Larry Silver has practiced environmental law for more than three decades. He focuses on CERCLA, the Clean Water Act, NEPA, RCRA, historic preservation, and other aspects of federal and state environmental matters. His practice is national in scope, with current cases in California, Kansas, Ohio, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. He is an experienced first-chair litigator and has tried well-known CERCLA cases to judgment (e.g., Action Manufacturing v. Simon Wrecking) and argued groundbreaking appellate cases before the Third Circuit (US v. Occidental) and 6th Circuit (Hobart v. DPL). He has practiced regulatory matters before nearly all EPA regions. His environmental clients include large and small companies, municipalities (including the City of Philadelphia as environmental counsel), neighborhood groups and individuals. He currently represents a central participant in the largest sediment remediation site in the country involving the cleanup of the Passaic River and Newark Bay.

EXTENDED PROFILE

Mr. Silver represents corporate and individual clients on a wide-range of environmental, zoning and land use topics, including matters involving CERCLA, solid and hazardous wastes, water quality, water supply, air, wetlands, brownfields and NEPA. He has been trial counsel in many environmental cases and has argued environmental matters before appellate courts, including the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In 2006, Mr. Silver tried and obtained a favorable ruling in the CERCLA case of Action Manufacturing Co., Inc. v . Simon Wrecking Co., 428 F.Supp.2d 288 (E.D. Pa. 2006) before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and obtained an affirmance of the decision by the Third Circuit in 2008, which made new law on remedies available to CERCLA plaintiffs. In 2005, Mr. Silver defended a business client in one of EPA’s largest ever multimedia enforcement action, reaching a favorable settlement. Mr. Silver has litigated and argued constitutional questions before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, including the seminal case on interpreting the 2000 Pennsylvania environmental immunity act in Pennsbury Village Associates v. McIntyre. He has also tried major contract cases where waste liabilities were at issue. Mr. Silver is a frequent speaker and writer on CERCLA and environmental law topics and has served as an expert witness on CERCLA law and practice.

Mr. Silver counsels business clients in environmental regulatory and transactional matters. He also represents clients in historic preservation cases.

Before joining Langsam Stevens, Mr. Silver was a partner in the Philadelphia office of Duane Morris LLP. Mr. Silver is a 1984 graduate, Order of the Coif, of the University of California – Berkeley School of Law and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Chicago. He also holds a Masters of Science in Urban Studies from the College of Urban Affairs of Cleveland State University. Prior to law school, Mr. Silver served as an environmental consultant for EDAW Inc. in San Francisco. Following graduation from law school, Mr. Silver clerked for the honorable M. Joseph Blumenfeld, United States District Court for the District of Connecticut.

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE

• Tried and obtained a favorable ruling in the well-known CERCLA case of Action Manufacturing Co., Inc. V. Simon Wrecking Co., 428 F.Supp.2d 288 (E.D. Pa. 2006) before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and obtained an affirmance of the decision by the Third Circuit in 2008.
• Argued groundbreaking appellate cases before the Third Circuit (US v. Occidental) and 6th Circuit (Hobart v. DPL).
• Argued and obtained the first reported favorable decision applying Pennsylvania’s Participation in Environmental Law of Regulation Act, Pennsbury Village Associates v. McIntyre, 949 A.2d 956 (Pa. Cmwlth.Ct.)

AWARDS AND AFFILIATIONS

• Member of the American Bar Association
• Member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association
• Member of the California Bar Association
• Member of the DC Bar Association

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

• East Coast Greenway Alliance, Past Chair of the Board of Trustees
• Board Member, Pennsylvania Environmental Council

PUBLICATIONS

• Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of the “The Toxic Substances Control Act Compliance Guide and Service” (“TSCA Guide”). www.tsca.com
• Co-Author, “Weaving Green from Brown: Philadelphia Transforms its Riverfronts,” Brownfield Renewal, Vol. 15, Feb-Mar 2011, Larry Silver and Elizabeth Parsons Sacks, LSSH.
• Co-Author, “Testimony of Federal Employees: A ’Speakers’ Bureau for Private Litigants?’”, BNA, Environment Reporter, Vol. 39, No. 24, June 6, 2008, Larry Silver and David Romine, LSSH.
• Co-Author, “Obtaining Federal Employee Testimony in a Private Lawsuit”, The Legal
• Intelligencer, March 16, 2007, Larry Silver and David Romine, LSSH.
• Author, “Defending Against the Multimedia Enforcement Case”, New Jersey Bar
• Association Environmental Law Forum, June 25, 2004.
• Author, “Efforts by the Petroleum Industry and Chemical Industry to Implement Security Measures Since September 11”, mid-year meeting publication of the Section of Environment, Energy and Resources of the American Bar Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Winter 2002.
• Author, “Author’s Choice: The Big Six CERCLA Cases of 1999”, American Bar Association’s Annual Conference on Environmental Law, Keystone, Colorado, March, 2000.
• Author, “Co. Disobeys an EPA 106 Order ‑‑ and Lives to Tell About It”, Environmental Compliance & Litigation, May 1999.
• Author, “Disobeying the EPA 106 Order and Living to Tell About It”, Pennsylvania Bar Association, Environmental Law Committee Newsletter, March 1999.
• Co-Author, “’Ain’t Misbehavin’ — Occidental Challenges an EPA 106 Order,” The Legal Intelligencer, December 21, 1998, Larry Silver and Michael A. James, Assistant General Counsel, Occidental Chemical Corporation.
• Co-Author, “Ain’t Misbehavin’ – A Resourceful Recipient Successfully Challenges an EPA 106 Order,” Environmental Corporate Counsel Report, December 1998, Larry Silver and Michael A. James, Assistant General Counsel, Occidental Chemical Corporation.
• Author, “Report on a Search of National Archives Documents Relevant to the Use and Disposal of Hazardous Substances at Navy/Todd Shipyard Hylebos Mouth Area”, December, 1995 http://www.darrp.noaa.gov/northwest/cbay/pdf/cbhy275a.pdf.
• Author, “No Private Right of Action under Pennsylvania Superfund Law,” Pennsylvania Law Journal-Reporter (April 23, 1990).
• Author, “The Common Law of Environmental Risk and Some Recent Applications,” 10 Harvard Environmental Law Review 61 (1986).

