Amy L. Edwards is a Partner in the Public Policy and Regulation Group, where she serves as co-chair for the firm's national Environment Team as well as its Military Installation Redevelopment Team. Ms. Edwards has been practicing environmental and energy law for more than 25 years. She routinely counsels developers, lenders and corporations about effective strategies for structuring real estate and corporate transactions to minimize environmental and financial risk. Ms. Edwards represents local governments, developers, and financial institutions on base closure and privatization of military housing issues. She has also represented companies in litigation and enforcement proceedings. Ms. Edwards was an observer/advisor to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws while it developed a model Uniform Environmental Covenants Act.
Ms. Edwards has represented real estate developers, corporations and financial institutions on environmental issues associated with real estate, including environmental site assessments, environmental insurance, guaranteed fixed price remediation options, environmental indemnification agreements, cleanup requirements (including the use of engineering and institutional controls), vapor intrusion and cost recovery issues. She has provided extensive risk management advice on protective risk-based cleanups at brownfields sites being reused for commercial or residential purposes, including the following:
- development of an institutional controls strategy for a former synthetic rubber manufacturing site in southern California where the land is now owned by multiple property owners
- restrictions that would allow a former manufactured gas site in Washington, D.C., to support a hotel as well as office uses
- institutional controls that would permit use of day care center in a government office building in Alexandria, VA, on a contaminated site undergoing cleanup through the state voluntary cleanup program
- restrictions that would permit a hotel to be built on a shopping center site in Arlington, VA, that had residual dry cleaning contamination
- land use restrictions and periodic certification requirements for an office building site in New Jersey
- advice regarding land use restrictions at several former BRAC sites, including McClellan Air Force Base (AFB), Alameda Naval Yard, David Taylor Research Center, and Norton AFB
Ms. Edwards was the lead counsel for a real estate developer in litigation against the Department of the Army concerning damages resulting from burial of chemical and high explosive munitions on privately-owned land in Washington, D.C., which resulted in a multi-million dollar settlement in favor of her client. She has participated on numerous Steering Committees for various Superfund sites; conducted negotiations over the appropriate cleanup of a former chromium manufacturing facility in Baltimore under the RCRA Corrective Action program; represented property owners in enforcement actions involving asbestos, PCBs and lead-based paint in residential and commercial real estate; and served as special environmental counsel to a trade association.
Ms. Edwards is a frequent author and lecturer on brownfields and related environmental topics.