In Brief

Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP’s Environmental Law Department draws on the talents and experience of its members in the fields of Environmental, Real Estate, Corporate, Litigation and Land Use law. Our environmental lawyers provide counseling to regulated business operators, support to merger, acquisition and divestiture strategies, and advice to real estate developers, community facilities and
governmental entities. They also provide advice in permit matters and issues arising out of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and hazardous waste laws. The Department’s lawyers appear before courts, administrative boards and governmental agencies representing clients with a wide variety of regulatory, civil and criminal litigation problems.

Our environmental law attorneys provide support to clients in the following areas: 

• Counseling in project development, with an emphasis on the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and New York’s State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) 
• Litigation arising under federal and state environmental laws on behalf of property owners and operators, developers, lenders, and insurance companies 
• Due diligence evaluations and negotiation of merger, acquisition and other agreements 
• Regulatory compliance counseling on air, water, solid and hazardous waste, lead, asbestos and wetlands issues, as well as workplace health and safety concerns 
• Environmental permitting processes 
• Counseling regarding environmental issues in bankruptcy proceedings and workouts

Representative Clients/Transactions

The Environmental Law Department’s recent activities include:

• Representing a major developer in a brownfield redevelopment that will include an Ikea store on the Brooklyn waterfront 
• Litigating challenges to the environmental review and exercise of eminent domain to enable development of the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn 
• Representing Columbia University in the environmental review of a large rezoning to facilitate development of a new campus in the Manhattanville section of West Harlem
• Representing Amtrak in the cleanup of a major hazardous waste facility in Long Island City 
• Coordinating the environmental impact review of the renovation of Shea Stadium 
• Representing a regulated public utility in the siting and permitting of five electric generating plants and defending the utility against litigation seeking to halt construction of the plants 
• Assisting a major New York City museum in its expansion and in its acquisition of additional storage and exhibition space, and the cleanup of environmental conditions at its new site 
• Obtaining the approvals for and successfully handling the litigation against a client’s proposed development of a major regional shopping center in Long Island

Principal Areas of Focus

Land Use and Development Matters

The Environmental Law Department, often in conjunction with the firm’s Land Use Department, helps developers navigate through the sea of complicated federal, state and local regulations associated with development. Our familiarity with federal, state and local land use, environmental impact review, and historic preservation regulations allows our lawyers to handle applications from the conceptual stage
through approvals, including rezonings, subdivisions and special permits. If our clients’ land use applications are unsuccessful, or are subsequently challenged, our environmental lawyers handle administrative appeals and litigation.

Transactional Advice

Virtually all merger, stock or asset purchases and sales, and real estate transactions have risk components associated with the past and future environmental activities or conditions of the involved assets. As a consequence, the Environmental Law Department renders advice and opinions concerning the risks faced by the firm’s clients when pursuing such transactions.

Environmental Enforcement and Litigation

The Department’s attorneys have a wide variety of experience in enforcement proceedings and litigation arising under federal, state and local hazardous waste and petroleum laws, including the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA), the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, the Rivers and Harbors Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, and state analogs to these statutes. The firm’s environmental lawyers also represent clients in administrative proceedings arising under federal, state and local hazardous waste laws by:

• Responding to requests for information and notifications of potential violations 
• Negotiating cleanup orders and decrees with federal and state authorities, including
  cleanups of brownfields 
• Negotiating and overseeing Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Studies with federal and state environmental agencies 
• Resolving violation notices before local administrative hearing officers
• Representing clients charged with criminal violations of environmental laws

When helpful in expediting the resolution of environmental claims, our environmental lawyers have participated in Alternative Dispute Resolution procedures.


Compliance Counseling

Our clients’ activities are often heavily regulated by federal, state and local governmental authorities. The Environmental Department has extensive experience with the permitting requirements of various federal and state environmental laws, including the Clean Air and Water Acts, RCRA and various state and local
law counterparts. Some of the services we provide in this area consist of:

• Analysis and interpretation of regulations, administrative procedures and guidelines 
• Counseling on federal and state reporting requirements 
• Designing, conducting and overseeing company-wide field compliance audits 
• Obtaining environmental permits necessary for our clients’ ongoing businesses activities and expansion of their facilities

Bankruptcy Counseling

Working closely with the Kramer Levin Corporate Restructuring and Bankruptcy Department, our attorneys advise creditors on the evaluation and quantification of environmental claims and liabilities.

Applied Expertise

The Environmental Law Department’s members contribute to the Environmental Law Section of the New York Law Journal, Metropolitan Corporate Counsel and the Real Estate Finance Journal, lecture on various subjects in environmental law, and are present and former members of the Environmental Law Section of the New York State Bar Association and the Environmental Law Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.

The Department Chair has been named a top environmental lawyer by Chambers and Partners and Best Lawyers of America. He, as well as two other partners in the Environmental Department, were named among New York’s Super Lawyers for 2007 in the fields of environmental law, land use law and litigation, respectively.