Comprehensive Environmental Law Guidance and Regulatory Advocacy
Our Environmental practice group offers significant and wide-ranging experience across all areas of environmental law and compliance in Puerto Rico. We regularly represent clients before key local agencies such as the Environmental Quality Board, Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, Department of Health, Aqueduct and Sewer Authority, Planning Board, Regulations and Permits Administration (OGPe), various autonomous municipalities, and the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company. At the federal level, we appear before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, among others.
Strategic Counseling and Permitting for Compliance and Transactions
We provide proactive, strategic counseling to help clients achieve and maintain environmental compliance and minimize the risk of future claims or litigation. Our services cover environmental due diligence in corporate and real estate transactions, internal compliance audits, negotiation of agreements, and advising on civil and criminal liabilities under both Puerto Rico and U.S. environmental laws. We routinely assist with Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) and related assessments, and support clients through permitting processes for a wide range of regulatory matters, including air emissions, solid and hazardous waste, wastewater discharges, stormwater management, underground storage tanks, recycling, and resource extraction and conservation.
Environmental Litigation and Enforcement Defense
Our attorneys regularly represent clients in administrative and judicial enforcement proceedings, defending against claims brought by government agencies, citizen groups, or private parties. This includes matters related to the revocation of permits, fines and penalties, CERCLA, RCRA (including UST issues), Clean Air Act (CAA), Clean Water Act (CWA), NEPA and Puerto Rico’s local environmental statutes, natural resource damages, and Consent Decree negotiations with the U.S. Department of Justice. We also defend clients in grand jury investigations and environmental criminal matters. Our litigation experience spans complex mass toxic torts and multi-district litigation, including cases involving asbestos, MTBE, and the CAPECO refinery explosion.