Wendy A. Marsh

Wendy A. Marsh is Chair of the Environmental and Land Use Planning Department. She concentrates her practice on representing clients to manage their business risks and opportunities in accordance with environmental laws at both the state and federal level.

Ms. Marsh advises clients on environmental and safety compliance, including permitting, compliance audits and defending clients in enforcement actions commenced by regulatory agencies, including interactions with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and local environmental authorities. She has extensive experience in assisting clients through due diligence reviews associated with transactions, both small and large, as well as refinancing activities, including developing creative solutions to address unknown environmental liabilities uncovered during such due diligence activities.

Ms. Marsh routinely assists clients, boards and developers through the myriad of remediation programs, including the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act (CERCLA, or Superfund Program), Inactive Hazardous Waste Program (State Superfund Program), New York State Spills Program, Brownfield Cleanup Program and Voluntary Cleanup Program. She also represents clients in pursuing and defending litigation commenced in federal and state courts seeking recovery of remediation costs expended under many of these programs.

In addition, Ms. Marsh represents clients on land use and right-to-build matters, such as zoning, planning and historic preservation laws. She assists municipal boards, counties and developers on compliance matters relating to applicable zoning laws, as well as compliance with the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) and federal, state and local historic preservation laws. With years of experience to this uniquely local area of law, Ms. Marsh is often retained to steer complex projects to achieve the client’s goals in a timely manner, often without the need for litigation. These projects include applications for rezoning, controversial development projects, large-scale renewable energy including wind and solar projects. Ms. Marsh routinely defends such decisions in state court.