Practice Areas

Administrative Law
Air Quality Regulation
Appellate Practice
Business Expansion and Relocation
Climate Change
Coastal Regulation
Due Diligence / Regulatory Compliance Counseling
Endangered and Threatened Species Protection
Energy Facilities Siting and Licensing
Everglades Restoration
Groundwater Regulation / Real Property Contamination
Land Use and Growth Management
Legislative
Litigation
Local Government and Community Development Districts
Oil and Gas
Public Procurement and Bid Protests
Real Estate
Solid and Hazardous Waste
State and Local Government Taxation
Submerged Lands
Water and Wastewater Utility Regulation
Water Resources
Water Use / Consumptive Use Permitting
Wetland Regulation and Mitigation Banking

Air Quality Regulation 

Attorneys with Hopping Green and Sams, P.A., have extensive experience in air quality rulemaking, permitting, and enforcement proceedings in Florida, and have represented clients in this area for almost three decades. Some of our attorneys have followed air quality issues in Florida since the first significant environmental legislation in the 1960s. Our attorneys were involved in Florida's implementation of the federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970 and 1990, as well as other major federal initiatives since 2000, on behalf of the firm's utility and industrial clients, actively participating in both legislation and rulemaking at the state level. As permitting became more prevalent in the State starting in the 1970s, the firm's attorneys began a more active role in construction and operation permitting, and enforcement activities on behalf of clients. Our attorneys have participated and influenced almost all major air rulemakings in Florida, including the State's New Source Review (NSR) program (and recent NSR Reforms), the Title V air operation permit program, the minor source permitting program, State implementation Plan requirements (including sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and nitrogen oxides standards for power plants), nonattainment designations and resultant Reasonably Achievable Control Technology (RACT) requirements, the generic "Bubble Rule" for more flexible compliance options, the Acid Rain permit program, the Regional Haze program (including Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) requirements). the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) program (including an appeal to the U.S. D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR) program and, most recently, initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

This history and knowledge obtained through these opportunities have provided the firm's attorneys with significant experience in this complex and technical area of environmental law, and have allowed our practice in the air quality area to become one of the largest and most qualified in Florida. Currently, nine of our lawyers focus on air quality issues, representing a wide variety of clients. We represent the Florida Electric Power Coordinating Group, Inc., and the Florida Minerals and Chemistry Council, Inc., as well as many individual clients from the following industries: electric utility, chemical, pulp and paper, phosphate, steel manufacturing, boat manufacturing and coating, citrus, pharmaceutical, fragrance, and additional industrial sectors.

HGS attorneys work closely with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's air officials and attorneys on a daily basis, as well as with the staffs of the district and local programs throughout the State. The firm's contacts extend to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Atlanta and Washington, D.C., offices. Our attorneys have an excellent record of helping to shape policy and assist the firm's clients in obtaining timely permits that contain conditions no more stringent or burdensome than required by law. The firm's attorneys have had success in negotiating favorable outcomes in enforcement actions where threatened sanctions have been reduced substantially or retracted completely. 

The air regulatory field is complex and complicated, and the HGS attorneys practicing in this field assist industrial and commercial facilities with variety of issues. Their first goal of representing such clients is to ensure that they stay abreast of any new programs or changes to existing programs at the federal, state, and local levels. The firm's air attorneys often represent clients during federal and state rulemakings to ensure that their interests are taken into account during the rule-making process. These attorneys also assist in the review and analysis of air construction and operation permit applications, or application for permit revisions. HGS attorneys work with their clients and clients' consultants to ensure that the applications appropriately reflect the applicable laws and regulations. These attorneys also assist their clients in the review and analysis of draft and final permits to ensure that only legally appropriate conditions are included. For operating facilities, HGS attorneys often assist with compliance-related issues, answering questions and resolving issues with implementation of complex state and federal regulatory schemes. In rare situations where conflicts over a permit or compliance matter cannot be resolved through negotiations, they represent facilities in formal administrative proceeding, typically before the Division of Administrative Hearings. Regardless of the situation, they work closely with their clients and consultants to ensure that they successfully navigate their way through this complex regulatory field.


Practicing Attorneys : James S. Alves, Paula L. Cobb, Peter C. Cunningham, William H. Green, Robert A. Manning, Gary V. Perko, Douglas S. Roberts, Susan L. Stephens and Angela Morrison Uhland.