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| Environment, Health & Safety |
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Conrad Law & Policy Counsel
800 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC
20006
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© Copyright 2024
James W. Conrad, Jr.
All Rights Reserved
This site may constitute attorney advertising. Contacting me through the site does not create an attorney-client relationship; don't send confidential data until we talk.
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| Environment, Health & Safety |
Capability:
I have practiced environmental law my whole career. I have worked extensively under all the major federal environmental statutes, with particular emphasis on the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act, Superfund, the Emergency Planning & Community Right-to-Know Act, and their counterparts in many states. Since starting my own practice, I have also worked increasingly in the area of occupational safety and health. My responsibilities have involved:
- Obtaining several of the few amendments to environmental laws that have been enacted since 1990;
- Challenging and supporting EPA rules in court;
- Regulatory compliance advice;
- Obtaining and defending permits;
- Defending EPA and state enforcement cases;
- Negotiating, overseeing and conducting cost recovery for cleanups of contaminated sites under Superfund, RCRA, state cleanup laws, and voluntarily; and
- Representing buyers and sellers on the environmental issues in transactions.
I have broad experience supporting valuable EPA programs, improving flawed EPA initiatives and stopping or reforming problematic ones. I understand how to create and work with coalitions and ad hoc groups of affected parties to maximize leverage.
I have specialized in enforcement and compliance management issues, including EPA's Audit Policy.
Track Record:
Since 2008, I have advised SOCMA on all environmental, health & safety advocacy issues. Recent areas of focus have encompassed TSCA reauthorization and implementation of the revised statute; the Chemical Data Reporting rule; Clean Air Act MACT, area source and permitting matters; the RCRA definition of solid waste and the manufacturing process unit exemption; SPCC rules; EPA's audit policy; OSHA risk assessment policy; the Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board, and regulatory reform. I played a key role in briefing API v. EPA, 883 F.3d 918 (D.C. Cir. 2018) and 862 F.3d 50 (D.C. Cir. 2017), which struck down a constituent-based "legitimacy factor" as a test for what constitutes "solid waste" for RCRA purposes.
I am a consultant to a major business association on regulatory reform matters. I played a fundamental role in conceptualizing and assisting in the drafting of the Federal Permitting Improvement Act, enacted as Title 41 of the FAST Act, Pub. L. No. 114-94, as well as legislation to update it enacted in 2021.
I represent the Fragrance Creators Association in connection with a variety of TSCA and OSHA matters.
I advise the Color Pigments Manufacturers Association on a variety of TSCA and other environmental matters.
I represent two associations in connection with PFAS regulatory issues.
I represented the National Industrial Sand Association and the International Diatomite Producers Association in connection with the OSHA rulemaking on crystalline silica.
I assisted the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association in successfully persuading EPA to issue rules that maximize the ability of states to regulate coal combustion residuals under Subtitle D of RCRA.
I have advised a major multinational corporation on TSCA reauthorization issues and a Canadian oil producer on TSCA reporting issues.
I have served as counsel to Excellence Through Stewardship, an industry initiative to promote the responsible management of plant biotechnology, primarily by developing and encouraging implementation of product stewardship practices and educating the public about those practices.
I have also advised a small natural gas exploration & production company on NEPA and appropriations issues.
I have assisted ACC (previously known as the Chemical Manufacturers Association or CMA) occasionally on matters involving agency use of science in regulation, regulatory reform, OSHA's approach to PELs, and the Responsible Care initiative. While I worked at ACC, I:
- Was responsible for much of ACC's RCRA advocacy, as counsel to work groups on hazardous waste combustion, waste identification, RCRA legislation, nonhazardous waste, and interstate waste restrictions. I provided leadership to ACC's successful advocacy for a "comparable fuels" exemption from RCRA regulation. I coauthored CMA's intervenor brief in Military Toxics Project v. EPA, 146 F.3d 948 (D.C. Cir. 1998), a landmark decision that upheld the concept of "conditional exemption" from hazardous waste regulation.
- Helped draft and enact the Chemical Safety Information, Site Security and Fuels Regulatory Relief Act (Pub. L. No. 106-40, 42 U.S.C. § 7412(r)(7)(H)) and the associated committee report. This law kept EPA from posting worst-case chemical release scenarios on the internet.
- Worked closely with CEQ, EPA and an industry coalition to draft and enact the Land Disposal Program Flexibility Act (Pub. L. No. 104-119, codified in scattered sections of 42 U.S.C. chapter 82). This law freed formerly hazardous wastes from treatment for treatment's sake under the RCRA LDRs.
- Played a significant role in design and initial launch of EPA Performance Track program. I also founded the Performance Track Participants Association.
- Headed a group that sued EPA over its prior guidance on federally-permitted releases and negotiated the current, more workable guidance.
- Led the regulated community's efforts to: turn EPA Region VII's "Continuous Release Reporting" enforcement initiative into a valuable TRI amnesty program; stop "CROMERRR," EPA's hugely costly proposal on electronic recordkeeping & reporting; and avert EPA guidance on economic benefit attributable to "illegal competitive advantage."
- Played key roles in: Stopping EPA's "enhanced monitoring" rule, substantially ameliorating its "compliance assurance monitoring" rule, and influencing the development and subsequent amendments to EPA's Audit Policy.
- Helped lead a coalition ranging from the U.S Chamber to the ACLU to change federal policies calling for waiver of attorney-client privilege as a measure of "cooperation." The group persuaded the U.S. Sentencing Commission to reverse itself after only two years, catalyzed successful House and Senate hearings in 2006 and 2007, caused DOJ to rescind its "Thompson Memo," and spurred the introduction in both houses of Congress of legislation to prohibit these policies.
- Co-led numerous EPA/ACC joint projects to understand the causes of noncompliance and to generate compliance tools as an alternative to a traditional enforcement initiative against chemical sector.
- Managed the association's environmental legal staff.
While I was previously in private practice, I:
- Managed the environmental issues in multiple transactions for both buyers and sellers.
- Oversaw several site cleanups and represented PRPs at numerous Superfund sites.
- Exercised major responsibilities in: A RCRA criminal defense, drafting motions that led to the government dropping multiple counts and agreeing to probation; and an insurance coverage litigation, including drafting successful motions to avoid dismissal of insurance companies in receivership.
- Defended a state air permitting enforcement case.
- Helped draft an ASTM standard on environmental site assessments.
- Litigated the denial of a Clean Water Act ocean discharge permit denial and a National Priority List listing decision.
- On pro bono basis, litigated on behalf of several nonprofits against deer hunting on national wildlife refuge (HSUS v. Lujan, 768 F. Supp. 360 (D.D.C. 1991)).
- Advised clients on a range of compliance matters arising under RCRA, CERCLA, the OSH Act and state hazardous air pollution regulations.
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