Brenda H. Gotanda

Top rated Environmental attorney in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania

Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox, LLP
Brenda H. Gotanda
Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox, LLP

Practice areas: Environmental, Energy & Natural Resources

Licensed in Pennsylvania since: 1994

Education: The University of Texas School of Law

Selected to Super Lawyers: 2010 - 2026 Selected to Rising Stars: 2005 - 2007

Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox, LLP

Three Bala Plaza East
Suite 700
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004 Phone: 484-430-2327 Email: Brenda H. Gotanda Visit website

Brenda Hustis Gotanda is a Partner with Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox LLP and has extensive experience representing clients in environmental regulatory compliance, enforcement and transactional matters. For over 30 years, clients have relied on her to provide strategic guidance in managing risks, responding to challenges, engaging with regulators, and achieving their goals. Brenda represents and counsels clients in a variety of businesses on environmental and energy matters, including regulatory compliance, permitting, enforcement actions, transactions, site remediation, and project development. Brenda has handled complex issues related to the regulation of water, waste, air, and chemical substances for a broad range of clients, including in the manufacturing, real estate, energy, industrial development, telecommunications, transportation, waste management and retail sectors. Her practice includes significant matters involving wastewater and stormwater NPDES permitting and enforcement, TMDL development and implementation, hazardous and non-hazardous waste, PFAS, real estate transactions and due diligence, spill prevention and emergency response, Superfund (CERCLA), redevelopment of brownfields and former defense sites, and occupational safety and health. In addition, she has guided clients though complex and evolving issues related to sustainability, greenhouse gas emissions and lifecycle analysis, renewable energy, battery energy storage, energy efficiency, renewable fuels, green building, and green marketing claims.  

Brenda serves on the Board of Directors of the Water Resources Association of the Delaware River Basin. She is a past Chair of the Environmental, Energy & Resources Section of the Hawaii State Bar Association and a past Co-Chair of the Environmental Law Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association. She has served on the Board of Directors for ThinkTech Hawaii, Inc., the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Shofuso Japanese House and Garden, and the Delaware Valley Green Building Council.  She is a co-founder and Director Emeritus of the Society of Women Environmental Professionals of Greater Philadelphia and has also served as Chair of the Radnor Township Environmental Advisory Council.

First Admitted: 1993, Massachusetts

Professional Webpage: https://www.mankogold.com/people-Brenda-Gotanda.html

Bar / Professional Activity

  • Hawaii State Bar Association (HSBA) Environment, Energy & Resources Section, Board Member and Former Chair
  • Radnor Township Environmental Advisory Council, past Chair
  • Society of Women Environmental Professionals of Greater Philadelphia, Co-Founder and Director Emeritus
  • Delaware Valley Green Building Council, past member of Board of Directors 
  • Shofuso Japanese House & Garden, Past Board Member
  • Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, past member of Board of Directors 
  • Environmental Law Committee of Philadelphia Bar Association, Past Co-Chair
  • Water Resources Association of the Delaware River Basin, Board of Directors

Videos

  • Discussion of hot trends in sustainabilty reporting and sharing insights on meeting the challenges ahead , Sustainability Reporting, Manufacturers, Retailers, 2021

Special Licenses / Certifications

  • LEED® Accredited Professional (BD+C)

Pro bono / Community Service

  • Brenda currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Water Resources Association of the Delaware River Basin. She is a past Chair of the Environmental, Energy & Resources Section of the Hawaii State Bar Association and a past Co-Chair of the Environmental Law Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association. She has served on the Board of Directors for ThinkTech Hawaii, Inc., the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Shofuso Japanese House and Garden, and the Delaware Valley Green Building Council.  She is a co-founder and Director Emeritus of the Society of Women Environmental Professionals of Greater Philadelphia and has also served as Chair of the Radnor Township Environmental Advisory Council.  

