- Practice Overview
- Airports Practice
- Brownfields
- Conservation Easements
- Endangered Species and Wetlands
- Environmental Compliance and Cleanup
- Environmental Impact Reviews
- Land Use and Zoning
- Litigation
- Local Government Law
- Military Base Closure and Redevelopment
- Project Development
- Public Lands
- Public Utilities
- Rail and Transit
- Real Estate
- Surface Use Agreements
- Wind Power and Alternative Energy
- Transportation
Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell lawyers have represented both private sector and public sector clients promoting or opposing development projects that have required federal authorization or approval under the Endangered Species Act and the federal statutory and regulatory protections for wetlands and similar protected areas. Through this experience, the firm has gained familiarity with the federal agencies responsible for implementing the statutory schemes, including the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency and their state counterparts.
Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell has successfully negotiated with federal and state agencies to strike the appropriate balance between protecting wildlife and burdens on development projects.
The firm lawyers have represented private developers in connection with a variety of projects involving endangered species issues. For example, the firm's lawyers represented the developer on federal land use and environmental approvals for a major planned unit development in southern California. The development directly affected National Park lands, required federal permitting, and could have affected endangered plant and animal species. The firm's lawyers also have counseled a major truck frame manufacturer on the permitting and entitlement issues associated with placement of a new facility in northern California. Because the property contained identified habitat for the Swainson's Hawk, a protected species under California law, the project involved negotiating a mitigation agreement with state agencies that allowed the project to go forward while still protecting hawk habitat.
In Colorado, the firm has represented private and public parties in the development of regional and site-specific Habitat Conservation Plans covering activities in possible habitat of the Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse. The activities covered include the development of public infrastructure, water development, trails, and commercial and residential development. The firm's lawyers worked closely with clients, consultants and the Fish and Wildlife Service to develop workable and certain development plans and mitigation requirements.
The firm's lawyers represented a special trust established to protect the endangered Whooping Crane in federal administrative litigation and in original jurisdiction litigation before the Supreme Court concerning the protection of designated critical habitat for that species and the effect of a hydroelectric project on river flows needed for that habitat. The firm's lawyers also worked for many years for a coalition of environmental organizations and a state in a successful effort to secure the nation's first federally ordered removal of an operating hydroelectric dam, designed to restore habitat in Maine's Kennebec River for endangered anadromous fish species. Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell lawyers regularly address endangered species issues that arise in highway, airport, water and other infrastructure projects.
Firm lawyers have been instrumental in litigating some of the defining cases under the Endangered Species Act. These cases have helped to define the parameters of the listing and critical habitat designation processes and standing under the citizen suit provision of the Act, as well as to develop the scope of the Fish and Wildlife Service's NEPA duties when taking action under the Endangered Species Act.
The protections afforded wetlands and other Waters of the United States provided in Section 404 of the Clean Water Act are important issues in the vast majority of public or private development projects. The firm's lawyers have worked closely with clients both proposing and opposing development projects on Section 404 issues. A careful and strategic approach to the requirements of Section 404 - and their interaction with other requirements such as NEPA or the Endangered Species Act - is critical to the success of many projects.
The firm's lawyers bring expertise and experience in dealing with Section 404 issues to all of the matters in which they are involved. They have addressed Section 404 permitting issues and interconnected NEPA and Endangered Species Act compliance issues associated with highway, airport, large dam, flood control, commercial, residential, and other projects nationwide. For example, the firm's lawyers advised a client on the implications of the proposed Two Forks Dam on the South Platte River in Colorado for the client's interests several hundred miles downstream in Nebraska. This project resulted in the only veto of a Section 404 permit issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in the history of Section 404. The firm's lawyers have also addressed the complicated interaction of Section 404 with NEPA and the Endangered Species Act in airport, flood control, and development projects in Washington, Colorado, Illinois, Arizona, Utah and Wyoming, and the interaction of Section 404 and local permitting schemes in several states, including Colorado.
Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell has successfully negotiated with federal and state agencies to strike the appropriate balance between protecting wildlife and burdens on development projects.
The firm lawyers have represented private developers in connection with a variety of projects involving endangered species issues. For example, the firm's lawyers represented the developer on federal land use and environmental approvals for a major planned unit development in southern California. The development directly affected National Park lands, required federal permitting, and could have affected endangered plant and animal species. The firm's lawyers also have counseled a major truck frame manufacturer on the permitting and entitlement issues associated with placement of a new facility in northern California. Because the property contained identified habitat for the Swainson's Hawk, a protected species under California law, the project involved negotiating a mitigation agreement with state agencies that allowed the project to go forward while still protecting hawk habitat.
In Colorado, the firm has represented private and public parties in the development of regional and site-specific Habitat Conservation Plans covering activities in possible habitat of the Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse. The activities covered include the development of public infrastructure, water development, trails, and commercial and residential development. The firm's lawyers worked closely with clients, consultants and the Fish and Wildlife Service to develop workable and certain development plans and mitigation requirements.
The firm's lawyers represented a special trust established to protect the endangered Whooping Crane in federal administrative litigation and in original jurisdiction litigation before the Supreme Court concerning the protection of designated critical habitat for that species and the effect of a hydroelectric project on river flows needed for that habitat. The firm's lawyers also worked for many years for a coalition of environmental organizations and a state in a successful effort to secure the nation's first federally ordered removal of an operating hydroelectric dam, designed to restore habitat in Maine's Kennebec River for endangered anadromous fish species. Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell lawyers regularly address endangered species issues that arise in highway, airport, water and other infrastructure projects.
Firm lawyers have been instrumental in litigating some of the defining cases under the Endangered Species Act. These cases have helped to define the parameters of the listing and critical habitat designation processes and standing under the citizen suit provision of the Act, as well as to develop the scope of the Fish and Wildlife Service's NEPA duties when taking action under the Endangered Species Act.
The protections afforded wetlands and other Waters of the United States provided in Section 404 of the Clean Water Act are important issues in the vast majority of public or private development projects. The firm's lawyers have worked closely with clients both proposing and opposing development projects on Section 404 issues. A careful and strategic approach to the requirements of Section 404 - and their interaction with other requirements such as NEPA or the Endangered Species Act - is critical to the success of many projects.
The firm's lawyers bring expertise and experience in dealing with Section 404 issues to all of the matters in which they are involved. They have addressed Section 404 permitting issues and interconnected NEPA and Endangered Species Act compliance issues associated with highway, airport, large dam, flood control, commercial, residential, and other projects nationwide. For example, the firm's lawyers advised a client on the implications of the proposed Two Forks Dam on the South Platte River in Colorado for the client's interests several hundred miles downstream in Nebraska. This project resulted in the only veto of a Section 404 permit issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in the history of Section 404. The firm's lawyers have also addressed the complicated interaction of Section 404 with NEPA and the Endangered Species Act in airport, flood control, and development projects in Washington, Colorado, Illinois, Arizona, Utah and Wyoming, and the interaction of Section 404 and local permitting schemes in several states, including Colorado.
