Environmental Permitting, Regulatory Compliance and Enforcement

Freeborn's regulatory team includes a former Illinois Environmental Protection Agency attorney, former Illinois Assistant Attorney General for the Environmental Bureau, and former in-house counsel of a leading waste handling and disposal company. We have invaluable knowledge when representing clients before environmental agencies and governmental bodies, and assisting businesses in this highly-regulated industry.

Industry is facing increased regulation and scrutiny on a Federal, State and local level, requiring implementation of programs and procedures to ensure full compliance with all legal requirements. Our attorneys regularly counsel clients on compliance with all environmental laws, and defend clients in administrative and civil enforcement actions involving allegations of noncompliance.

Environmental Justice (EJ) is the cornerstone of the Biden Administration's environmental policy. Heightened permit application reviews are becoming commonplace in EJ areas, and frequently involve performing air dispersion modeling and a health impact analysis. Freeborn's attorneys have been working closely with industry and regulators from the Federal, State and local levels in navigating the EJ analysis process and negotiating permit conditions that reflect actual risks from the operating entity, while mitigating onerous regulatory requirements and emission limits.

Our Environmental Permitting, Regulatory Compliance and Enforcement attorneys also provide counsel on compliance and permitting matters such as:

Voluntary clean-up programs
Release reporting
Hazardous waste regulation
Air emissions
Wastewater discharges
Manufacturing notification
Registration and labeling
Protection of endangered and threatened species
Environmental siting and land use
Wetlands

We assist clients with the complex land use, public relations and political issues pertaining to the siting and development of landfills, waste incinerators and waste transfer stations. We also advise clients on conducting environmental audits and self-disclosure to governmental agencies under Federal and State audit rules.

Representative Matters

Numerous financial institutions in connection with the implication of environmental conditions on foreclosure upon secured properties and the exercise of related lender remedies.

Building owners on environmental illness issues relating to “sick buildings” syndromes.

The nation’s second largest waste disposal company in connection with the siting of landfills and waste incinerators.

A public utility in connection with numerous issues regarding the use, marking, storage and disposal of PCBs.

Several major financial institutions in connection with the environmental implications of foreclosure upon secured properties.

A major Midwestern lending institution on trustee liability and contribution issues under CERCLA and state laws.

Clients with respect to the preparation of Title V permit applications under the Clean Air Act.

Numerous clients on environmental insurance coverage and other risk avoidance products to address risks and liabilities associated with real property transactions and brownfield cleanups.

A major international developer in addressing thorium contamination in the vicinity of a proposed high rise development.

An industrial manufacturing company with the negotiation and implementation of an environmental risk transfer transaction for a contaminated facility in the Southeast.

Numerous clients undertaking voluntary remediation of industrial facilities under state voluntary remediation programs, including evaluating access to brownfield grant monies and other clean-up incentives.

Zoning and royalty agreements for several landfill gas-to-energy projects.

Siting approvals and environmental permitting for numerous solid waste landfills and transfer stations.

National and Chicago-based developers in connection with the acquisition, development, construction, leasing, financing and sale of shopping centers and retail properties throughout the United States.

Represented the largest scrap metal recycler in the Midwest in obtaining a construction permit from the Illinois EPA. The facility will be located in an environmental justice area and involved significant public comment. The Illinois EPA held its first virtual public hearing on the permit application.