Over the course of several decades, soil and groundwater beneath many industrial, commercial, and residential properties have become polluted with industrial solvents, petroleum hydrocarbons, heavy metals, sewage, and other contaminants of concern.  The sources of the contamination may be from historic operations by prior owners or operators, from current owners and operators, or from neighboring properties where a groundwater plume has migrated to locations beneath adjacent properties.  This contamination significantly interferes with productive use of property, affecting its economic value, and frequently generates disputes between property owners,

These cases usually involve regulation by the Regional Water Boards, the Department of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC), and/or local agencies, and can potentially expand to include the EPA. Recent Environmental Screen Levels (ESLs) for industrial solvents, vapor intrusion (VI), and potentially PFOS/PFAS have become increasing more stringent, demanding creative solutions to address the issues. The agencies have become much more active with regard to addressing VI concerns for commercial and residential properties. Compliance strategy, appropriate permitting, innovative remediation, and enforcement response are critical in these matters.

For many years, Gary has advised and represented large companies, business owners, individuals, and public entities before the regulatory agencies in numerous complex groundwater contamination cases. He has helped his clients by providing strategic compliance advice in coordination with qualified technical consultants in proposing cost effective investigation and cleanup. This has included obtaining appropriate permits, negotiating with private parties including transactional counseling, and responding to enforcement actions. Disputes may arise between property owners, or between a property owner and the regulatory agency, and Gary has handled many aspects of these soil, soil vapor, VI, and groundwater related contamination regulatory issues.

Read about representative groundwater cases.