial process and purchase agreements, contracts and state funding requirements.

Representative Brownfield Programs for our clients include:

• Dry cleaner for commercial redevelopment (Onondaga County)
• A former chemical plant redeveloped for industrial use and "green space" (Niagara County)
• A municipal training center (Wyoming County)
• Portions of an existing industrial park including a former manufacturing facility (Oneida County)
• Light manufacturing facility (Onondaga County)
• Abandoned manufacturing facility for housing (Tompkins County)
• Abandoned industrial facility for commercial re-use (Westchester County)
• Plating operation for another commercial use (Onondaga County)
• Existing commercial facility (Onondaga County)

Environmental Programs

We assist companies with internal environmental audits and establishing environmental prevention programs. Projects have included:

• Assisting large quantity generators to achieve small quantity generator status
• Providing RCRA training on legal aspects of compliance, reporting, and document retention
• Assisting in ISO 14001 certification and ISO internal audits
• Assisting in grant applications and achieving recognition for compliance through New York State Pollution Prevention Programs; and
• Coordinating environmental audits of various facilities, including healthcare facilities in anticipation of inspection by regulatory agencies

Environmental Litigation

Hancock & Estabrook defends and prosecutes environmental cases in state and federal courts. We follow a two-track approach by aggressively pursuing viable claims and defenses as well as creative settlement options. Recent litigated matters include:

• Prosecution and defense of Navigation Law actions seeking recovery of response costs associated with petroleum releases (numerous federal and state jurisdictions)
• Multi-party PRP litigation to compel the remediation of waterfront property as part of a 100+ acre inactive hazardous waste site (United States District Court, Northern District of New York)
• Defense of Fortune 100 companies in an action under RCRA and CERCLA for damages and clean-up of a former oil recycling facility (United States District Court, Eastern District of New York)
• Cost recovery and contribution action seeking recovery from over 100 defendants on behalf of a PRP Group for clean-up of a hazardous waste site (United States District Court, Western District of New York)
• Cost recovery and contribution actions in federal court pursuant to CERCLA and RCRA against a PRP for contamination of residential property (United States District Court, Northern District of New York)
• Insurance coverage action for a manufacturing facility named as a PRP at more than one inactive hazardous waste sites (United States District Court, Northern District of New York)
• Interpretation of indemnification agreements involving asset and stock transactions to determine the responsibility of the parties for environmental contamination (numerous federal and state jurisdictions)
• Determination of corporate successor liability in the context of CERCLA, Navigation Law and indemnification agreements (various federal and state jurisdictions)
• Defense of toxic exposure case involving thirty (30) homeowners (State Supreme Court)

Toxic Exposure Law

Hancock & Estabrook has assisted individuals and municipalities in the recovery of just and fair compensation for property damage and personal injuries due to chemical and biological toxin exposure. We have represented entities accused of toxic releases and negotiated solutions to minimize the public impact while also protecting our clients' business interests. Some examples of our work in this area include:

• Represented a citizen group challenging the storage of road salt in a residential neighborhood causing adverse effects to health and property
• Represented property owners affected by toxic mold
• Defended business owners in lead and asbestos cases
• Prosecuted and defended companies in lawsuits alleging ground and surface water contamination affecting water supplies

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