I am building an environmental protection installation and am stuck in a dispute with the contracting party over wastewater discharge conditions; how do I avoid costly litigation and unblock the construction site?

Client

Manufacturer of equipment for the energy and industrial sectors

The situation

The construction of a flue gas desulphurisation installation is a complex engineering and regulatory project and disputes between the contractor and the contracting party during the realisation of such projects are a common occurrence. In this case, the disputed point was the conditions for discharging process wastewater into a river with poor chemical and ecological status: the river’s status raised the question of the permissibility of such discharge and its impact on the permitting process for the entire investment. The contractor of the desulphurisation installation faced the risk of the construction being blocked and a costly dispute with the contracting party.

Our role

We conducted a legal analysis of the possibility of discharging process wastewater into the river, taking account of its chemical and ecological status and the impact of that status on the permitting proceedings. On this basis, we developed legal arguments enabling the dispute to be resolved through negotiation with the contracting party, without entering the litigation path. Our advisory enabled both the unblocking of work on the construction site and the avoidance of a costly and time-consuming court proceeding.

The result

Construction works were unblocked without court proceedings. This is an example of environmental advisory in a contractual context, where a precise legal analysis of environmental conditions translates directly into the resolution of a business dispute and the unblocking of an investment project.

Are you stuck in a dispute with a contracting party or counterparty over an environmental issue blocking your project? A fast, precise legal analysis can replace costly litigation.