Environmental Law

Counseling clients on environmental compliance, permitting, remediation, and litigation
Our Approach

We guide municipalities and private parties through all aspects of State and Federal environmental investigation and remediation processes. This includes negotiation of complex consent decrees and administrative orders, coordinating remediation in a timely and cost-efficient manner, and litigating multi-party cost recovery actions. We also assist our clients through the application process for available tax credits under the NYS Brownfield Cleanup Program. Our attorneys work with our clients’ engineers and environmental consultants to obtain permits from NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, NYC Department of Environmental Protection, United States Army Corps of Engineers, and other regulatory agencies.

What We Do

  • CERCLA and NYS Navigation Law
  • Voluntary cleanup programs
  • Negotiated cleanup agreements
  • Brownfield development
  • Regulatory compliance
  • Superfund litigation
  • Transactional due diligence
  • Administrative proceedings
  • Civil and criminal enforcement actions
  • Securing natural resource, wetland, stormwater, and other permits
  • Obtaining solid waste management and mined land reclamation permits
Recent News
Judge Hal Greenwald granted Z&S’s motion to dismiss, which resolved the case in their client’s favor, before any discovery commenced or any answer to the Complaint was filed. Z&S primarily argued that the case was an illegal “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation,” under New York State’s new “Anti-SLAPP” legislation, which prohibits lawsuits focused on stifling...
Jacob Amir recently secured site plan approval from the Town of Pound Ridge Planning Board for the construction of an innovative art studio as part of the Oberon Foundation for the Arts’ new Artist-in-Residence Program. Designed by Steven Holl Architects, a world-renowned firm whose projects have included the Terezin Ghetto Museum in the Czech Republic...
David Steinmetz and Lee Lefkowitz successfully obtained a discretionary rezoning of a large area at the center of the Village of Piermont’s downtown – the first step towards revitalizing a long-vacant and prominent parcel at the main entry-point to the Village. This clears the way for redevelopment of that site with the client’s proposed 14-unit...