David Rieser has more than three decades of experience advising clients in all areas of environmental law, including legislative, regulatory, compliance, and law enforcement matters, corporate, commercial, and real estate transactions, governmental and private cost-recovery actions, environmental insurance coverage, and remediation of contaminated sites. David serves Fortune 100 and mid-sized companies operating in a broad range of industries, including power generation, chemicals, petroleum, steel, food and consumer products, financial services, and waste management.
In the legislative and regulatory arena, David has represented trade associations, industry groups, and individual companies in numerous matters involving the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA). He also represented power generating companies in permitting and administrative proceedings, and prepared responses to agency requests for information regarding Clean Air Act (CAA) issues.
David has served as a voice for clients in drafting and negotiating regulations in Illinois, won site-specific regulatory relief from the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB), negotiated federal corrective action orders for hazardous waste facilities under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), served as common counsel for potentially responsible parties in actions under the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), and obtained no further remediation letters (NFR) under the Illinois Site remediation Program (SRP) for a number of developer and industrial clients with contaminated properties. David also represents clients in matters involving the Chicago Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), including enforcement issues and lease negotiations.
David regularly counsels buyers and sellers of commercial and industrial property and businesses as well as their lenders on the assessment and allocation of environmental risks of the transactions, including acquisitions and dispositions of assets valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Recent transactions have involved assets located in Europe and the United States, as well as deals for contaminated and other properties requiring environmental remediation.
An experienced litigator, David has argued cases in federal and state courts, including a recent victory in the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in which he represented a coalition seeking to preserve commercial navigation in the Chicago waterways. Other matters have included cost recovery and enforcement actions.
David serves on the Illinois Site Remediation Advisory Committee, a stakeholder group that works with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency on the development of regulations for the remediation of contaminated sites. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Lake Michigan Section of the A&WMA, and was chairman of the local host committee for the A&WMA Annual Conference and Exhibition held in Chicago in 2013.
David serves as an adjunct professor in the Loyola University Chicago School of Law. He is regularly sought as a speaker before trade associations and industry groups, where he lectures on a broad range of environmental topics. Recent presentations have described current developments relating to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the use and protection of waterways and water resources, as well as wastewater discharges, climate change, EPA regulations, and carbon and other greenhouse gases.
Similarly, David is the author of numerous published articles, book chapters, and client alerts that analyze and discuss recent legislative, judicial, and regulatory trends. In these publications, David has helped clients and others better understand issues such as protection of trade secrets in greenhouse gas reporting, EPA waste rules involving biomass and other alternative fuels, Supreme Court and federal appellate court decisions, pharmaceutical waste management, brownfield remediation, ozone standards, coal ash rules, and environmental due diligence requirements.
- Recognized by The Legal 500 United States as a Recommended Lawyer for Environment: transactional, 2024
- Recognized by BTI Consulting Group as 2022 Client Service All-Star, Environmental Regulatory
- Recognized by Chambers USA for Environment: Mainly Transactional in Illinois, 2008-2024
- Named to Illinois Super Lawyers list ten times
- Listed as a Leading Lawyer in environmental law by the Leading Lawyers Network
- Received the Regulatory Affairs Award from the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois in 2009
- Received 2012 Perry Fisher Outstanding Service Award presented by the Lake Michigan Section of the Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA)
- Illinois Site Remediation Advisory Committee
- Chairman, Board of Directors of the Lake Michigan Section of the A&WMA
- Chairman, local host committee for the A&WMA Annual Conference and Exhibition held in Chicago in 2013
- 2024 Solar Farm Summit, Panel Discussions on Energy and Land Use for Renewable Facilities
- “PHASE Is: All Appropriate Inquiry in the Time of PFAS,” Environmental Law Explored (ABA), 27 August 2024
- “Environmental Issues in Real Estate Transactions,” In house, 23 July 2024
- “PFAS & Emptiness: EPA Proposed Nine PFAS Compounds as Hazardous Constituents & Consideration for New Rules for Used Drums,” Chemical Industry Council of Illinois RCRA Training, 14 March 2024
