Complex Environmental Permitting
Three companies share responsibilities
At a site adjacent to the Charleston airport, several companies are involved in building fuselage sections for Boeing's new 787 "Dreamliner."
Chief among them is our client, Vought Aircraft Industries.
As the manufacturing operations are unique, so were the site requirements, including:
- 404/401 wetlands permit/water quality certification
- air permits and shared compliance duties
- hazardous-waste generator notifications and storage issues
- spill prevention, control and countermeasure plans
- stormwater pollution prevention plans
- setting up environmental compliance programs
- developed unique wetland, trust concept to join environmentalists, economic developers, and our client into a partnership that allowed for the permitted activity while saving thousands of acres of wetlands
The project also required extensive environmental due diligence due to its long history of industrial use—including removal of underground gasoline storage tanks that had been installed on the site by car rental companies.
Complex arrangements for use of the site included contracts between Vought, Global Aeronautica (also a Boeing supplier), the Charleston Airport Authority and Boeing. With regard to air permits, for example, Vought and Global Aeronautica are both subject to the Clean Air Act's "co-location" rule. The entire campus is covered by other "joint" permits and required agreements that called for information sharing, allocation of reporting and recordkeeping duties, and addressed the possibility of future permit modifications.
Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd assisted Vought with all these permits, agreements and environmental compliance programs that ensure each company operating at the site is aware of potential changes in the other's usage of materials, air emissions, waste generation, etc., to ensure continued compliance. In addition, we helped Vought select a full-time environmental consultant to develop compliance and waste minimization programs at the site.