David Rieser has more than three decades of experience advising clients in all areas of environmental law, including legislative, regulatory, compliance and law enforcement matters, corporate, commercial and real estate transactions, governmental and private cost-recovery actions, environmental insurance coverage, and remediation of contaminated sites. Mr. Rieser serves Fortune 100 and mid-sized companies operating in a broad range of industries, including power generation, chemicals, petroleum, steel, food and consumer products, financial services, and waste management.
In the legislative and regulatory arena, Mr. Rieser has represented trade associations, industry groups, and individual companies in numerous matters involving the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA). He also represented power generating companies in permitting and administrative proceedings, and prepared responses to agency requests for information regarding Clean Air Act (CAA) issues.
Mr. Rieser has served as a voice for clients in drafting and negotiating regulations in Illinois, won site-specific regulatory relief from the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB), negotiated federal corrective action orders for hazardous waste facilities under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), served as common counsel for potentially responsible parties in actions under the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), and obtained no further remediation letters (NFR) under the Illinois Site remediation Program (SRP) for a number of developer and industrial clients with contaminated properties. Mr. Rieser also represents clients in matters involving the Chicago Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), including enforcement issues and lease negotiations.
Mr. Rieser regularly counsels buyers and sellers of commercial and industrial property and businesses as well as their lenders on the assessment and allocation of environmental risks of the transactions, including acquisitions and dispositions of assets valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Recent transactions have involved assets located in Europe and the United States, and include deals for contaminated and other properties requiring environmental remediation.
An experienced litigator, Mr. Rieser has argued cases in federal and state courts, including a recent victory in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in which he represented a coalition seeking to preserve commercial navigation in the Chicago waterways. Other matters have included cost recovery and enforcement actions.
