Jennifer Giblin is a senior counsel in Crowell & Moring's Washington, D.C. office and is a member of the firm's Environment & Natural Resources Group. Her practice focuses on compliance counseling under federal and state environmental laws and management of environmental risks in business and real estate transactions. Jennifer also advises clients regarding the transportation of hazardous materials and dangerous goods under U.S. and international regulations and standards.
Jennifer's environmental compliance counseling practice includes solid, hazardous, and radioactive waste identification, management, and disposal issues under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA); spill reporting and site remediation obligations under federal and state laws, including RCRA, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA)(also known as Superfund), and state voluntary cleanup and Brownfields programs; and, permitting issues under the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act. Jennifer also helps clients develop and implement corporate compliance programs, including environmental auditing, record retention, and training components, and defends clients against administrative investigations and enforcement actions.
Jennifer regularly advises corporate, manufacturing, energy, and real estate clients regarding environmental aspects of transactions. This work includes environmental due diligence, assessment and allocation of environmental liabilities, and identification of and assistance with obtaining federal, state, and local regulatory approvals necessary for consummation of transactions, including environmental permit transfers.
Jennifer also counsels clients regarding the transportation of products, materials, and wastes under the U.S. Department of Transportation Hazardous Material Regulations, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Dangerous Goods Regulations, and the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code. She assists clients in responding to Letters of Investigation and civil penalty assessments from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Representative Matters:
- Serving as outside environmental counsel to two major manufacturing companies for more than 20 years in a wide array of counseling and enforcement matters.
- Representing a national trade association on a range of issues affecting natural gas demand.
- Representing a Fortune 200 company identified as the owner of a Superfund site, including negotiating an administrative consent order with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Missouri Department of Natural Resources and counseling client regarding compliance with the order throughout the site investigation and remediation process.
- Represented potentially responsible parties at dozens of Superfund sites.
- Assisted utility in an administrative challenge to its application for a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a new nuclear plant, successfully defending the adequacy of the Environmental Impact Statement.
- Represented a manufacturing company in a state administrative action for violations of a facility air permit and negotiated a substantial penalty reduction.
- Obtained a determination from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection that soil generated during site remediation did not contain listed hazardous waste, saving client thousands of dollars in disposal costs.
- Assisted manufacturing client with response to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality regarding violations identified during a solid and hazardous waste inspection, resulting in no penalties being assessed.
- Counseled clients regarding cleanup of contaminated sites under the Pennsylvania Land Recycling and Environmental Remediation Standards Act, referred to as Act 2, and negotiated the successful sale of these sites using Act 2 Buyer-Seller Agreements.
- Provided environmental transactional support to energy company in multiple bids for acquisitions of bulk fuel distribution terminals and to utilities for acquisitions of nuclear power plants.
- Assisted client with response to FAA Letter of Investigation concerning an undeclared hazardous material shipment by air, including investigating the client's compliance with the hazardous material regulations and implementing corrective actions, resulting in FAA closure of the matter with no penalty.
- Created training materials for client regarding shipment of products containing lithium batteries under the DOT Hazardous Material Regulations and the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations.
Affiliations
Admitted to practice: District of Columbia, Massachusetts (inactive)
Memberships
American Bar Association; Environmental Law Institute
Publications
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"Environmental Law and Practice in the United States: Overview," Practical Law
(October 1, 2017).
Authors: David Y. Chung, Warren U. Lehrenbaum, Thomas A. Lorenzen, Kirsten L. Nathanson and Jennifer A. Giblin.
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"Regulatory Forecast 2016: What Corporate Counsel Need to Know for the Coming Year," a Crowell & Moring LLP publication
(January 2016).
Contributor.
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"Environment — Air, Water, Chemicals, Wildlife, and Vapor Are Key Issues," Crowell & Moring's Regulatory Forecast 2016
(January 2016).
Contributors: Thomas A. Lorenzen, Warren Lehrenbaum, and Jennifer A. Giblin. Also published in Westlaw Journal's Environmental Report.
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"10 Topics For Corporate Counsel To Consider On Coal Ash," Law360
(April 20, 2015).
Authors: Kirsten L. Nathanson, Clifford J. Zatz, Jennifer A. Giblin, and Sherrie A. Armstrong.
Client Alerts & Newsletters
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"D.C. Circuit Eases Recycling Restrictions,"
Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert
(August 28, 2017).
Contacts: Peter Gray, Jennifer A. Giblin
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"Implementing the Energy Independence Executive Order,"
Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert
(April 18, 2017).
Contacts: Jennifer A. Giblin, Edward M. Green, Tyler A. O'Connor
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"EPA's Coal Ash Rule Effective Today,"
Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert
(October 19, 2015).
Contacts: Kirsten L. Nathanson, Clifford J. Zatz, Jennifer A. Giblin
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"Breathing New Life Into Vapor Intrusion Concerns: EPA Issues Long-Awaited Final Guidelines,"
Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert
(June 29, 2015).
Contacts: Kevin C. Mayer, Kirsten L. Nathanson, Jennifer A. Giblin, Carolyn W. Wagner
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"EPA's Coal Ash Rule: New Risks and 10 Key Points for Corporate Counsel,"
Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert
(April 17, 2015).
Contacts: Kirsten L. Nathanson, Clifford J. Zatz, Jennifer A. Giblin