When environmental and regulatory questions put your operations, your property, or your next transaction at risk, you need counsel who can resolve them efficiently and on terms that serve your goals. Clients turn to Gilbert Harrell's Environmental and Regulatory Practice Group for exactly that, across permitting, compliance, environmental review, enforcement, litigation, and transaction-related matters. Our team works directly with local, state, and federal agencies to resolve the complex issues that affect what you are trying to build, buy, or protect.
That work spans the full range of federal environmental law and its Georgia equivalents, including the Clean Air Act, Superfund, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Clean Water Act, the Georgia Hazardous Sites Response Act, the Georgia Brownfield Act, and the Georgia Voluntary Remediation Program. Our attorneys also bring depth in the laws governing water rights and environmentally contaminated land, areas where experienced counsel is hard to find.
For major commercial and industrial sites, our lawyers regularly lead the negotiation, development, and implementation of remedies and corrective action. Partners in the group have resolved questions of first impression in Georgia, including permitting old rock quarries as raw water storage facilities, settling ownership of disputed marshlands, and returning former RCRA facilities to productive reuse and redevelopment.
Our edge comes from the other side of the table. Partners here have served in the Georgia Environmental Protection Division and the Governor's Office. As former regulators, our attorneys know how agencies think and how complex matters actually get resolved, and we put that insight to work on a strategy built around your objectives.
Types of Matters
- Environmental Permitting
- Navigation of Sites
- Navigation and negotiation of sites in RCRA, CERCLA, Brownfields, Hazardous Sites Response Act, and Voluntary Remediation processes.
- Civil and Administrative Governmental Enforcement Actions
- Regulatory Counseling and Agency Advocacy
- Environmental Review
- Risk Assessments
- Cost Recovery and Contribution Actions
- Real Estate and Corporate Transactions
- Litigation and Compliance Matters
- Lobbying
- Lobbying before Georgia General Assembly regarding environmental matters and relevant Georgia Administrative Agencies
- Matters Involving Coastal Permitting and Development Rights
- Matters involving the Georgia Coastal Marshlands Protection Act and Shoreline Protection Act, including permitting and disputes over ownership and development rights related to tidal marshlands and shoreline properties
- Water Use Planning and Compliance
- Georgia’s State Water Plan; Habitat Conservation Planning under the federal Endangered Species Act; Georgia’s Flint River Drought Protection Act and Agricultural Water Use Permitting; and the Georgia Water Stewardship Act with related drought and conservation regulations