Clean Water

Examples of our experience include:

• Defending industrial and commercial clients against state and municipal enforcement actions relating to stormwater discharges under general and individual NPDES permits, NPDES-permitted discharges for private wastewater treatment plants, and indirect discharge permits.
• Assisting clients in securing stormwater or direct discharge NPDES permits from federal or state authorities and indirect discharge permits from municipalities.
• Resolving CWA citizen suit notices of intent to sue using a unique pre-litigation settlement model that capped attorney and expert fees, mitigated environmental risks, improved facility operations, and included supplemental environmental projects.
• Advising clients on questions of federal jurisdiction over wetlands and streams under U.S. Supreme Court guidance and U.S. EPA’s “waters of the U.S. rule.”
• Representing a company facing federal and state civil enforcement actions following an accidental diesel spill to a non-navigable stream in Ohio.
• Representing one of two defendants in an Indiana fish kill case involving federal, state, and class-action claims seeking civil damages and penalties exceeding $50 million and federal criminal prosecution under the CWA.
• Achieving a settlement for a food processing company after a show cause hearing in an enforcement action brought by a publicly owned treatment works in Illinois for alleged wastewater permit violations.
• Settling and negotiating penalties in many U.S. EPA CWA enforcement actions involving industrial stormwater permit compliance.
• Defending a tool manufacturer against a U.S. EPA CWA enforcement action involving a threatened civil penalty and expensive injunctive relief.
• Representing companies in criminal prosecutions connected to alleged unlawful industrial wastewater discharges to storm sewers and waterways, tampering with wastewater sampling protocols, and waste management associated with livestock operations.
• Evaluating waste-load allocation (Total Maximum Daily Loads, or TMDL) for a publicly owned treatment works.
• Representing a transportation company during a three-day U.S. EPA SPCC plan inspection and follow-up corrective actions.
• Representing a construction company in a U.S. EPA enforcement action for alleged violations of the company’s storm water permit and Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan.
• Representing a mining company in an Ohio EPA enforcement action for alleged NPDES permit violations.