Steven A. Burns

I help electric utilities and businesses manage their waste and chemical obligations, including coal ash, and respond to regulation and legal risk. Coal ash compliance is a particular challenge right now, with the threat of citizen suits, evolving guidance from EPA, highly technical matters of geology and engineering, and tremendous challenges of logistics and public relations. I also help our clients with property-related issues, including contamination response under RCRA and CERCLA, land use issues such as wetlands permitting and threatened and endangered species, and due diligence on potential acquisitions of land and facilities.

New developments continue to unfold, as always. Many clients are working actively to think through how best to approach issues of justice and equity in the environmental space and more broadly. Climate change is driving major changes in how we think about how we produce, deliver, and store energy. And of course, PFAS regulation and remediation promise to keep environmental practitioners busy for years to come.

Waterway issues are another constant. We have a waterway infrastructure that provides very fuel-efficient transportation for bulk goods and containers, but many inland waterways are severely underfunded and in need of significant improvements. Beyond the well-known wetland program under Clean Water Act Section 404, the Corps also administers a variety of other programs for projects that touch Corps projects or navigable waterways.

My 10 years in Washington, D.C. I worked in the U.S. Senate while attending law school in the evenings, and then I was an associate at an energy and environmental law firm that was actively engaged in lobbying and regulatory matters. That experience gave me a sense of how to approach agencies or even the legislature with the clients’ interests. Government programs can seem arbitrary, but they are coming from a specific legal, policy, and political context. When you understand that, you can plan better on the front end and respond more effectively when the unexpected happens.

I am grateful to be a member of Balch’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council. It is incredibly important to me personally that we as a firm and the larger legal industry promote outstanding talent from diverse communities. We want everyone to feel like they can come here, find all the support and tools they need, build friendships, and have a rewarding career. There’s plenty of work to do, but I am excited to be a part of the effort.

As far as environmental law, the best part of my job is when I get to spend time with the people who are out there doing things and building things for their companies and our economy. It always helps me understand the task better when I know where my clients are coming from, both personally and from a business perspective. Also, I spend a lot of time behind a desk, in meetings or on the phone, so any day I need a hard hat for a field visit is a good day. It means I’m outside, and I’m seeing something new.