Energy, Environmental + Regulatory

As counsel to many businesses, financial institutions, and state and local governments, Miller Canfield’s energy, environmental and regulatory lawyers have a broad working knowledge of environmental issues, and a keen awareness of the need to maintain good working relationships in this volatile area of law.  We offer comprehensive services in the following areas:

Counseling:  The best protection against costly litigation is understanding your environmental law rights, responsibilities, and potential liabilities.  These encompass operations and real estate matters. 

We help you identify issues, secure environmental assessments, and analyze your risk management position in keeping with current environmental laws.  We inform your decisions regarding insurance coverage for environmental cleanups and ongoing operations (noise, air quality and odor emissions, wetland endangerment and reclamation, and the like.) 

Regulatory Compliance and Permitting: Environmental laws and regulations are changing rapidly.  We endeavor to anticipate changes, assist you with cost-effective compliance strategies and work with you in environmental compliance audits.  Our environmental permitting services are designed to reduce the confusion of dealing with multiple divisions of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and state and local environmental agencies. Our expertise extends to the specific requirements in mining operations, underground storage tanks, solid and hazardous waste facilities and nuclear power plants. 

Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution: Miller Canfield’s environmental litigators have represented scores of electric, gas, and nuclear generating and transmission utilities in major litigation nationwide. We have appeared before the State and Federal courts as well as administrative agencies in numerous jurisdictions and venues. We have represented our utility clients in a wide variety of matters, including employment discrimination, product liability, contract disputes, taxation, corporate reorganization, AFUDC determinations, nuclear licensing, project mismanagement, RICO violations, State and Federal OSHA and environmental investigations, etc. We know and understand the utility industry.

Project Packaging: Because of the complexity of environmental law, it is often difficult to assemble all the components for a winning project without legal environmental counsel.  We can help you with the “big picture” and develop innovative and efficient strategies to make your project a success.

Specific areas of service include:

• All media permitting negotiation and approval advice
• Judicial Consent and Administrative Order drafting and negotiation
• Carbon Credits/Emissions Trading assistance
• Regulatory Compliance/interpretation advice
• Review and defense of letters/notices of violation
• Environmental remediation counsel
• Solid and hazardous waste minimization and disposal counsel
• Brownfield redevelopment financing and remediation counsel
• Purchase, sale, leasing, development or financing of environmentally challenged properties and companies
• Environmental insurance interpretation counsel
• Trade and industry environmental legislation and regulatory monitoring and advocacy