Harry Weiss

Harry Weiss is a partner in the Litigation Department and a member of the Environmental, Energy and Project Finance, and Zoning and Land Use Groups, and the Climate Change and Sustainability Initiative. He concentrates his practice on environmental litigation in state and federal courts, and before regulatory agencies such as the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Public Utility Commission. Most recently, he has served as counsel for the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority in the Delaware River Main Channel Deepening dispute.

Mr. Weiss also works closely with the firm’s project finance, development, and land-use practices and, as a result, has become active in the oil and gas leasing bar, in connection with the Marcellus Shale development in Pennsylvania.

Before entering law school, Mr. Weiss was general manager of Lakewood Oil Company, Inc., in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.

Representative Development Projects

• Serves as Environmental Counsel to Northern Wayne (County) Property Owner's Alliance, a group seeking to lease oil and gas rights to approximately 80,000 acres in the heart of the Marcellus Shale region
• Served as Environmental Counsel to operator of gas pipeline in Northwest Pennsylvania during its acquisition of additional pipeline assets in the Commonwealth
• Served as Environmental Counsel to the Philadelphia Phillies during the ball club's development of its state-of-the-art ballpark on former industrial property
• Serves as Environmental Counsel to a national retailer developing stores in New Jersey and Pennsylvania; advised client on environmental due diligence during property acquisition phase, and on brownfield site development issues
• Served as Environmental Counsel to developer of build-to-suit big-box warehouse complexes (in excess of one million square feet) on brownfield and other contaminated sites
• Serves as Environmental Counsel to two Hope VI developers engaged in building residential developments in urban infill areas

Representative Litigation Experience

• Defending the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority in litigation brought by New Jersey, Delaware, and several environmental advocacy groups attempting to sidetrack the United States' $300 million plan to deepen the Main Shipping Channel in the Delaware River
• Defending a Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, school district against allegations that storm water discharges during construction of its new high school damaged neighboring properties
• Representing a hydroelectric generating company seeking to abandon its Certificate of Public Convenience over the objections of Amtrak in proceedings before the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission
• Defended a global packaging company against natural resource damage claims at multiple New Jersey locations brought by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
• Represented the Borough of Stone Harbor, New Jersey, in litigation against the United States under the Endangered Species Act
• Defended a retail development client in New Jersey against a citizen suit alleging multiple violations of construction storm water control requirements and related state and federal law
• Served as co-counsel in multijurisdictional (Connecticut Federal Court and New York and Florida State Courts) fraud and breach of contract lawsuit arising out of the transfer of all of the assets of an aircraft parts fabricator
• Represented a number of clients in Superfund site remediation contexts in New Jersey and Pennsylvania
• Defended the P.H. Glatfelter Co. in Wisconsin in a citizen suit alleging that the recycling project on alleged public-trust property constituted impermissible public-trust use

Professional Activities

American Bar Association
Public-Interest Vice Chair, Section of Energy and Environmental Resources, Permanent Committee on Environmental Transactions and Brownfields

Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Advisory Committee

Recognition & Accomplishments

Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, environmental law, 2008-2010

Publications

Author, chapter on brownfield redevelopment in Pennsylvania for the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry's Environmental Handbook

Speaking Engagements

Frequent speaker and writer on brownfield redevelopment. Recent engagements include:

"Preparing for the Turnaround: Preserving Land-Use Entitlements in a Challenging Market," Ballard Spahr seminar, June 16, 2010

Board Memberships

Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, past Chair, Board of Trustees; Center is Philadelphia-based and considered the nation's leading urban environmental education center

Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law (J.D. 1990, with honors)

Pennsylvania State University (B.A. 1984, with honors)

New Jersey 1990

Pennsylvania 1990