Who can help?

[mantis]

What types of professionals do you turn to in order to understand environmental permits and how to push them through? Environmental laws are overly complicated and full of legal jargon. I'm simply unable to figure it out.

 

[Eric]

You'll want to hire an environmental consultant who works in the area your project is located in and specializes in the types of permits you'll need. When I hear "environmental permitting" I think of two broad categories: Land use/water quality/sensitive species permits and environmental health/hazardous waste permits (i.e., brownfields and clean-up of contaminated sites). The consultant you hire will probably specialize in permitting across the spectrum of federal, state, and local requirements in one of these two categories.

I've worked in the public sector most of my career so don't really know how permit applicants find and hire their consultants. I think word of mouth plays a big role but these companies also all have websites and can be researched using Google/LinkedIn.

As I mentioned to @JoeT over on this thread, you might also check with permit office staff to see if they might be willing/able to give you any leads.

Good luck!

 

[Nomad]

Environmental consultants, lawyers specialized in environmental laws, and regulatory affairs specialists are the people you need to consult for understanding environmental permits. They will help you understand regulations, interpret legal language, and build strategy to get permits.