Tom is an associate with Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox, LLP.  He concentrates his practice on environmental transactional matters, regulatory counseling, and environmental litigation.  He is also a member of the firm’s air practice group.  Tom handles a wide range of environmental matters, including brownfield redevelopment projects and transactional-related environmental due diligence.  He represents entities in multi-party state and federal litigation involving cost recovery and indemnity claims, as well as contribution claims for contamination and remediation conducted under CERCLA, RCRA, and state laws. 

Tom has negotiated technically complex consent decrees with the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and state agencies, and has conducted extensive internal environmental audits.  He has also represented manufacturers, private equity investors, sellers, buyers and developers in transactions involving current and former industrial sites in which environmental risks and liabilities were critical to the structure of the transaction and investment analysis.  In connection with such representations, Tom has negotiated the environmental aspects of transactional agreements, including regulatory consent agreements and prospective purchaser agreements.

Tom came to the firm from Blank Rome LLP, where he was an associate in the environmental and energy practice group.  In that role, he represented and counseled a broad range of clients in environmental and energy matters and litigated cases before state and federal courts, the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board, and the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.  Prior to that, Tom served as an assistant counsel to the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board.

In law school, Tom was a law clerk for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a legal intern for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and a judicial clerk for the Honorable Thomas J. Reuter of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  He participated in the National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition as a member of the Moot Court Board, published a journal article on the National Park Service’s treatment of recreational uses under the National Environmental Policy Act, and served as president of the Environmental and Energy Law Society.  Upon graduation, he received Villanova’s 2012 Public Interest Fellowship Program Award. 

Tom was recently appointed by Governor Wolf to serve on the Environmental Hearing Board Rules Committee.  He also serves on the Council of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Environmental and Energy Law Section and chairs the Section’s Pro Bono Committee.  Tom is also on the Executive Committee of the Delaware Valley Environmental American Inn of Court and chairs its Membership Committee.  In addition, he serves on the Board of the Lower Merion Conservancy and has served as an appointed member of East Bradford Township’s Environmental Advisory Council.

Tom is married to his high school sweetheart, and together they have three children. 

Tom’s representations extend from private individuals through major international corporations, relating to brownfield redevelopment, complex transactions, regulatory compliance counseling, and environmental litigation, including the following matters:

• Assisting clients in all elements of brownfield redevelopment projects including due diligence, site characterization and remediation, risk management strategies, future use approvals, institutional controls, liability protection; and attainment of governmental cleanup liability protection under the federal Superfund program and under Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and other state brownfield programs;
• Addressing environmental contamination of soils, surface water, and groundwater, including overseeing consultant work and achieving satisfaction of alternative attainment standards in the most cost-effective and timely manner;
• Complex transactions for the purchase and sale of businesses and real estate, including contract negotiation, due diligence, permit transfers, securing pre-acquisition environmental liability protections, and preparing institutional controls and environmental covenants;
• Advising clients on compliance with complex federal and state regulatory requirements;
• Defending enforcement actions by federal, state, and local agencies, including responding to orders, information requests, penalty assessments, and negotiating settlements;
• Providing immediate counseling to industrial facilities in response to emergency incidents resulting from the release of regulated constituents to the environment, including coordinating response actions and responding to governmental inquiries;
• Appealing numerous air quality, water quality, and solid waste permits in response to objectionable conditions, and defending environmental permits against third party challenges;
• Representing clients before the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board and state and federal administrative agencies and courts; and
• Superfund litigation involving successor liability, unilateral orders, remedy selection, consent decrees, allocation, and private party liability issues.

• Pennsylvania Super Lawyers “Rising Star” listing (environmental litigation), since 2018. The Super Lawyers list is issued by Thomson Reuters. Click here to view the selection methodology.
  
  Villanova's Public Interest Fellowship Program Award (2012)
  
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"The ARCO Decision: Third-Party, State Law Claims and Superfund Challenges", a webinar presented on behalf of the American Law Institute, August 6, 2020

"Drones: Legal Considerations, Uses and Defenses” presented at the Association of Corporate Counsel’s In-House Counsel Conference, virtual event, July 20, 2020

"An In-House Counsel's Guide to Spotting and Avoiding Environmental Issues," presented at the Health, Biotech and Pharma Practice Institute of the Association of Corporate Counsel, King of Prussia, PA, June 18, 2019

"Stormwater and the Environmental Rights Amendment," presented at a reception held by the Pennsylvania Bar Association, West Reading, PA, March 5, 2019

"Drinking Water, Infrastructure, and Environmental Justice," presented at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute's 23rd Annual Environmental Law Forum, April 2018

"The Pennsylvania Environmental Rights Amendment: Are You Ready for a New ERA?" presented by MGKF, Bala Cynwyd, PA, February 2018

"PA Surface Water and Groundwater Rights," presented at the Pennsylvania Water Laws and Regulations Conference, 2016

"Single Source Determination," presented at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute's 18th Annual Environmental Law Forum, 2013

Duncan, T.D. (2018). Citizen Suits in Pennsylvania in PBI's Pennsylvania Environmental Law & Practice (9^th ed., pp. 917-964). United States, PBI Press.

"More Obstacles Ahead for Pa Net Metering Restrictions", Law360, June 7, 2016 (co-author)

"Energy Sector Beware: Cybersecurity Now Top Security Threat", The Legal Intelligencer, October 16, 2015 (co-author)

"Driving Americans'​ Perception of Recreation: Awaiting the Park Service's Long-Term Solution to Address Snowmobile Access in Yellowstone National Park",19 VILL. SPORTS & ENT. L.J. 699 (2012)