Practice Areas
Environmental
Permitting, compliance, enforcement, contaminated soil, groundwater, and property, transactions, species and wetlands, carbon, climate change, and ESG.
The firm represents clients in manufacturing, oil and gas, chemical, refining, real estate development, multi-family, cities and counties, banking, defense, and private equity on regulatory compliance, permitting, enforcement, litigation, and the environmental aspects of transactions.
Regulatory and compliance
- Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, RCRA, and CERCLA
- Air, water, and waste permitting, including EPA and state greenhouse gas permits
- Enforcement defense before state and federal agencies
- Environmental compliance audits
- Compliance counseling, including environmental statutory and regulatory analysis and interpretation
Litigation and enforcement
Contamination and cost recovery, enforcement defense, toxic tort and property damage, and challenges to permits and agency decisions, for claimants and defendants.
Transactions and due diligence
Environmental due diligence in hundreds of transactions, across real estate, lending, mergers and acquisitions, and private equity.
- Real estate acquisitions, sales, and development
- Environmental due diligence, including drafting and revising contracts with environmental consultants, reviewing consultant scopes of work, and reviewing and revising draft Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessment reports
- Lending and project finance
- Mergers, acquisitions, and asset purchases
- Private equity investment and portfolio company due diligence
- Environmental representations, warranties, and indemnities in purchase and sale and related or similar agreements
Indoor air and vapor intrusion
Scott is the author of the Indoor Air and Vapor Intrusion chapter of Texas Environmental Law, the Thomson Reuters treatise in the Texas Practice Series. Scott has extensive experience with indoor air and vapor intrusion issues.
- Due diligence in transactions
- Renovations or demolition projects
- Advising landlords and building owners regarding complaints by tenants or employees
- Vapor intrusion investigation and mitigation
- Indoor air quality in occupied and redeveloped buildings
- Vapor intrusion in property transactions and state cleanup programs
Contaminated property and state programs
- Texas Voluntary Cleanup Program applications, processes, and certificates of completion
- Innocent Owner/Operator applications — Scott drafted the legislation that became the Texas Innocent Owner/Operator statute, and worked with the TCEQ in developing its implementing regulations
- Municipal Setting Designations, including work on the City of Dallas and City of Fort Worth MSD ordinance
- Brownfield redevelopment and contaminated property reuse
- Soil and groundwater contamination
- Underground and petroleum storage tanks — regulation, releases, and reimbursement
Species and wetlands
- Endangered and protected species under federal and state law
- Migratory Bird Treaty Act, including criminal exposure
- Wetlands permitting, enforcement, and mitigation banking and credits
- National Environmental Policy Act, environmental impact statements, and challenges to federal, state, or local government issuance of draft and final environmental impact statements and other reports
Environmental insurance
- Negotiating coverage terms, conditions, and exclusions
- Pursuing claims under environmental policies
- Insurance as a risk allocation tool in transactions and remediation
Climate, carbon, and ESG
- Carbon credit project development and trading — one of few attorneys who have handled a carbon credit arbitration
- Emission reduction credits and mitigation banking
- Greenhouse gas regulation
- Climate change and greenhouse gas emissions reporting and disclosure
- ESG and sustainability counsel for boards of directors and investors
Questions clients ask
What environmental matters does the firm handle?
Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, RCRA, and CERCLA matters; permitting, enforcement, and litigation; environmental due diligence; carbon credits and trading; ESG; and brownfield redevelopment.
Does the firm handle due diligence for transactions?
Yes. Scott has conducted environmental due diligence in hundreds of mergers, acquisitions, lending, and real estate transactions, and negotiates the environmental provisions in transactional agreements.
Does the firm advise on carbon credits and ESG?
Yes. Scott is the author of Carbon Trading Law and Practice and advises on carbon credit projects, trading, and ESG matters.
Does the firm handle indoor air and vapor intrusion issues?
Yes. Scott acts as author and editor of the Indoor Air and Vapor Intrusion chapter of Texas Environmental Law, the Thomson Reuters treatise, and advises on investigation, mitigation, transactions, and state cleanup programs.
Does the firm handle contaminated property?
Yes — soil and groundwater contamination affecting value, financing, and redevelopment, for landowners, developers, lenders, and private equity, on both the transactional and the litigation side.