Educational Background

  • Boston College, B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, 1990

Scholarly Lectures / Writings

  • In proposing the first legally enforceable federal limits on per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it is fulfilling a foundational commitment in its PFAS strategic roadmap, the EPA’s comprehensive plan for addressing PFAS through 2024. The roadmap is a three-pronged plan of action that includes research, restrictions and remediation. On March 29, the EPA officially proposed nationwide restrictions to limit the presence of six PFAS in drinking water through a proposed National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR). This article describes five key takeways from EPA's NPDWR proposal to help quickly understand significant aspect's of the proposal. , Author, Five Key Takeaways from the EPA's Proposal to Limit PFAS in Drinking Water, The Legal Intelligencer, Public Water Systems, Drinking Water Providers, Municipalities, Owner Of Impacted Property, 2023
  • In 2022, there was increasing attention paid to companies' public promotion of their environmental and sustainability programs. That trend is likely to continue in 2023, with further developments in regulation and litigation pertaining to "greenwashing"-- a marketing practice that involves unsubstantiated or exaggerated claims about the environmentally friendly or socially responsible attributes of an organization's products or services. This article discusses recent developments and provides insights and recommendations regarding making environmental and ESG benefits claims. , Author, Developments in Greenwashing and ESG Regulation and Litigation Expected in 2023, The Legal Intelligencer, Manufacturers, Retailers, 2023
  • "Pennsylvania Water Laws and Regulations: Current Issues with the Clean Water Act," a HalfMoon Education webinar, April 27, 2022, Presenter, "Pennsylvania Water Laws and Regulations: Current Issues with the Clean Water Act,", HalfMoon Education webinar, 2022
  • Facilities that discharge wastewater with pollutants that have the potential to reach navigable waters via groundwater or other indirect pathways may see increased pressure in the year ahead from environmental organizations and regulatory agencies to obtain a federal Clean Water Act (CWA) NPDES permit for the discharge. Likewise, some facilities may proactively seek to obtain permitting to reduce the risk of potential citizen suits in light of the developing case law following the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in County of Maui, Hawaii v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, 140 S. Ct. 1462 (2020). Together, these factors are likely to lead to an increase in the permitting of indirect discharges in 2022.   , Author, NPDES Permits for Indirect Discharges Anticipated to Multiply in 2022, MGKF Special Alert - Federal Forecast 2022, 2022
  • EPA is considering a potpourri of changes to its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) regulations governing the cleanup and disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).  A proposed rulemaking to amend the PCB regulations in 40 C.F.R. Part 761 was published in the Federal Register on October 22, 2021.  The proposal is largely focused on expanding the available options for analytical methods (extraction and determinative) used to characterize and verify the cleanup of PCB waste under TSCA and which are summarized below.  However, the proposal also includes a number of other substantive amendments to the PCB program, also summarized below.  EPA Comments are due by January 20, 2022 under a one-month extension granted by EPA in December. , Author, EPA Proposes Rulemaking to Expand Available PCB Analytical Methods and Amend PCB Cleanup and Disposal Program Requirements, MGKF Special Alert - Federal Forecast 2022, 2022
  • MGKF's Brenda Gotanda, LEED AP, and Bryan Franey discuss the top three trends in sustainability reporting and offer insights to corporate managers and in-house counsel on managing risk through the reporting process in MGKF’s latest Environmental Briefing Series. , Co-presenter, Sustainability Reporting, MGKF ENVIRONMENTAL BRIEFING, 2022
  • "Indirect Discharges and Clean Water Act Permits – The Supreme Court’s New Functional Equivalent Standard” presented at the 2020 Virtual Bar Convention and Annual Meeting of the Hawaii State Bar Association, Honolulu, HI, October 16, 2020, Presenter, Indirect Discharges and Clean Water Act Permits – The Supreme Court’s New Functional Equivalent Standard, 2020 Virtual Bar Convention and Annual Meeting of the Hawaii State Bar Association, Honolulu, HI, 2020
  • "Making Waves: The Ripple Effects of the Supreme Court’s New 'Functional Equivalent' Test on Clean Water Act NPDES Discharge Permitting" a webinar presented on behalf of West LegalEdCenter/Thomson Reuters, August 10, 2020, Presenter, Making Waves: The Ripple Effects of the Supreme Court’s New 'Functional Equivalent' Test on Clean Water Act NPDES Discharge Permitting, webinar presented on behalf of West LegalEdCenter/Thomson Reuters, 2020
  • Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox (MGKF) partners Joseph M. Manko, Brenda Hustis Gotanda and Rodd Bender will present “Managing Environmental Risk to Get the Deal Done” at the 2016 Real Estate Institute at Temple University Center City.  The programs will run from 1:00-4:30 p.m. on Thursday April 14 and Tuesday, May 3, 2016. Billy Grayson of Liberty Property Trust will join them as a presenter at the May session. The panel will discuss environmental challenges that can potentially derail commercial and industrial real estate transactions and tools that can be used to mitigate risk and successfully close the deal.  Topics will include: climate change, environmental due diligence, cleanup of “brownfield” properties, environmental insurance, and green leasing., Managing Environmental Risks to Get the Deal Done, Temple Real Estate Institute, 2016
  • presented at the offices of MGKF for the Greater Philadelphia Delaware Valley of the Association of Corporate Counsel, November 17, 2015, LEED® for Lawyers: A Green Building Update and Tour, 2015
  • presented at Villanova University's 45th Annual Earth Day Celebration, Villanova, PA, April 23, 2015, Panel Discussion on Sustainable Solutions, 2015
  • presented at the Tri-State Sustainability Symposium at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, March 6, 2015, By the Numbers: Energy Star, LEED, and Other Means to Measure Green Success, 2015
  • presented at the City Avenue Special Services District Lunch and Learn in Bala Cynwyd, PA, April 24, 2014, Building the Foundation for Sustainable Practices, 2014
  • presented at the Temple University Real Estate Institute in Philadelphia, PA, April 4, 2014, Environmental Issues Update for Commercial and Industrial Real Estate Deals, 2014
  • Moderator, panel presentation at the Tri-State Sustainability Symposium 2014 in Philadelphia, PA, March 7, 2014, Urban Stormwater Management: Philly, Camden and Beyond, 2014

