Environmental Litigation Practice
Lawyers at Marten Law Group have successfully litigated a wide range of environmental matters. Our lawyers have extensive trial and appellate experience in both state and federal courts, as well as regularly handling cases before a variety of administrative agencies across the country.
We understand that litigation can be costly and disruptive. Our experience has shown that the best way to minimize that disruption is to think strategically – by planning to avoid a dispute in the first place or, if a dispute is unavoidable, by making sure that our clients are positioned to obtain the best result at the lowest cost.
Our litigators have broad experience in cost recovery and contribution litigation under both CERCLA and MTCA, as well as environmental permitting under NEPA, SEPA, Washington’s Growth Management Act and Washington’s Shoreline Act. We have special expertise in litigating natural resource damages claims. We also have extensive experience in obtaining and defending 404 permits, 401 certifications and in wetlands issues.
Our litigators are experienced in mediation, arbitration and other forms of alternative dispute resolution, as well as being skilled advocates at trial. Because we know that our clients are not in the business of litigation and view environmental issues as business matters, we concentrate on achieving business results. Our focus is on getting our clients’ projects permitted and their permits defended, while preparing for litigation and trial if necessary to protect our clients’ interests.
Experience:
Cost Recovery/Contribution Actions • Defense of Enforcement Actions • Toxic Torts • Odor/Nuisance • Natural Resource Damages • Citizen Suits • Commercial Litigation • Real Estate and Land Use Litigation • Appeals and Variances
Representative Matters:
- After one of our municipal clients discovered that its wellfield was contaminated with solvents coming from an adjacent military installation, it spent millions of dollars addressing the problem, only to discover that it had been identified as a potentially responsible party for remediating the contamination. We obtained insurance coverage to cover the costs of defense, and then prosecuted a cost recovery and contribution action to recover the client’s remediation costs from the military and its defense contractors.
- A client needed to permit a large electrical project in one of the most environmentally sensitive areas in the State of Washington. We assisted in the preparation of the environmental impact statement (“EIS”), including helping prepare responses to hundreds of public comments. Following publication of the EIS and selection of the final project, we successfully defended the EIS in court, along with helping the client to develop a strategy to obtain the necessary permits, and acquire the necessary rights of way to get the project built.
- After a client was notified of potential criminal and civil penalties for a recycling process that it believed was permissible under RCRA, we investigated the practices and executed a litigation strategy that not only resulted in the criminal charges being dropped, but concluded with the regulatory agencies agreeing that the existing processes complied with the law and permitting them.
- After a stormwater facility exploded as a result of chemical waste being deposited in the facility, our client was facing a severe regulatory penalty. We prepared a defense that resulted in a reduction in the penalty by hundreds of thousands of dollars and then negotiated a settlement with the regulatory agency that successfully terminated all regulatory action.
- When a client’s property was down-zoned as a result of a comprehensive plan update, we challenged the down-zone, first before the Growth Management Hearings Board, then later in Superior Court, obtaining a reversal of the Growth Board and defending that decision in the Washington State Court of Appeals.
- We have extensive experience litigating natural resource damages claims, including the representation of the State of Alaska in recovering natural resource damages resulting from the Exxon Valdez oil spill.