Environmental

Brian Israel, a partner in Arnold & Porter LLP's Washington DC, office, specializes in environmental litigation and counseling. Mr. Israel represents corporations in matters involving contaminated properties, including toxic tort lawsuits and Natural Resource Damages (NRD) claims. In addition, Mr. Israel has represented both US and foreign corporations in litigation related to workplace safety, product liability and regulatory compliance. Mr. Israel's counseling practice focuses on environmental issues in large corporate transactions, brownfields redevelopment and environmental management systems.

Prior to joining Arnold & Porter, Mr. Israel was an Honors Trial Attorney in the Environmental Enforcement Section of the US Department of Justice (DOJ). While at the DOJ, Mr. Israel handled several high-profile environmental cases, including a large Natural Resource Damages claim related to the marine impacts of dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) disposal. In 1998, Mr. Israel was awarded the Distinguished Service Award for his accomplishments in a Clean Air Act jury trial. He also litigated claims on behalf of the US Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).

Mr. Israel has spoken and written extensively about environmental law issues. He is the author of the Natural Resource Damages chapter in the Environmental Law Practice Guide (Gerrard, ed.), which includes a comprehensive, 50-state guide of NRD programs. Since 2000, Mr. Israel has been an instructor at the Environmental Law Institute "Boot Camp." He has also written several articles regarding corporate liability issues. Mr. Israel's student note, "An Environmental Justice Critique of Risk Assessment," is published in the NYU Environmental Law Journal.

Mr. Israel clerked for the Honorable Julia Smith Gibbons, Chief Judge of the United States District Court, Western District of Tennessee (1995-1996).

Environmental Representative Matters

• Lead counsel for BP in NRD matters relating to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, overseeing all legal aspects of defense, including a large team of lawyers and experts. Mr. Israel has been involved in negotiations with the US Department of Justice, Department of Interior, NOAA, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Texas.
• Lead counsel to Honeywell International for its Syracuse portfolio, including Onondaga Lake, one of the largest lake Superfund sites in the United States. Mr. Israel represents the company in all aspects of its environmental activities in Syracuse including natural resource damage claims being asserted by federal and state trustees.
• Lead counsel to CBS for natural resource damages claims at the Palmerton Zinc Superfund Site near the Appalachian Trail in Palmerton, Pennsylvania. At this site, the state and federal trustees have alleged massive deforestation resulting from historic zinc smelting operations. Mr. Israel has led the company's defense of the claim including extensive negotiations with the trustees in 2007. 
• In 2006-2007, Mr. Israel represented Motorola in a natural resource damages case in Puerto Rico.
• While at the US Department of Justice, Mr. Israel was one of the lead government lawyers prosecuting the Montrose DDT litigation which alleged massive natural resource damages off the coast of the Palos Verdes shelf.