Environmental Law

Counseling clients on environmental compliance, permitting, remediation, and litigation
Our Approach

We guide municipalities and private parties through all aspects of State and Federal environmental investigation and remediation processes. This includes negotiation of complex consent decrees and administrative orders, coordinating remediation in a timely and cost-efficient manner, and litigating multi-party cost recovery actions. We also assist our clients through the application process for available tax credits under the NYS Brownfield Cleanup Program. Our attorneys work with our clients’ engineers and environmental consultants to obtain permits from NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, NYC Department of Environmental Protection, United States Army Corps of Engineers, and other regulatory agencies.

What We Do

  • CERCLA and NYS Navigation Law
  • Voluntary cleanup programs
  • Negotiated cleanup agreements
  • Brownfield development
  • Regulatory compliance
  • Superfund litigation
  • Transactional due diligence
  • Administrative proceedings
  • Civil and criminal enforcement actions
  • Securing natural resource, wetland, stormwater, and other permits
  • Obtaining solid waste management and mined land reclamation permits
Recent News
David Cooper and Lee J. Lefkowitz successfully counseled a client through the final stages of approving the Continental Commons development project in Fishkill. Zarin & Steinmetz advised the client in securing the last of its municipal land use approvals (site plan and subdivision) and in completing all post-approval obligations required by the Town of Fishkill....
Zarin & Steinmetz attorney Lee J. Lefkowitz obtained a significant win for a developer building a 16-unit multifamily housing project in Orange County. The lawsuit—Garden Housing v. Noam Estates, No. EF003060-2025—sought to block construction of the approved project through claims of trespass and a request for a preliminary injunction. The plaintiff, a neighboring property owner,...
On June 9, 2025, Michael Zarin and Lee Lefkowitz filed their brief in Hudson View Park Company v. Town of Fishkill before the New York State Court of Appeals—New York’s highest court. Z&S’s appeal arrives at a pivotal moment in the state’s intensifying housing crisis and poses key questions about a builder’s pursuit of residential...