Services Environmental Regulation

Kean Miller assists global, regional, and local companies in navigating and complying with Louisiana, Texas, and federal environmental regulations. Our team provides strategic counsel to energy, chemical, and manufacturing companies on permit applications and renewals, compliance issues, rulemaking efforts, and enforcement actions. Drawing on deep experience with air, water, and waste laws, we help clients successfully manage the complexities of an evolving environmental regulatory landscape.

Our environmental regulatory attorneys are integral players in Kean Miller’s deep industrial and commercial development practice. From local-level permitting strategy, to acquisition of major state-level environmental permits, to federal permitting compliance requirements, our environmental regulatory attorneys are highly qualified to guide clients through major permitting milestones as part of the larger industrial and commercial development project teams. In addition to Clean Air Act construction and operation permits, Clean Water Act discharge permits, and solid and hazardous waste registrations and permits, our team provides strategic counsel on a wide array of environmental programs to provide comprehensive permitting advise for development projects and to ensure ongoing compliance. These include the Clean Water Act Section 404 dredge and fill permitting through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Section 10 of the River and Harbors Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act (SWDA), Louisiana Department of Health water requirements, and Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources Coastal Use Permits.

Kean Miller has extensive experience with preparing environmental assessment and impact statements under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) and state environmental equivalents for development and expansion projects. We have successfully guided large industrial projects and boutique energy projects, including petrochemical manufacturing projects, refinery expansions, LNG terminal projects, and hydrocarbon storage, through this important stage of permitting.

Our team also conducts due diligence and prepares environmental permitting opinions for acquisitions and mergers. We have experience in advising on environmental issues in contracts, financial responsibility mechanisms, and complex settlement agreements.

Kean Miller regularly assists with compliance audits and training programs and provides advice on environmental management systems. We have guided clients through implementation of self-audits under the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Regulations and analysis under EPA’s self-audit program.

Kean Miller aids clients in regulatory development at the federal and state levels by working with stakeholder groups to prepare meaningful comments to the agencies and to ensure a well-rounded record. We are well equipped to represent clients in petitions for judicial review of federal and state rulemakings and have represented major state industry groups in high-stakes rulemaking challenges.

Areas of Expertise

• Major and minor source air permitting, including Title V (Part 70) and Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) or Nonattainment New Source Review (NNSR); compliance with New Source Performance Standards (NSPS), National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP), and Acid Rain programs; Risk Management Program (RMP) and state equivalent implementation and compliance; specialized program compliance such as Combustor Maximum Achievable Control Technology (Combustor MACT), Greenhouse Gas Issues (e.g., 40 C.F.R. Part 98), environmental justice (EJ) considerations, ozone transport and Good Neighbor SIP provisions, and Benzene Waste Operations NESHAP (BWON) compliance and enforcement.
• Louisiana Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (LPDES) permitting, SPCC requirements, TMDLs, Clean Water Act, and compliance monitoring.
• Solid and Hazardous Waste. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and Hazardous and Solid Waste (HSWA) amendments, Toxic Substances Control Act, the Oil Pollution Act, Corps of Engineers dredging and wetland matters including, mitigation banking, state and local coastal use permits, radiation and NORM issues, underground injection control (UIC) issues, permitting of commercial saltwater disposal wells and E&P facilities, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) offshore regulations, Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) issues, and Safe Drinking Water Act programs.
• Release Reporting. Federal, state, and local requirements under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), Department of Transportation (DOT), and Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ), and State Police Hazardous Material (HAZMAT) reporting matters for both fixed facilities and transporters.
• OSHA. HAZWOPER compliance and PSM, chemical security regulation, and DOTD transportation of hazardous materials.
• Natural Disasters. Hurricane response, development of standard protocols and training programs, reporting, obtaining variances, emergency orders, and other regulatory relief.

