Environmental
Macleod Dixon has one of the leading environmental law practices in the country. We have deep experience in contaminated sites, project approvals and permitting, environmental litigation, commercial transactions, regulatory compliance, emissions trading, health and safety, water law and international issues.Contaminated Sites
We regularly act for clients with respect to all issues arising from the ownership, purchase and sale, financing and leasing of contaminated sites. We have extensive experience in dealing with government authorities who regulate contaminated sites, and we work closely with our client's engineering and environmental consultants in the assessment, monitoring and remediation of contaminated sites. We have worked on literally hundreds of contaminated gas station sites, and even more upstream oil and gas industry wells, pipelines and facilities, as well as many other contaminated sites. We know the laws, the policies and the players, and are more than comfortable in advising clients in litigious and non litigious issues with respect to contaminated sites. Our contaminated sites services are effective and cost-efficient.
Project Approvals and Permitting
Macleod Dixon has assisted clients seeking environmental approvals for a wide variety of new projects or upgrades spanning the petroleum, mining, agricultural, forestry, transportation, electrical power, real estate, tourism and waste disposal sectors. Our group has extensive experience with all stages of environmental approvals, from initial permit applications through federal, provincial and territorial environmental impact assessments, environmental reviews and regulatory hearings, to appeals. We get involved early in the planning stages and are able to provide cost effective advice from permitting, construction and operations right through to project decommissioning and reclamation. We help clients by:
- Identifying environmental and regulatory permitting requirements.
- Providing strategic legal advice for project planning and development.
- Working with engineering and environmental consultants to ensure an integrated technical and legal approach to environmental impact assessments.
- Representing project developers and other stakeholders during the approvals process and acting as counsel before provincial, territorial and federal environmental law regulatory boards and tribunals.
- Advising and representing clients before environmental appeal boards and in the courts.
- Dealing with surface rights, land acquisition and routing issues.
- Negotiating land access and impact benefit agreements with aboriginal peoples.
- Providing advice on facility decommissioning, remediation and reclamation.
Environmental Litigation
The Macleod Dixon Litigation Group and Environmental Practice Group work together to represent clients on a wide variety of environmental issues including:
- Appeals and judicial review of administrative or regulatory decisions.
- Arbitration and other informal dispute resolution processes.
- Civil litigation involving damage claims between parties for environmental liabilities.
- Negotiation with governmental authorities to achieve settlement in relation to environmental protection orders and other environmental proceedings.
Commercial Transactions
With many commercial transactions including an environmental component, Macleod Dixon's environmental lawyers provide cost effective and efficient legal advice on environmental risks and issues in transactions such as share or asset purchases, financings, real estate development, property management and leasing, including:
- All aspects of environmental due diligence.
- Overseeing Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments.
- Reviewing environmental reports, environmental management systems and audits; commissioning and reviewing results from searches of federal and provincial registries.
- Interviewing personnel in federal and provincial departments or regulatory agencies.
- Negotiating and drafting environmental representations, warranties and indemnities in purchase and sale agreements, security documentation, financing and other transactions.
- Advising receivers and receiver/managers on environmental risks and responsibilities associated with properties.
- Drafting and advising on access agreements, environmental remediation agreements and environmental indemnity agreements.
Regulatory and Environmental Compliance
Our environmental lawyers regularly provide advice on an ongoing basis in connection with matters such as:
- The proactive elements of an environmental due diligence defense.
- Structuring environmental management system and document retention policies, and achieving ISO 14001 registration.
- Retention and use of environmental consultants to achieve solicitor client privilege.
- Reporting requirements for spills and releases or for compliance with environmental approvals.
- Evaluating corporate liability in the event of site contamination or environmental occurrences, including potential environmental liability of directors and officers.
- Advising on new developments arising from court decisions, environmental policy initiatives and legislative changes such as NAFTA related issues and counseling on greenhouse gas emissions reductions and trading.
- Drafting comments on behalf of industry or individual clients related to proposed legislation and policy.
Climate Change and Emissions Trading
Members of Macleod Dixon’s Climate Change Team have extensive experience acting for governments, organizations and corporations involved in both the design of emissions trading systems and transactions under these new legal regimes. The firm has represented clients on a wide range of projects including both non-renewable and renewable energy initiatives.
The Climate Change Team has represented a variety of clients including governments and government bodies, supra-national trade organizations, large electricity producers, alternate energy producers, energy retailers, natural gas pipelines and oil and gas companies on a wide array of emissions transactions and emission trading issues. The Climate Change Team has provided services to clients around the world and successfully completed carbon transactions and retainers in India, Brazil, Argentina, Sri Lanka, Russia, Thailand, Mexico, Chile, China, Ukraine and Africa. To date, the Climate Change Team has closed carbon transactions relating to more than 150 MT of carbon emissions around the world.
Our lawyers are also gaining experience in the embryonic field of carbon capture and storage, and are advising clients on a variety of legal issues and strategies for various power, oil sands projects and other projects.
Health and Safety
We monitor legal environmental and occupational health and safety developments throughout Canada and advise clients on operational, environmental and regulatory health and safety issues, especially for the upstream oil and gas and mining industries.
Water Law
Our lawyers are somewhat unique in that we specialize in providing legal advice and services related to water diversion rights and water trading. We have been involved with some of the first water trades in Canada.
We understand instream flow needs, water strategies, use and transfer requirements and policies for ecosystem and wetland protection.
International
With offices on four continents and representing clients worldwide, our environmental lawyers are able to bring a global perspective to international issues. We can provide our clients with assistance:
- Achieving environmental approvals for international development.
- Advising clients on US environmental statutes and regulations, including Superfund, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act.
- Assisting governments in developing and revising natural resource legislation.
- Working with international companies and institutions on environmental aspects of project construction and operation.
We keep our clients up to date with the latest developments in environmental law, policy and regulation. The environmental practice group members regularly present papers on environmental related matters at seminars and educational programs for our clients and others.