Our Areas of Practice

Environmental Law

Our environmental clients include individual property owners, real estate developers, lending institutions, and publicly and privately held companies ranging in size from the very small to large multinational Fortune 500 corporations. Among the types of matters we handle:

• Hazardous substances
• Air, water and noise pollution
• Solid waste
• Real estate development
• Environmental permitting and counseling

Our environmental experience touches virtually every aspect of hazardous substance law, from permitting to defense against state and federal liability claims, to suits among private parties to determine the responsibility for the costs of an environmental cleanup. We have participated in potential and actual litigation and administrative proceedings involving radium, radon, asbestos, petroleum and other hazardous substances and wastes.

Superfund And Spill Fund Litigation

Riker Danzig attorneys have been involved in all phases of administrative and litigative representation under CERCLA, the federal Superfund law, and New Jersey's parallel Spill Fund statute. We have represented major corporations as trial and appellate counsel in litigation involving liability for hazardous waste remediation under these statutes. The firm has also prosecuted a number of applications for reimbursement under the Spill Fund. Recently, we have begun to assist clients regarding natural resource damages ("NRD") claims. In 2003, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection retained special outside counsel to aggressively prosecute NRD claims, including those for groundwater contamination. This new program will have far-reaching effects on brownfields redevelopment, insurance and real estate transactions in New Jersey. We are currently defending two companies in State Court against NRD claims brought by the State of New Jersey and are negotiating voluntary NRD settlements on behalf of several others. Among our past and present clients are Lever Brothers Company, SCM Corporation, Oakite Products, Inc., Phelps Dodge Company, Waste Management, Inc., the Newark Housing Authority, National Starch and Chemical Corporation, AT&T, Lucent Technologies, Wyeth, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Fisher Scientific Company and the Coca-Cola Company.

Representative Assignments:

• We represented several companies in proceedings brought by the U.S. government to recover $5 million in past response costs from several hundred waste generators which had utilized the Kin-Buc landfill site in Edison, New Jersey, and currently represent six companies in the private cost recovery action brought by the owner/operator of the landfill.
  
  
• In a number of Superfund cases, we represent various corporations on waste generators' steering committees and related subcommittees.
  
  
• In state administrative actions brought pursuant to the Spill Fund statute, we act as counsel for corporations and institutions in connection with the investigation and remediation of conditions at various waste disposal sites.
  
  
• We have acted as special environmental counsel to municipal authorities in connection with redevelopment sites where hazardous waste has been found.

Riker Danzig attorneys have been among the leading experts on New Jersey's Industrial Site Recovery Act (ISRA), formerly known as the Environmental Cleanup Responsibility Act. The firm has served as counsel to scores of firms with respect to this statute, which is of major concern in mergers, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, plant or business closings, leases, and the purchase or sale of real estate.

The first and still toughest law of its kind in the United States, ISRA requires an environmental investigation of industrial properties and facilities that are sold or closed down. If environmentally unacceptable conditions are found, the property must be decontaminated before it may be transferred or upon the closure of the business. Risks of failing to comply include voiding the transaction and extensive statutory penalties. As part of our work in this area, we prepare and file ISRA forms, including non-applicability determinations and administrative consent order applications, supervise site environmental investigations, and work closely with environmental consultants to expedite the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) approval process to enable prompt completion of the transaction in question.

In addition, Riker Danzig has participated in the NJDEP's development of regulations regarding the ISRA program. Partners Dennis J. Krumholz, head of the firm's environmental practice, and Jeffrey B. Wagenbach, have served as members of NJDEP's ECRA Industrial Advisory Board.

Clients include, and have included, Mobil Oil Corp., IBM, AT&T, Lucent Technologies, Bristol-Myers Squibb Corporation, Penn Central, Buckeye Pipeline, L.P., Harcourt, Brace-Jovanovich, Levolor Corporation and Prudential Insurance Co.

Representative Assignments

• We obtained all ISRA approvals in connection with the multi-billion dollar spin-off by a multi-national corporation of several of its subsidiaries with more than two-hundred locations in New Jersey.
  
