Bass, Berry & Sims | Practices | Environmental and Mass Torts

Practices Clients Attorneys Newsletters Focus Areas Climate Change and Sustainability	Environmental and Mass Torts Bass, Berry & Sims PLC has represented clients in a broad range of environmental matters. Our environmental team members have a combined 75 years of environmental law practice experience, and over 20 years ago our firm developed the first full service Environmental Practice in Tennessee. Our practice includes representing clients in litigation, transactional and regulatory matters concerning air and water pollution, hazardous waste, solid waste, toxic materials, underground storage tanks, Superfund, health and safety, right-to-know laws and NEPA. The representations we regularly undertake include litigation (including cost recovery/contribution, administrative actions, citizen suit defense, water rights, and toxic tort); permit negotiations and appeals; compliance and enforcement matters; Superfund listings; Superfund, RCRA and underground storage tanks cleanups; contested cases before the various environmental regulatory boards; environmental assessments, safety and compliance audits; monitoring and commenting on proposed regulations; drafting and lobbying on proposed environmental legislation and regulations; and representing buyers, sellers and lenders in real estate and corporate transactions. We have significant experience in all of these areas. Much more than familiarity with applicable laws and regulations and correctly interpreting their application to a given factual situation is necessary for a successful environmental practice. Equally important is knowing the regulatory personnel, knowing the key person to approach with a question or for negotiation and knowing how to frame the request. Our environmental attorneys have strong contacts and good working relationships with key technical personnel in all divisions of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), all of TDEC's senior staff, including the commissioner, deputy commissioner, bureau heads, the head of each division, the permitting and enforcement heads of each division, the TDEC general counsel and virtually all of the lawyers in the office of general counsel, and many of the other staff members of that department, as well as many of the groups at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, particularly U.S. EPA - Region IV in Atlanta. Our former law partner is state attorney general and reporter. In our dealings with all of these regulators, we strive to negotiate solutions that are acceptable to the client without unnecessarily alienating the regulatory agency. We are always prepared to litigate, if negotiations do not produce an acceptable resolution. Our attorneys have vast experience with environmental litigation in federal court, state court and before administrative agencies. Our practice encompasses cost recovery, contribution actions, inverse condemnation claims, toxic tort actions, water rights and enforcement actions. Our environmental attorneys also believe that understanding what the regulatory authorities have previously approved or denied in similar instances is critical to developing strategy in an environmental matter. In Tennessee, most of those decisions are not formally of record in a form that is easily reviewed. In order to stay current on the developments and decisions of TDEC, our environmental attorneys attend the meetings of each of the department's oversight boards, attend the meetings of the environmental sections of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry and contact each TDEC division monthly regarding current developments as part of writing the Tennessee Environmental Law Letter. This is a monthly publication of current developments in Tennessee environmental laws, regulations and related developments. It is generally considered the best source for Tennessee environmental regulatory developments. Our attorneys provide regular notices and updates on these developments to clients upon request and have created a database of all enforcement orders and remediation orders issued by TDEC during the last 15 years; we update the database monthly. The expertise of our environmental attorneys has progressed beyond intimate awareness of the environmental laws and regulations. They have authored and participated in the creation of new statutes and regulations, as well as the reform and revision of existing law and regulations. Specifically, our firm has been instrumental in numerous statutory amendments and supplements to the state's environmental laws and regulations, including air and water pollution regulations, Superfund laws, an amendment to the state hazardous waste laws, an amendment to the state UST laws and regulations, reform of state groundwater classification rules, and the creation of a state drycleaner's environmental response program, which is being adopted nationwide on a state-by-state basis and is being considered in Congress. At the federal level, we have participated in the regulatory process by assisting clients in commenting on proposed regulations. We have been very successful in maintaining a statewide environmental practice in large part because all Tennessee environmental agencies are headquartered in Nashville, and all contested cases are handled by those organizations in Nashville, as are most other environmental issues requiring the services of an attorney. < back

Environmental and Mass Torts

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC has represented clients in a broad range of environmental matters. Our environmental team members have a combined 75 years of environmental law practice experience, and over 20 years ago our firm developed the first full service Environmental Practice in Tennessee. Our practice includes representing clients in litigation, transactional and regulatory matters concerning air and water pollution, hazardous waste, solid waste, toxic materials, underground storage tanks, Superfund, health and safety, right-to-know laws and NEPA. The representations we regularly undertake include litigation (including cost recovery/contribution, administrative actions, citizen suit defense, water rights, and toxic tort); permit negotiations and appeals; compliance and enforcement matters; Superfund listings; Superfund, RCRA and underground storage tanks cleanups; contested cases before the various environmental regulatory boards; environmental assessments, safety and compliance audits; monitoring and commenting on proposed regulations; drafting and lobbying on proposed environmental legislation and regulations; and representing buyers, sellers and lenders in real estate and corporate transactions. We have significant experience in all of these areas.

Much more than familiarity with applicable laws and regulations and correctly interpreting their application to a given factual situation is necessary for a successful environmental practice. Equally important is knowing the regulatory personnel, knowing the key person to approach with a question or for negotiation and knowing how to frame the request. Our environmental attorneys have strong contacts and good working relationships with key technical personnel in all divisions of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), all of TDEC's senior staff, including the commissioner, deputy commissioner, bureau heads, the head of each division, the permitting and enforcement heads of each division, the TDEC general counsel and virtually all of the lawyers in the office of general counsel, and many of the other staff members of that department, as well as many of the groups at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, particularly U.S. EPA - Region IV in Atlanta. Our former law partner is state attorney general and reporter. In our dealings with all of these regulators, we strive to negotiate solutions that are acceptable to the client without unnecessarily alienating the regulatory agency.

We are always prepared to litigate, if negotiations do not produce an acceptable resolution. Our attorneys have vast experience with environmental litigation in federal court, state court and before administrative agencies. Our practice encompasses cost recovery, contribution actions, inverse condemnation claims, toxic tort actions, water rights and enforcement actions.

Our environmental attorneys also believe that understanding what the regulatory authorities have previously approved or denied in similar instances is critical to developing strategy in an environmental matter. In Tennessee, most of those decisions are not formally of record in a form that is easily reviewed. In order to stay current on the developments and decisions of TDEC, our environmental attorneys attend the meetings of each of the department's oversight boards, attend the meetings of the environmental sections of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry and contact each TDEC division monthly regarding current developments as part of writing the Tennessee Environmental Law Letter. This is a monthly publication of current developments in Tennessee environmental laws, regulations and related developments. It is generally considered the best source for Tennessee environmental regulatory developments. Our attorneys provide regular notices and updates on these developments to clients upon request and have created a database of all enforcement orders and remediation orders issued by TDEC during the last 15 years; we update the database monthly.

The expertise of our environmental attorneys has progressed beyond intimate awareness of the environmental laws and regulations. They have authored and participated in the creation of new statutes and regulations, as well as the reform and revision of existing law and regulations. Specifically, our firm has been instrumental in numerous statutory amendments and supplements to the state's environmental laws and regulations, including air and water pollution regulations, Superfund laws, an amendment to the state hazardous waste laws, an amendment to the state UST laws and regulations, reform of state groundwater classification rules, and the creation of a state drycleaner's environmental response program, which is being adopted nationwide on a state-by-state basis and is being considered in Congress. At the federal level, we have participated in the regulatory process by assisting clients in commenting on proposed regulations.

We have been very successful in maintaining a statewide environmental practice in large part because all Tennessee environmental agencies are headquartered in Nashville, and all contested cases are handled by those organizations in Nashville, as are most other environmental issues requiring the services of an attorney.

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