Environmental Practice

WLC | The Williams Law Corporation® has a strong environmental practice. This includes air, soil, water, storm water and groundwater contamination, Proposition 65, “private attorney general” actions and toxic tort matters. This practice area includes state and federal litigation oversight contamination and obtaining variances and permits. The Firm also assists its clients in evaluating voluntary clean-up alternatives, establishing internal compliance procedures, and preparing for government inspections.

The Firm handles government civil and criminal enforcement, such as negotiating Notices of Violations (NOVs) received from various governmental agencies and proposed penalties, including the several Air Districts and Regional Water Quality Control Boards in California, as well as business misdemeanors and felonies.

The Firm litigates matters nationwide involving cost recovery under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund and SARA), clean-up under the Resource Recovery and Conservation Act (RCRA), and other actions involving the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA), the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

Nationally, the Firm handles issues with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the United States Fish & Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Army Corps of Engineers, as well as civil, misdemeanor and felony matters prosecuted by the United States Attorney. In California, we handle issues with the California Department of Fish & Game and the California Resources Agency.

The Firm both prosecutes and defends asbestos and mold contamination cases.

We also represent developers with City and County Redevelopment Agencies to remediate contaminated property and obtain recovery and reimbursement of remediation costs, administrative costs, attorneys’ fees and costs to “clean-up” redevelopment areas with toxic contamination. The Firm has significant experience in Polanco Act recoveries.

The firm’s founder, J. Craig Williams, has taught classes at the University of California, Irvine, in Toxics Law and The Regulatory Framework of Toxic and Hazardous Materials. The Firm is capable of handling chemical issues "from cradle to grave."