BKBH’s Environmental Law Practice Group Attorneys:
- Leo Berry (Helena), Chair BKBH Environmental LawPractice Group
Environmental Defense and Regulation
Historically, a significant part of BKBH’s law practice has involved representation of Montana’s largest private landowner, the railroads and other investor owned utilities. These companies own millions of acres of lands that are used daily for the transportation of commodities and energy. BKBH attorneys are regularly called upon to assist these companies as well as individuals on environmental issues in both criminal and civil disputes.
Environmental law is a particularly sensitive area of law, entailing an ever expanding set of federal and state statutes and regulations and judicial interpretations of those laws. BKBH expresses a concern for maintaining environmental quality conjointly with protecting business practices and ensuring corporate stability. Our attorneys are highly qualified and experienced in the following environmental matters:
- Overseeing negotiations dealing with environmentally contaminated areas including superfund cleanup sites, disposal of hazardous waste, and litigation involving class action suits;
- Handling cases with State and Federal Agencies, and cases concerning endangered species and National Parks;
- Negotiating issues of property valuations due to ground, water, or air contamination. Counsel has additionally assisted with property disputes regarding former property owners and previous contamination;
- Litigating constitutional issues with constitutional provisions and federal environmental laws;
- Providing counsel for water rights adjudications (and not just disputes);
- Assisting with air quality permits, water discharge permits, and other required environmental permits, such as mining & gravel permits.
Relatively few major environmental disputes that are handled by the BKBH environmental litigators ever advance to the trial stage. Over the past thirty years, hundreds of cases were filed in Montana State and federal courts where BKBH attorneys were retained as counsel, but only a few of those cases ever advanced to the point that our attorneys ended up in the court room before a judge and jury. Nearly all of the cases are either dropped or settled.
Sub-Practice Areas:
- Environmental Defense & Regulation
- Environmental Litigation & Superfund
- Environmental Permitting & Compliance
- Underground Storage Tanks
Representative Matters:
- BKBH represented a client in a $50 million Superfund contribution and cost recovery action involving cutting-edge liability issues under federal environmental laws. The case involved highly technical groundwater contamination allegations. After extensive discovery, including discovery of experts conducting groundwater computer modeling, a favorable consent decree for the client’s involvement at the Superfund site was successfully negotiated.
- BKBH was lead counsel in Endangered Species Act takings case involving grizzly bears near a National Park. The case was won on summary judgment in the United States District Court and affirmed on appeal in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
- BKBH was lead counsel for the permitting of a major power project. The client’s application for a permit to produce power was challenged on the theory that the Montana DEQ erred in issuing the approval. After a contested case hearing, the Board of Environmental Review upheld DEQ’s MACT approval. Montana DEQ’s decision was appealed to the District Court in Musselshell County, but the appeal was dismissed.
- BKBH represented a large railroad company in a case seeking recovery of response costs incurred in connection with the release and threatened release of hazardous substances. BKBH won summary judgment and secured a favorable allocation of liability for remediation costs.
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