Steven H. Goldberg

Steven Goldberg is a leading attorney in environmental litigation and compliance in California. With more than thirty-five years of experience, Steven is known as a strategic, effective, and responsive advocate with exceptional communication skills. He is known to negotiate and resolve complex disputes and is often selected by other attorneys and their clients as common counsel or liaison counsel for multiple-party lawsuits. With a particular focus on groundwater contamination, CERCLA matters and NRD, Steven has handled some of the most significant contamination cases in California. He has litigated dozens of cases in state and federal courts throughout California including appellate courts and the Ninth Circuit. Steven has collaborated with technical experts throughout the United States on a broad range of contamination matters involving solvents, petroleum products, perchlorate, PFAs/PFOAs, PCBs, vapor intrusion,  natural resource damages, and sediment contamination. Clients appreciate his ability to focus on resolving complex environmental matters with creative approaches and presenting technical issues directly yet compellingly.

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Education

Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, J.D., 1985

University of Rochester, B.A., 1980

Admissions

California

Environmental Litigation

• Led an environmental legal team in response to the Refugio Beach Oil Spill in Santa Barbara, California. The spill involved multiple federal, state, and local agencies, dozens of contractors and consultants during the emergency response, and subsequent natural resource damage investigation. Worked with the Unified Command for several months on the response and subsequent cleanup and supported the client in its negotiations to resolve the natural resource damage (NRDA) claims and other enforcement actions with the U.S. Department of Justice, the California Attorney General’s office, and 11 different federal and state agencies, including USEPA, the United States Departments of Transportation, Commerce, and Interior, and the California Department of Fish & Wildlife. The matter was resolved following an extensive settlement and mediation process, resulting in a Consent Decree.
• Regulatory and litigation counsel to a multinational defense contractor that operates at a shipyard in San Diego Harbor in a $70 million cleanup. The matter involved parallel administrative and federal court proceedings, including CERCLA cost recovery and allocation litigation, insurance disputes, and extensive mediation. The administrative proceedings involved a Cleanup and Abatement Order (CAO) for the largest proposed sediment remediation project in the San Diego Bay, the first site where the Regional Board required an Environmental Impact Report. Some settlements were negotiated in multiple settlement conferences with the U.S. Magistrate Judge and court-appointed mediator. Motions to approve settlements are pending before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. Worked with large defense group and common counsel to settle litigation involving multiple landfill sites filed by the California Department of Toxic Substances.
• Worked with a large defense group and common counsel to settle litigation involving multiple landfill sites filed by the California Department of Toxic Substances. The case involved RCRA and CERCLA claims and was recently resolved with cash out and participating parties. Consent Decrees were approved by federal courts in the northern and eastern districts of California.
• Led the defense and ultimate dismissal of a large property development client against contribution claims under CERCLA filed by a large smelter facility for the costs of lead cleanup incurred by the California DTSC for the remediation of residential properties in southern Los Angeles.
• Defended owner and operator of metals recycling facility in multiparty CERCLA action involving the Cooper Industries Superfund Site in Los Angeles. The matter involved defense of a cost recovery action for a $40 million cleanup. The matter settled in mediation and resulted in a Consent Decree.
• Led an environmental defense team in an action filed by multiple environmental groups against the permitting and operating of a crude oil terminal entirely dependent on railroad deliveries. The matter included trial and appellate actions, including challenges under CEQA, preemption and air quality permits issued by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, and a related dispute with U.S. EPA Region IX.
• Obtained summary judgment and dismissal of a complaint in the southern district of California for $350 million in damages against a Fortune 200 client that operates a large petroleum storage facility. The action involved an extensive cleanup of MTBE and other petroleum product contamination by the client under the supervision of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board. The property owners claimed damages for the alleged loss of water resources and lost use of redevelopment profits. The U.S. District Court found no evidence of damages. The case was appealed to the Ninth Circuit and was settled.
• Lead environmental counsel for a fireworks company at a U.S. EPA Superfund site involving perchlorate and solvent contamination. Multiple federal and state court actions were litigated in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and Los Angeles County Superior Court. The action involved 25 potentially responsible parties, including defense contractors, property owners, several water purveyors and municipalities, and the U.S. Department of Defense. The federal litigation was resolved through court approval of multiple Consent Decrees. Court proceedings involved appeals to the Ninth Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court. A parallel state court action claiming contamination and resulting damages to the City of Riverside’s water supply wells is still pending in Los Angeles County.
• Lead counsel on the cleanup and related litigation dry-cleaning facilities in many cities throughout northern California, including sites in the cities of Lodi, Davis, Woodland, Vallejo, Santa Clara, Turlock, and Chico. Steven has managed cases for plaintiffs and defendants, including property and shopping center owners, real estate corporations, and public entities. All matters involve working with regulatory agencies.
• Represented a Fortune 200 petroleum corporation at numerous facilities in California. Steven managed a multiparty investigation and remediation of petroleum components MTBE (additive), and BTEX in soil and groundwater at a large bulk oil storage terminal and service station site in Central California. He assembled a team of technical and public relations experts to advise the client on regulatory compliance, UST Fund issues, community relations, and remediation strategies. Steven successfully negotiated a cash-out agreement for the client with another PRP that includes a remediation management agreement. He worked with the client to develop one of the first Public Participation Plans approved by the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Environmental Remediation & Compliance

