Peter J. McGrath, Jr.

Peter is the former leader of MVA’s esteemed Environmental team and a veteran practitioner who has ranked in Chambers USA every year for nearly two decades. In his day-to-day practice, he advises lenders, real estate developers, property managers, manufacturers, landfill operators, renewable energy developers, lenders, investors, and life sciences companies on long held and newly developing aspects of environmental law in North Carolina and across the Southeast. He frequently provides sophisticated compliance counsel and litigation representation related to:

• CERCLA, the Clean Water Act, and Clean Air Act
• Brownfield redevelopment
• Regulatory developments involving PFAS and other chemicals
• Climate change and ESG
• Solid and hazardous waste
• Coal ash management and disposal
• Stormwater and wastewater water discharges
• Air emissions
• Wetlands
• Environmental remediation
• Occupational safety and health

Peter has successfully managed the environmental aspects of hundreds of corporate, financing, and real estate transactions, working in conjunction with other practice areas within the firm. That management includes conducting and coordinating environmental due diligence for target companies and properties, retaining and managing environmental consultants to investigate and quantify known and potential liabilities, counseling clients on environmental liabilities and risk allocation, drafting and negotiating the environmental provisions of transaction documents, assisting in the procurement of environmental insurance and other risk-mitigating solutions, and managing the post-closing resolution of environmental issues.

Peter has become a leading brownfields advisor, having played a foundational role in the success of hundreds of high-profile brownfield remediation and reuse projects. He guides real estate developers through all aspects of North Carolina’s brownfields redevelopment program, from application and assessment, through negotiation of the documents required for the program, to public notice and recording, and post-development tax benefits.

Representative Experience

Transactional

• Represents numerous major financial services clients on the environmental aspects of a range of financing transactions, including initial transactional diligence and covenant negotiation, foreclosure and workout matters, and bank-owned property portfolios.
• Advised 3A Composites USA Inc., a subsidiary of Schweiter Technologies AG (SWX: SWTQ), on the environmental aspects of its acquisition of the foam board business of Newell Brands Inc.
• Appointed by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control to serve as trustee for a trust that administers a closed hazardous waste landfill in Sumter, South Carolina. The operator of the landfill declared bankruptcy, and, as part of the bankruptcy procedure, established a trust to fund post-closure care of the landfill. Peter manages all aspects of post-closure operations of the landfill, including permitting, day-to-operations, and incident response.

Remediation & Brownfields

• Represents various manufacturing and other industrial clients alleged to have disposed of waste at sites that are now being investigated and/or remediated as contaminated sites under CERCLA. Total remediation costs at one site were estimated to be as high as $800 million.
• Represented a prospective developer in application, negotiation, and execution of North Carolina Brownfields Agreement covering 105-acre former pharmaceutical facility in Research Triangle Park.
• Represented a prospective developer in application, negotiation, and execution of North Carolina Brownfields Agreement covering two related multi-use development projects in Charlotte’s South End neighborhood.
• Represented a prospective developer in application, negotiation, and execution of North Carolina Brownfields Agreement covering large multi-family residential development in Charlotte’s South End neighborhood.

Permitting

• Represented a multinational trucking company in its appeal of certain terms and conditions of a wastewater discharge permit. The matter was resolved when the client’s settlement proposal was accepted.
• Represents industrial clients on a range of permitting matters, including permit appeals and responding to environmental agency requests for information or allegations of permitting violations.
  • Representation of Mountaire Farms in response to various alleged wastewater permit violations and associated penalties as well as the terms of a renewed permit.
  • Representation of Riverside Development in response to a Notice of Violation from the North Carolina DEQ alleging violation of a NPDES dewatering permit.
  • Representation of Accuma Corporation, an Italian company with facilities in the United States, in response to alleged violations under OSHA and EPCRA, resulting in consent decrees.
  • Representation of US Brick in response to a Notice of Violation from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control arising from alleged stormwater violations.
  • Representation of Technimark Corporation in response to an OSHA investigation following an injury to an employee at a Technimark facility in North Carolina.
  • Representation of Groundworks Corporation in response to an OSHA investigation following the death of a Groundworks employee at a job site in Florida.
  • Representation of Iredell Health in response to alleged stormwater violations related to a construction project.

Litigation

• Represented a North Carolina university in defense of a Clean Air Act Citizen Suit, defeating environmental groups' claims that the school's operation of coal-fired power plants violated the Act. The federal judge found the groups failed to show a concrete injury and granted the school's motion for summary judgment against all nine claims lodged by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club. The suit was dismissed with prejudice.
• Led the successful defense of the first third-party administrative challenge to a landfill permit issued by the North Carolina Division of Solid Waste Management.
• Represented a textile manufacturer in defense of Clean Water Act citizen

Regulatory

• Representing an industrial client in connection with its final closure of a RCRA permit for an impacted property in Mississippi through the use of deed restrictions.
• Assisting a North Carolina manufacturer with a voluntary internal environmental and OHSA audit and associated disclosure and remedial actions.
• Assisted developers in clearing hurdles with historic properties and endangered species, and in securing state and federal wetlands approvals, including approvals affected by the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA and subsequent rulemaking and legislative action at the state level.
• Assisted an online retailer with evaluation of environmental regulations applicable to its sale of various janitorial/sanitation/pesticidal products and development of programs to ensure compliance with those regulations.
• Assisted a digital media storage company regarding its compliance with environmental import/export regulations, including the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals law (REACH), Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) laws, and California’s Proposition 65 law.
• Advised the lead contractor to Norfolk Southern in its remediation of releases of hazardous materials arising out of the train derailment in East Palestine. Peter’s counsel focused on the contractor’s compliance with environmental and worker safety laws and regulations in performing such work.
• Represented a textile manufacturer in a multi-media, multi-agency response to a fish kill in a lake in the mountains of western North Carolina.

Notable

• Best Lawyers in America, Charlotte Litigation - Environmental "Lawyer of the Year," 2022, 2024-2025
• Best Lawyers in America, Environmental Law, 2011-2022, 2024-2025, Litigation - Environmental, 2011-2022, 2024-2025
• Chambers USA - North Carolina, Environmental Law, 2008-2024
• Business North Carolina Legal Elite, Environmental, 2009-2013, 2018-2025
• Martindale-Hubbell, North Carolina Top Rated Lawyer
• Mecklenburg County Air Quality Commission, Member since 2007, Chair since 2015

News

Insights

Affiliations

• American Bar Association
• North Carolina Bar Association: Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Business and Securities Regulation Sections
• Member, Association of Vapor Intrusion Professionals, 2021