(T) (202) 789-6019

  kbourdeau@bdlaw.com
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1350 I Street, N.W.
Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005-3311
Washington

• Brownfields - Environmental
• Brownfields - Land Use
• CERCLA/Superfund
• Environmental Litigation
• Hazardous Waste/RCRA
• International Environmental Law
• Nanotechnology
• Environmental
• Litigation

• Muhlenberg College (B.S., summa cum laude, 1975)
• Harvard University (J.D., 1978)
• Federal Developments Editor, Harvard Environmental Law Review

• District of Columbia
• American Bar Association
• Federal Bar Association

Karl S. Bourdeau is a Principal of Beveridge & Diamond, P.C. and is Chair of the Firm’s Environmental Practice Group, in Washington, D.C.  For over thirty years, Mr. Bourdeau has engaged principally in a wide-ranging litigation, regulatory, transactional and legislative practice involving hazardous substance and hazardous waste issues under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), and analogous state laws. He has also been active in representing clients on a variety of international environmental and federal Information Quality Act issues.

Mr. Bourdeau's practice has focused on a wide range of matters arising under CERCLA and RCRA. This work has included representation of numerous clients in government and private cost recovery litigation under CERCLA, as well as with respect to administrative order and remedial action settlements under CERCLA and corrective action permits and orders under RCRA. Mr. Bourdeau's practice has also involved substantial participation, beginning with the inception of the RCRA program in 1980, in many of the major RCRA rulemakings and judicial challenges to those rulemakings in the D.C. Circuit. For example, Mr. Bourdeau served as an industry representative on the Hazardous Waste Identification Rule Advisory Committee, which was convened by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to advise it regarding regulatory reforms to the definition of hazardous waste under RCRA.

Mr. Bourdeau has also been heavily involved in legislative issues relating to CERCLA and RCRA. He has participated in industry advocacy with Congressional committee staffers regarding CERCLA remedy selection reform and brownfields issues, and has been involved in drafting and advancing proposed legislative reforms to the regulation of remediation wastes under RCRA.

In the transactional area, Mr. Bourdeau has advised both buyers and sellers of contaminated properties with respect to the clean-up of such sites and the minimization of potential liabilities associated with them. He also has assisted companies with addressing and negotiating the allocation of environmental liabilities in the context of mergers and acquisitions.

Among others, Mr. Bourdeau's clients include companies in the chemical, petroleum, iron and steel, consumer product, communications, high technology, pharmaceutical, pulp and paper, and waste management technology industries. He also represents various trade associations on environmental policy, regulatory, and litigation matters.

Mr. Bourdeau graduated from Muhlenberg College summa cum laude with a B.S. degree in 1975. He received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1978, where he served as Federal Developments Editor of the Harvard Environmental Law Review.

Professional Highlights

Mr. Bourdeau is a frequent lecturer and author on hazardous substance liability issues. He also presently serves as the Co-Chair of the Board of Advisors of the National Brownfields Association, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Bureau of National Affairs Environmental Due Diligence Guide and the Board of Directors of the National Aquarium Convention Center.

Other professional accolades that Mr. Bourdeau has received include recognition in the following: "Chambers USA Guide to America's Leading Lawyers for Business," Chambers & Partners, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012; "The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers," International Bar Association, 2006, 2010, 2011 and 2012 editions.  Additionally, he was nominated by his peers to the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010,  2011 and 2012 editions of  "The International Who's Who of Environment Lawyers," Law Business Research, as one of the leading environmental attorneys in the U.S.; and the 2006 edition of  "Guide to the World's Leading Environment Lawyers," Legal Media Group Expert Guides, where he was nominated by in-house counsel and peers as a "go-to attorney" on environmental matters.

Mr. Bourdeau was elected by his peers for the 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 editions of "The Best Lawyers in America" in the field of Environmental Law as well as the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013 editions of "Super Lawyers" in the field of Environmental Law.