水与湿地

As our population grows, public and private stakeholders of all stripes increasingly exercise their authority to control human impacts to surface and groundwater. Our Environmental attorneys have the extensive industry and government experience needed to guide you through the complex web of federal, state, and local water-related requirements.

我们的知识体系建立在联邦《清洁水法》、《安全饮用水法》和《石油污染法》的广泛实践基础上，由此衍生出众多州级和地方级水资源管理计划，这些计划规范着公共及私人水源的使用与水质。

本所律师通过数十年来为全美各地客户提供的许可申请、法律咨询、执法协助、诉讼代理及权益倡导服务，对以下领域的法律问题拥有全面而实用的理解：

• Fresh water supply
• Wastewater processing and discharge
• Wetlands protection
• Stormwater management

Our Environmental attorneys counsel clients on regulatory permitting, compliance, transactional due diligence, and litigation services. We offer creative environmental solutions that fit the economic, business, and legal framework in which our clients operate. Our team has extensive experience in pesticide approval, use, and remediation; securing water rights and permitting of water supplies and discharges; regulation of non-point discharges from farms; odor issues; and agricultural wetlands programs as well as Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and EPA Superfund matters.

我们可全程指导您的项目生命周期，并协助您应对新型监管问题，包括与全氟烷基和多氟烷基物质（PFAS）等新兴污染物相关的关切。

土地开发与建设

Our team has deep relationships with real estate developers, homebuilders, and construction companies, and we often playing an integral role in helping clients manage and mitigate water risks throughout all phases of strategic project siting, development, and operations. Specifically, we have real world experience handling the following types of issues for companies operating throughout the United States.

湿地与受管制水域保护：

• Conducting transactional due diligence and pre-project counselling on impact avoidance, project requirements, and jurisdictional determinations.
• Advising on Clean Water Act Section 404 and state wetland permitting requirements, including the use of nationwide permits, categorical exclusions, mitigation banking, and in-lieu fee credit options.
• Defending final permits in administrative contested case proceedings.
• Resolving issues related to compliance, including self-disclosures, agency investigations, and enforcement and the remediation of past impacts.
• Litigating enforcement actions in state and federal courts.
• 应对公民诉讼。
• Preparing encroachment disclosures for the sale of real property.
• 通过州级和联邦法规制定举措为客户及行业伙伴争取救济，包括上诉辩护。

地表水保护：

• Counselling on all phases of construction stormwater management, including project planning, Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan development, and permit compliance.
• Developing stormwater compliance training programs and compliance audits.
• Responding to administrative enforcement actions alleging the unauthorized discharge of fill incident to construction, including negotiations with the U.S. EPA, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, state and county environmental agencies, and other local authorities.
• Defending against civil judicial enforcement actions and developing corporate programs to implement injunctive relief.
• Advocating on stormwater rulemaking and policy initiatives.
• Assisting clients with oil, hazardous substance and sediment spill reporting and emergency response.
• 就地表水泄漏事件协商自愿补救协议及纠正措施命令。

防止接触受污染的水：

• Facilitating project development by negotiating institutional controls, such as Municipal Settings Designations, restrictive covenants, and notices of existing conditions.
• Developing private water well testing and management protocols.
• 协商地下水监测计划。

确保充足供应：

• Spearheading the legislative creation of special purpose districts, such as municipal utility districts, to reimburse developers for the costs of constructing water and wastewater facilities for residential and commercial developments.
• Obtaining or opposing the grant of certificates of convenience and necessity from state agencies, including the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), for the provision of water and wastewater service.
• Shepherding applications to permit the withdrawal of groundwater from regulatory entities, including the Harris Galveston Subsidence District, the San Antonio Water System, the Edwards Aquifer Authority and other groundwater conservation districts, various regional water authorities in Harris County, and other entities throughout Texas.
• Negotiating water purchase contracts.
• 为业主获取并转移来自州级机构（包括德克萨斯州环境质量委员会）的水权许可，以使用地表水资源。

制造业、电力公用事业、自然资源开采、可再生能源及管道运输

我们在水资源问题处理方面拥有独特的丰富经验，源于我们的律师团队曾担任政府监管机构、企业内部法律顾问以及外部法律顾问，服务于制造业、自然资源开采业及能源相关行业的各类客户。我们在项目开发和持续运营过程中处理各类水资源问题，例如：

工业废水处理与排放/国家污染物排放消除系统（NPDES）许可：

• Negotiating NPDES and state equivalent wastewater discharge permit limits and pretreatment requirements,
• Assisting clients with the preparation and submission of permit applications,
• Analyzing and assisting with implementation strategies for mitigation requirements,
• Defending permits against administrative and court challenges,
• Advising with respect to bypass and upset events,
• Handling enforcement proceedings for permit exceedances,
• 应对公民诉讼。

地下水与地表水保护：

• Reporting and responding to sudden releases,
• Negotiating private party agreements and governmental orders for groundwater remediation projects, including the replacement of water systems,
• Counselling on all aspects of industrial stormwater permitting and SPCC plans.
• Representation of client and allied industry interests in the development and litigation of regulations and guidance, including water quality standards, total maximum daily load provisions, and general permits.
• 在多方参与的场所协商共享服务协议。

代表性事项

• 协商确定的废水排放许可限值及预处理要求，以符合《清洁水法》第316(a)和(b)条规定的热排放标准和进水标准要求。
• 在得州环境质量委员会（TCEQ）的争议案件听证会及特拉维斯县地区法院的诉讼中，代表某住宅开发商成功获取向受损水体排放废水的许可，该许可遭到当地市政机构及邻近土地所有者的反对。
• 已为客户位于德克萨斯州科林县的企业总部设计的水景设施获得得克萨斯州环境质量委员会（TCEQ）颁发的非消耗性用水许可证。该许可证批准在溪流沿岸修建蓄水池，并允许抽取和排放地下水以维持蓄水池水位。
• 协助某跨国制造商在威斯康星州进行工厂扩建时，以加急方式获取了影响湿地及邻近溪流所需的地方、州和联邦许可。
• 为多个州涉及联邦及州属水域的可再生能源项目开发，提供了湿地许可要求的交易尽职调查与项目前期分析，包括全国性许可相关事宜。
• Resolved a municipal enforcement action — with no penalty assessed — against a pharmaceuticals manufacturer, in Carrollton, Texas, involving alleged violations of categorical pretreatment requirements.
• 曾与一家中西部大型医疗服务机构合作，负责医院设施建设中的环境管理事务，包括受污染地下水的储存、处置与修复，濒危物种分析，以及湿地填埋许可与生态补偿银行的建立。
• 负责密歇根州某管道终端设施地下注入控制井（UIC井）许可申请流程中的法律及公共事务事宜，该设施位于美国环保署第五区辖区内，涵盖相关湿地管理、许可取水及相关许可排放事宜。
• 代表客户参与诉讼，指控上游的建筑和开发活动导致下游财产遭受洪水侵袭。
• 代表制药企业应对市政部门对NPDES制药预处理类别要求的执法行动，成功实现合规且未受处罚。
• Secured favorable resolution for an energy client following a spill of hazardous substances into adjacent waterways and wetlands involving impacts to habitat and (allegedly) endangered species. Our advice and technical experience enabled our client to avoid prolonged and expensive litigation and yielded creative settlement for cleanup and remediation costs, habitat recovery and species protections.