Glenn L. Unterberger

Litigation, Environment and Natural Resources, Climate Change and Sustainability, Energy and Project Finance, Mergers and Acquisitions/Private Equity, Military Installation Finance, P3/Infrastructure

Glenn L. Unterberger is a partner in the Litigation Department, Practice Leader of the Environment and Natural Resources Group, and a member of the Energy and Project Finance, Mergers and Acquisitions/Private Equity, Military Installation Finance, and P3/Infrastructure Groups and the Climate Change and Sustainability Initiative.

Mr. Unterberger's present practice includes representing clients before federal and state courts and administrative agencies on a full spectrum of environmental issues. He advises and represents clients at both a regional and national level on environmental issues arising in permitting, compliance activities, and business and real estate transactions generally, including transactions involving the reuse of federal facilities.

Mr. Unterberger joined the firm's Environmental Group in 1990, after working for more than a dozen years as an enforcement attorney with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. In his tenure at the EPA, Mr. Unterberger served as national legal director for the agency's water enforcement and hazardous waste enforcement programs. Since that time, Mr. Unterberger has represented electric generators, refiners, large industrial facilities, renewable energy projects, and other clients enmeshed in challenges, as well as major air-quality and other environmental permits or enforcement claims from regulators or private parties.

Representative Matters

• Successfully defended an air-quality permit issued to a waste coal-fired power plant against a third-party challenge in an administrative hearing and successive appeals
• Represented a public housing agency in successfully defending a third-party challenge (and appeals up to the U.S. Supreme Court) to a housing revitalization project based on allegations of failure to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act
• Advises and represents a variety of clients on control technology, air quality impact, and procedural requirements applicable in applying for, negotiating, and defending air-quality permits
• Advises and represents clients in the defense and resolution of enforcement investigations and claims under federal and state clean air laws, including claims relating to new source review permitting and hazardous air pollutant controls
• Advises and represents developers and financial institutions on a full range of environmental permitting, compliance, and remediation matters leading up to and subsequent energy, industrial, and commercial project completion
• Advises and represents clients in drafting, negotiating, financing, and environmentally insuring projects for redeveloping brownfields and other contaminated urban, industrialized properties
• Advises clients on greenhouse gas management, permitting, and reduction strategies, and potential business opportunities
• Assists clients in the development of corporate environmental programs, practices, and strategies to manage liability risks effectively
  

Professional Activities

Federal Bar Association
Past Vice Chair, Environment Committee

Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry
Co-Chair (also testifies on behalf of), Air Quality Work Group; member, Environmental Affairs Committee; Past Co-Chair, Climate Change Subcommittee

Recognition & Accomplishments

Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, environmental law, 2006-2011

The Best Lawyers in America, environmental law, 2008-2012

Publications

"Primer on Air Pollution Control Issues, Including Permitting and Climate Change," chapter in 2008/2009 Guidebook on Complying with Pennsylvania Environmental Laws and Regulations, published by Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry

"Litigation Challenging Coal Plants, One Permit at a Time," Natural Resources and Environment, 30, published by American Bar Association, Section of Environment, Energy and Resources, Spring 2008

"Primer on Air Pollution Control Issues, Including Permitting," chapter in 2005/2006 Guidebook on Complying with Pennsylvania Environmental Laws and Regulations, published by Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry

Speaking Engagements

Quarterly presenter as co-chair of the Air Quality and Climate Change Work Groups to the membership of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry's Environmental Affairs Committee

Contributor to panels and publications sponsored by the American Bar Association's Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, the Pennsylvania Bar Association Environmental Section, and other environmental law organizations and trade journals

"Coal-Fired Power Plants and the Challenge from Climate Change," Annual Environmental Law Forum, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, April 2008

"Overview of Climate Change and Developing Corporate Objectives," Annual Environmental Regulations and Technologies Conference, Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, April 2008

"Litigation Over Climate Change Is Already Affecting Business Strategies," Arizona Science Center, February 2008

"Drivers on Climate Change, Drivers on Renewable Energy," Annual Environmental Conference, Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, April 2007

"A New Minefield for Coal: Challenges to Obtaining Air Quality Permits for New Coal-Fired Poser Plants," Annual Environmental Law Forum, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, April 2007

"Sustainability: Corporate Accountability for the New Millenium," Business Lawyers' Institute, November 2006

Community Activities

Mr. Unterberger is active within his community and synagogue, serving on the Board of Directors of the Temple Adath Israel since 1998 and as the temple's president for two years. He is also a member of the Philadelphia-area Cabinet of the Jewish Theological Seminary and was honored with the Shin Award for outstanding service to his community and synagogue in 2007.

Georgetown University Law Center (J.D. 1977)

University of Pennsylvania (B.A. 1974)

District of Columbia

Maryland

Pennsylvania