Previous PageBrad R. Cahoon Partner

Brad Cahoon is an environmental lawyer who represents a variety of clients throughout the country.  He focuses on achieving his clients’ business objectives in applying his extensive experience in environmental, natural resources, water and zoning law.  Brad has a record of using his litigation, administrative, regulatory, and government relations skills to resolve difficult challenges for his clients.  His clients include financial institutions, manufacturers, oil, gas and mining companies, ski resorts, ranchers, wireless telecommunications carriers, developers, chemical companies, drycleaners, landowners, water companies, government entities and public interest groups.

Brad Cahoon assists clients in evaluating and managing environmental risks associated with acquiring, foreclosing on, investing in, cleaning up and redeveloping environmentally impaired properties and industrial plants throughout the country impacted by fuel, solvents, chemicals and metals.  He has prosecuted and defended complex environmental and natural resources damage claims under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Clean Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, comparable state laws and common law theories.  Brad assists clients in complying with environmental laws and regulations and defends them in agency  enforcement actions and appeals.

Representative Matters

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• Negotiated settlement for drycleaning company in multi-party CERCLA cost recovery action involving alleged perchloroethylene release, Holladay City v. Tyler, Civil Case No. 2:08-CV-00075-TS, D. Utah
• Negotiated settlement involving Idaho ranch and industrial plant that resolved citizen suit claims under Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and RCRA and multi-million dollar nuisance, trespass and negligence claims by having plant purchase impacted portion of ranch
• Negotiated Brownfield Voluntary Agreement with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation providing covenant not to sue and liability protection to prospective purchaser of operating Memphis chemical plant
• Wrote and negotiated several site management plans and environmental covenants to obtain RCRA corrective action completion with controls status for parcels within former Geneva Steel Plant, Vineyard, Utah
• Wrote and negotiated site management plan and environmental covenant to obtain RCRA corrective action completion with controls for Ogden, Utah, granary impacted by trichloroethylene plume
• Wrote and negotiated site management plans for lender that foreclosed on former Great Basin Trucking facility, West Valley City, Utah, and obtained voluntary cleanup program certificates of completion for two impacted parcels
• Negotiated environmental covenant and helped owner of a Chicago drycleaning plant obtain no further action from Illinois Environmental Protection Agency on cleanup of perchloroethylene release and approval for residential redevelopment
• Negotiated administrative settlement agreement with Nevada Division of Environmental Protection for purchaser to obtain covenant not to sue and cleanup cost cap on leaking underground storage tank site
• Negotiated with EPA and Utah Department of Environmental Quality and obtained court approval for modifying consent decree providing liability protection for prospective purchaser and redevelopment of the Sharon Steel Superfund site, U.S. v. Sharon Steel Corp., Civil No. 86-C-924J, D. Utah
• Assisted Nevada ski resort in obtaining no further action from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection in cleaning up leaking underground storage tank site
• Lead environmental counsel for purchaser of 1750-acre Geneva Steel site and cleanup and redevelopment under RCRA corrective action permit
• Defended liquefied petroleum gas supplier and negotiated reduced penalty before EPA Environmental Appeals Board for alleged violations of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act
• Lead environmental counsel in conducting due diligence and risk evaluation and confirming compliance with and securing the transfer of permits, licenses and government approvals for wetlands, air emissions, electrical systems, fuel storage tanks, hazardous waste generation and other operations at Nevada and Colorado ski resorts
• Lead environmental counsel in obtaining the transfer of licenses from the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives and corresponding state licenses for explosives used for avalanche control at Colorado ski resort
• Prevailed for developer on administrative appeal of United States Army Corps of Engineers district office jurisdictional determination over wetlands that lacked evidence of relatively permanent water and a significant nexus to waters of the United States  Advised French sodium importer concerning hazardous waste and TSCA reporting and handling obligations for plants in New Jersey, Texas and Utah
• Advised Utah manufacturer on TSCA reporting obligations and exemption for medical devices
• Advised French pesticide manufacturer on data submitter compensation requirements under FIFRA
• Reviewed and analyzed for potential purchaser status of mine permit and air quality, waste handling, and water quality permits and approvals for West Elk coal mine in Somerset, Colorado
• Reviewed and analyzed air quality, waste handling, water quality, and right-of-way permit and approval requirements for fiber optic telecommunications line
• Represented large group of municipal power plants in negotiating emissions limits, compliance monitoring and other terms and conditions of Clean Air Act, Title V operating permits and approval orders and assisted in establishing and implementing plan for complying with permit requirements
• Represented bondholders in analyzing clean air prevention of significant deterioration requirements and emissions limits imposed on co-generation power plant
• Represented bankruptcy trustee and California real estate company in complying with environmental laws and regulations applicable to numerous underground storage tanks sites located in Utah, Nevada, Idaho and Colorado
• Represented soil regeneration facility before Utah Solid and Hazardous Waste Control Board in settling notice of violation for the unauthorized treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous waste
• Contributing writer of Envision Utah Brownfield Toolbox: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/pdf/eu_brownfield_toolbox.pdf

Brad Cahoon negotiated the sale of and rendered title opinion on over 500 acre feet of water rights acquired for Sundance Ski Resort and surrounding community. He represented various national lenders on multi-million dollar loans secured in part by ground and surface water rights located in Nevada and Utah. He represented a mining company in a ground and surface water rights lawsuit and adjudication against an irrigation company in central Utah and has litigated several cases against the Utah State Engineer.

Representative Matters

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• Helped Nebraska ranch purchase 153 water rights covering 31,422 acre feet of water and Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management grazing permits for over 9,500 livestock as part of purchase of three Nevada ranches comprising some 9,000 acres of land
• Represented mining company at trial and on appeal before Utah Supreme Court in case involving surface and groundwater rights, quiet title and forfeiture claims: United States Fuel Co. v. Huntington-Cleveland Irr. Co., 2003 UT 49
• Represented water user on review of Utah State Engineer’s rejection of change application based on alleged water rights forfeiture: Jensen v. Jones, Civ. No. 20090742 (appeal pending before Utah Supreme Court)
• Negotiated sale of and rendered title opinion on water rights sold to Sundance Ski Resort and surrounding community
• Conducted due diligence on water rights in acquisition of the Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort in Nevada, Copper Mountain Resort in Colorado, and Gorgoza Tubing Park in Park City, Utah
• Assisted with the expansion of snowmaking water rights at Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort in Nevada and Copper Mountain Resort in Colorado

Brad Cahoon has represented a variety of owners and developers in complex, and at times contentious, zoning and land use projects, including Westgate Resort, Quarry Village, Sun Canyon Lodge, The Enclave at Cedar Draw, Deer Crest, Carden Academy, Park City Mountain Resort, Star Pointe Ranch (now Promontory) Blue Sky Ranch, and Hideout Lake (Colorado), among other projects. He has handled more than 85 contentious wireless antenna tower permit application proceedings in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah, including litigating permit denials in federal district courts under the 1996 Telecom Act.