Representative Experience

• Representation of the Louisiana Chemical Association (LCA) in connection with development of ozone control programs, state air toxics regulation (Louisiana Ambient Air Standards, LAAS), the state Title V and PSD permitting programs, the initial RECAP rules, solid waste rules, RMP regulations, release reporting rules, and proposed revisions to those rules. In addition, we have represented the LCA in rulemaking and litigation on the development of the Louisiana State Implementation Plan (SIP), the federal Cross State Air Pollution Rule, Louisiana Ambient Water Quality Standards, development of an implementation policy for application of water quality standards, TMDLs, air issues, hazardous waste issues, agency administrative practice/procedure issues, and state environmental legislation development.
• Project local counsel for a $10 billion Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) export terminal in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. The facility will process 1.7 billion cubic feet per day. Kean Miller represented the owner in the transaction as Louisiana and federal environmental counsel, Louisiana real estate counsel, and Louisiana energy regulatory counsel.
• Successfully obtained Title V, PSD, and LPDES permits for a $4 billion ethylene cracking and derivatives complex and an adjacent gas-to liquids complex in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. Kean Miller represented the owner as Louisiana and federal environmental counsel, Louisiana real estate counsel, Louisiana tax and environmental incentives counsel, Louisiana energy regulatory counsel, and Louisiana construction law counsel. We also acted as Louisiana counsel in connection with financing of the ethylene/derivatives complex.
• Successfully represented a Louisiana chemical manufacturer in obtaining opinions from EPA, LDEQ, and TCEQ that certain waste streams were not hazardous wastes.
• Successfully obtained air permit and water permit modification for a global chemical company for the addition of new Polyolefins production unit to existing facility in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The permits were subsequently upheld by the 19th Judicial District Court, the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Louisiana Supreme Court. In addition, the related request to EPA for objections to the permit on environmental justice grounds was rejected.
• Representation of numerous petrochemical, energy, steel, and paper facilities with respect to air permit and water permit issuance and modification in East Baton Rouge Parish, St. Bernard Parish, Ouachita Parish, Calcasieu Parish, Ascension, Parish, St. James Parish, Iberville Parish, Pointe Coupee Parish, St. Mary Parish, East Feliciana Parish, and in multiple geographic locations for pipeline expansion projects and related compressor stations.
• Conducting training classes for plant personnel at several facilities in preparing for agency inspections, release reporting, triggers for New Source Review, or air permitting requirements associated with turnarounds and construction projects, Title V deviation reports and annual compliance certifications, OSHA-PSM/EPA-RMP developments, preparing for OSHA special emphasis inspections, preparing for environmental criminal investigations, compliance with stratospheric ozone rules, responsible office (RO) reasonable inquiry process, and short course for new environmental managers and plant supervisory personnel on unique aspects of Louisiana environmental law and reporting requirements.
• Represented numerous Fortune 500 and international companies in asset purchases and/or merger/share acquisitions of whole industrial plants or significant operating units, including due diligence auditing, assistance in drafting and negotiating purchase and site services agreements, and transfer of environmental and non-environmental permits. These projects include:
  • Representation of international firm (buyer) in acquisition of two major process units that are part of an existing Fortune 500 chemical manufacturing complex as well as associated warehousing facilities;
  • Representation of Fortune 500 company in merger with another Fortune 500 company involving three chemical manufacturing plants in Louisiana and associated support facilities; and
  • Representation of Fortune 500 company in its acquisition of the major chemical manufacturing complex with over eight process units and significant RCRA corrective action.
• Representation of a paper facility in the remediation of its wood treatment site in Shreveport, Louisiana under RECAP, and representation of its facility in the remediation of a site in Shreveport.
• Representation of two separate major pipeline companies on a statewide basis regarding the remediation of PCBs.
• Representation of numerous chemical and refining facilities with respect to Title V and PSD issuance and modification.
• Counsel to various industrial facilities in defense of New Source Review enforcement and Title V permitting actions.
• Successfully defended the issuance of a Coastal Use Permit for a pipeline project in challenge by citizen’s group at the Louisiana 34^th Judicial District. The permitting decision was upheld by the Louisiana Fourth Circuit.
• Successfully obtained air permit for a co-generation project near Ruston, Louisiana, over objections and legal challenge by third parties. Kean Miller attorneys provided legal assistance with environmental regulatory as well as for other non-environmental permits, including counsel on energy regulatory issues.
• Successfully obtained permit revisions for air and water permits to allow a client to recycle hazardous waste.
• Successfully obtained air permits for an expansion of a major Louisiana paper mill. This matter involved significant opposition from the North Baton Rouge Environmental Association and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, both of whom were represented by the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic. After issuance of the permit, it was challenged in the 19th Judicial District Court. The permit was upheld by the district court after a hearing and rehearing. Kean Miller provided legal assistance in acquiring the permits and defending the litigation.
• Successfully obtained air permit and water permit modification for a global chemical company for the addition of new Polyolefins production unit to existing facility in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The permits were heavily opposed by the North Baton Rouge Environmental Association and LEAN. The permits were subsequently upheld by the 19th Judicial District Court, the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Louisiana Supreme Court. Kean Miller provided legal services for environmental issues, including defense of the permit decisions.
• Representation of clients on wetlands issues including a chemical company (wetland classification and remediation/marsh creation project); a fertilizer producer (expansion of gypsum stacking area); and numerous pipeline companies.
• Representation of numerous facilities with respect to air permit and water permit issuance, many of which involved public opposition and/or permit challenges.
• Representation of numerous facilities with respect to hazardous waste (RCRA/HSWA) permit issuance.
• Representation of a major petroleum company in an administrative water enforcement action in a joint Environmental Protection Agency and Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality multimedia action. A settlement agreement was achieved.
• Representation of a major Lake Charles chemical and paint manufacturer in an administrative water enforcement action by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.
• Representation of Lake Charles chemical manufacturing U.S. Environmental Protection Agency enforcement matter under the Risk Management Program (40 C.F.R. Part 68). A consent agreement was achieved.
• Assisted parish wastewater treatment plant in obtaining compliance timeline for newly initiated discharge requirements under its Louisiana Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems permit. Kean Miller prepared a request for hearing and negotiated the timeline in the issued modified permit.
• Representation of the Louisiana Chemical Association, a major petroleum company, and a chemical company in proceedings to challenge Total Maximum Daily Loads established by the Environmental Protection Agency for the Calcasieu River Basin in Southwest Louisiana.
• Representation of the Louisiana Chemical Association in proceedings to develop state water quality standards and permitting implementation guidance resulting in final guidance accepted by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency.
• Representation of a rubber and chemical company in a citizen suit filed by the Sierra Club under the Clean Water Act. We obtained dismissal of the suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. In addition, we persuaded the Court to uphold the dismissal on subsequent consolidated appeals of like cases in the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Representation of a Louisiana municipality in a potential citizen suit by the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) under the Clean Water Act for alleged violations of a wastewater permit as reflected in the discharge monitoring reports (DMRs) submitted to the LDEQ. Kean Miller successfully obtained a LDEQ enforcement action to use a potential bar to the citizen suit. Importantly, Kean Miller convinced LEAN attorneys and Tulane Environmental Law Clinic attorneys that there was no CWA jurisdiction because all violations where “wholly past” violations, thereby avoiding suit by LEAN.
• Assistance in water permitting issues, preparation of comments on permits, and defense of citizen group challenges to permits for numerous industry clients.
• Representation of a fueling company in a criminal water enforcement matter in the Middle District of Louisiana.
• Representation of a major fertilizer company in a water enforcement action as local counsel.
• Representation and defense of clients in numerous administrative enforcement actions by the LEDQ.