Environmental Law

Environmental issues have significant implications for businesses. They can affect the way you operate, the products you make, the way you make them, the materials you use, the waste you discard. They can influence the property you buy or sell, develop or lease. They can entangle your business in a maze of competing federal, provincial and municipal laws and regulations, consume your human resources with paper work, subject you to costly project delays and involve you in tough litigation.

The Environmental Law Group at Harper Grey can help you develop proactive and pragmatic solutions to protect your business and your projects in the most complex of cases. We have a solid background helping land owners, commercial operators, and developers navigate the mine field of contaminated sites legislation.

We assist buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, landlords and lessees with the environmental issues that have become a part of every commercial real estate transaction. Our job is to prevent environmental problems, and to resolve them when they arise. Our lawyers have argued many of the leading cases in the Superior Courts of British Columbia and before the Environmental Appeal Board. We are experienced in interpreting the requirements of environmental legislation, including the new Environmental Management Act, Contaminated Sites Regulation, Soil Conservation Act and the Transportation of Hazardous Goods Act.

Our Areas of Focus

• Contaminated Sites
• Remediation Orders
• Environmental Appeals and Litigation
• Corporate Transactions
• Commercial Real Estate Transactions
• Landlord and Tenant
• Indemnities and Releases
• Urban Development
• Brownfields
• Production of Contaminants
• Industrial Waste Management
• Creditor Liability
• Regulatory Compliance
• Environmental Assessments
• Offences and Prosecutions
• Transportation of Hazardous Goods
• Sick Building Syndrome

Representative Experience

Members of the firm’s Environmental Law Group have experience acting in the following matters:

• Acting as counsel for CN Rail in Beazer East, Inc. et al. v. British Columbia (Environmental Appeal Board), a leading case of the British Columbia Supreme Court interpreting the key provisions of the former Waste Management Act (now the Environmental Management Act) and the Contaminated Sites Regulation, including the examination of "responsible person" status as it pertains to historic owners and operators such as parent companies, subsidiaries, and corporate successors.
• Representing a major energy company in Lawson v. Deputy Director Waste Management et al., a significant decision of the Environmental Appeal Board respecting the responsibility of individual directors, officers and employees for a company’s contamination.
• Representing a major energy company in No. 158 Seabright Holdings Ltd. et al v. Imperial Oil Limited et al, a case heard before the British Columbia Supreme Court (enshrined in amendments to the former Waste Management Act and the new Environmental Management Act) addressing the preconditions that must be met before bringing an action to recover costs of remediation.
• Defended a developer in a case interpreting the B.C. Waste Management Act (the "WMA"). The decision lead to changes in contaminated site legislation in the Province of B.C., as well as the repeal of the WMA.
• Representing a pension plan in complex, multi-party litigation dealing with historic contamination, source identification and migration.
• Acting for environmental consultants alleged to have been negligent, and counselling such consultants respecting the contracts they rely on to protect themselves from lawsuits.
• Instructing environmental consultants on all aspects of the remediation of contaminated sites, from initial investigation through risk assessment, pilot studies and implementation of remedial measures.
• Advising corporations responsible for oil spills and mine-related contamination; corporate owners and tenants allegedly responsible for contamination; corporations involved in negotiating environmental provisions in real property; share and asset transactions; as well as corporations assessing environmental risk related to their activities and their corporate structure/governance.

For more information about our experience in these areas please read the profiles of  lawyers in this group.

Contact Person

For more information about this practice group please contact the Environmental Law Practice Group Chair, Richard Bereti at 604 895 2816 or via e-mail.

Representative Client Work

• Acting as counsel for CN Rail in Beazer East, Inc. et al. v. British Columbia (Environmental Appeal Board), a leading case of the British Columbia Supreme Court interpreting the key provisions of the former Waste Management Act (now the Environmental Management Act) and the Contaminated Sites Regulation, including the examination of "responsible person" status as it pertains to historic owners and operators such as parent companies, subsidiaries, and corporate successors.
• Representing a major energy company in Lawson v. Deputy Director Waste Management et al., a significant decision of the Environmental Appeal Board respecting the responsibility of individual directors, officers and employees for a company’s contamination.
• Representing a major energy company in No. 158 Seabright Holdings Ltd. et al v. Imperial Oil Limited et al, a case heard before the British Columbia Supreme Court (enshrined in amendments to the former Waste Management Act and the new Environmental Management Act) addressing the preconditions that must be met before bringing an action to recover costs of remediation.
• Defended a developer in a case interpreting the B.C. Waste Management Act (the "WMA"). The decision lead to changes in contaminated site legislation in the Province of B.C., as well as the repeal of the WMA.
• Representing a pension plan in complex, multi-party litigation dealing with historic contamination, source identification and migration.
• Acting for environmental consultants alleged to have been negligent, and counselling such consultants respecting the contracts they rely on to protect themselves from lawsuits.
• Instructing environmental consultants on all aspects of the remediation of contaminated sites, from initial investigation through risk assessment, pilot studies and implementation of remedial measures.
• Advising corporations responsible for oil spills and mine-related contamination; corporate owners and tenants allegedly responsible for contamination; corporations involved in negotiating environmental provisions in real property; share and asset transactions; as well as corporations assessing environmental risk related to their activities and their corporate structure/governance.

Spotlight

Azimuth Environmental