• Serve as outside environmental counsel to major defense industry contractor regarding Superfund and other environmental issues at the federal and state level, including U.S. EPA Region IX, the California Department of Toxic Substances, and the Regional Water Quality Control Board-Central Valley Region.
• Serve as lead counsel to pharmaceutical manufacturing company with facilities in California, Texas, and Virginia, including defense of related enforcement actions by federal, state, and local agencies.
• Serve as lead environmental counsel to the largest ammonia corporation in California, including compliance related to the client's Risk Management Program, Process Hazard Assessment, and emergency response issues under the Clean Air Act, EPCRA, and the CalARP program and related handling of enforcement-related matters with U.S. EPA Region IX.
• Serve as lead environmental counsel to a manufacturing facility in Paso Robles, California.
• Serve as lead environmental counsel to agribusiness facility located adjacent to a state superfund site.
• Represented one of the largest privately held forest products companies on the West Coast, which owned 900 acres at and adjacent to the J.H. Baxter Superfund Site. Handled administrative proceedings and negotiations on allocation issues and negotiated with EPA Region IX concerning the RI/FS, as well as the Record of Decision. Resolved various over-filing issues with the State of California, including permit issues that arose during the implementation of the remedy with the Regional Water Quality Control Board. Obtained a technical impracticability waiver from EPA that substantially limited the scope of the remedy and reduced costs. Successfully resolved EPA's multimillion-dollar claim for past costs in the first mediation with EPA Region IX's Superfund Program.
• Completed a $10 million cleanup at an abandoned used oil recycling facility under a Unilateral Administrative Order issued by the EPA. Met all removal deadlines and managed NCP compliance and community relations with the EPA. Identified hundreds of additional responsible parties (including federal agencies) and allocated millions of gallons of waste volume not previously identified by the EPA. Substantially expanded the parties named to the Order, collected millions of dollars from other PRPs, and negotiated a final settlement with EPA on behalf of all settling PRPs.
• Served as environmental counsel for publicly traded national publisher with facilities in multiple states overseeing legacy liabilities, permitting, compliance, toxic tort, and UST matters.

Landfill Litigation

• Served as lead environmental counsel for publicly traded waste management company in defending a state court action regarding closure of a landfill in Northern California, including writs before the Courts of Appeal.
• Handled a CERCLA cost recovery and RCRA action for a national alternative energy company involving the disposal of waste from geothermal energy plants to a landfill in Imperial County. The litigation was favorably settled with the landfill owners and operators after expert presentations and settlement conferences with the U.S. Magistrate Judge.

