Christopher J. McAuliffe

Chris represents developers, lenders, equity investors, utilities, and independent power producers in connection with the environmental and land use aspects of development, financing, acquisition, and disposition of energy and infrastructure projects. Chris also advises clients on environmental matters arising in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) involving natural gas, hydroelectric, solar, wind, and battery storage alternative energy projects.

Chris advises clients on the environmental disclosures of publicly traded companies. He also assists in obtaining necessary approvals for projects within the Highlands region of New Jersey, including defending those approvals in administrative and New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division proceedings. Chris has an extensive background in environmental due diligence for the acquisition and sale of assets and companies.

Highlights of Chris’s experience include negotiating one of the first voluntary consent decrees in the utility industry to resolve allegations of noncompliance with new source review (NSR) and prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) requirements. He has represented clients in litigation and regulatory proceedings arising out of land, sediment, and waterbody environmental cleanup sites including the Passaic River and Newark Bay complex.

Chris helps clients to obtain the environmental approvals needed for compliance with New Jersey’s Industrial Site Recovery Act (ISRA), and develops and implements strategies to avoid triggering ISRA’s remediation obligations.

Chris provides environmental compliance assistance for facilities located in multiple states. He has experience in advising and defending clients with respect to permits under the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act’s restrictions on engine manufacturing, and the management and disposal of hazardous waste, as well as Title V, minor source, PSD, and NSR permits under the Clean Air Act and state air pollution control laws.

While in-house counsel, Chris provided legal advice and representation to the company’s electric delivery, gas delivery, and electric-generating business. His job focused on matters arising under environmental, real estate, land use, and intellectual property law and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations. He managed a group of lawyers and paralegals who provided environmental, litigation, and employment legal services to the corporation.

Chris publishes and speaks on environmental compliance issues and renewable energy.

Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.

Litigation and Enforcement Defense

• Represented the owners and operators of industrial property in connection with claims asserted against them for cleanup costs in connection with the Passaic River and Newark Bay operable units of the Diamond Alkali Superfund site in New Jersey
• Represented the operator of a shipping terminal in litigation filed against it in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington, through which an environmental activist group alleged violations of state and federal water pollution control laws arising out of stormwater discharges, and with respect to claims exchanged between the operator of the terminal and owner of the port over responsibility for the cost of advanced state-of-the art stormwater control technology under the terms of an almost 40-year-old lease 
• Represented and successfully defended a university hospital in connection with a request for information and an enforcement action brought by EPA Region 3 under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Pennsylvania Solid Waste Management Act 
• Defended a company from claims by a city redevelopment agency for cleanup costs arising out of historic manufacturing operations conducted by multiple entities at a site in Indiana 
• Represented an international manufacturer and seller of heavy construction equipment with respect to claims by the US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) of failure to comply with certain mobile-source emissions regulations under the Clean Air Act governing diesel engines and the importation and sale of equipment containing those engines 
• Represented a manufacturer in responding to requests for information and defended the company in an enforcement action commenced by the EPA alleging that the company’s manufacturing facility in New Jersey failed to comply with requirements of environmental law relating to the management and storage of hazardous waste, prevention of releases of hazardous waste, release detection, and emergency response requirements

Site Remediation, Compliance, and Property Development

• Developed and implemented a strategy for a retail client’s acquisition and development of property in Georgia where on-site soils had elevated contaminant concentrations; we structured the transaction such that the seller agreed to subdivide and retain responsibility for the contaminants and developed the presentation to the state environmental agency seeking approval to move impacted soil off of the development parcel onto the seller’s adjacent subdivided parcel without triggering remediation or waste disposal liability 
• Represented a retail client in its negotiations with a municipal development agency and developer for the acquisition and development of a former steel and cement manufacturing plant site in the Midwest as a warehouse, addressing issues related to the management of contaminated fill material onto a neighboring parcel and responsibility for contaminants identified during construction and installation of new utility infrastructure in public streets 
• Represented a client in connection with its acquisition of lands bordering an aquatic Superfund site in New York including advising the client on risk, examining the history of on-site operations and remediation, advising on insurance coverage, and obtaining “comfort letters” from the EPA through which the agency advised that the client’s development activities would not result in Superfund liability 
• Advised a coatings manufacturer regarding its remediation of two listed and one proposed Superfund sites in New Jersey and associated negotiations with the EPA and municipal and county authorities; the representation included preparing cost-sharing and community benefits agreements with the county and municipal governments; negotiation of access agreements, easements, and remediation agreements with private property owners; and obtaining subdivision and historic preservation commission approvals following hearings before the municipal bodies 
• Represent and advise multiple clients in the energy industry on Title V operating permit renewals, compliance including compliance certifications and deviation reporting, enforcement defense, NSR/PSD/NSPS applicability, appeals of air permits, and air permit amendments
• Represented two New Jersey utilities in connection with their manufactured gas plant (MGP) remediation programs including obtaining regulatory approval for the investigations and remediations, preparing the sites for re-use where appropriate, negotiating access agreements and easements for remediation, and defending against claims by property owners and others arising out of the remediation and presence of MGP-related contaminants

Energy Project Development

• Provided environmental advice on and negotiated agreements in connection with the acquisition permitting and project financing of the Salem Harbor Power Station development project, an approximately 700-megawatt (MW) gas-fired power plant to be built in Salem, Massachusetts; named the Power Deal of the Year in 2015 by Project Finance International in the Americas category
• Provided environmental advice, conducted environmental diligence, and negotiated the terms of environmental indemnity and permitting obligations for a client acquiring a portfolio of solar projects under development in Maine 
• Represented an independent power producer in environmental matters arising out of its termination of operations, sale of power plants, and compliance with the requirements of the New Jersey ISRA, which obligates certain industrial establishments to investigate and remediate hazardous substance contamination when there is a change in ownership or cessation of operations
• Provided environmental advice in connection with the acquisition and financing of a 50% interest in an approximately 471-MW solar facility located in Texas
• Provided environmental advice on permitting and liability and drafted agreement terms in connection with the acquisition of three project development companies that would site, design, and construct solar energy facilities at environmentally impacted sites in New Jersey, including two former landfills, one of which was the first project in New Jersey to simultaneously close a landfill and build a community solar system atop the landfill
• Provided environmental advice, negotiated environmental terms of the transactional agreements, and advised on ISRA applicability in connection with an energy holding company’s sale of its distributed resources business 
• Provided environmental advice in connection with the acquisition of a 50% interest in a newly formed renewable energy company that owned and was developing a portfolio of wind and solar energy projects in Illinois, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Alabama with a total capacity of approximately 862 MW