Community Right-to-Know

Our firm has substantial experience with the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-know Act (EPCRA), having counseled policy-makers on how to implement EPCRA soundly and efficiently and having advised numerous industrial clients on compliance with the law. For example, we are currently assisting members of the Virginia General Assembly in developing and drafting a variety of methods for increasing public information regarding environmental conditions and citizen participation in the permitting process for most environmental media. We counsel chemical manufacturers, utilities, telecommunication companies, rendering plants and food product companies on reporting issues and compliance matters and have represented clients in EPA enforcement actions for alleged EPCRA violations. Sample representations include:

• Negotiating a Consent Order on behalf a major petroleum refiner containing a penalty assessment significantly below that initially sought by EPA for alleged violations of EPCRA § 304 release reporting requirements in failing to report the sulfur dioxide component of facility air emissions;
• Working with numerous national industry groups in preparing comments challenging EPA's "federally-permitted release" policy;
• Representing a telecommunications company in an EPA enforcement action involving the failure to identify and report sulfuric acid present in batteries stored at emergency generation stations. EPA ultimately fined several telecommunications companies, but not our clients;
• Counseling a nitric acid plant in large-scale enforcement action initiated by EPA Region IX for failure to report releases of NOX and ammonia;
• Developing the internal EPCRA compliance guidelines for a major chemical company;
• Counseling several major manufacturing companies, utilities and independent power producers on submission of Toxic Release Inventory information;
• Advising a large investor owned utility on the recent reporting requirements regarding toxic air releases, including accidental releases (the so-called § 112r rule); and
• Advising clients on approaches to citizen groups in situations related to projected chemical releases.