Michael K. Ohm
Partner Chicago
T: +1 312 602 5032
E: michael.ohm@bryancave.com
Michael Ohm is a former managing partner of Bryan
Practices
Cave’s Chicago office and a veteran environmental
Environmental
lawyer with nearly 30 years of experience. Mr. Ohm’s
Energy and Natural Resources
practice is highly diverse, ranging from brownfield
Private Equity
redevelopment and traditional environmental
counseling, permitting and defense to emerging areas of
Admissions
environmental, energy and natural resource law. His 26
Illinois, 1985
years in private practice are founded upon prior public
United States District Courts for the
Northern District of Illinois and
Eastern District of Wisconsin
service, first with the United States Environmental
Protection Agency at EPA’s Midwest Region 5 office
followed by service as an environmental Assistant
Attorney General to the Illinois Attorney General. Mr.
Education
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Ohm’s clients include major real estate developers,
DePaul University, J.D., 1985
REITs, private equity companies, municipalities, and
University of Illinois, B.S., 1982
manufacturers.
Since moving to private practice in 1988, Mr. Ohm has
directed numerous cleanups under the so-called
Superfund law. Furthermore, he served as lead defense
counsel in one of the largest Toxic Substances Control
Act (TSCA) enforcement actions in the United States,
the resolution of which included a two year domestic
TSCA audit of multiple chemical manufacturing facilities.
Since the early 1990’s, Mr. Ohm has developed a
national brownfield redevelopment practice and has
served as lead environmental counsel to complex, multiparty brownfield projects, including a former Army
ammunition plant, a former Air Force base, several
former steel mills and other types of brownfields.
Mr. Ohm has assisted clients with ecosystem
management and valuation including the certification
and permitting of Endangered Species Act (ESA)
conservation banks and Army Corps of Engineer
wetland mitigation banks. His natural resources work
includes assisting a client with the certification of one of
the largest privately-held conservation banks in
California.
Mr. Ohm’s practice also includes representation of
parties either generating or procuring renewable energy.
The work relating to brownfield redevelopment and
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renewable energy also involves "green building"
compliance, use of "smart growth" principles and
implementation of voluntary carbon footprint planning
and greenhouse gases considerations.
In his Federal public service Mr. Ohm spent the majority
of his time at EPA in the RCRA waste management
area including rulemaking, acting as a public hearing
officer and as the RCRA liaison between EPA and
Indiana. As an Illinois environmental prosecutor, Mr.
Ohm prosecuted criminal and civil actions under the
Illinois Environmental Protection Act.
An experienced public speaker, Mr. Ohm has addressed
business and professional organizations on a variety of
environmental, health and safety subjects, including
brownfields, sustainable, development, environmental
auditing, environmental insurance, environmental
strategic and risk management, wetlands regulation
CERCLA cost recovery, RCRA closure procedures,
OSHA health and safety requirements and Clean Air Act
permit planning.
Civic Involvement & Honors
Chambers USA, 2008-2016
Representative Experience
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Representing a national industrial real estate developer and REIT in its purchase and
development of a 900 acre intermodal facility for a Class 1 railroad including environmental
closure of myriad agricultural and industrial land.
Representing a manufacturer in a complex, multiparty CERCLA negotiation and
investigation with US EPA Region 5 including the negotiation of insurance coverage, an
administrative order for removal and multiparty participation agreements.
Assisting a national real estate developer with its purchase, including environmental due
diligence, remediation, closure and insurance procurement of more 40 properties in the
past 12 months in a number of jurisdictions including Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan,
Maryland, New Jersey, California, Wisconsin and Texas.
Negotiating agreements relating to the cleanup and redevelopment of former manufactured
gas plants.
Representing a development authority to transform 3,000 acres of land formerly used by
the United States government as an ammunition plant into the largest intermodal
transportation facility in North America.
Representing a major real estate developer in developing the McCook Industrial Center II
on the 250-acre former Reynolds Metals site in McCook, Illinois.
Representing a joint venturer with one of the nation’s largest automobile manufacturers to
develop a Phoenix award-winning Supplier Campus in Chicago, Illinois, resulting in 1,000
new union jobs.
Representing a municipality and local economic development authority in redevelopment of
former 700 acre steel mill on Rock River in Sterling Illinois using techniques such as first-ofits-kind RCRA/CERCLA prospective purchaser agreement and a $2M brownfield grant,
enabling our clients to leverage these tools to enable significant private investment and
repopulate the site with a dozen new businesses.
Representing a charter school organization with its purchase and development of
brownfield properties and the conversion the properties into schools serving low income
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urban communities.
Assisting with the negotiation and purchase of environmental insurance and the
procurement of state and Federal environmental incentives, grants and low-interest loans.
Representing a global aerospace metals recycling company with the assessment of its
carbon and other greenhouse gas impacts, offsets and attributes. The representation
including interfacing with the recycling company's aviation customers and establishing the
cycle of offset to attributes for a number of large European aviation companies.
Advising clients regarding the redevelopment of a former 500 acre U.S. Steel facility on
Lake Michigan on the southeast side of Chicago.
Events
Firm has Key Involvement in
Brownfields 2015 Conference
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