Hamburg, Rubin, Mullin, Maxwell & Lupin, PC: Attorneys At Law

Environmental Litigation

Environmental law is taken very seriously at Hamburg, Rubin, Mullin, Maxwell & Lupin. It's an area which covers:

Litigation concerning injuries to individuals from spills and pollution
Litigation concerning damage to land, personal property and ground water
Representation before governmental agencies on issues involving cleanups, costs and penalties
Representation before Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and other agencies to obtain environmental approval and permits

The firm's efforts in this area are headed by two of the region's foremost authorities on environmental law—one of whom chaired the environmental law department at WolfBlock and was an Associate Regional Counsel of the EPA and the other a prominent environmental consultant. Numerous clients have reaped dividends from this expertise. Recent representative matters include the following:

The firm is counsel to a number of municipal authorities in the first two major state appeals of a TMDL in Pennsylvania, one of which produced the first written judicial opinions on jurisdiction with respect to TMDL litigation in the Commonwealth. Lower Salford Township Authority and Upper Gwynedd-Towamencin Municipal Authority v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Environmental Protection, EHB Docket No. 2005-100-MG; and Hatfield Township Municipal Authority, et al v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Environmental Protection, EHB Docket No. 2004-046-MG. Significantly, both of these TMDLs were withdrawn by the government prior to being implemented and prior to being incorporated into the NPDES permits of those wastewater treatment plants in the respective watersheds. The firm is co-counsel to over seventy municipalities/municipal authorities in a challenge involving Pennsylvania's Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy. In this case, Steve Hann successfully argued against a DEP motion to dismiss the municipal entities challenge before an en banc panel of the Commonwealth Court. Borough of Bedford, et al v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Environmental Protection; Kathleen McGinty, Secretary of Environmental Protection, A.2d, 2008 WL 5869853 (Pa.Cmwlth.)
Our environmental team obtained a significant penalty reduction for a client in a federal administration action before the federal Environmental Appeals Board ("EAB") under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. In the Matter of Rybond, Inc., Docket No. RCRA-III-247.
The firm successfully represented a local water authority in a private cost recovery action brought in federal court pursuant to various environmental laws. North Penn Water Authority v. BAE Systems, et al, (E.D.Pa.) 2005 WL 2304736, 2005 WL 1715718, and 2005 WL 1279091.
The firm has represented various clients in over 25 appeals to Pennsylvania's Environmental Hearing Board on a broad range of issues ranging from air and NPDES permitting to sewage facilities planning and municipal wasteload management.
The firm represented the prevailing party in a landmark case decided by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in which the Court held for the first time that a private cause of action existed under the Pennsylvania Storage Tank and Spill Prevention Act. Centolanza v. Lehigh Valley Dairies, Inc., 658 A.2d 336 (Pa. 1995).

In addition to individuals and businesses, our environmental law attorneys represent governmental entities such as sewer and water boards before the Pennsylvania DEP on notices of violation and enforcement proceedings. Both businesses as well as governmental agencies have to operate in accordance with environmental statutes. Notices of environmental violation can be challenged and litigated through an administrative process before the DEP.

At HRMM&L, it's about the result.