  
• We obtained ISRA approvals for the merger of corporations in a multi-billion dollar transaction involving 25 different sites in New Jersey.
  
  
• We participated in all ISRA-related aspects of a $1 billion refinancing and restructuring of a large corporation. A key concern in the refinancing was environmental impact issues.
  
  
• We represented a company in its $500 million purchase of a division of another corporation, a transaction involving ISRA clearance of New Jersey property.
  
  
• We recently represented a locally based, publicly owned corporation in a complex negotiation to rescind a prior acquisition that failed to comply with ISRA. We also represented the company in connection with the environmental aspects of its merger with a friendly suitor.
  
  
• We have obtained scores of ISRA-approved cleanup plans, negative declarations, letters of non-applicability and administrative consent orders that have permitted business transactions to proceed.
  
  
• We have been successful in obtaining prompt ISRA approvals in situations where time was of the essence and deals had to close quickly.

Riker Danzig has served as trial and appellate counsel in a number of complex environmental litigation matters in New Jersey, including several significant cases involving the hazardous waste liability of former owners of property. We are experienced in both predecessor and subsequent owner liability cases. A sampling of our representation includes Columbian Chemicals Company, Oakite Products, Inc., the T & E Company, Mellen Chemicals Company, Inc., Eastman Chemical Products, Inc., PVO International, Inc., Axton Cross and Hoechst Celanese Corp.

Representative Assignments

• We acted as appellate and federal trial counsel to the owner of a property where radium tailings had been buried, resulting in the important decision of the Supreme Court of New Jersey in T&E Industries Inc. v. Safety Light Corporation, et. al., 587 A2d 1249.
  
  
• In a complex case involving litigation at the state and federal levels, we acted as counsel for a company in suits brought to determine the responsibility for cleanup of a hazardous waste site in Edgewater, New Jersey.
  
  
• We represented a chemical company in its federal suit against a successor company over the cost of a site cleanup.
  
  
• We participated in contract litigation seeking payment for environmental upgrading at a bulk chemical storage facility.
  
  
• We act as counsel for many industrial tenants and landlords in suits to establish responsibility for undertaking and paying the costs of cleanup pursuant to ECRA.
  
  
• We are counsel in a multimillion dollar litigation arising out of an ECRA-mandated site cleanup.

In the course of its practice, Riker Danzig's environmental group has represented clients in state and federal administrative and judicial enforcement proceedings related to allegations of air, water and noise pollution. We have represented Ogden Projects, Inc., Esselte Pendaflex, Pantasote Inc., Columbian Chemicals Company, Anchor Glass Container Corp. and others in air pollution and noise pollution matters.

In the area of water quality, we counsel clients on compliance with New Jersey Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NJPDES) requirements for industrial and municipal users. We have had extensive litigation and regulatory compliance experience regarding bans on sewer connections and extensions. For example, we represented ROC Jersey Corp. in its successful completion of the Headquarters Plaza office complex, and Leisure Time Tours in sewerage-related issues associated with its bus line. We also represent local authorities in connection with various sewer-related matters pending before the NJDEP.

SOLID WASTE

We have represented waste disposal companies and public bodies in obtaining permits to operate large solid waste disposal operations. For example, we represented Wheelabrator Environmental Systems, Inc. in connection with the development of a waste-to-energy facility in Gloucester County, New Jersey and have assisted the Cumberland County Improvement Authority in connection with its landfill.

REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT

In the real estate aspects of our practice, we serve as environmental counsel to borrowers, lenders, buyers, sellers and tenants, all of whom have unique responsibilities under New Jersey's environmental laws.

On behalf of developers, we monitor the environmental considerations relating to site acquisitions and handle the substantial number of permit filings required in any significant project. By way of example, we have acted as environmental counsel to Newport Associates Development Company in its Jersey City project, the largest planned unit development ever proposed in New Jersey, and have obtained state environmental permits for this waterfront project.

We also are currently involved in a number of other large development projects throughout New Jersey, including a large shopping center in Sussex County that requires wetlands permits, and a large office/residential complex in Morris County requiring a number of wetlands, water supply and wastewater treatment permits.

