About Kaplan Kirsch
Kaplan Kirsch attorneys solve problems that involve natural resources, energy, water, infrastructure, public projects, land use, development, environmental and tribal law. The glue that holds us together is our reputation for crafting innovative solutions to high-risk and seemingly intractable problems involving the interplay of many disciplines. Our attorneys have been counsel to a variety of private entities and public agencies, including municipal utilities, across the United States, represented public interest organizations in high-profile environmental litigation, served as government counsel at the highest levels of federal, state and local government, and represented a wide range of clients on cutting-edge compliance issues.
We have a national reputation for advising clients on some of the largest and most sophisticated public infrastructure projects, including environmental, water supply projects, major urban developments, energy facilities, rail and transit systems, airports, highways, and transit-oriented development. Core to our Firm’s work is our environmental, energy, and natural resources practice, which assists clients with environmental cleanup, permitting, enforcement, and defense in matters under a wide array of state and federal environmental, energy, and conservation laws. We have deep experience with emerging contaminants such as PFAS, 1,4-dioxane, hexavalent chromium and 123TCP.
Our tribal practice, whose lawyers joined the firm in 2020, complements our work for local governments in their dealings with federal government regulators and funders. Our lawyers’ understanding of intergovernmental relations allows us to bring particular expertise and sensitivity to the needs of sovereign Indian nations.
Founded in 2003, we are a medium-sized law firm with offices in Denver, Colorado, Washington, DC, New York City, and San Francisco.
About Thomas A. Bloomfield
Tom Bloomfield advises public and private clients on complex environmental disputes involving administrative law, public policy, and litigation. For more than 30 years, he has successfully represented his clients on major Superfund and other contamination cases, liability risk transfers, renewable energy issues, climate, ozone and regional haze rulemakings, and oil and gas matters. He currently represents state agencies, large utilities and other clients at several Superfund sites, many of which involve emerging contaminants including PFAS, hexavalent chromium, 123 TCP, 1,4-dioxane and perchlorate. Tom also advises multiple clients for drinking water permits and related issues for the treatment and service of groundwater from extremely impaired drinking water sources. He has deep expertise in managing long-term liabilities at mining and other sites with long tail liabilities.
In Colorado, Tom has played a pivotal role representing non-profit and public clients before agencies and in court on a range of significant air quality and climate change rulemakings, many of which have become models for other states and the federal government. These accomplishments include the first statewide rules to control methane from oil and gas operations; the groundbreaking Clean Air Clean Jobs Act rulemakings that integrated energy planning and environmental regulation to address regional haze, climate change and public health; Colorado Regional Haze State Implementation Plans; the state’s adoption of low and zero emission vehicle standards; and other leading climate work.
Tom is currently a partner at Kaplan Kirsch, LLP. Prior to joining the firm, Tom served as an attorney with two other law firms and as an Associate Regional Counsel for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in San Francisco. While at U.S. EPA, Tom litigated and resolved some of the most significant, high profile CERCLA cases in the region. Tom has been recognized as a leading national expert on financial assurance issues, environmental insurance, fixed-price contractual arrangements, and alternative financing approaches for public projects.
