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Ben L. Pfefferle III

Ben L. Pfefferle III is the National Chair of Baker Hostetler’s Environmental and Energy Practice Team. His practice includes energy extraction, refining and production; environmental compliance; hazardous and toxic waste issues; Superfund litigation and private cost recovery; environmental permitting; and redevelopment, acquisition and divestiture of environmentally impaired commercial and industrial property.

As a core member of the firm’s Utica and Marcellus Shale Plays Team, Mr. Pfefferle is at the forefront of the rapidly growing natural gas and oil industry in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York.

Mr. Pfefferle serves as common counsel for multiparty PRP groups at several National Priority List Superfund sites. He defends companies in civil, criminal and administrative enforcement proceedings involving state and federal Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Solid Waste Disposal, RCRA (hazardous waste) and CERCLA (Superfund) actions. He is involved in the prosecution of private environmental indemnity claims as well as the prosecution and defense of private cost recovery actions.

Mr. Pfefferle has supervised and evaluated environmental audits, performed due diligence evaluations for the acquisition and divestiture of various manufacturing facilities, and developed and provided training for environmental management systems.

Mr. Pfefferle has assisted clients in obtaining “No Further Action Letters” and “Covenants Not to Sue” from governmental authority pursuant to state Brownfields programs, allowing environmentally impaired property to be redeveloped and returned to productive use.

Mr. Pfefferle is a member of the American Bar Association Section of Litigation (Environmental Committee) and former Chairman of its Brownfields Litigation Subcommittee, as well as a member of the Section of Environment, Energy and Resources. Mr. Pfefferle is a member of the Ohio State and Columbus Bar Association Environmental Law Committees and is a former chairman of the latter Committee, where he served four terms. He is a Fellow of the Columbus Bar Foundation. Mr. Pfefferle is listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in American Law and is ranked by a peer review group to be among the top five percent of Ohio lawyers (Law and Politics Media, 2004 to 2007). He is also listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers in Business, Client's Guide (Chambers & Partners Publishing, 2005 to 2011). Mr. Pfefferle has received an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell.