Stites & Harbison, PLLC

Dr. Early's Ph.D. in Biology and experience as a college professor help set him apart as an environmental lawyer, where a technical background is an important complement to the practice of law. His legal practice is a broad approach to environmental law that includes a focus on water and land issues, agriculture, natural resources and energy, and the intersection of surety law and environmental regulatory matters.  He counsels clients on environmental compliance and environmental considerations in real estate and business transactions and is active in civil and administrative litigation.

Blaine is the founder of www.sustainabilitylawtalk.com.  His blog focuses on laws, policies, and practices related to sustainability and how they affect businesses, individuals, and government.  A unique focus of this blog is its emphasis on integrating scientific and technical aspects of sustainability. It addresses the legal and factual bases of sustainability efforts at the local, state, national and international levels.

Recent Assignments

• Defending power plant's wastewater discharge permit against citizens' challenge
• Counseling clients on the validity of permit requirements and challenging permits when necessary
• Defending mineral mining operations against citizens' suits alleging unauthorized water pollution
• Led the legal team on behalf of a major metropolitan area to challenge a wastewater discharge permit upstream of the city's drinking water intake and to protect upstream source water
• Counsel to major animal agriculture producers in litigation and compliance with environmental laws including Clean Water Act, CERCLA, EPCRA, waste and common law nuisance
• Counsel for real estate and business transactions and mineral, natural gas and oil development
• Part of the legal team for surety companies addressing bankruptcy, mine reclamation, black lung and workers compensation issues
• Represented parties in litigation involving water intrusion and mold growth in buildings
• Defending manufacturers in actions alleging exposure to toxic materials such as lead in the workplace and homes

Recent Publications

• "You don't miss it until it's gone: Drought highlights the importance of water management," Water Quality and Wetlands Committee Newsletter, American Bar Association, August 2012
• "Reclamation Bonds," The Law of Commercial Surety and Miscellaneous Bonds, Second Edition, American Bar Association Fidelity & Surety Law Committee, with William T. Gorton, III and George Thompson, May 2012
• "Trends in Water Quality Issues for Appalachian Mining," Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium, March 19, 2012
• "Current and Emerging Legal Issues on Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining," webinar presented by BloombergBNA, February 28, 2012
• "Court says the EPA and Corps of Engineers must follow the law," Stites & Harbison, PLLC, Client Alert, October 19, 2011
• "Environmental/Reclamation Financial Assurances: Back to the Future," 56th Annual Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Annual Institute, with William T. Gorton, III, Banff, Alberta, Canada, July 22-24, 2010
• "Not All Biofuels are Green," Kentucky Bench & Bar, March 2010
• "SEC Describes Disclosure Requirements on Climate Change," Stites & Harbison, PLLC, Client Alert, February 5, 2010
• "Big Waters: Everyone's Resource but Whose Responsibility?," presented as introduction to panel discussion on water quality in the Chesapeake Bay, Fall 2009 meeting of the American Bar Association Section on Environmental, Energy, and Resources, Baltimore, MD, September 2009
• "Property Rights in a Sustainable World: More than Minerals and Surface," Energy & Mineral Law Foundation, presented at the Annual Institute, Hilton Head, S.C., May 2009
• "Biofuel Production and Water Quality," Newsletter of the Water Quality and Wetlands Committee, American Bar Association Section on Environment, Energy, and Resources, July 2008
• "Toilet to Tap and the Clean Water Act," Newsletter of the Water Quality and Wetlands Committee, American Bar Association Section on Environment, Energy, and Resources, April 2008
• "Carbon Concerns: Law, Policy, and Business," Environmental Law Update, Kentucky Bar Association, August 2007
• "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed: The Marriage of Nuisance and Environmental Regulation," presented as part of the panel on CAFO Litigation: Anticipatory Nuisance and CERCLA/EPCRA Liability, American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy and Resources, Thirteenth Section Fall Meeting, Nashville, Tennessee, September 21-25, 2005
• "Mold Litigation & Risk Management," presented at Concurring Tomorrow Together, hosted by Park Supply at Caesar's Indiana, January 29, 2005
• "Surety's Rights and Obligations under SMCRA and the Bankruptcy Principal's Environmental Obligations and the Bankruptcy of the Phoenix: To Rise Again?" 29th Mineral Law Conference, Lexington, Kentucky, October 15, 2004 (paper co-authored with William T. Gorton III)
• "The Blending of Bankruptcy and Environmental Law Issues," 19th Annual Environmental Law Institute, University of Kentucky College of Law, November 14, 2003
• "Managing Risks of Mold," Center for Higher Education Law, Morehead State University, October 3, 2003
• "Mold Fundamentals and the Law," in Solving Water Intrusion and Mold Problems in Kentucky, Lorman Educational Services, Louisville, Kentucky, July 24, 2003

Before Stites & Harbison

Law is Blaine's second career. He served on the biology faculty of Cumberland College (now the University of the Cumberlands) in Williamsburg, Ky., from 1979 until 1993, chairing the department (1984 to 1993) and earning the rank of full professor. Prior to joining the firm in September 1998, Blaine was Judicial Law Clerk to Hon. Jennifer B. Coffman, United States District Judge for the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky, in London, Kentucky. He had held that position since August 1996.

More than Stites & Harbison

Blaine is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation.  He served as one of five Commissioners representing Kentucky in the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), the southern regional accrediting agency for higher education, and now serves on the Commission's Appeals Committee. He is a member of the board and pro-bono legal counsel for the Upper Cumberland River Watershed Watch—a volunteer organization that supports water quality, and is a member of the board of the state-wide organization Watershed Watch in Kentucky, Inc. Blaine is a past Chairman of the Board of Bluegrass Tomorrow, a regional organization that facilitates planning, collaboration and implementation of efforts to improve quality of life and economic development in central Kentucky.  He recently received the Robert N. Clay President's Award at the Bluegrass Tomorrow Awards Breakfast (2010) for his outstanding service as board chair.  He is a former chair of the Natural Resources Section of the Kentucky Bar Association and a former president of the Kentucky Academy of Science. Blaine is listed in the The Best Lawyers in America^® (2007-2013) for Energy Law, Environmental Law and Water Law.