Elizabeth F. Mason
Areas of Practice
Elizabeth Mason, an associate in the firm’s Environmental and Energy Practices, specializes in the cleanup and redevelopment of complex contaminated sites, the management of environmental risks in real estate, corporate and private equity transactions, and the permitting and development of energy projects. Her areas of expertise include hazardous waste site cleanup under CERCLA and state Superfund programs, with a particular focus on brownfield redevelopment and the remediation and redevelopment of closed military bases and other “mega-sites;” environmental insurance; and federal and state permitting of nuclear power and fossil-fuel electric-generating facilities, including carbon and climate change issues. Ms. Mason is also a member of the firm’s Clean Tech Practice and Nanotechnology Incubator. Ms. Mason has over fourteen years of experience as an environmental attorney in both the private and the public sectors, having worked for the United States Environmental Protection Agency as well as in private practice. While a Senior Assistant Regional Counsel at EPA, she worked on a number of high-profile matters. Ms. Mason was EPA Region 1’s lead attorney on active and closed military base remediation and redevelopment matters and worked on complicated sites including South Weymouth Naval Air Station (which was the first-ever effort to implement cleanup “privatization” at a closing military base on EPA’s National Priorities List) and Loring Air Force Base (a BRAC facility...more » Elizabeth Mason, an associate in the firm’s Environmental and Energy Practices, specializes in the cleanup and redevelopment of complex contaminated sites, the management of environmental risks in real estate, corporate and private equity transactions, and the permitting and development of energy projects. Her areas of expertise include hazardous waste site cleanup under CERCLA and state Superfund programs, with a particular focus on brownfield redevelopment and the remediation and redevelopment of closed military bases and other “mega-sites;” environmental insurance; and federal and state permitting of nuclear power and fossil-fuel electric-generating facilities, including carbon and climate change issues. Ms. Mason is also a member of the firm’s Clean Tech Practice and Nanotechnology Incubator. Ms. Mason has over fourteen years of experience as an environmental attorney in both the private and the public sectors, having worked for the United States Environmental Protection Agency as well as in private practice. While a Senior Assistant Regional Counsel at EPA, she worked on a number of high-profile matters. Ms. Mason was EPA Region 1’s lead attorney on active and closed military base remediation and redevelopment matters and worked on complicated sites including South Weymouth Naval Air Station (which was the first-ever effort to implement cleanup “privatization” at a closing military base on EPA’s National Priorities List) and Loring Air Force Base (a BRAC facility in northern Maine that was cleaned up and converted into commercial real estate, public housing and a national wildlife refuge). In addition, she advised EPA Region 1’s power plant permitting team in the development and defense of Clean Water Act permits issued for several significant New England electric-generating stations with §316(a) thermal discharge and §316(b) cooling water intake structure issues. less »
Work for Clients
Institutional clients that Ms. Mason represents include BlackRock Realty Advisors, Inc.; Lubert-Adler Management, Inc.; Advent International Corporation; Charlesbank Capital Partners, LLC; Griffith Properties LLC; The Prudential Insurance Company; Tronox, LLC; Partners HealthCare System, Inc.; Entergy Nuclear, Inc.; and Public Services Company of New Hampshire.
Professional Activities
Ms. Mason is a member of the Boston, Massachusetts and American Bar Associations. She is on the Board of Editors for the American Bar Association Section on the Environment, Energy and Resources publication, Trends.
Publications/Presentations
Ms. Mason has authored numerous articles and publications. Her most recent articles include “Succeeding at Landfill Redevelopment” (co-authored with Elise Zoli), which appeared in the Fall 2007 edition of REsource; and “Avoiding Individual CERCLA Liability for LLC Members and Managers,” which appeared the September/October 2007 edition of Trends. At EPA, Ms. Mason developed and presented EPA-sponsored seminars on federal facility Superfund site remediation and redevelopment, and unexploded ordnance. She has also lectured at Boston College Law School on environmental due diligence. While in law school, Ms. Mason was the editor-in-chief of the Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review.
Professional Experience
Prior to joining Goodwin Procter in 2003, Ms. Mason was a Senior Assistant Regional Counsel in EPA’s Boston office for six years. While at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, PC, in Boston, Massachusetts from 1993 to 1996, she advised corporate and non-profit clients on environmental permitting and compliance issues under federal and state hazardous waste, water and wetlands regulations, and represented Fortune 500 companies in Superfund and environmental insurance coverage litigation. While at Anderson & Kreiger LLP in Cambridge, Massachusetts from 1996 to 1997, she represented clients in wetlands, Chapter 21E and insurance coverage litigation, and advised private and public clients on zoning/subdivision control and historic preservation compliance. Ms. Mason served as Law Clerk to Chief Justice Joseph P. Warner and Honorable Benjamin Kaplan in the Massachusetts Appeals Court from 1992 to 1993.
Bar and Court Admissions
Ms. Mason has been admitted to the bar in Massachusetts, and has appeared pro hac vice in several other jurisdictions including Michigan and Ohio.
Honors and Awards
While at EPA, Ms. Mason received several agency awards, including regional Bronze Medal Awards, for commendable work.
Education
J.D., Boston College Law School, 1992 (cum laude)
M.A., Boston University, 1987
B.A., Yale University, 1983 (magna cum laude)
|