Michael Meloy has more than 35 years of experience in the environmental arena. He brings both a legal and engineering background to bear in representing a wide array of clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to closely held corporations, partnerships, municipalities, and citizens groups in environmental litigation, regulatory compliance, and transactional matters. Michael has provided regulatory assistance and advice to businesses in connection with all of the major environmental regulatory programs, handled the environmental aspects of complex real estate and corporate transactions, been actively involved in numerous redevelopment and remediation projects around the world, handled environmental litigation in both the federal and state courts and before administrative tribunals, and helped design and implement environmental auditing and compliance management programs. He has been heavily involved in issues related to natural gas exploration and development in the Marcellus Shale formation.

Professional Highlights

• Negotiating and drafting environmental components of agreements of sale, corporate transactional agreements, leases, indemnification agreements, and financing documents for real estate and corporate transactions, and coordinating and implementing environmental due diligence;
• Representing buyers and sellers of environmentally impaired properties, including petroleum refineries, heavy industrial facilities, waste handling facilities, railroad facilities, paper manufacturing facilities, and chemical manufacturing facilities;
• Managing environmental investigation, remediation, and compliance activities at industrial facilities in North America, South America, Europe, and the Middle East for a large multinational corporation;
• Developing and implementing corporate compliance and auditing programs, including procedures to protect the confidentiality of audit reports;
• Handling litigation before federal and state courts involving governmental enforcement actions, permitting of facilities, citizen suits, environmental common law claims, promulgation of regulations, and cost recovery and allocation actions under Superfund, including appeals before the United States Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the Third Circuit;
• Handling administrative appeals of permits, final agency actions, and civil penalty assessments before the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board;
• Challenging federal and state actions under the National Environmental Policy Act;
• Handling matters involving agricultural operations and agricultural preservation programs, including litigation before the Agricultural Lands Condemnation Approval Board;
• advising businesses regarding financial disclosure of environmental liabilities, including requirements imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission;
• Assisting in emergency response actions arising out of accidents, train derailments, and unplanned releases of regulated substances;
• Drafting legislation and assisting clients and trade associations in commenting on federal and state environmental regulations and guidance documents; and
• Representing clients and trade associations in connection with a broad spectrum of issues relating to the exploration and development of natural gas reserves in the Marcellus Shale formation.

Michael is a Fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers.  He has spoken on numerous occasions regarding a wide range of environmental matters and authored An Overview of Nutrient Management Requirements in Pennsylvania, 10 Penn St. Envtl. L. Rev. 249 (2002), and Disclosure of Environmental Liability in SEC Filings, Financial Statements, and Debt Instruments, 5 Vill. Envtl. L.J. 315 (1994).  Michael serves as the vice-chair of the Pennsylvania Cleanup Standards Scientific Advisory Board for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and chairs the Solid Waste Advisory Committee for the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry.   He was a member of the Advisory Council for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Delaware from 2006 to 2017.  Michael has been listed in Chambers USA – America’s Leading Lawyers for Business since 2005 and in Best Lawyers® in America since 2006.  He was selected in 2013 by Best Lawyers® in America as the Philadelphia Environmental Law Lawyer of the Year.

Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox LLP

The firm’s professionals are involved professionally and personally in vital roles in many environmental, energy, and community organizations.They are also frequent lecturers and course planners for educational programs for clients and the legal community.

From its founding Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox (MGKF) has embraced a core set of principles: providing high quality legal services cost-effectively; understanding our clients’ businesses; handling complex, cutting edge matters, regionally, nationally and internationally; creating a professional, collegial work environment; holding ourselves to high ethical standards; and combining our legal and technical services in a multi-disciplinary approach. All of these principles aim towards our singular goal: exceptional client service.

Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox strives to be the premiere environmental, energy and land use law and litigation firm, providing top-quality and cost-effective services to our clients.