What is it? Almost all of the law which can fairly be characterized as "Environmental" is, by legal standards, very new law. Precedent, the notion that a decision in one case should have some bearing on the outcome on a later case involving similar facts of law, is a staple of the study of law. Where fundamental legal principles are involved, controlling precedent can be more than 100 years old. In the practice of Environmental Law, all precedent is recent. This area of the law exploded on the scene and its explosive growth continues. Most of the Environmental statutes are recent statutes and almost all of the cases which explain what those statutes mean are recent cases. In the practice of Environmental Law, cases that are 10 years old are very old cases. In some particularly litigated areas of Environmental Law, cases decided even a couple of years ago have been modified several times by more recent cases.

In general terms, Environmental Law includes: air pollution (Clean Air Act); agriculture (farm wastes, fertilizer, land use, pest control, water); the Clean Water Act (SPDES Permit, Wetlands); CERCLA Hazardous waste remediation and liability also known as the Superfund Law; Department of Environmental Conservation Regulation; environmental enforcement (Civil, Criminal and Consent Orders); Environmental Permitting; Environmental Quality Bonds Act; environmental regulatory program fees; fresh waterlands regulations (State and Federal); hazardous waste (liability , transportation and disposal); hearing procedures (Adjudicatory and Legislative); historic preservation; incineration; industrial waste; land use and development; liquid underground storage tanks; mines and mining; noise; nuisance; pollution insurance coverage; record of compliance; recycling; State Environmental Quality Review Act (procedures and compliance); solid waste management and management facilities (landfills, incineration, transfer stations, and treatment facilities); storm water management; toxic torts; and water (Clean Water Act, treatment and discharges). This list is not exhaustive but is meant to alert the reader to the breadth of issues which arise under the umbrella of Environmental Law.

What do we do about it? The attorneys at Cohen & Lombardo have been active participants from the beginning of what is now commonly referred to as Environmental Law. We learned Environmental Law the old fashioned way, by doing it because our clients needed to have it done. The attorneys at Cohen and Lombardo have participated in substantial local environmental litigation such as the Love Canal cases, asbestos litigation, and urea formaldehyde foam class action certification.

We have litigated such issues as whether a particular industry is a nuisance, whether particular actions by governmental entities complied with the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR), and whether the conduct of administrative agencies such as the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation were unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious. Our clients include substantial participants in the waste transportation and disposal industries, waste water treatment industry, local governments, and just plain folks who need some help getting through the maze created by the explosion of Environmental Law.

We assist clients in securing the regulatory approvals required to conduct business in an extremely technical regulatory climate, and we help solve Environmental Law problems at all levels. We work with a variety of environmental experts and take a practical approach to resolving environmental law problems. Our attorneys advise landfills and other businesses in all aspects of environmental matters, as well as providing litigation representation.