Environmental Disputes
Following, are highlights of selected projects related to environmental disputes in the arenas of international arbitration and litigation, insurance claims, and natural resources damage assessment in the U.S.A. Please contact us for a full list of related project experience.
Real Estate Arbitration, Dominican Republic. Testifying expert for Respondents Dominican Republic in a matter before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Washington, D.C. (Case Number 2016-17). Testified on potential environmental damages from a luxury residential development on globally imperiled Caribbean tropical cloud forest habitat and compensatory restoration required to offset the damages. The final ruling on September 2019 was wholly in favor of Respondents, Dominican Republic.
Confidential Environmental Damages Litigation, Colombia. Consulting expert on pending litigation related to an extractive industry in Colombia with a focus on potential impacts to surface water quality and aquatic biodiversity. Tasks involved detailed analysis of pollution control measures, statistical analysis of long-term water quality monitoring data, and review and critique of third party assessments of ecological risk and potential impacts
Samarco Dam Disaster, Mariana, Brazil. Principle-in-Charge for estimating environmental damages and scaling restoration for riparian and floodplain habitat due to the accidental release of ~70 million cubic meters of tailings into the Rio Dôce River—the worst environmental disaster in Brazil. Spearheaded the effort to apply Habitat Equivalency Analysis (HEA) as a proof-of-concept in globally imperiled Mata Atlântica forest.
Pluspetrol Norte Oil Spill Auditing, Peru. Environmental expert assessing the technical and logistical aspects of response, remediation, and restoration associated with 12 spills from crude oil pipelines in remote locations in the Amazon of Perú. Spills ranged in size from < 1 ha to over 10 ha. in seasonally flooded palm forests and upland mature secondary mixed forests. Developed probabilistic cost models saving the insurer several million dollars.
OCP Pipeline Oil Spill Auditing, Ecuador. Environmental expert assessing the technical and logistical aspects of response, remediation, and restoration following an 11,000 barrel spill of crude oil in Ecuador near Santa Rosa de Quijos. The spill contaminated approximately 150 km of the Santa Rosa, Quijos, and Coca Rivers and resulted in the shutdown of the municipal water intake for the City of San Sebastián del Coca. The investigative work resulted in cost savings to the insurer of several million dollars.
Confidential Biogas Plant Upset Assessment, Guatemala. Environmental expert investigating potential causes of a biogas plant process upset in Central America. The process upset resulted in a damage claim of $1 million and was attributed by the insured to application of pesticides on adjacent farm fields. Conducted a causal analysis revealing that the pesticide application could not have caused the plant upset, resulting in denial of the claim.
St. Louis River NRDA, Duluth, Minnesota, U.S.A. Consulting expert for a NRD claim associated with historical releases of tars from a coking plant. The claim centered on potential injury from polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) to benthic community, fish, aquatic plants, turtles, water-dependent birds, and mammals. Successfully negotiated for restoration credit from past remediation as well as developed and presented a technical approach for injury scaling.
Ottawa River NRDA, Toledo, Ohio, U.S.A. Project manager and consulting expert on behalf of industry for restoration-based settlement discussions where primary issues included evaluation of alleged injury due to releases of PCBs, PAH, and metals relative to general ecological degradation due to baseline conditions, and identification and scaling of potential restoration projects to foster a cooperative restoration-based settlement.
St. Lawrence River NRDA, Massena, New York, U.S.A. Consulting expert to Alcoa and General Motors in settlement negotiations in the St. Lawrence River natural resource damage matter. Technical issues centered on PCBs and PAH in sediment of the Grasse, Raquette, and St. Lawrence rivers. Had lead role in identification, scaling, and development of compensatory restoration projects.
Saginaw River NRDA, Michigan, U.S.A. Project manager on behalf of General Motors for all aspects of technical support on the Saginaw River and Bay NRDA matter. Development and implementation of technical strategies during settlement negotiations and development of an innovative and cost-effective restoration package. Project earned General Motors Worldwide Facilities Group Crew Award.
Due Diligence and ESIA
This page provides some highlights of selected projects related to lender-driven project due diligence and environmental and social impact assessment. Please contact us for a full list of project experience.
