Mary Ellen Ternes Shareholder

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Biography

Mary Ellen Ternes’ practice encompasses all facets of environmental law, including regulatory, enforcement, and transactional matters, as well as federal and state litigation.  Her experience and expertise includes State and Federal compliance, enforcement, administrative hearings and litigation involving the Clean Air Act and air regulation, hazardous and solid waste regulation, Clean Water Act and discharge regulation including wetlands and stormwater issues, Safe Drinking Water Act and water quality protection regulation as well as groundwater and surface water use permitting, emergency planning, voluntary cleanups, Brownfields, Superfund, NEPA, underground storage tank regulation, “All Appropriate Inquiry” and other due diligence issues.  Through her leadership roles in the American Bar Association, Mary Ellen is also involved in producing continuing legal education on these issues, as well as developing environmental policy regarding environmental issues arising from use of nanotechnology, as well as the developing areas of Homeland Security and infrastructure preservation through the occurrence of catastrophic events such as Hurricane Katrina and global pandemics.

Prior to entering law school, Mary Ellen worked as a chemical engineer for the Environmental Protection Agency in Superfund emergency response/site characterization and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) incinerator permitting, and then as an environmental project officer for a commercial hazardous waste incineration company overseeing RCRA, Toxic Substances Control Act and Clean Air Act permitting and compliance.   During law school, she participated in the EPA Office of General Counsel summer honors program in the Air and Radiation Division.

Mary Ellen is a frequent speaker and author on environmental topics, particularly regulatory developments, permitting and enforcement in air, hazardous waste, water and property development, and utilizes her technical experience in producing the more technical CLE such as the Science for Lawyers teleconference/webcast series, in which she moderated “Air Quality and Pollution Control.”  She has contributed to numerous publications, including ABA Clean Air Act Handbook, Chapter 6, New Source Review, incorporating the December 31, 2002, NSR final rule (2004); “ABA SEER’s Year in Review,” Air Quality Report, 1996 through 2002; “Environmental Compliance Audits: The Arkansas Experience,” UALR Law Journal (October 1998); “Negotiating Title V Operating Permits” A View from the Provinces,” Natural Resources & Environment (Fall 1998); “The Arkansas Air Pollution Control Program: Past, Present and Future,” Arkansas Law Review (August 1998); “Note, Environmental Law – Retroactive Vacature of the Mixed  and Derived-From Rules under RCRA United States v. Goodner Bros. Aircraft, Inc., 966 F.2d 280 (8th Cir. 1992),” UALR Law Journal (1993).

In 2007, her comprehensive publication entitled "Basic Practical in Nanotechnology"  won a competitive, peer reviewed "Best Paper Award" at the American Bar Association's Section of Environment, Energy and Resources fall meeting.

Since its debut in 2004, the International Who's Who of Environment Lawyers has named Mary Ellen to its prestigious list of pre-eminent environmental lawyers worldwide each year.  Her achievements in the area of environmental law have also earned her inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America.

Representative Experience Provides counsel to applicants for air, hazardous waste, and water/stormwater, wetlands permits and NEPA review. Representation of parties to environmental real estate transactions and corporate acquisitions. Representation of affected parties in state and federal enforcement actions, rulemaking, and  adjudicatory proceedings pursuant to state and federal air, hazardous waste, solid waste, water/stormwater, underground storage tank, wetlands and voluntary remediation regulatory programs. Representative clients include:    Metal fabrication and coatings facilities     Weapons destruction contractors for the Department of the Army    Ethanol manufacturing plants    Oil and natural gas exploration sites    Oil field services facilities    Construction sites    Concentrated animal feeding operations    Hazardous waste fuel waste blenders    Hazardous waste combusting cement kilns and incinerators    Oil and other hazardous material recyclers    Power plants    Steel mills    Petroleum marketers, distributors and bulk storage plants    Developers of contaminated property under voluntary cleanup        regulations and Brownfields    PRP entities for Superfund sites (remediation plan development        and liability allocation)    Automobile, pulp and paper, specialty chemical,        pharmaceutical, pesticide, and fertilizer manufacturers    Wood treaters    Metal, solid waste, and chemical recycling facilities    Quarry operations and gravel mills    Demolition contractors    Hospitals    Bakeries    Real estate developments    Convenience stores    Underground storage tank owners and operators    Wind turbine manufacturers    Waste tire recyclers

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