Ed Roggenkamp is an environmental attorney with over a decade of experience resolving complex litigation and regulatory matters. In his litigation practice, Ed uses his skills as a former professional actor and teacher to help his clients in court by crafting a compelling story for the judge or jury and explaining complex technical concepts so that they are easy to understand. His litigation practice has included challenges to environmental impact reviews for infrastructure projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and its state equivalents, cases seeking recovery of remediation costs under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and related state statutes and common-law torts, toxic tort claims, and enforcement actions and citizen suits under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and other environmental statutes. Ed has been lead counsel on CERCLA cases through summary judgment, and has deep experience with all aspects of discovery, including work with expert witnesses, taking and defending depositions, motion practice, and settlement negotiations.
Ed advises project developers and financing parties on siting and permitting requirements for infrastructure and energy projects, including both renewable and traditional electricity generation, and has advised a renewable industry trade association on the application of NEPA, the Endangered Species Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act to offshore wind development. Ed advises clients on the environmental aspects of corporate transactions and project development, such as pre-purchase environmental due diligence (Phase I/Phase II reports), indemnity provisions, representations and warranties relating to environmental matters, brownfield redevelopment, and regulatory compliance. He has advised on numerous transactions involving the energy sector, including power purchase agreements for utility-scale solar, purchases and sales of fossil-fuel-fired power plants, wind farms, and proposed offshore wind developments on the East Coast, and NEPA review and protected species mitigation measures for electric transmission lines. Ed’s extensive litigation experience helps him to advise clients on ways to reduce litigation risk during the siting and permitting phase of project development. His government service includes advising on NEPA and National Historic Preservation Act compliance for clean energy and infrastructure projects, including electric transmission lines, industrial redevelopment projects, and hydroelectric generation incentives.
Ed has worked extensively with technical and scientific experts in both litigation and development work. In the litigation context, this has focused on the remediation of real estate contaminated by historic industrial operations. He has experience with the remediation of chlorinated solvents, metals, petroleum products, and other contaminants of concern, and with the remediation of manufactured gas plants, municipal landfills, petroleum storage sites, mine tailings, and industrial sites in various sectors including automobiles, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and dyes. In the litigation context, this has included both affirmative and defensive work with environmental experts such as engineers and toxicologists, and non-environmental experts such as property appraisers and commercial leasing experts.
Outside of litigation, Ed has experience in NEPA review for electric transmission lines and offshore wind farms, and has also advised on best practices for aligning the environmental impact review process with the requirements of NEPA in order to minimize litigation risk and public opposition. He has also worked alongside environmental engineers to guide the remediation of contaminated real estate, in order to help his clients seeking minimize health risks and remediation costs, avoid liability, comply with state brownfield cleanup program requirements, proactively take steps to increase the likelihood of recovering costs from insurers and other liable parties.
Ed has presented regularly on a wide variety of environmental and energy law issues, and spent several years as the primary editor of the climate change and Clean Air Act section of a legal treatise on environmental enforcement.
Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig, Ed served as an attorney-advisor for the Office of the Assistant General Counsel for Environment at the U.S. Department of Energy.
Concentrations
•Energy and infrastructure projects, including due diligence, permitting, and NEPA review
•Renewable energy and transmission
•Electrical generation facilities (power plant and transmission line permitting)
•Climate change regulation and policy
•Environmental remediation projects
•Brownfield redevelopment
•Superfund and contamination
•Environmental and toxic tort litigation
•Real estate and corporate transactions and due diligence
•Negotiations with local, state, and federal environmental regulators
Judicial Clerkships
•Hon. Michael H. Dolinger, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 2010-2011
Recognition & Leadership
Awards & Accolades
•Listed, The Best Lawyers in America, 'Ones to Watch'
•Environmental Law, 2021-2024
•Land Use/Zoning Law, 2021-2023
•Litigation - Environmental, 2024
•Selected, Chesapeake Legal Alliance, “Top 5 Volunteers,” 2022
•Listed, The Legal 500 United States, Industry Focus - Energy - Renewable/Alternative Power, 2020-2021
