Safeguarding commercial interests
We give advice on the entire range of environmental law pertaining to industrial production: from chemical plants, steel and cement works, refineries, paper mills and pipelines to sewage treatment plants and incinerators. We have given advice on numerous industrial projects, some of them contentious, and have special experience in the implementation of efficiently organised approval procedures. We are conversant with Europe-wide water and nature conservation regulations as well as the Sevilla Process for the level of technology (BREF) and its implementation – all of which are relevant to industrial facilities. We have special experience in the appropriate way of dealing with NGOs and the public in the case of controversial projects and in negotiating agreements for the safeguarding of production locations.
Our team has advised:
- an international oil and gas company on one of the largest investment projects in Europe – a refinery upgrade with an investment volume of three billion euros and a plethora of environmental law issues and negotiations with NGOs
- several energy suppliers and the German state of Saxony throughout a lawsuit against the commission before the European Court on account of politically-motivated BREF standards for lignite power stations
- an international chemical company throughout the European Sevilla Process for the setting of BREF standards and their implementation in Germany, resulting in the signing of an accord for the agreement of exceptions with the relevant federal state and the federal government
- refineries on the implementation of new BREF standards with the federal government and the possibility of exceptions
- a chemical company during the restructuring of numerous chemical facilities, with all the attendant environmental and regulatory issues (accidents, operational responsibility, etc.), including energy provision and pipelines for supply and disposal
- a chemical company regarding the commissioning of a large pipeline between its various facilities
- a cement manufacturer during the installation of a new kiln
- a large steel producer on various environmental law issues
- In the area of environmental damage and inherited contamination and waste, we have successfully fought for a number of significant guideline rulings – for example for industry in the case of inherited munitions waste from the First and Second World Wars. We have special expertise in advising on major inherited waste projects. We have gained this in particular from decades of advising the federal government and its associated bodies on managing the major inherited waste and contamination left behind by the GDR. And we know all the issues connected to minimising the risk of damage to the environment and the creation of inherited waste in transactions and restructuring.
