Bernstein, Shur's Jeff Thaler Chosen by Rhode Island Town for Expertise on Major Project

Top environmental lawyer from Maine asked to monitor permitting process for Narragansett Bay container port

Jeffrey A. Thaler, one of Maine's top environmental lawyers, has been tapped by the town of North Kingstown, Rhode Island to monitor the environmental permitting process for the siting of a highly controversial, huge container terminal on Narragansett Bay.

Thaler, chair of the Environmental Practice Group at Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer & Nelson in Portland, was selected this week by the town from a pool of applicants that included lawyers from large firms in New York City and Boston. His hiring is believed to mark the first time a Maine lawyer has been retained by an out-of-state municipality for environmental litigation.

"Mr. Thaler's experience and expertise stood out during the selection process," said David Burnham, president of the North Kingstown Town Council. "He has a strong reputation and we have the utmost confidence in his abilities to conduct a careful and thorough review of this troubling project. He's going to hold their feet to the fire and make sure the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed."

Thaler, of Yarmouth, has been listed since 1988 in every edition of the Best Lawyers in America for environmental and natural resource law. He has been involved with many of Maine's most complex or controversial land, air and water issues of the past two decades, including against Great Northern Paper's proposed Big A Dam on the Penobscot River and in opposition to the large Township 30 landfill proposal in Washington County. Thaler handles environmental permitting, compliance and litigation matters.

The North Kingstown Town Council hired Thaler in response to the filing of permit applications by the Rhode Island governor's office and its environmental regulators in January. The applications were filed with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council to start the state and federal environmental review necessary to develop the proposed load-center container terminal at Quonset Point in North Kingstown, a town of 26,000 located about 25 miles south of Providence.

Town officials are concerned the container port project, which will attract 900-foot-long cargo ships and result in heavy truck and train traffic, will harm the quality of life and environmental resources in the region.

"A project of this size and scope requires careful monitoring, especially with the environmental impacts of the magnitude of a container port," Thaler said. "I really thought my skills and my experience fit what (North Kingston officials) were looking for. I'm pleased they have given me this opportunity and I'm ready to go to work."

Thaler, known for his unrelenting courtroom style, has argued before local, state and district courts as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals. Besides representing towns and county commissioners in Maine on environmental cases, he has represented such environmental organizations as the Conservation Law Foundation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Maine Audubon Society, and the Maine chapter of the Sierra Club.

Thaler is the co-author of the recently published Maine Environmental Law Handbook and has been an adjunct professor at the University of Maine School of Law in Portland, teaching courses on environmental law, and is a frequent lecturer to legal and citizen groups. He is a 1974 magna cum laude graduate of Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. Thaler received his law degree in 1977 from Yale Law School in New Haven, Conn.

Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer & Nelson is one of northern New England's largest law firms, with more than 70 attorneys in offices in Portland and Augusta. For more information, visit the firm's web site at http://www.mainelaw.com.

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