Riker Danzig also frequently acts as local environmental counsel for out-of-state law firms which represent clients with property interests in New Jersey. For example, we frequently work alongside Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Skadden Arps, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, Weil Gotshal & Manges, and Covington & Burling in ISRA matters and other environmental litigation and compliance proceedings.

ENVIRONMENTAL PERMITTING AND COUNSELING

We represent clients in negotiations and proceedings across the entire range of environmental permits required by federal, state and local agencies. This experience includes obtaining permits and approvals for:

• Hazardous and solid waste storage, transportation and disposal
• Hazardous waste incineration
• Landfill operations
• Air emissions
• Water discharge
• Wetlands development
• Stream encroachment
• Sewer connections
• Coastal development
• Local zoning
• County and local land use planning.

Attorneys from our environmental group work closely with engineering and environmental consultants to coordinate investigations and design remedial programs. We also act as counsel to consulting firms, advising them of their liabilities in preparing environmental recommendations and in performing environmentally related work.

Acting as special environmental counsel in the corporate context, we assist in the preparation of environmentally sensitive documents relating to mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, asset transfers and real estate transactions.

Environmental Counseling Involving Lenders

In an area of growing concern, we advise lending institutions and pension funds that have as customers companies that utilize hazardous substances as well as hazardous waste contractors. We offer counsel on the structuring of environmental representations, warranties and covenants in lending agreements, and we advise clients on the particular risks involved, in the event of a loan default, in assuming control of companies and land where hazardous materials are used. For example, we have served as New Jersey environmental counsel to the nation's largest pension fund, Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, in connection with ISRA. We have also represented the Resolution Trust Corporation with regard to environmental issues posed by its acquisition of properties in New Jersey, as well as William E. Simon & Sons, Inc.

Our attorneys have conducted many seminars for lenders, and have presented lectures explaining the implications of environmental laws to estate planning professionals.

Bankruptcy

When older industrial companies fail, significant environmental questions arise, and "deep pocket" entities frequently became the target of environmentally related litigation. We represent debtors-in-possession and lending institutions in connection with environmental problems associated with the filing of petitions for bankruptcy.

For example, we participate in a number of proceedings related to the environmental obligations of bankrupt companies to clean up hazardous waste under ISRA. Conversely, we are involved in federal litigation on behalf of a bankrupt company and its secured lender to recover costs for the cleanup of hazardous waste from a former owner of the company's property.

Resource Recovery

Riker Danzig represents Ogden Projects, Inc., American Ref-Fuel Company and Wheelabrator Environmental Systems, Inc., leading developers of resource recovery (waste-to-energy) systems, with respect to a wide range of issues. For instance, for Wheelabrator, we secured the necessary permits needed to construct a resource recovery facility in Gloucester County, and advised the company on its start-up operations.

Electric Cogeneration

Riker Danzig is skilled in structuring the legal aspects of construction and operation of electrical cogeneration (generation of two forms of energy from one original process) facilities. From the initial planning stage to start-up and subsequent sale or refinancing, the environmental group works closely with other specialized practice areas at the firm to advise clients on permit and regulatory requirements, and then follows through by successfully securing all necessary approvals. Included among our clients are Energy Factors, Inc. and Energy Initiatives, Inc., two developers of cogeneration facilities, as well as international lenders who have participated in the financing of these projects. For a more detailed description of our firm's capabilities in this area, click on Project Finance.

Government Environmental Contractors

Riker Danzig counsels environmental contractors, and the financial institutions providing the requisite financial assurance, in remediation projects at hazardous waste sites pursuant to government contracts.

Our Attorneys

The success of our environmental practice results from the high caliber of the attorneys practicing in this area. In addition to the sophisticated skills gained in practice, our attorneys often participate in a broad range of educational practice seminars in order to keep abreast of the most current environmental laws. An extensive environmental law library and the availability of computer-aided research with unique environmental files enable our environmental practice to remain completely up-to-date in this rapidly changing field. Many of our attorneys make frequent presentations on environmental issues of current interest. For example, the environmental group chairs a commercially-sponsored comprehensive biannual seminar addressing environmental regulations applicable in New Jersey.