Pulp and Paper

Beveridge & Diamond, P.C.'s representation of the pulp and paper industry started shortly after we began our practice, and we have continued to advise and represent members of the industry since then.

In the late 1970s, when EPA promulgated a rule under the Clean Water Act that was not justified environmentally and would have increased the industry's cost of treating conventional pollutants by billions of dollars, Beveridge & Diamond was chosen to lead the industry's successful challenge to that rule in American Paper Institute v. EPA, 660 F.2d 954 (4th Cir. 1981). In the ensuing six years following the judicial remand we continued to demonstrate why the Agency's repeated attempts to repromulgate the costly rule were misguided. In the end, EPA promulgated a rule that did not increase industry's cost of compliance at all.

Since then we have continued to help members of the industry carry out their environmental responsibilities, deal with overreaching government demands and successfully manage their business.

Our long history of work on behalf of the pulp and paper industry and many of its members, and the experience with and in-depth knowledge of the industry, continue to grow and provide benefits as the industry and its members face the challenges of doing business in an ever-changing, highly regulated economy.

For example, our lawyers have:

• avoided the highest penalty EPA sought at the time for alleged Clean Water Act permit violations;

• litigated against numerous insurance carriers and recovered funds to cover liabilities relating to pulp, paper and charcoal manufacturing operations throughout the country;

• successfully challenged the California Ocean Plan water quality standards because they were promulgated in violation of the California Administrative Procedure Act;

• represented and advised Fort Howard Corporation (now Georgia Pacific Corporation) for many years under several state and federal programs at many of its facilities around the country; and

• co-authored a Clean Water Act Permit Guidance Manual tailored to the pulp and paper industry, and conducted seminars for members of the industry using that Manual.