Enforcement/Clean Water Act/Natural Resource Damage Claims

• Defended civil enforcement actions brought by NGOs, state and federal government agencies, and district attorneys on numerous matters involving alleged violations of federal and state laws regulating hazardous substances and wastes. Steven led the environmental defense team in parallel state and federal enforcement actions involving the release of thousands of barrels of oil from an oil pipeline in the Los Angeles Region. The matter involved claims under the federal Clean Water Act, California Fish & Game Code 5650, and the Unfair Competition Statute (Business & Professions Code sec. 17200). The actions were settled with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Department of Fish & Wildlife. Steven has also worked closely with white-collar criminal defense counsel on various environmental enforcement actions involving the disposal of asbestos, pesticides, petroleum wastes, solvents, and other hazardous materials and wastes.

Proposition 65 Litigation

• Led the defense in various lawsuits filed under California's Proposition 65 statute for failures to warn and the alleged unlawful discharge to drinking water. Successfully defended the discharge actions, which resulted in dismissal of the Proposition 65 action.

Insights & Presentations

• Climate Change and Natural Resource Damages Workshop, Lead Speaker and Convener, June 2024, Washington D.C.
• “The New RMP Rules Are Here: Are You Prepared?” CICC Annual Conference, June 5, 2024
• “As the Climate Changes, So Will Natural Resource Damage Claims,” Environmental, Energy & Climate Change Law and Regulation Reporter, Volume 1, Number 8, May 2021
• “DTSC Overhaul, Other Environmental Bills, Await Signature,” Daily Journal, September 15, 2020
• “Ruling Creates Certainty and Uncertainty at Current and Future Superfund Sites,” Daily Journal, May 11, 2020
• “New PFAS rules may increase treatment costs, spur litigation,” Daily Journal, February 27, 2020
• “California Heads Into the Next Decade With Over 100 New Environmental Laws,” Daily Journal, December 20, 2019
• “Will the Wave of PFAS Litigation Sweep Through California?” Daily Journal, July 11, 2019
• “Climate Change, Rising Sea Levels, Warming Water Temperatures, and Prolonged Periods of Extreme Weather,” Law Seminars International: 12th Annual Santa Fe Advanced Conference on Litigating, July 2019
• “Agencies Finally Begin to Address Dangers of PFAS,” Daily Journal, March 28, 2019
• “Proposed Prop. 65 Regs Equal Less Help and More Hurt (and Litigation),” California Grocer, Issue 2, May 2015
• “Oh No, Attorneys Are Working on My Project. What Do I Do Now?” (co-presenter), Sacramento Professional Environmental Marketing Association, June 2014

• Named by Best Lawyers^® as Environmental Litigation “Lawyer of the Year,” Sacramento, 2024
• Included in The Best Lawyers in America^® (Environmental Law, Litigation Environmental), 2021–present
• Listed in Northern California Super Lawyers^® (Environmental Litigation), 2006–present
• Listed in Sacramento Magazine’sTop Lawyers, 2015–2023
• Listed in Sacramento Business Journal’s Best of the Bar, 2015–2017, 2019
• Included in Who’s Who Legal: USA—Environment, 2014, 2022
• Expert Guides, Leading Environmental Lawyer, 2018

Professional

• Chemical Industry Council of California, Board Member, 2024
• California Bar Foundation; Vice President, Board Member, 2013–2017
• Leonard M. Friedman Bar Association
• American Bar Association, Subcommittee on Environmental Litigation
• Sacramento County Bar Association, Environmental Law Section
• California Lawyers Association, Environmental Law Section
• Groundwater Resources Association
• Appointee Contemporary Groundwater Issues Council of California; sponsored by the Groundwater Resources Association of California
• Former state water board appointee, representing owners/operators of underground storage tanks on a 15-member State Water Resources Control Board Task Force on the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund
• Former professional staff member for California State Senate Majority Leader's Office; staff assistant for the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee handling RCRA, CERCLA, and transportation issues

Civic

• Jewish Community Foundation of the West, First Vice President (2024), Board of Trustees, 2017–present
• Congregation B'nai Israel; past president, Board of Trustees; co-chair, Capital Campaign
• Sacramento Theatre Company Foundation, past member
• Sacramento Theatre Company Board of Trustees, past vice president