Mitigating Environmental Liability From Construction Debris and Contaminated Soil

This CLE course will guide environmental counsel to mitigate the environmental risks and liability resulting from construction debris and leading to contaminated soil. The panel will offer steps for counsel to all parties involved—landowners, potential purchasers, construction contractors, and so forth—to determine which party or parties are liable for cleanup and recovering remediation costs.

Construction sites are receiving renewed attention from environmental regulators concerning the environmental obligations of the owner, contractors, and subcontractors related to construction debris and contaminated soil. Construction waste can be a significant environmental liability.

Construction waste may result from anything from discovering an underground storage tank, contaminated soil, or other buried waste while excavating to the oil from construction machinery seeping into a nearby water supply. Debris and other construction waste are not limited to the construction site itself; such waste is also dumped on other property.

Violating environmental laws and regulations can be very costly and involves all parties who had control or use of the land. Counsel to owners, contractors, and subcontractors must carefully craft agreements to provide for indemnity and waste management plans. Counsel for landowners must understand how, when, where, and from whom to seek remediation costs.

Listen as our authoritative panel of environmental attorneys examines the potential risks and liabilities resulting from construction debris and contaminated soil and discusses the steps that can be taken to mitigate those risks. The panel will offer actionable best practices for determining liability and recovering remediation costs.