E-mail: rcz@psh.com

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Mr. Zehntner has over 30 years of experience as a litigator and environmental lawyer and is the Chair of the Land Use & Environmental Group. His practice focuses on environmental, litigation, commercial, administrative, insurance coverage, constitutional, and appellate matters. He represents businesses in a variety of commercial disputes and provides advice and counsel to businesses with respect to all aspects of state and federal environmental law.

Mr. Zehntner’s career includes service in government, corporations, and private practice. He has extensive experience in a wide variety of disputes, both environmental and non-environmental matters. He has represented clients in complex environmental matters under all major federal environmental statutes, as well as a host of state laws and regulations. Such matters have included environmental permit and enforcement proceedings, grand jury investigations, toxic tort cases, environmental class actions, Superfund defense work, designing and implementing environmental audit programs, federal and state rulemaking proceedings, environmental due diligence reviews for major business acquisitions, SEC environmental disclosure issues, legislative drafting and lobbying efforts, zoning and land use issues, constitutional challenges to restrictive state laws, and environmental “whistleblower” cases.

Additionally, Mr. Zehntner has handled a range of commercial disputes, contract actions, trade secret matters, product liability cases, constitutional issues and insurance coverage matters.

REPRESENTATIVE CASES

• Represents a major corporation in the remediation of an old Boston manufacturing site involving numerous complex clean up issues and multimillion dollar legal exposure.
• Overturned the New York hazardous waste disposal tax scheme on constitutional grounds.
• Represented a major electrical producer in permitting and siting issues involving gas fired electrical generating plants in New York and Connecticut.
• Represented a major electrical producer in a multimillion dollar contract dispute involving the turnkey development of gas fired power plants in Rhode Island and Maine.
• Represented a major cement company in both permitting and enforcement issues involving the company’s Rhode Island and Massachusetts cement terminals.
• Resolved a $30 million plus excess exposure insurance coverage case within policy limits so as to insure that the client’s assets were not exposed to liability in excess of policy limits.

EDUCATION
Washington University, J.D. 1974

Washington University, A.B. 1969

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
American Bar Association
Massachusetts Bar Association
Environmental Law Institute

REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS
” U.S. Supreme Court Narrows Waste Generator Liability Under Superfund”, Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP Take Note E-news, May 2009

“When EPA Knocks At Your Door”, New England Business Bulletin, May, 2007

"When The EPA Knocks At Your Door" Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP Client Alert, April 2007

“EPA Makes Significant Changes to Its PCB Regulations”, Client newsletter, July, 1990

REPRESENTATIVE SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
"Contaminated Properties Development" Presented at Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP, November 2007

“Recent Developments Under the Toxic Substances Control Act” presented at the Executive Enterprises Environmental Regulation Course (May 19, 1994)

“Developing Areas of Insurance Coverage” presented to the New England Corporate Counsel Association (April 6, 1994)

“TSCA Compliance and Enforcement” presented to the Section on Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law of the American Bar Association (June 15, 1993)

“Cost Saving Legal Strategies for Site Remediation and Closure” presented to New England Corporate Environmental Managers (February 4, 1993)

“Litigation Over Interstate Waste Disposal Restrictions” presented at a Cambridge Institute seminar (May 10, 1991)

"Preparing A Toxic Tort Case for Trial” presented at a Practicing Law Institute seminar (March 22, 1991)

“Management of Corporate Environmental Programs” presented to the Defense Research Institute, Inc.’s Environmental, Hazardous Waste and Toxic Tort Litigation Seminar (December 7, 1989)

“Managing the Risks of Hazardous Waste Disposal” presented to the Alabama Bar Association (July 20, 1989)

“EPA’s Enforcement of Environmental Laws” presented to the Young Lawyers Division Environmental Law Committee of the American Bar Association (July 5, 1985)

“Negotiating Superfund Settlements” presented at an Executive Enterprises CERCLA Seminar, Arlington, Virginia (November 8, 1984)

“The Ethics of Operating a Hazardous Waste Business” presented at Wheaton College’s Business Ethics Seminar (January 23, 1983)

“Use of Effluent Toxicity Testing and EPA’s Treatability Manual In NPDES Permits” presented at the Chemical Manufacturers Association Environmental Update (June 8, 1981)

“Use of EPA’s Biomonitoring Protocol Guidance in NPDES Permits” presented at the 5th Annual Symposium on Aquatic Toxicology (October 7, 1980)

“EPA’s Effluent Limitations Guidelines Development” presented at the Chemical Manufacturers Association Symposium on NPDES Requirements (September 16, 1980)

“Biomonitoring Requirements in NPDES Permits” presented at the Chemical Manufacturers Association Symposium on NPDES Requirements (September 17, 1980)

“EPA’s Consolidated Permit Program: NPDES Permit Issues” presented to the Chemical Manufacturers Association (May 19, 1980)

“Regulation of Toxic and Hazardous Substance Discharges Under the Federal Clean Water Act” presented at St. John’s University School of Law Toxic Waste Conference (June 6, 1979)

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
New Bedford Whaling Museum
   Leadership Council

BAR MEMBERSHIPS
Massachusetts, 1993
Illinois, 1974
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. District Court, Massachusetts
U.S. Court of Appeals 1st Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit