Randolph C. Visser

For longtime client California Steel Industries, Visser has been acting as its special environmental counsel on a variety of ongoing land-use and environmental permitting, regulatory compliance, air credit trading and enforcement defense matters.

Among these, he assisted his Fontana-based client on its multiyear modernization program for a new $75 million reheat furnace and a new $100,000 million pipe mill, part of the company's longer-term modernization program valued at more than $250 million.

"CSI has successfully continued to modernize its facility to meet increased regulatory demands and challenges by reducing air quality emissions, hazardous waste generation and energy costs," Visser said.

But, he add, this is no easy task for these types of industries, given California's strict regulatory environment.

"They are the most stringent of any state in the United States, or any country," Visser said.

California also has the most environmental agencies, he added.

"It's a very challenging regulatory environment to deal with - a proliferating number of agencies that are not necessarily coordinated or on the same page at the same time, and often have overlapping authority," Visser said.

He added, "We should work to make these regulatory authorities more streamlined, centralized, coordinated and effective across all environmental media."

Among his other tasks, Visser provides compliance counseling and litigation defense to companies in connection with Proposition 65, which requires companies to provide a warning on their products containing chemicals that cause a significant risk of cancer or reproductive harm.

"I represent companies that manufacture everyday consumer and electronic products that have to be very concerned about chemicals and government, as well as citizen lawsuits," Visser said. "This can result in a lot of enforcement defense."

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