Superfund Compliance

Environmental Enforcement Matters

Environmental Counseling

Selected Environmental Clients

Today, more and more environmental problems involve complex issues where equitable resolution of a company’s liability is difficult to obtain.  With one of the most comprehensive environmental law practices in the nation, Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP regularly assists clients as they navigate through a number of environmental litigation and administrative issues.

Our environmental attorneys are well-versed in all aspects of environmental law, including:

• Environmental Litigation
• Superfund Compliance
• Environmental Enforcement Matters
• Environmental Counseling

Environmental Litigation

As with many complex problems, environmental matters are often resolved through litigation.  Illustrative matters in which our environmental litigators are or have been involved include:

• Aera Energy LLC. Defend Aera against subsurface trespass claims arising out of use of percolation ponds to dispose of oil field produced water and advise Aera regarding related administrative actions.

• Alyeska Pipeline Co., British Petroleum, Mobil, ARCO, Phillips, Amerada Hess, Union Oil Company. Defend Alyeska and the non-Exxon owners of the pipeline in all of the civil and potential criminal actions arising out of the Valdez oil spill in March 1989, including natural resources damage action brought by the State and the United States government.

• Boeing North American, Rocketdyne Facility. Defend Boeing in toxic tort and related Proposition 65 litigation against allegations that the testing of rocket engines caused injuries and property damage to neighboring properties.

• McColl Site, Los Angeles Area. Defend the major oil company PRPs (ARCO, Phillips, Shell, Texaco, Unocal) in the McColl Superfund Site involving the disposal of waste from the production of aviation gasoline in World War II.

• San Gabriel TCE Site. Defend Aerojet in toxic tort litigation regarding alleged exposure to TCE in major drinking water aquifer. 

• Shell Oil Company. Defend Shell in multiple property damage and personal injury lawsuits alleging products liability, nuisance, trespass and statutory violations arising out of use of MTBE in gasoline.

• Stringfellow Site, Los Angeles Area. Represent Rockwell and Northrop in multimillion dollar Superfund action filed by EPA and the State of California to recover cleanup costs and in companion toxic tort action for alleged personal injury brought by 3,500 plaintiffs who live near the site.

• Thomas Ranch Site, Los Angeles Area.  Defend major oil company PRPs (Arco, Texaco, Shell, and Unocal) in the Thomas Ranch Site involving liability for disposal of refinery sludges.

• TRW Inc. Defend TRW in a private Superfund action relating to the Ascon Landfill and companion personal injury action by a former dump operator.

• Unocal. Defend Unocal in actions brought by various state agencies and private parties seeking damages and injunctive relief arising from the alleged discharge of more than eight million gallons of diluent, a petroleum product used in the production of oil, in the Guadalupe Field.

Superfund Compliance

Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP represents clients at some of the largest Superfund sites in the nation.  Our representation centers on their potential liability and the selection of the best remedial plan for each site which often are estimated to cost hundreds of millions of dollars and to take decades to implement.  These actions involve complex negotiations with federal and state agencies, other potentially responsible parties (PRPs) and, often, interested community groups.  These cases pose difficult scientific questions and unprecedented legal challenges.  Some of the sites where the firm represents or has represented major PRPs include:

• Beazer East, Inc., Gainesville, Florida. Represent former owner of wood treatment facility concerning implementation of federal order to remediate the site.

• IP/Baxter/Roseburg Site, Weed, California. Represent former operator interests concerning soil and groundwater contamination at 60-year-old wood treatment facility and negotiate compliance with the U.S. EPA.

• McColl Site, Los Angeles Area. Represent major oil company PRPs in negotiations with U.S. EPA concerning site remedial plan.

• McKin Site, Grey, Maine. Represent major generator concerning disposal of industrial waste at a closed, bankrupt disposal site in Grey, Maine.

• Operating Industries, Inc. Site, Montebello, California. Defend several major oil production companies concerning potential liability as generators at the OII Superfund site, one of the largest Superfund sites in the United States.

• Rialto Perchlorate Site, Riverside, CA. Represent Whittaker Corporation in negotiations with California Regional Water Quality Control Board and other PRPs regarding potential liability for perchlorate cleanup costs in drinking water aquifer serving customers in the Rialto and Riverside areas.

• San Gabriel TCE Site, Los Angeles Area. Represent Aerojet, one of many industrial firms in the San Gabriel Valley Superfund site, concerning remediation of TCE in one of the major aquifers supplying drinking water to over a million residents in the Los Angeles basin. 