Firm News (Newsletters)

  • As we head into 2024, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking to establish federal water quality standards for certain zones of the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware in order to increase protection of fish and aquatic life. In particular, EPA is proposing to add a new designated use of aquatic life propagation and to establish associated water quality criteria to raise the dissolved oxygen levels in the waterbody.  The proposed federal water quality standards would apply to the areas of Delaware River designated as Zone 3, Zone 4, and the upper portion of Zone 5, which stretches roughly from the Philadelphia, PA and Camden, NJ area down to Wilmington, DE (river miles 108.4 to 70.0).  {READ MORE AT LNIK}, EPA Proposes Federal Water Quality Standards to Protect Fish Propagation in the Delaware River, Industrial, Municipal
  • Sampling required by EPA's Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule 5 (UCMR5) will continue in the year ahead, resulting in greater public awareness of the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in public drinking water as well as providing key data for potential future PFAS rulemaking and compliance. UCMR5 requires certain public water systems to sample and analyze their water for 29 PFAS compounds (and lithium) between 2023 and 2025 and to submit the data to EPA.  The UCMR5 monitoring rule is used to collect nationally representative data on contaminants that EPA suspects are present in drinking water, but for which no regulatory standards have been established under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The required monitoring provides EPA with information on the occurrence and levels of specified unregulated contaminants in the nation's drinking water.  Among other things, the required monitoring is expected to provide EPA with a better understanding of where and to what extent different PFAS co-occur with each other in drinking water, and to help it make determinations about potential future regulation of PFAS (and lithium) and other actions to protect public health under the Safe Drinking Water Act. In March 2023, EPA proposed to regulate six types of PFAS in drinking water through a proposed National Primary Drinking Water Regulation. If finalized as proposed, covered public water systems would be allowed to use data collected under UCMR5 to satisfy certain initial monitoring requirements.  {READ MORE AT LINK}, UCMR5 Compliance Expected to Increase Available Public Data on PFAS Compounds in Drinking Water and Support Potential Future Rulemaking, Municipal
  • Last month, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule establishing, for the first time, nationwide limits on the presence of six types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water. This new National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) set maximum contaminant levels (MCL) and health-based maximum contaminant level goals (MCLG) addressing the following six PFAS: perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA) (commonly known as GenX chemicals), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS).  The standards in the final rule also extend to and cover all salts, isomers and derivatives of the six listed PFAS chemicals, including derivatives other than the anionic (negatively charged) form which might be created or identified. The NPDWR will become effective on June 25, 2024 (with monitoring and compliance deadlines coming over the next three to five years).  {READ MORE AT LINK}, EPA Finalizes Rule on PFAS in Drinking Water - What Lies Ahead for Drinking Water and Site Remediation Standards, Industrial, Municipal