- “Environmental Justice,” Chicago Drug & Chemical Association, 23 May 2023
- “Think Locally: An Approach to Environmental Justice,” Illinois Chamber of Commerce/Illinois Environmental Regulatory Group, 18 April 2023
- “RCRA Stew: Definition of Solid Waste, E-Manifests, and Classification,” Chemical Industry Council of Illinois RCRA Training Seminar, 15 March 2023
- “The Renewable Environmental Topics on Environmental Issues for Building Renewable Facilities,” Solar Farm Summit, 14 March 2023
- “What to Expect When They’re Inspecting,” Chemical Industry Council of Illinois General Meeting, 2 March 2023
- “Potentially Irresponsible Parties,” Panel Moderator, ABA SEER Superfund and National Resource Damage Litigation Committee, 31 January 2023
- “Gatekeeper Introduction to the Definition of Solid Waste,” Chemical Industry Council of Illinois RCRA Training Seminar, 24 March 2022
- “Years in the Making: EJ in the Rust Belt,” Illinois Chamber of Commerce Environmental Affairs Committee, 29 September 2021
- “EJ in the Rust Belt,” Chemical Industry Council of Illinois Environmental Justice Seminar, 20 May 2021
- “Emerald City: Finding Green in the Land of Oz,” ABA SEER 28th Fall Conference, 22 October 2020
- “The Future of Citizen Suits: After Sierra Club v. Dominion and Before Justice Gorsuch,” American Association of Railroads EWC Spring Meeting, 21 April 2017
- “Paved with Good Intentions: EPA’s Definition of Solid Waste,” Chemical Industry Council of Illinois RCRA Training Seminar, 16 March 2017
- “Dirt and Water: Environmental Risk and Stormwater Issues in Construction Contracts,” Society of Illinois Construction Attorneys, Insurance Subcommittee, 15 March 2017
- Moderated a panel on legal issues and a panel of industry experts at a conference on the Environmental Evaluation of Real Property: Purpose, Perils and Pitfalls program at the Union League Club of Chicago sponsored by the Lake Michigan Section of the Air and Waste management Association and the Union League Club, 17 January 2017
- “Law Firm Beware: Environmental Due Diligence in Corporate Transactions,” firm speakers panel in CLE videoconference, 26 September 2016
- “Case Study: Remote Monitoring Issues,” Lake Michigan States Section, Air and Waste Monitoring Association Air Quality Management Conference, 4 November 2015 (Moderator)
- “Chill Spills: Release Reporting for RCRA Facilities,” Chemical Industry Council of Illinois, RCRA Refresher Course, 17 June 2015
- “Uncertain Ground - Dealing with Environmental Risk in Demolition and Construction Contracts,” Chicago Bar Association Construction Law and Mechanics Lien Subcommittee, 4 May 2015
- “Addition by Redaction: Protection of CBI under FOIA,” Illinois State Bar Association Environmental Law Conference, 1 April 2015
- “Bad Relief - Federal Issues with Variances and Provisional Variances,” Chemical Industry Council of Illinois Water Issues Seminar, 25 March 2015
- “Uncertain Ground - Dealing with Environmental Risk in Demolition and Construction Contracts,” Society of Illinois Construction Attorneys, 17 March 2015
- “Bells and Whistles: EPA Amends the Definition of Solid Waste,” Chemical Industry Council of Illinois RCRA Hot Topics Seminar, 29 January 2015
- “Doing Diligence: Changes in ASTM Standards and USEPA Regulations,” Chicagoland Health and Safety Environmental Conference, 22 September 2014
- “SWMU Lagoons: Federal and State Regulation of Coal Ash Impoundments,” Chemical Industry Council of Illinois RCRA Training Seminar, 18 September 2014
- “Environmental Law for Transactional Professionals,” MB Financial Presentation, 5 May 2014
- “Vapor Intrusion in the Real Estate World,” MuchShelist Vapor Intrusion Seminar, 19 February 2014 (Moderator)
- “Not so Fast: The Impact of New Phase I Guidelines and Vapor Intrusion Rules on Transactions,” 13 January 2014
- “Still Steaming: Area Source Boiler MACT,” Illinois Auditing Roundtable, 15 November 2013
- EPA Accepting Public Comments on Amended Ethylene Oxide Regulations, Washington Legal Foundation, 9 June 2023
- “Time keeps on slipping, slipping: Seventh Circuit rules RCRA settlement triggers CERCLA statute of limitations,” ABA’s SEER Environmental Digest, 2 March 2020
- “For Sure: Indemnity Claim Triggered by EPA Notice Letter, Not State Negotiations,” ABA’s SEER Environmental Digest, 3 January 2020
- “Boiler Plate: Disclaiming liability in a settlement is not the same thing as not settling,” ABA’s SEER Environmental Digest, 24 October 24 2019
- “Don’t Mention It: Seventh Circuit Rules RCRA Settlement Triggers CERCLA Statute of Limitations,” ABA’s SEER Environmental Digest, 17 September 2019
- Illinois Editor, Brownfields Law and Practice: The Cleanup and Redevelopment of Contaminated Land, Matthew Bender
- Illinois Editor, Brownfields Law and Practice: The Cleanup and Redevelopment of Contaminated Land, Matthew Bender
- “Illinois” (Chapter 27), Implementing Institutional Controls at Brownfields and Other Contaminated Sites, Second Edition, ABA Books
- “Fish Yourself out of Asian Carp Scare.” Law360, 28 March 2013
- “Not so Full Disclosure: Protecting Trade Secrets in Greenhouse Gas Reporting,” The Legal Impact of Climate Change, Aspatore Books, 2012
- Quoted, “Lawyers Warn Sellers Of Growing PFAS Liability In Property Transactions,” Inside PFAS Policy, 30 August 2024
- Quoted, "Attorneys Say EPA Model CERCLA Documents Need Additional Clarity," Inside EPA, 8 June 2022
