Katherine Meek assists clients with environmental litigation and enforcement actions involving permitting, reporting, compliance, and liability issues.
Her experience covers a wide range of matters before federal agencies including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE). She also assists with cases before myriad state and local agencies in California, including the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR), California Regional Water Quality Control Boards (RWQCBs), the California Air Resources Board (CARB), and the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD).
Katherine has specific experience with litigation, trial preparation, and compliance matters involving the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund), the Hazardous Substances Account Act (HSAA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). She also helps clients evaluate the extent of environmental exposures and whether they face liability as potentially responsible parties for releases of chemicals of concern in air, water, soil, and other environmental media. Katherine liaises on behalf of client with technical consultants on a variety of legal issues, including to develop estimates of potential site remediation costs and on technical reports/work plans submitted to the RWQCBs and the DTSC to ensure regulatory compliance by potentially responsible parties. She also helps clients negotiate and manage their obligations under consent decrees and their financial obligations for past and future oversight costs.
[read-more]
Katherine also supports clients navigating New York State’s Green Amendment (Art. 1, §19 N.Y. Const.) and California laws including:
- Climate Disclosure (SB 253 and SB 261)
- Proposition 65
- Truth in Labeling for Recyclable Materials (SB 343)
- Responsible Battery Recycling Act (AB 2440)
- California's Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
Katherine's understanding of environmental issues is enhanced by her previous work as a research fellow for the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where she focused on water rights and land use issues. Her work included drafting legal and technical sections of an EPA policy guide on enhanced aquifer recharge.