About me
Michael R. Goldstein is the Managing Shareholder of The Goldstein Environmental Law Firm, P.A., where he practices environmental law, contaminated property transactions, environmental redevelopment, and environmental risk management exclusively. Recognized by Chambers and Partners (Band 1) and Martindale-Hubbell (AV Preeminent), Mr. Goldstein advises developers, institutional investors, private equity firms, REITs, lenders, municipalities, public agencies, and corporate clients on the acquisition, financing, remediation, redevelopment, and disposition of environmentally impacted properties. His clients include many of the nation's leading residential, mixed-use, industrial, logistics, hospitality, healthcare, retail, and affordable housing developers, together with Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, aerospace and defense contractors, manufacturers, energy companies, recyclers, agricultural businesses, community redevelopment agencies, housing authorities, and environmental consulting and engineering firms. Over the past three decades, Mr. Goldstein has advised clients on hundreds of contaminated property transactions and redevelopment projects involving billions of dollars in private investment. Mr. Goldstein is widely regarded as one of the nation's leading attorneys in the redevelopment of environmentally impacted property and one of the foremost authorities on Florida's Brownfields Redevelopment Act. Clients retain Mr. Goldstein not simply to resolve environmental contamination issues, but to help move complex redevelopment projects from acquisition through construction and ultimately to successful operation. He frequently assembles and leads multidisciplinary teams consisting of environmental engineers, hydrogeologists, planners, architects, economists, construction professionals, government affairs specialists, and financial advisors to address the legal, technical, regulatory, political, and commercial challenges associated with major redevelopment projects. He works closely with developers, lenders, consultants, contractors, and public officials to align environmental remediation with project financing, entitlement, permitting, construction sequencing, public outreach, and long-term redevelopment objectives. His ability to integrate legal, technical, financial, regulatory, and governmental considerations has made him a trusted strategic advisor on many of Florida's most challenging redevelopment projects. As redevelopment increasingly becomes the principal driver of growth throughout Florida, Mr. Goldstein has become a trusted advisor to developers, lenders, municipalities, institutional investors, and public agencies navigating the environmental risks associated with historic contamination, industrial uses, former agricultural operations, legacy landfills, and emerging contaminants such as PFAS. He assists clients in designing risk-based cleanup strategies, integrating remediation with redevelopment plans, managing contaminated soil and groundwater during construction, negotiating innovative regulatory closure strategies, coordinating community engagement, and developing practical solutions that protect public health while facilitating successful redevelopment. His practice is founded on the principle that environmental protection and economic development are complementary objectives that can be achieved through sound science, thoughtful legal strategy, collaborative public policy, and responsible private investment.
Mr. Goldstein was the founding Chairman of the Florida Brownfields Association and served as its Chairman and President during the organization's first five years. Under his leadership, the Association became the leading statewide organization dedicated to promoting the cleanup and productive redevelopment of contaminated properties while emphasizing environmental justice, public health, and sustainable economic development. Throughout his career, Mr. Goldstein has played a significant role in shaping environmental redevelopment policy at both the state and federal levels. He has testified before the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and multiple committees of the United States House of Representatives regarding Brownfields redevelopment, environmental justice, Brownfields reauthorization, and federal redevelopment policy. He has also advocated before Congress and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for reforms to CERCLA that would encourage the cleanup and productive reuse of contaminated properties, including legislative proposals establishing liability protections for parties remediating PFAS-contaminated properties under qualified state voluntary cleanup programs. During the 2025 Florida Legislative Session, Mr. Goldstein served as the principal private-sector author of legislation streamlining Florida Brownfields Program eligibility for U.S. EPA Superfund sites and other federally regulated contaminated properties, expanding Brownfields eligibility for local government-owned properties, and creating an accelerated closure pathway for redevelopment of portions of larger contaminated sites. He personally led the statewide effort to build support for the legislation among the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the state's delegated Brownfields programs, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, local governments, environmental professionals, and industry stakeholders. The legislation was approved unanimously by every legislative committee that considered it, passed unanimously by both chambers of the Florida Legislature, and was signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis. Mr. Goldstein has also served as Chairman of the Miami-Dade County Brownfields Task Force, a member of the Executive Committee of the National Brownfields Coalition, and a member of the Advisory Board for Bloomberg Environment's Environmental Due Diligence Guide. In 2008, he founded and funded the Goldstein Brownfields Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding educational opportunities, promoting environmental justice, increasing diversity within the environmental profession, and supporting the revitalization of economically disadvantaged communities affected by environmental contamination. Mr. Goldstein's contributions to environmental redevelopment have been recognized through numerous national and state honors, including the Brownfields Leadership Award presented at the U.S. EPA National Brownfields Conference by the National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals; the Chrysalis Award presented by the Florida Brownfields Association for outstanding contributions to Florida's Brownfields Program; and the Environmental Justice Champion Award presented by the Southeast Brownfields Conference for his longstanding leadership in advancing environmental justice, public health, and community revitalization. For nearly three decades, Mr. Goldstein has taught and moderated the Brownfields Survey Course at the Florida Chamber Environmental Permitting Summer School, the state's largest environmental conference. He also serves on the Steering Committees for both the Florida Remediation Conference and the PFAS Forum, where he assists in developing educational programming on emerging environmental issues affecting regulators, consultants, attorneys, developers, and industry.
