• Chemical Weapons Convention
• FDA Practice
• International Environmental Law
• Nanotechnology
• REACH Compliance

Chemicals

Overview

Beveridge & Diamond, P.C. addresses environmental and product-related matters for chemical manufacturers, ranging from the production of basic and specialty chemicals to the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, crop protection and consumer care products. We are familiar with all segments of the chemical industry and virtually every aspect of the business, from siting, construction and permitting of facilities, to enforcement and product defense, to compliance with the ever-expanding array of regulatory measures at the local, state, federal and international level.

Our work includes both litigation and advising clients on environmental management systems,  pollution control and regulatory compliance under a host of federal, state and local laws. Our experience also embraces technical and scientific issues involving human health and environmental risk.

Full Description

Beveridge & Diamond has worked on a wide range of environmental and product-related matters for chemical manufacturers. The industry is the largest exporting sector in the United States and is diverse, ranging from the production of basic and specialty chemicals to the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, crop protection and consumer care products.

Our attorneys are familiar with all segments of the chemical industry and have worked on virtually every aspect of the business, from the siting, construction and permitting of facilities to counseling clients on compliance with an expanding array of regulatory measures at the local, state, federal and international level. Our experience also embraces technical and scientific issues involving human health and environmental risk.

Our work includes both litigation and advising clients on environmental management systems,  pollution control and regulatory compliance under a host of federal, state and local laws. We marry our knowledge of chemical plant operations, maintenance, and repair practices with knowledge of the statutory scheme, the regulatory history, and administrative law to achieve timely and cost-effective resolution of these matters.

We also help individual companies and the industry as a whole defend products in administrative proceedings, arbitrations, federal and state courts and international environmental fora around the world.

• Representing the chemical industry and other industry groups as lead counsel in a successful rulemaking challenge premised on EPA's failure to use the best available science in setting health-based standards;

• Defending chemical companies in civil enforcement actions brought by federal and state agencies and by citizens under the Clean Air Act (including new source review and various NESHAPs and NSPSs), the Clean Water Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA); the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA);

• Preparing technical and scientific comments on rulemakings and other agency action related to human health risk, such as EPA’s Cancer Guidelines;

• Preparing information correction requests with respect to technical and scientific information disseminated by agencies and pursuing administrative and judicial appeals with respect to requests that are not adequately addressed under the Information Quality Act;

• Representing the U.S. chemical industry in numerous international negotiations concerning international controls on chemical use and production, including the UNEP POPs Convention, the Rotterdam PIC Convention and initiatives in Europe and North America targeting persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic chemicals (PBTs);

• Assisting chemical companies in preparing Title V permits and revisions to Title V permits under the Clean Air Act;

• Defending a chemical company against criminal charges involving a product spill into a navigable waterway (this action was resolved with the government declining to press criminal charges);

• Assisting a major U.S. trade association with the development of an industry-wide policy and implementation tools for identifying and managing risks posed by persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals;

• Defending chemical companies in cost recovery actions under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and comparable state laws;

• Advising chemical companies on all aspects of Clean Air Act New Source Review permitting for capital projects accompanying modification of chemical plants;

• Assisting companies obtain NPDES permits, permit modifications, and variances, including fundamentally different factors variances for toxic pollutants;

• Advising chemical companies on Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) reporting obligations under Section 313 of EPCRA, including responses to EPA rulemakings and enforcement actions; and

• Assisting chemical companies with the development of a continuous release reporting program to ensure compliance with the emergency release reporting requirements of CERCLA and EPCRA.