Contact: Robert Falk or Bruce Reed Goodmiller
Morrison & Foerster regularly advises businesses and public agencies in the management of environmental issues arising at
their facilities and assist them in obtaining local, state, and federal government permits and approvals.
The firm has substantial expertise in permitting and regulatory work involving mobile and stationary air contaminant sources,
storm and waste water discharges, wetlands, hazardous waste characterization and management issues, drinking water suppliers,
innovative recycling and reclamation projects, and facility closures.
The firm works with clients to audit compliance with regulatory requirements, develop training programs, and help spot and
resolve instances of non-compliance in advance of enforcement problems. The firm also advises clients on all aspects of chemical
and pesticide handling, and on the use of risk assessments.
In addition, the firm routinely assists clients in identifying, evaluating, and addressing the environmental risks associated
with the acquisition, sale, or financing of real property and businesses. The firm drafts and negotiates specialized indemnity
provisions in asset and stock purchases, mergers and acquisitions, and lease and financing agreements, and structure transactions
to limit personal and corporate liability. The firm also performs comprehensive due diligence reviews of land use entitlement
and environmental permitting/compliance requirements and consults with government agencies to address unresolved matters prior
to a closing.
Representative Matters
Conducted diligence on behalf of Wells Fargo Foothill, Inc. into Safety-Kleen's potential liabilities for cleanup costs, environmental
compliance issues, and pending environmental litigation. This work applied to all of Safety Kleen's facilities, of which there
were hundreds of located across the U.S. In addition, we also conducted detailed reviews of 29 properties which were presented
as collateral for the loan.
Representation of Hitachi in the acquisition of IBM's hard disk drive division, which included manufacturing facilities in
the United States and a number of Asian countries. Conducted environmental due diligence and drafted indemnities to allocate
environmental responsibilities, including responsibilities related to substantial historic contamination at several facilities.
Represent Fujitsu in the restructuring and expansion of its flash memory joint venture with Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD),
resulting in the creation of a fully integrated stand-alone flash company with 7000 employees and annual sales on formation
of $3 billion. Conducted environmental due diligence and drafted environmental remediation agreement, including indemnity
provisions and cleanup covenants, to allocate environmental responsibilities, including responsibilities related to historic
environmental contamination and Superfund site liabilities.
Mid-American Energy Company. Developed and carried out an environmental compliance audit of Mid-American's electric generating
facilities in Iowa, Illinois, New York and Texas, and provided follow-up advice regarding matters identified in those audits.
