Session II

Current Issues in Environmental Insurance

Moderator: James P. Rigano, Esq., Rigano LLC

Panelists:

Travis Moore Hearne, Esq., Shareholder, Mechanik Nuccio Hearne & Wester, P. A.

Nicholas Rigano, Esq., Rigano LLC

Jared Dubrowsky, Senior Vice President, Environmental Insurance Practice, NFP

Edwin Baez, Underwriter - Environmental, Beazley

To be submitted.

 James P. Rigano, Esq., Rigano LLC

James Rigano has concentrated his practice exclusively in environmental law for more than three decades. Mr. Rigano has served in the Enforcement Division of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, where he was involved in a variety of water pollution control programs and was environmental counsel to the New York Power Authority.

He has extensive experience in subsurface contamination and solid waste issues and has represented clients in numerous matters before environmental regulatory agencies. He has negotiated the environmental issues in numerous transactions and has handled a broad range of cases involving wetlands, open space, and air pollution issues, and has litigated cost recovery actions. Mr. Rigano has had extensive experience with subsurface soil gas issues.

Mr. Rigano has extensive experience with environmental issues in brownfield development projects. He has negotiated technical and environmental issues and has addressed a host of complex regulatory concerns in the redevelopment of contaminated property. Mr. Rigano was
environmental counsel for the New York Power Authority where he was involved in the permitting and environmental issues associated with hydroelectric facilities and major transmission lines.

Prior to practicing law, Mr. Rigano was employed for five years as an environmental scientist conducting research on the environmental effects of electric power generation. 

Mr. Rigano has authored more than 50 articles and has lectured extensively on a variety of environmental insurance coverage topics. He has also chaired more than 20 environmental conferences. He is actively involved in civic, business and bar association organizations. Long Island Business News has featured him in their “Who’s Who in the Law” edition.

Mr. Rigano is the Chair of the Environmental and Energy Law Section of the New York State Bar Association from 2022 to 2023 and Chair of the St. Paul Nursery School in Hempstead, New York. He serves on the Board of the Nassau County Boy Scouts and St. Paul’s Greek Orthodox Churchre they enjoy their two young grandsons Easton and Logan. 

 Travis Moore Hearne, Esq., Shareholder, Mechanik Nuccio Hearne & Wester, P. A.

Travis Moore Hearne is an Attorney in the Environmental Practice Group at Mechanik Nuccio. Travis is a second generation environmental lawyer and focuses his practice on environmental permitting, compliance, and remediation. Travis has experience in a wide variety of environmental, transactional, and land use issues and matters, including environmental resource permitting for wetland impacts and stormwater management, buying and selling contaminated property, environmental due diligence in real estate transactions, Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments, lender environmental liability, Brownfields, solid and hazardous waste permitting and compliance, RCRA and HSWA cleanups, coastal construction permitting, riparian law, and water quality law and regulation. Travis also has experience in real estate transactions, transactional documents, and land use issues and has represented real estate developers, landowners, small businesses, local governments, and lending institutions.  

Travis graduated magna cum laude from Stetson University College of Law, where he finished in the top 5.1% of his class and received the highest grade awards in his sections of Torts, Property, and Administrative Law. He completed the Environmental Law Concentration at Stetson and focused his legal studies on the fields of environmental, land use, administrative, and municipal and local government law. He was a member of Stetson’s Moot Court Board and represented Stetson twice at the Pace University National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition, where he received two best oralist awards. 

Travis also was a Senior Associate of the Stetson Law Review and sat on the Law Review’s Spring 2019 Publication Committee. His law review comment focused on regulation of water quality, From Category 4B to Category 2: How Local Stakeholders in the Tampa Bay Nitrogen Management Consortium Battled Nutrient Pollution to Improve the Bay, was selected for publication in the Stetson Law Review’s Summer 2019 Edition. Travis was also selected to present his comment at the Scholarship Luncheon held by the Stetson Law Review once each semester.