  • On December 13, 2024, the U.S. EPA published in the Federal Register its proposed 2026 Multi-Sector General Permit for Stormwater Discharges Associated with Industrial Activity (2026 MSGP) and is soliciting public comments through February 11, 2025*.  Once finalized, the 2026 MSGP is targeted to replace the existing 2021 MSGP (by February 28, 2026) and would cover stormwater discharges from industrial facilities in areas where EPA is the NPDES permitting authority.  Importantly, the 2026 MSGP will likely serve as a guide for other NPDES permitting authorities in developing their own industrial stormwater permitting programs as it has in prior years. The proposed 2026 MSGP contains, among other things, a number of notable updates, including: (i) quarterly stormwater indicator monitoring for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) for numerous industrial sectors; (ii) new benchmark monitoring for pH, Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, and metals for various industrial sectors; (iii) changes to the benchmark monitoring schedule; and (iv) new monitoring and response measures for pollutants causing impaired waters. {READ MORE AT LINK}, EPA Invites Comment on Proposed 2026 Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP) for Stormwater Associated with Industrial Activities that Includes Requirements for PFAS Monitoring,
  • In the flurry of rulemaking occurring in the waning days of the Biden administration, U.S. EPA signed a proposed rule on December 6, 2024, to update the testing procedures known as methods that are approved for use in analyzing and characterizing pollutants in wastewater and surface waters under the Clean Water Act (CWA). If finalized, this proposed rulemaking would change the test methods that could be used for sampling and analysis of pollutants under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program, including for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The proposed rule, called the Clean Water Act Methods Update Rule 22 for the Analysis of Contaminants in Effluent (MUR 22), would be the latest update to the list of approved CWA methods in 40 C.F.R. Part 136. Written comments on the proposed MUR 22 rulemaking will be due 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.  {READ MORE AT LINK}, EPA Proposes Significant Changes to List of Approved Methods for Analyzing Effluent under the Clean Water Act, Including PCB and PFAS Methods, Industrial, Municipal
  • EPA is considering a potpourri of changes to its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) regulations governing the cleanup and disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).  A proposed rulemaking to amend the PCB regulations in 40 C.F.R. Part 761 was published in the Federal Register on October 22, 2021.  The proposal is largely focused on expanding the available options for analytical methods (extraction and determinative) used to characterize and verify the cleanup of PCB waste under TSCA and which are summarized below.  However, the proposal also includes a number of other substantive amendments to the PCB program, which are described in this article.     , EPA Proposes Rulemaking to Expand Available PCB Analytical Methods and Amend PCB Cleanup and Disposal Program Requirements, Wastewater Dischargers, PCB Remediators, Property Owners
  • The U.S. Supreme Court, in its groundbreaking decision last year in County of Maui, Hawaii v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, 140 S. Ct. 1462 (2020), ruled that the Clean Water Act (CWA) requires a permit for a point source discharge through groundwater to navigable waters under certain circumstances and it established a new standard likely to see significant interpretation by regulatory authorities, permit writers, and courts in the year ahead., Choppy Waters Ahead - NPDES Permitting for Discharges through Groundwater

Honors

  • See Honors & Awards at http://www.mankogold.com/people-Brenda-Gotanda.html

Office location for Brenda H. Gotanda

Three Bala Plaza East
Suite 700
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004

Selections

17 Years Super Lawyers
3 Years Rising Stars
  • Super Lawyers: 2010 - 2026
  • Rising Stars: 2005 - 2007

Top Lists

Top 50: Women Pennsylvania Super Lawyers: 2020 - 2023
Top 100: Pennsylvania Super Lawyers: 2022
Top 100: Philadelphia Super Lawyers: 2021 - 2022

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