PRESENTATIONS

• Co-Presenter, “What Can PRPs do to Limit Exposure if Sediment Remedies Fail to Meet Objectives?”, Emerging and Environmental Claim Managers Association Meeting, April 29, 2021, Larry Silver, LSSH, and Tarek Saba, Ph.D, Exponent.
• Co-Presenter, “Can Allocation Disputes at Mega Superfund Sites Resolved Efficiently and Credibly”, Emerging and Environmental Claim Managers Association Meeting, April 26, 2018, Larry Silver, LSSH, and William J. Hengemihle, FTI Consulting, Inc.
• Co-Presenter and Moderator, “Mega-Superfund Site Allocation”, AIRROC/EECMA Mega-Superfund Site Symposium, Philadelphia, September 7, 2017, Larry Silver, LSSH, William J. Hengemihle, FTI Consulting, Inc., Tom Cinti, EPA Region 3, and Teresa C. Michelsen, Farallon Consulting
• Panelist, “Crafting Effective Sales Agreement Language for Property with Environmental Conditions”, Pennsylvania Environmental Law Forum, April 7, 2016.
• Panelist, “Navigating Due Diligence and Negotiating Transactional Documents”, Pennsylvania Environmental Law Forum, April 9, 2015.
• Co-Presenter, “Old Timers and Tattered Documents: The Practicalities and Legal Pitfalls of Reviving History in an Environmental Case”, Emerging and Environmental Claim Managers Association Meeting, May 2, 2014, Larry Silver, LSSH, and William L. Walsh, Ardent Investigative Services, LLC.
• Co-Presenter, “Oversight Costs and Reopeners: Why Carriers are Paying so Much at Superfund Sites and How to Limit it”, Emerging and Environmental Claim Managers Association Meeting, May 2, 2013, Larry Silver, LSSH, and Raymond F. Dovell, Marcum LLP.
• Co-Presenter, “The Anatomy of an Environmental Standard”, Emerging and Environmental Claim Managers Association Meeting, May 1, 2012, Adam Love, Ph. D, Johnson Wright, Inc., Larry Silver and Mark Stevens, LSSH.
• Co-Presenter, “An Emerging Environmental Claim in Toxic Tort Litigation: Contaminated Sites and Vapor Intrusion”, Emerging and Environmental Claim Managers Association Meeting, May 12, 2011, Larry Silver and Mark Stevens, LSSH.
• Moderator, “Recapturing the Waterfront: Philadelphia’s Drive to Establish Greenways along the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers”, Brownfields Conference, April 4, 2011.
• Co-Presenter, “Burlington Northern’s Aftermath: the New Opportunities for Reducing Liability in Defending Cost-Recovery, Contribution and Enforcement Actions”, Emerging and Environmental Claim Managers Association Meeting, May 7, 2010, Larry Silver and Mark Stevens, LSSH.
• Co-Presenter, “Superfund’s Big Year: The Burlington Northern Decision and other Important Developments”, Pennsylvania Environmental Law Forum, April 23, 2010, Larry Silver, LSSH, and Cecil Rodrigues, Regional Counsel, EPA Region 3.
• Witness, “Testimony on the Central Delaware Riverfront Zoning Overlay District”, before Philadelphia City Council, June 3, 2009.Panelist, “Litigation Update”, Pennsylvania Environmental Law Forum, April 12, 2007.
• Moderator, “Trends in Federal and State Multimedia Enforcement”, New Jersey Bar
• Association Environmental Law Forum, June 25, 2004.
• Moderator, “Water Wars Move East” Panel, Annual Fall Meeting of the Section of Environment, Energy and Resources of the American Bar Association, St. Louis, Missouri, October 3-7, 2001.
• Panelist, “Brownsfields: Government Intervention at the Margin,” the 29th Annual Conference on Environmental Law, Section of Environment, Energy and Resources of the American Bar Association, Keystone, Colorado, March 10, 2000.
• Moderator, “How EPA Gets PRP’s to Sign Consent Decrees: Creative Uses of the 106 Order and Other Negotiation and Enforcement Strategies,” American Bar Association’s 19th Annual RCRA/CERCLA Update, Washington, D. C., December 10, 1999.
• Moderator, “Risk Assessments and Environmental Law”, annual meeting of the Section of Environment, Energy and Resources of the American Bar Association, Orlando, Florida, September 1995.