Confidential Mine and Thermal Power Plant, Colombia. Led pro-active consulting to developer of a coal mine and thermal power plant in Colombia in preparation for lender due diligence. Focus was on expedited development of key elements of management plans to satisfy lender requirements under IFC performance standards for all project phases, including worker and community health and safety, resource use (in particular, water), labor, stakeholder engagement, and biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Fruta del Norte Mine, Ecuador. Principal-in-Charge advising a developer and financial arranger for a gold mine in Ecuador on creation and implementation of environmental and social management plans. Key social issues included control of artisanal mining, coordination with nearby communities to ensure social license to operate, and security. Key environmental issues included habitat fragmentation in an area of high biodiversity, and development of a biodiversity offset and management plan.
Submerged Timber Harvesting, Panama. Conducted lender environmental and social due diligence audit for Ardan International. Principal issues were associated with joint venture agreement with the indigenous peoples of the Kuna de Mandugandi, contracting instruments for timber removal from Lake Gatún and Lake Bayano, and potential water quality impacts.
TransJamaican Highway, Jamaica. Conducted lender environmental and social due diligence audit and three years of monitoring for Phase 1-B of the Highway 2000 Project in Jamaica. Principal issues included involuntary resettlement drainage control to ensure no increase in risk of flooding, habitat loss and fragmentation in the Portland Bight Protected Area, adequacy of a program for mangrove habitat restoration, and numerous aspects of project environmental and social management programs.
Amaila Hydroelectric Project, Guyana. Managed a $3M ESIA for a 150 MW hydropower project in in the largest remaining expanse of intact primary tropical forest in the Americas. Implemented wet and dry season baseline surveys requiring complicated logistics for a team of over 30 international specialists. Key issues were to quantify critical habitat for three new to science endemic fish species and one possible new to science frog species and new range expansions for several amphibians, reptiles, and birds.
Chaglla Hydroelectric Project, Peru. Principal-in-Charge to carry out environmental and social monitoring during the construction phase and first year of operations of the Chaglla Hydroelectric Project in the Huanuco and Pasco regions of Peru. Major issues were related to endemic and IUCN Red-List species, a 14 Km. bypass reach of the river with reduced flow, and connectivity of tributaries with low flows in the bypass reach.
Confidential Project, Mongolia. Task leader for biodiversity baseline, biodiversity impacts, critical habitat assessment, and biodiversity offset analysis for a proposed thermal power plant in Mongolia. Critical habitat assessment involved summarizing and assessing information from numerous species-specific monitoring programs relative to the IUCN Red List assessment process. Impacts were assessed for each project component including power plant; transmission lines; groundwater borefield and water pipeline; and access and transportation corridors
Liza Phase 2 Exploration and Development, Guyana. Managed a comprehensive review for Guyana Environmental Protection Agency of the the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment for the Esso Exploration and Development Guyana (EEPGL) Liza Phase 2 Project. Major issues included potential impacts to ecosystem services in coastal areas of western Guyana, capacity building of local workforce and regulatory bodies, worker influx during operation, and associated facilities, especially port support.
Palomino Hydroelectric Project, Dominican Republic. On behalf of builder, conducted rapid bioassessment and habitat assessment, and developed a short- and long-term monitoring program for 80 MW Palomino hydroelectric project in the Dominican Republic. Principal issues were altered flows and loss of terrestrial habitat that were heightened due to the project location within the boundaries of the José del Carmen Ramirez national park.
Jaguar Energy Thermal Plant, Guatemala. Conducted lender environmental due diligence for the 300 MW Jaguar Energy power plant in Guatemala. Principal issues included impacts from the discharge of cooling water to a river, risks to endemic species due to habitat loss, evaluation of treatment and stack design to minimize air impacts, impacts to nearby communities from worker influx during construction, impacts to aquifer use by nearby communities, and evaluation of management practices to minimize airborne dust.
Rositas Hydroelectric Project, Bolivia. Principal-in-Charge for water quality modeling and Rapid Cumulative Impact Assessment for the Rositas hydroelectric project in the Rio Grande River, Santa Cruz Province, Bolivia. Led the development of a 3-dimensional numerical water quality model using CE-QUAL-W2; HEC-RAS; and HEC ResSim. Provided a preliminary assessment of cumulative impacts from non-associated Projects and identification of Valued Environmental Components (VECs).
Santo Antonio Hydoelectric Project, Brazil. Managed auditing of fish passage and mercury biotransformation and bioaccumulation issues for lender monitoring of the 3,500 MW hydropower project in Porto Velho, Brazil. The project is on the Madeira River which supports over 700 fish species, and significant commercial fisheries. Many river-dependent communities rely on fish as a sole source of protein, thus exposure to potential mercury contamination is an important public health concern.