Natural Resources
COASTAL AND MARINE RESOURCES AND FISHERIES MANAGEMENT
North America’s coasts, ocean territory, and the Great Lakes will be the scene of some of the most challenging environmental, economic, and social problems of the 21st century. The problems touch almost every area of public policy and commerce and how the problems are handled will affect almost every American with respect to: sea-level rise, invasive species, fish harvest and aquaculture, seafood safety, pollution, port and terminal construction, energy development, water supply, land use, and security and law enforcement.
Our lawyers and other professionals are active today helping clients cope with the existing problems, and to prepare for those in the offing. For example, with a strong background in U.S. and international fishery management, we are assisting commercial fishery interests seeking to win new premium markets and ensure customer loyalty by demonstrating that their harvest methods are environmentally sound. Others at Sonnenschein are helping clients shape government policies overseas to protect fish with high recreational value from inadvertent excessive harvest in commercial fisheries. We have advised the U.S. federal government and are advising other nations and entities on precedent-setting harvest management policies and international fishing agreement rules. Our international trade specialists are advocating for seafood suppliers in disputes over trade rules and customs matters. The firm’s public policy experts are helping marine resource-oriented educational and research organizations set and pursue strategies to win funding and other support for their vital programs.
With offices along both coasts and in the heart of the Great Lakes, Sonnenschein is ideally situated to serve clients with land, facilities, homes, and other investments that need government action to mitigate the risk of rising tides. Our leading insurance practice is a match to the needs of insurers and lenders who have underwritten or financed properties facing inundation or intensified storm damage. Our specialists in real estate development and facility siting include nation-leading experts on the National Environmental Policy Act, Coastal Zone Management Act and their state-level equivalents. We are prepared to help clients make sure that coastal development decisions, such as ports, terminals, and energy facilities, pass scrutiny under today’s laws and anticipate the public policy and rule changes likely to be headed toward coastal areas in coming years. If your business, institutional mission, property, or other interests involve marine resources or are affected by the condition of the oceans and Great Lakes, Sonnenschein is ready to help you with regulatory or legislative advocacy, strategic counsel, or litigation.
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DAMAGES FOR INJURIES TO NATURAL RESOURCES
We have substantial experience in litigating, negotiating and evaluating natural resource damages claims. These claims can arise under the Superfund law, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and the Clean Water Act. Beyond the requirement to conduct response actions to do the “clean-up,” these laws authorize federal and state agencies, which have been designated trustees of natural resources, to bring claims for damages to restore or replace the “natural resource” that has been lost. In addition to the federal claims, various states have their own “natural resource” authorities. While the U.S. Department of the Interior has adopted procedures for evaluating when these claims are appropriate and the particular damages associated with those claims, various states have gone beyond the federal requirements.
The size of these claims can vary. Some claims may be satisfied by the remediation or the clean-up itself; others run to several multiples of the actual cleanup costs. With respect to these issues, Sonnenschein lawyers have:
- Defended and negotiated settlements on behalf of oil drilling platforms for claims relating to spills off Santa Barbara and the Louisiana Gulf Coast, including tide lands and marshes. These claims involved both multiple state and federal trustees and negotiating resolution of conflicting and overlapping claims.
- Defended and resolved the so-called “largest” PCB sediment contamination in the Great Lakes, including protection for the responding party from further claims resulting from the dredging and related remedial and response activities required for the cleanup.
- Resolved claims brought by federal and state trustees for damages to “globally unique” resources in the Great Lakes region.
- Resolved claims for damages to federal lands and natural resources at a federal wildlife refuge.
- Resolved claims by state trustees against an alleged “parent” for the activities of a bankrupt former subsidiary.
- Advised a company with respect to a natural resource damages claims in the four-state lead mining area ( Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas).
- Advised an insurer with respect to trends and scope of natural resource damages claims and the scope and value of such allegations.
- Advised a major aerospace company concerning liability for the “passive migration” of materials in groundwater.
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