During his time at Stetson, Travis also served as a Biodiversity Fellow at Stetson’s Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy, which afforded him the opportunity to attend the Fifteenth Meeting of the Scientific Committee of the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles in Tegucigalpa, Honduras in September 2018 on behalf of the Institute. Travis also assisted in researching an amicus brief filed in the Southern District of New York on behalf of the Society of Wetland Scientists in the case of New York v. Pruitt involving litigation over the Federal Clean Water Rule.

Travis was a certified legal intern at the City Attorney’s office of the City of St. Petersburg, where he researched a broad variety of issues pertaining to municipal law. At graduation, he was awarded the Outstanding Local Government Law Student Award by the Florida Bar’s City, County, and Local Government Law Section.

Since graduation, Travis has been published by both the ABA’s Section of Energy, Environment, and Resources and the Florida Association of Environmental Professionals.

Before attending law school, Travis earned his B.A. magna cum laude from the University of South Florida in English Literature. He lives in Land O’ Lakes Florida with his wife, Kasandra, and their mini-dachsund, Oscar. Greek Orthodox Churchre they enjoy their two young grandsons Easton and Logan. 

 Nicholas Rigano, Esq., Rigano LLC

Nicholas Rigano joined Rigano LLC in 2017. Prior to joining the firm, he worked at well-known firms located in Manhattan and Long Island.

Nick represents clients in litigation and transactional real property matters involving environmental issues. His practice primarily concentrates on subsurface contamination, solid waste, and wetland issues. Nick is Chair of the PFAS Committee for the New York State Bar Association Environmental and Energy Law Section and is an appointed member of the New York State Bar Association Environmental Justice Committee.  He was the Chair of the Environmental Law Committee for the Nassau County Bar Association and served on the Environmental Advisory Board for the Village of Garden City.

Nick also represents key constituents involved in Chapter 5 bankruptcy litigation and as well as creditors to Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 bankruptcies.

Nick has authored numerous articles published in periodicals such as the Bloomberg Law Reporter, Wall Street Journal Pro, the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review, the New York Real Estate Journal, and the New York Environmental Lawyer. He has lectured extensively on various environmental, bankruptcy and litigation topics at venues such as the Harvard Club, Nassau County Bar Association, CLE providers as well as for the New York State Bar Association.

Nick has been quoted or appeared in various media outlets including Wall Street Journal, Newsday, The New York Post, News12, ABC News, NPR, Bloomberg BNA, the Garden City News, Port Washington News, Riverhead News Review, East Hampton Star, Bethpage Newsgram, and the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.

 Jared Dubrowsky, Senior Vice President, Environmental Insurance Practice, NFP

Jared's focus as Senior Vice President of the NFP Environmental Insurance Practice is on elevating the Practice through strategic business development and targeted marketing. Jareds approach integrates hands-on training and education, ensuring colleagues and clients are well-versed in environmental risk and insurance solutions. Jared's expertise in environmental risk was honed through  two decades in the environmental industry in a progression of roles. This included, Environmental Risk Manager at Santander Bank, Project Manager for the City of New York, Environmental Assessment and various rolls with Environmental consultants. These positions allowed Jared to develop key competencies in environmental compliance and management systems. Jared's career is a testament to a steadfast commitment to service and excellence, guiding clients with integrity through the intricacies of environmental insurance.

 Edwin Baez, Underwriter - Environmental, Beazley

Edwin Baez is an Environmental Underwriter with Beazley Environmental. With over 20 years of environment underwriting experience, Edwin works out of Beazley’s Miami office and underwrites site pollution placements for complex brownfield redevelopment sites, real estate transactions, and merger and acquisition risk. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Earth Science and Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering from Columbia University. He completed his MBA at Loyola University Chicago, while living and working in Chicago. He holds CPCU, ARe, CRIS, and CLCS insurance designations.

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