Jan 26 2016

Firm finds that over-compliance with environmental regulations raises costs, increases liabilities and detracts from further environmental improvement efforts in certain situations
Houston (January 26, 2016)

In a cautious effort to ensure compliance with the growing complexity and size of environmental regulation, many companies are over-complying with environmental laws in ways that do not provide commensurate environmental benefits. Unnecessary over-compliance can increase costs, create additional liabilities, and distract company resources from being used toward more effective environmental improvement efforts, according to a Houston-based environmental law firm with expertise in air and water compliance.

The AL Law Group developed its unique Over-Compliance Environmental Legal Assessment Service (OCELA), an innovative tool to help companies improve environmental performance while reducing unnecessary costs and decreasing potential liabilities created through ineffective over-compliance. AL Law’s OCELA service has helped companies save thousands of dollars and achieve more effective environmental protection efforts, according to Jed Anderson, a principal attorney with AL Law Group.

Anderson says his firm’s focus of looking for over-compliance while ensuring compliance is a “game changer” in the environmental legal service industry. Nationally renowned as a Clean Air Act expert, Anderson acknowledges that rarely is over-compliance systematically evaluated.

“Companies performing environmental audits typically focus on non-compliance – and rightly so. Companies must ensure compliance,” Anderson said. “However, non-productive over-compliance drains valuable company resources, increases liability, and leads to less effective environmental protection efforts.”

AL Law’s OCELA service evaluates commonly occurring over-compliance situations the law firm has detected through years of legal practice with Fortune 100 and smaller companies alike. Some examples of commonly found over-compliance situations include unnecessary permit conditions; non-use of alternative compliance strategies; misinterpretation of rules, permit conditions and/or guidance documents; and unnecessary over-monitoring of certain parameters that do not contribute significantly to environmental protection efforts.

AL Law points to results that justify the creation of the Over-Compliance Environmental Legal Assessment service. An environmental director of a Fortune 100 company offered appreciation for AL Law’s performance, “The AL Law Group helped me save my company thousands of dollars …even after I paid their bill.”

AL Law Group is the only company to offer this unique legal product, which is a blend between services, expertise, experience and a work product developed over years of legal service to various clients, according to Anderson.

“We want to show companies where over-compliance is commonly occurring and share with them the tools we have successfully utilized to help clients save money, reduce liability, and reinvest in more productive environmental improvement efforts,” Anderson said.

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About AL Law Group
AL Law Group offers a new, innovative platform to provide outside environmental legal services to a diverse list of clients. The AL Law Group provides big law firm experience at twice the value. The AL Law attorneys all originate from leading Texas law firms or Fortune 500 companies and each has more than 10 years environmental legal experience. For more information about how AL Law Group can handle all your environmental needs with less of your budget, visit www.allawgp.com