Overview

Ethan Ware is a Shareholder at McNair Law Firm. His practice is limited to representation of industry and business in environmental and health and safety legal matters. He has appeared on behalf of business in negotiations relating to environmental permits, in defense of environmental and OSHA enforcement actions by state and federal agencies, in defense of toxic tort lawsuits, and on behalf of industry in criminal and civil environmental actions.

Ethan’s practice also involves review of environmental issues in transactions and environmental and health and safety training and auditing programs. Ethan has an active Southeastern practice and has authored many articles on timely environmental issues for the South Carolina publication, Business Journal, and the South Carolina Law Journal. He is also past President of the South Carolina Bar, Natural Resource Section. He works with Western Carolina Industries, South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, South Carolina Manufacturers Association, the Manufacturers and Chemical Industry Council (Raleigh), South Carolina Mining Association, and other business related trade associations, providing environmental and OSHA counsel and guidance. Ethan is best known for his accomplishments in air, hazardous waste, and wetlands law.

In 2001, EPA withdrew allegations of noncompliance with the Clean Air Act NSPS requirements against a steel mill based on Ethan’s successful arguments on applicability of the coil coating regulations to a coil process. In 1994, he secured an often cited OSWER opinion from EPA that allowed a web coating concern to transfer hazardous waste into multiple containers during treatment without violation of RCRA’s 90-day treatment exemption. Ethan also successfully negotiated a variance to VOC emissions standards (RACT) for a Tennessee paper coater in 1998 allowing the plant to emit three times the regulatory standard of VOCs. In 1992, he received the definitive ruling on South Carolina’s 401 Water Quality Certification regulations,obtaining a decision holding that program violated the Clean Water Act when used as part of a wetland permit review. From 1999-2003, Ethan negotiated site-specific water quality criteria for a river in Mississippi, allowing a discharger in the state to increase permit limits by ten times the permit level.