Bio

Mark Chertok has been active in environmental and land use counseling, permitting, enforcement and litigation for more than forty years. His experience spans a broad spectrum of substantive areas, particularly for major transportation and other infrastructure projects and major public and private developments, including environmental assessments and environmental impact statement (EIS) counseling and litigation under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA); wetlands and water quality permitting under the Clean Water Act and State counterparts; air quality and climate change issues under the Clean Air Act; hazardous substances remediation and litigation under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund); remediation under the New York State Brownfield Cleanup Program; oil spill remediation under the New York Navigation Law; compliance review of Phase I and Phase II environmental assessments; land use and zoning; coastal zone management and historic preservation. A testament to his wetlands experience, Mark has been qualified as an expert in freshwater wetland permitting. Mark handles matters before numerous Federal, State and City agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Department of Transportation (the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration, and the Federal Aviation Administration), the U.S Coast Guard, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York State Department of State, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection and the New York City Department of City Planning. He has represented numerous government agencies, including the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the New York State Empire State Development, the New York State Thruway Authority, the New York State Department of Health, the New York City Industrial Development Agency, the New York City School Construction Authority, and the New York City Economic Development Corporation. He has represented numerous municipalities with respect to development and SEQRA-related issues and has served as special environmental counsel to many school districts with regard to compliance with SEQRA for new schools or expansions. His clients have also included private industrial, commercial and financial entities and national environmental and civic organizations.