Brian’s practice encompasses all of environmental law, from clean air, water, and dirt, to endangered species, wetlands, and coastal protection; from climate change and environmental impact analysis to pesticide management and toxics in products; from hazardous and solid waste management to recycling and composting. Brian has focused exclusively on environmental law since the mid-1980s, and, while he has tried cases, he now devotes most of his time to helping clients improve sustainability and profitability while preventing environmental problems from arising in the first place. And for clients who hire him too late – after they’re already lost in the woods of an environmental problem – he helps them find the shortest path out.

Brian counsels clients across the economic spectrum in the following areas:

• Compliance with federal, state and local environmental and related laws and regulations, including the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65), California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), Carpenter-Presley-Tanner Hazardous Substance Account Act (HSAA), Hazardous Waste Control Law, Medical Waste Management Act, Radiation Control Law, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (a.k.a. Solid Waste Disposal Act - RCRA or SWDA), Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), National Historic Preservation Act and common law
• Enforcement proceedings and other administrative and judicial litigation–including appeals and alternative dispute resolution proceedings--under these laws and regulations
• Permitting and rule-making proceedings
• Internal investigations
• Pre-acquisition due diligence, acquisition, cleanup, redevelopment, financing, insuring, sale and leasing of brownfields, including former military bases
• Wastewater management and treatment; drinking water management, treatment and supply; electrical power generation, transmission and distribution; natural gas transmission and distribution; solid waste transportation and management; composting; recycling; hazardous waste transportation, treatment, storage and management; real estate development; producers of cheese, wine, deli meats, steel, chemicals, electronics, paper, water heaters, bathtubs, showers, cooling towers, housing; natural resource extraction and processing; construction; waste-to-energy