Joshua T. Wilson

Experience

Litigation, Contested Cases, and Administrative Enforcement Defense

• Represents a major coal company in its challenge to the Affordable Clean Energy Rule in the D.C. Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Represents several industrial clients in navigating administrative enforcement actions brought by state and federal environmental agencies, including resolution of three separate Clean Air Act enforcement matters brought by Region 5 of the U.S. EPA in the past two years against a specialty chemical manufacturer, a steel pipe manufacturer and a spice manufacturer.
• Represented a major coal company in a contested case administrative hearing proceeding against the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and a national power company involving regulatory certifications under the Montana Facility Siting Act.
• Disputed an interpretation of hazardous substance management requirements under RCRA with U.S. EPA Region 5 in the context of an enforcement action, resulting in EPA dropping the enforcement action without penalty, and leading an EPA official to issue guidance to the chemical manufacturing industry consistent with our client’s legal position.

 EHS Compliance, Permitting and Strategic Risk Management

• Provides strategic compliance and business counseling to several industrial clients in all environmental, health and safety (EHS) areas, with an emphasis on federal and state programs under the Clean Air Act.
• Provides clients with advice regarding management of regulatory compliance and litigation risks in a variety of contexts arising from recent state and federal regulatory developments, toxic tort litigation, scientific studies, and community and political pressures related to ethylene oxide.
• Obtained a Covenant not to Sue from Ohio EPA for an electric vehicle manufacturer startup, resolving historic potential liabilities related to a predecessor of interest, clearing the way for investment and a $3 billion market capitalization for the startup.
• Assists the developer of a greenfield steel mill with a wide spectrum of environmental compliance obligations, including air permit revisions in support of ongoing facility and product expansions, identification of environmental reporting obligations, retention and management of expert consultants, and assessing hazardous waste management under RCRA and analogous state laws.
• Represents the developer of a silicon producer in obtaining an air permit revision in order to resolve a related enforcement action, without reopening permit to full PSD major modification review.
• Represents the developer of a new industrial sand mine in securing all environmental permits (including but not limited to air, storm water and wastewater, and mining permits) necessary to construct and operate the mine, manages teams of technical consultants, and provides critical path counseling on compliance obligations and risk minimization related to the project.
• Generated and enacted a creative pathway for resolving decades long dispute between a coal surface mining company and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding wetlands mitigation and remediation credits.
• Assisted a steel mini-mill and a silicon manufacturer in obtaining regulatory approvals necessary to approve alternate compliance obligations under RCRA and the CAA due to COVID-related supply chain disruptions.
• Represents a medical supply distributor in holistically managing litigation risks, contractual risks and regulatory compliance obligations arising from recent state and federal regulatory developments.
• Advises clients in a variety of industries on litigation, regulatory and environmental health and safety risks related to several nine-figure mergers and acquisitions, including the near $1 billion acquisition of an international aerospace communications manufacturer involving facilities in the United States, United Kingdom and Finland, and negotiates provisions of purchase and sale agreements and agreements governing post-closing allocation of environmental attributes and liabilities associated with the company or asset being transferred.