Environmental
Environmental regulation; land use, permitting and site remediation; transfer and development of real property; buying assets; allocating clean-up responsibilities, liabilities, and expenses; negotiating site restrictions or covenants.
Scholten Fant’s environmental practice involves many aspects of environmental regulation, permitting and site remediation. The office has significant experience in the environmental issues surrounding the transfer and redevelopment of real property and business assets. Clients buying, leasing or selling property are guided from the terms of the initial offer to and beyond closing. This work typically involves the negotiation and allocation of expenses associated with pre-purchase or lease investigations of property conditions using Phase I or II environmental site assessments and/or baseline environmental assessments and the review and interpretation of the assessments; negotiation and drafting of environmental indemnification clauses, representations, and warranties; the allocation of clean-up responsibilities, liabilities and expenses; negotiation of site restrictions or covenants; and work with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality on redevelopment plans and permits for the new use. Our municipal and real estate attorneys are available to assist these same clients in zoning and site plan approval so that "Brownfields" or contaminated property may be returned to a productive state. Most recently, the environmental practice has involved in issues involving riparian rights; marina location and size; underground storage tanks; the clean up of contaminated property; wetlands regulation, mitigation and development; asbestos issues; Brownfields redevelopment plans; contested case hearings on marina and wetland permit applications and riparian rights issues; and civil litigation concerning liability for property contamination and black mold.