Environmental & Natural Resources

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has alleged that our client may be responsible for historical releases of hazardous substances at numerous facilities and locations within the Portland Harbor Superfund Site and for any associated assessment, site investigation, and cleanup costs under CERCLA. This complex matter involves hundreds of potentially responsible parties, former and current landowners and operators, numerous sources of contamination, and potential costs estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Our representation has entailed extensive factual development and strong advocacy, including determining which historical and current operations may have contributed to the contamination, the numerous sources of contaminants, and the risk based characterization of the contaminants.

This action concerns our client’s alleged responsibility for the investigation of soil and groundwater contamination related to the removal of an underground storage tank at the site of a former gasoline station. To assist and facilitate compliance with the DEQ while protecting our client from potentially greater liability, we have worked in concert with environmental and technical consultants to investigate the magnitude and extent of the petroleum-related contamination. We are working toward negotiating a final work plan with DEQ and a no further action determination on behalf of our client.

We assisted a group of landowners (primarily cattle ranchers) to form an ORS Chapter 554 Improvement District and a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. Under the terms of the Upper Klamath Basin Comprehensive Agreement (“Agreement”), the corporate formations were required to carry out responsibilities to achieve irrigation while maintaining 30,000 acre-feet of instream flow into Upper Klamath Lake, and also entering riparian management agreements.

We are currently assisting a group of landowners enter into and administer water use agreements to reduce Net Consumptive Use of water to achieve increased inflow into the Upper Klamath Lake. Concurrently, we are assisting the same landowners with negotiating and administering Riparian Management Agreements to attain and maintain Proper Functioning Conditions and thereby improve water quality and fish habitat.