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Environmental Law for Ohio Communities

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Richard C. Sahli, Attorney At Law

981 Pinewood Lane, Gahanna, Ohio  43230
phone:  614 - 428 - 6068
fax:  614 - 428 - 6068
email: rsahliattorney@columbus.rr.com

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My law practice is designed to assist citizens and local governments
with sophisticated strategies,
 including legal options and representation,
to protect their communities from environmentally destructive activities.

I represent only human beings and
have never worked for those who put profit
over healthy communities and a child’s quality of life.

I work as a solo practice designed to limit overhead and expense
so that small groups and communities can have
a potent legal and scientific presence that is economically viable.

MY WORK HISTORY

1983 - 1987:  Ohio Attorney General's Office

1987 - 1991:  Deputy Director & Chief Legal Counsel,
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (back in its happier, more independent days)

1991 - 1995:  Executive Director, Ohio Environmental Council,
a state-wide network of grassroots citizen groups

1995 - Now:  This Law Practice

Twenty-Five Years and Counting Working For Ohio's Environment

        My Work with Communities:

    In Ohio, the work of environmental protection is being accomplished mostly by citizen groups and local governments
because federal and state agencies and legislative bodies in the current political climate are thoroughly compromised
and fail to honor either serious science or wise concern for health and safety. 

I have been in the middle of many key citizen efforts over the past decade, including:

Ø shutting down the Columbus Trash-Burning  Dioxin Plant

Ø opposing the Marathon-Ashland Pipeline through the Hocking Hills

Ø fighting the notorious Buckeye Egg/Ohio Fresh Eggs factory farms  in Wyandot and
Licking Counties and overturning three of its permits

Ø helping citizens fight the invasion of industrial livestock operations permitted by the Ohio Dept.
of Agriculture's corrupt permitting program in Hardin, Darke,
Greene, Pickaway, Williams, and Madison Counties

Ø working with the citizens of Coshocton, Lima, Newark, Lancaster, Marion for protections from toxic emissions from
ethanol production plants

Ø protecting the incredible Old Growth Trees of the Dysart Woods in Belmont County
from underground coal mining

Ø fighting landfills in Tuscarawas and Stark County in geologically dangerous settings

Ø fighting construction and demolition debris landfills with the people of Lordstown, East Canton, and Mt. Gilead

Ø protecting the Pickerington Ponds Wildlife Refuge outside Columbus through a successful citizens ballot initiative

Ø successfully keeping Waste Management from building a landfill
at an environmentally sensitive site in Jefferson County

Ø successfully keeping a 3,000 head dairy mega-farm from locating above
critical groundwater resources in Williams County

Ø successfully keeping a major housing development with a dangerous wastewater disposal scheme
out of the Darby Watershed in western Columbus

Ø protecting the Blacklick and Rocky Fork Creeks of Franklin County from developers
who violate the legal requirement of containing contaminated run-off

Ø opposing ODOT and the FHWA on two major highway projects – SR 30 and 33

Ø appealing a gas turbine permit in Cincinnati to force better
technology for better health protection

Ø successfully preventing the siting of a multi-state infectious waste  incinerator in Coolville

Ø fighting hazardous waste burning  at the Fairborn cement kiln

Ø preventing the siting of a hazardous waste  storage facility in downtown Columbus (Battelle)

Ø securing settlements with landfills in Richland and Erie County
to lessen their impacts

Ø representing the National Sierra Club in litigation against coal-fired electricity plants on the Ohio River

Ø representing the City of Canton, the Village of Hebron, many township trustees other local governments

    and a few more as well


"Stop The Pipeline" Press Conference

Citizens can win these fights, but it takes focused planning, shrewd lawyering,
technical expertise and lots of organizing. 

Effective citizen groups can defeat big money  -- and will make a community stronger

Other Distinctions:

Graduate of the Ohio State University College of Law and Case Western Reserve University (M.A. & B.A.)

Chairman, Ohio Hazardous Waste Facility Board and Ohio Solid Waste Advisory Board, 1988-1991.

Environmental Law Committee Chairman,

Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers,

1996-1998 and 2004-2007.
Also - Presented with the Academy's Distingished Service Award in 1996 and in 2006.

Some of my efforts opposing the WTI hazardous waste incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio,
with the many valiant citizens there (who really did all the work)
have been recounted in the book, Deeper Shades of Green:
The Rise of Blue-Collar and Minority Environmentalism in America,
by Jim Schwab, Sierra Club Books.

LICENSED TO PRACTICE IN THE STATE COURTS OF OHIO,

THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN FEDERAL DISTRICT COURTS IN OHIO,

AND THE FEDERAL COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

Links to Useful Sites

State and Federal Agencies
Ohio EPA
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources
The Ohio Department of Health
The United States Environmental Protection Agency

Congress
Congress.org -- a great place for accessing Congress
The League of Conservation Voters -- a great place to "really" get to know your Congress-person
The Center for Responsive Politics -- play "Follow the Money!"

Data Sources
The Right To Know Network -- great environmental data bases
Federal Law and U.S. EPA Regulations
Ohio Statutory Law from Anderson Publishing
Ohio Regulations from Anderson Publishing

Worthwhile Environmental Groups
The Environmental Working Group
The National Wildlife Federation
Ohio's very own "Greenlink"
The Natural Resources Defense Council
The Environmental Support Center -- help for grassroots groups
Friends of the Earth
Union of Concerned Scientists

  To get in touch with me, call 614 - 428 - 6068 or send me e-mail at rsahliattorney@columbus.rr.com.