Environmental Law with a Difference

The Schnapf LLC is a boutique environmental law firm with expertise in environmental issues associated with Corporate and Real Estate Transactions, Complex Commercial Financing, Environmental Due Diligence, and Brownfield Development. We have extensive experience with environmental issues associated with acquisition, construction, development refinancing and sale of commercial, industrial, retail, hotel, health care, affordable housing, residential and multi-family properties.

We also assist clients with Environmental Compliance issues as well as represent clients in state and federal administrative proceedings.

We offer clients big firm partner-level expertise and experience on a full range of environmental issues at small firm pricing- our standard billing rate is $675 per hour- and flexible billing practices. We do not charge for office or travel expenses.

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We are able to serve clients and transactions that do not have access to the “Big Law” firms. Because of our size, Schnapf LLC is able to meet our clients’ needs with agility and personalized attention. Our goal is to help clients minimize their environmental liability while maximizing the business opportunity.

We provide environmental due diligence assistance to law firms that do not have in-house environmental expertise and also provide plaintiff and defense litigation support to law firms representing clients in environmental litigation and cost recovery actions. We can assist law firms with environmental law or regulatory research and also provide expert testimony on environmental issues.

Our due diligence and transactional support services include:

Pre-Transactional Diligence- Strategic sellers are increasingly using pre-transactional diligence reviews to help flag issues that could complicate a transaction to maximize the value of the assets and expediate the closing of the transaction. We help clients identify existing and legacy liabilities associated with corporate assets and historic operations, resolve and develop pro-active strategies for those issues to facilitate transactions.
Environmental Review– we help clients develop expeditious and cost-effective investigations that meet the needs of a fast-moving transaction and their particular risk tolerances; evaluate and confirm environmental issues identified in phase 1 reports or recommendations in phase 2 reports; provide clients with practical and reasonable estimates that allow clients to better value their transactions, and review or negotiate contracts with environmental consultants;
Structuring Strategic Solutions- We assist clients structure their transactions and design creative cost-sharing or allocating mechanisms to try to minimize their potential liability; develop exit strategies for the environmental liabilities identified during the environmental due diligence process;
Brownfield and Other Financial Assistance Mechanisms– we have particular expertise in identifying and obtaining financial assistance for defraying some or all of the cleanup costs arising out of a particular transaction;
Contract Drafting and Negotiation– we assist in drafting environmental provisions in a full range of agreements including due diligence requests, purchase and sale agreements, environmental covenants for loan and financing agreements, indemnities, post-closing remediation and remediation agreements, access or license agreements to perform or implement investigations or remediation;
Post-Closing Services– We help clients implement, monitor and enforce post-closing obligations to investigate, remediate or monitor environmental issues. We also develop due care/appropriate care plans to support risk-based cleanups, comply with post-remedial obligations and maintain liability protections;

We also offer special due diligence flat rate and discount pricing programs for financial institutions. We have also developed a Preferred Environmental Consultant (PEC) Program for clients that use environmental consultants that have established track records and expertise with the NYSDEC remedial programs. We offer innovative fixed fee and discounted pricing for clients who use our PEC Partners.

NYSDEC Proposes to Require Financial Assurance for Certain State Superfund and Brownfield Sites

Larry Schnapf July 27, 2023

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) has released for public comment a draft guidance that would for the first time establish Financial Assurance (FA) for certain state Superfund and Brownfield programs sites with remedies that require Operation, Maintenance and Monitoring (OM&M). The proposed DER #41 Proposed Guidance would apply to superfund and brownfield

EPA To Publish AAI Update Withdrawing Reference to ASTM E1527-13

Larry Schnapf December 14, 2022

EPA will publish a final rule in the federal register on December 15th amending its All Appropriate Inquiries (AAI) Rule by recognizing ASTM E1527-21 as a method for complying with AAI and withdrawing the reference to ASTM E1527-13. The rule will become effective 60 days from the date of publication in the federal register. The

OER Proposes New Enforcement Rules for Voluntary Cleanup and “E” Designation Programs

Larry Schnapf September 27, 2022

Apparently enough property owners are failing to comply with their reporting and inspection obligations for certifying that institutional and engineering controls remain protective of human health and the environment that the Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation (OER) feels it is necessary to enhance its enforcement authorities. Under recently a proposed rule, OER would be expressly authorized