Holland & Hart LLP

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there are more than 450,000 brownfields in the United States. These contaminated properties represent opportunities for new jobs, expansion of local tax bases, revitalization of existing development, and improvement of the physical environment. Holland & Hart's Brownfields Practice Group assists clients with transforming contaminated properties into economically viable properties that once again add value to the communities in which they are located.

We have represented municipalities and private developers in connection with the redevelopment of brownfields, including:

• Private resort developments on former mine sites;
• Multi-use development on a former international airport site;
• Multi-use development on a former federal air base;
• Remediation and multi-use development of a former open pit mine and milling facility; and
• Remediation and multi-use development of World War II-era manufacturing facility.

We represent buyers, sellers, and developers in their work with lenders, redevelopment authorities, and regulatory agencies to transform brownfields properties into retail, commercial, residential, and mixed-use developments and transportation-related infrastructure as well as parks and open-space. From start to finish, Holland & Hart can help clients with clean-up, followed by virtually all aspects of entitlement, development, financing, and selling of a brownfields project.

Holland & Hart's Brownfields Practice Group comprises attorneys based in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and Washington, D.C., and we can offer service to clients with projects in any of those jurisdictions. In addition, we can assist clients with projects in any state to address issues related to compliance with federal environmental laws, such as the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, or the National Historic Preservation Act as well as issues related to the management, sale, or closure of certain federal lands and facilities, such as base realignment and closure (BRAC) facility clean-up. With 15 offices and 50 attorneys practicing in related areas, Holland & Hart is well-equipped to handle your next brownfields redevelopment project.

Property Types
Brownfields properties come in all shapes and sizes, including but not limited to:

• Agricultural land;
• Airports;
• BRAC facilities;
• Dry cleaners;
• Gas stations;
• Industrial complexes;
• Landfills;
• Manufacturing facilities;
• Mines;
• Oil and gas production facilities;
• Power generation facilities;
• Shopping malls;
• Superfund and hazardous waste sites;
• Tank and bulk storage facilities; and
• Voluntarily enrolled properties.

Holland & Hart has experience working with various types of brownfield properties, including those listed above.

Services Offered
Holland & Hart's Brownfields Practice Group is an interdisciplinary team of attorneys with experience in all of the necessary steps involved from inception to completion of a brownfields project. This diverse group of practitioners has experience in real estate, environmental compliance, and project development, including permitting, project finance, construction, insurance, land use, tax, and government relations. The Group is available to help brownfields clients with plan development and land use in connection with site assessment, remediation and reuse, zoning, and use approvals.

Since brownfields are inherently risky endeavors, the team also helps clients with identification of liability, due diligence review, and determining what liabilities are covered by existing insurance.

Our attorneys also have extensive experience with negotiation of cleanup agreements, liability limitations, title acquisition, prospective purchaser agreements, public-private agreements, certificates of completion, covenants not to sue, and agreements with governmental entities. When necessary, we pull in practitioners who specialize in lending requirements, financing, and tax-increment financing.

Environmental Experience
With one of the largest environmental practices in the country, Holland & Hart attorneys are oriented towards proactive compliance and helping our clients develop sound environmental management practices that are good for business and the communities in which they operate. Our attorneys in the Brownfields Practice Group focus on helping our clients develop and implement strategies to achieve project completion in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Our environmental attorneys address our clients' wide range of legal needs, such as environmental assessments, permitting, ongoing compliance advice, environmental audits, enforcement action defense, site assessment and remedial actions, legislative and rulemaking developments, and litigation when necessary. We also have a robust government affairs practice that allows the firm to assist its clients at the federal level and the state level in every state in which we have an office.

Holland & Hart takes great pride in the depth and experience of our environmental attorneys, who are well-versed in the legal issues related to solid and hazardous waste, toxic and radioactive substances, water quality, air quality, and mined land reclamation, as well as threatened and endangered species, cultural resources, and climate change. While most of our offices are located in the Mountain West, we have a strong Washington D.C. presence, and our environmental attorneys work on sophisticated issues throughout the country.

Real Estate Experience
Our Real Estate Practice Group has experience in virtually all aspects of real estate development, including mixed-use developments, public-private agreements, sales, acquisition, leasing, and financing. We assist clients with matters related to development agreements, subdivisions, acquisition due diligence, registering subdividers, Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act compliance, green building issues, representing clients before state real estate commissions, preparing and enforcing covenants for property owners' associations, residential and commercial condominiumization and construction contracts, and architect agreements of all types of projects, including LEED-certified projects.

Our land use practice in particular includes annexation, zoning applications, exaction challenges, subdivision plats, parcel maps, boundary line adjustments, and department of real estate public reports. We prepare clients for, or represent them in, planning commission, council, or other hearings for land use approvals. We also represent landowners seeking governmental approval for land use and have litigated cases where local governments have exceeded their authority and interfered with property rights. We have experience reviewing local land use regulations for enforceability and applicability.

Our real estate attorneys also regularly work with clients on green building issues, including sustainable building and design, renewable energy, green management, and LEED certification. The rapidly changing standards and requirements of this area and the associated certification processes make it all the more important that clients are assisted efficiently through the many options.
 

Holland & Hart's Statement of Commitment to Diversity
We are proud of our tradition of fostering and maintaining a work environment in which the diversity of each individual is valued and celebrated. We believe that the contributions of each individual are essential to our continued growth and to our ultimate goal of providing excellent quality legal services to our clients, with greater creativity and innovation. We are committed to taking full advantage of the rich backgrounds and abilities of our people and to promoting a greater diversity whenever and wherever possible.

Diversity Pledge
Holland & Hart is committed to promoting diversity by:

• Making every possible effort to recruit, hire, retain, and promote diverse persons at all levels of employment.
• Promoting greater sensitivity to the value of racial, ethnic and other forms of diversity, through diversity and sensitivity coaching or training for law firm members.
• Inviting to partnership diverse attorneys who meet the requisite criteria.

Diversity Initiatives
The following are additional examples of our commitment and efforts toward supporting and achieving diversity:

• We make a conscious effort to ensure that women and diverse attorneys are included as voting members of our committees of importance within the firm.
• We work closely with law school deans and placement directors in an effort to identify women and diverse law students who are interested in working at Holland & Hart.
• Holland & Hart offers medical and other benefits to partners of gay and lesbian employees on the same terms as it does to spouses of employees.
• We created an Indian Law Practice Group and actively recruited Native American law students and lateral hires.
• Each year we contribute to such scholarship funds as the Colorado Native American Indian Scholarship Fund, the Sam Cary Scholarship Endowment Fund, the Colorado Asian American Bar Scholarship Fund, the Colorado Hispanic Bar Scholarship Fund, and the Colorado Women's Bar Association Scholarship Fund.
• In partnership with the University of Idaho School of Law, we sponsor a "Law by Day, Jazz by Night" each year for undergraduate minority students who have an interest in law.
• We took a leadership role in organizing and supporting the Colorado Pledge Group's Minority First Year Law Student Summer Clerk Program. Through this program, law firms agreed to add at least one diverse first year law student to their summer clerk program.
• We were involved in the creation of the Cross-Professional Business Networking Group, where diverse attorneys in our community can meet and network with non-attorney professionals of color. We view this as a way to help diverse attorneys increase their business development possibilities.

For more information regarding Holland & Hart's commitment to diversity, please contact Peter Houtsma at (303) 295-8259.