• TCL Site, Wilmington, California. Represent Union Pacific Resources Company in negotiations with California EPA and related agencies to remediate a 70-year-old oil and gas production field in phases, allowing development to occur on a portion of the site prior to remediation of the entire site. 

Environmental Enforcement Matters

As the regulatory and permit programs implementing environmental requirements mature, the regulatory agency focus has shifted from promulgating regulations to enforcement.  This change has resulted in an increasing number of judicial and administrative enforcement actions, particularly concerning hazardous waste, seeking criminal or civil penalties for non-compliance and injunctive relief to compel compliance.  Representative enforcement cases and general categories of cases where Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP has represented clients include:

CEQA

• Southern California. Defend major oil company in CEQA action brought by local trade union. 

Clean Air Act

• Enforcement Proceedings, California. Represent clients in judicial and administrative enforcement actions seeking penalties and injunctive relief for alleged violations of air permits and regulatory requirements.

• Variance Proceedings, California. Represent clients in administrative proceedings before California air districts seeking variances from existing air pollution requirements.

Clean Water Act

• Los Angeles. Defend major manufacturing company in federal suit by EPA for penalties and injunctive relief based on allegations of unlawful wastewater discharges.

• Southern California. Defend a major defense contractor during three-year federal grand jury investigation concerning allegations by federal and local agencies of illegal discharge of wastewater to a municipal sewage treatment plant.

• Southern California. Negotiate a risk-based approach for obtaining renewal of Wastewater Discharge Requirements for extensive evaporation ponds.

• Pacific Northwest. For major oil company, negotiate parallel criminal and civil settlements with federal and state authorities regarding oil pipeline spill while defending separate wrongful death and personal injury actions arising from spill.

Hazardous Waste Acts

• Southern California. Successfully defended major corporation in state and federal criminal investigations alleging improper hazardous waste disposal related to the closure of a former manufacturing facility.

• Statewide California. Defend a major oil company in statewide hazardous waste enforcement action regarding oil change facilities.

• Southern California. Represent major utility at multiple Southern California facilities with respect to RCRA closure issues.  

• Southern California.  Defend a major oil company in UST enforcement actions related to gasoline stations in Southern California.

RCRA

• Southern California. Represent major utility at multiple Southern California facilities with respect to RCRA closure issues.

Medical Waste Act

• Defend major institution in state and federal investigation of allegations of improper disposal of medical waste.

California Proposition 65

• Defend numerous manufacturer and retailer clients in Proposition 65 citizen suits and public prosecutor actions alleging violations of warning requirements regarding alleged environmental exposures and a wide variety of consumer products ranging from brass faucets to light bulbs to chocolate products.

Environmental Counseling

We provide day-to-day advice to our clients concerning compliance with environmental regulations.  We also assist our corporate transaction attorneys in evaluating environmental compliance issues that are becoming central to the completion of many corporate transactions.  Representative environmental compliance counseling matters include:

• Corporate Transactions. Advise counsel handling corporate transactions on potential environmental liability issues and assist in performance of environmental audits.

• Environmental Audits. Advise several clients, including a high-technology corporation, an oil refiner, and a major food processor, in designing and conducting environmental audits at facilities.

• Environmental Rulemaking. Advise a variety of clients concerning strategies and actions related to pending regulations being adopted by federal, state, and local agencies.

• Real Estate Transactions and Development. Advise buyers and sellers of industrial properties regarding potential environmental liabilities and project applicants regarding strategies for complying with environmental review requirements under CEQA.

• Regulatory Compliance Strategies. Advise major cement company regarding compliance strategies for ever-changing regulations concerning air emissions from its Southern California cement kilns and loading facilities.

• Utility Divestiture. Develop and advocate Preliminary Environmental Assessment and CEQA documents pertaining to divestiture of twelve oil and gas fired generating stations in Southern California. Guide environmental due diligence, including the performance of extensive Phase I and II assessments.

 
Representative Clients

• Abbott Laboratories
• Aera Energy LLC
• Alyeska
• Amerada Hess
• Apple Corporation
• Archer-Daniels-Midland Company
• ARCO
• Armstrong World Industries
• Beazer East, Inc.
• Boeing North American
• British Petroleum
• Cabot, Cabot & Forbes
• Gencorp/Aerojet
• Northrop Corporation
• Rockwell International
• Sargent Industries
• Schlumberger Technology Corporation
• Shell Oil Co.
• Southern California Edison Company
• Teledyne, Inc.
• Tenneco, Inc.
• Texas Industries, Inc./Riverside Cement Company
• TRW, Inc.
• Union Pacific Resources Company
• Unocal
• Whittaker Corporation