Practice Area

Environmental and Toxic Torts

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Helping Industries Comply With Environmental Regulations

Pittsburgh is undergoing a renaissance, and Houston Harbaugh, P.C., has been playing a key part. Through our environmental law practice we have been pivotal in helping businesses and enterprises clean up the city, cleaning up polluted sites and making way for new industry to develop.

At Houston Harbaugh, P.C., our attorneys assist clients in obtaining required permits and complying with regulations and auditing principles, advise them on hazardous waste, municipal and residual waste, hazardous substance cleanup and Superfund matters, and effluent and air emissions issues.

Attorneys Alan Miller and Anthony Picadio each have over 35 years’ experience representing a wide range of clients, including industrial concerns, municipalities, and individuals, navigating the complex web of state and federal statutes and regulations, local ordinances, and caselaw governing solid waste, hazardous waste, water pollution, clean air, storage tanks, wetlands and real estate development. Attorneys Miller and Picadio are both listed in Best Lawyers in America, in the field of Environmental Law, for 2005 – 2006.

Negotiation or Litigation Involving Environmental Issues

Our firm provides comprehensive environmental law representation of organizations and individuals involved with litigation concerning the regulation of air pollution, water pollution, solid and hazardous wastes, leaking underground storage tanks, coal mining and contaminated sites. We also assist clients in negotiating real estate transactions involving contaminated and recycled industrial sites, utilizing the state’s land recycling statutes and regulations to achieve results.

Schedule a Consultation With Our Toxic Tort Attorneys Today

For more information, call 412-281-5060 or send us an e-mail by completing the contact form on this website. Our environmental law attorneys have the management, organizational and legal skills you need to navigate both complex and simple environmental law matters. We provide our clients with the knowledge and information needed to make informed decisions.

From our office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, our lawyers serve clients primarily in Pennsylvania, but also in other jurisdictions on a special admission basis.

Representative Cases

Our representation has included the following matters:

  • Representing a remediation contractor in a multi-party, multi-faceted litigation arising from a fly ash land slide that impacted a residential neighborhood.
  • Representing a waste and recycled oil recovery transporter in Superfund litigation arising out of the cleanup of a waste oil recovery facility.
  • The representation of a waste disposal company in various regulatory and permitting matters, including litigation arising out of permitting and civil penalty actions.
  • The representation of a major chemical manufacturer concerning several hazardous disposal sites where its waste was disposed by a transporter.
  • The representation of a municipal water company in an action against the owners and operators of several industrial facilities located near the water company’s water supply wells for damages caused by groundwater contamination by industrial solvents.
  • The representation of a generator of listed hazardous wastes in an action brought by the owner of the disposal company which accepted them for delivery to and disposal at the disposal company’s landfill. The action, which was brought under the federal and state Superfund laws as well as Pennsylvania common law, sought several million dollars in the estimated costs involved in closing the landfill in compliance with Pennsylvania hazardous waste disposal area regulations.
  • The representation of a hazardous waste disposal company which transported industrial wastes to a municipal landfill, in an action brought by the United States Environmental Protection Agency seeking to compel generators and transporters of industrial wastes to finance the estimated $50 million closure of the landfill.
  • The representation of a municipal operator of a sewage collection and treatment system in multifaceted litigation arising out of the alleged contamination of farmland from cadmium contained in sewage sludge used as a fertilizer and soil conditioner on the land.
  • The representation of a coal mining company in an appeal of a compliance order directing the treatment or abatement of a large polluting groundwater discharge emanating from the ground approximately 200 yards off the mine site.
  • The representation of a large real estate development company in an action against the state environmental protection agency and a local municipality challenging a construction ban imposed by DER as a result of the municipality’s failure to enact a sewage facilities plan acceptable to DER.
  • The representation of a municipal drinking water authority involving contamination of the public water supply with MTBE.
  • The representation of the operator of a POTW in a civil penalty action initiated by EPA under the Clean Water Act for alleged failure to enforce pre-treatment standards.