Released on = March 28, 2007, 6:40 am

Press Release Author = Thompson & Knight

Industry = Law

Press Release Summary = Attorneys from Thompson & Knight LLP successfully
represented Baylor Heath Care System in a recent joint application for a Municipal
Setting Designation Certificate (MSD) covering a 42-acre parcel of land near Baylor
Hospital and The Meadows Foundation complex in East Dallas.

Press Release Body = DALLAS - Attorneys from Thompson & Knight LLP successfully
represented Baylor Heath Care System in a recent joint application for a Municipal
Setting Designation Certificate (MSD) covering a 42-acre parcel of land near Baylor
Hospital and The Meadows Foundation complex in East Dallas.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) issued the MSD certificate
designating the urban groundwater for the 42-acre area as not suitable for drinking
or "potable" purposes as a result of chemical or other constituents in the
groundwater. Issuance of an MSD Certificate means property with groundwater concerns
can be more readily developed in the context of a program that insures no one drinks
the groundwater.

Baylor initiated the MSD application with the City of Dallas to address the release
of dry cleaning solvents in groundwater that migrated under Baylor properties and
the properties of five other landowners, including The Meadows Foundation, the
private philanthropic foundation established in 1948 by Algur H. Meadows and his
wife, Virginia Meadows.

The Meadows Foundation, which owns the Wilson Historic District Complex in East
Dallas, and the other four property owners joined Baylor in its effort to gain the
city's approval of the MSD application and the ordinance to restrict groundwater
use.

"The MSD program is a great example of how businesses can work with the City of
Dallas to improve land areas using safe environmental practices. This program allows
development to continue while protecting the citizens of Dallas as well as the
environment. Baylor is pleased to have partnered with the Meadows Foundation and our
other neighbors to obtain this certificate," says Ron Kasowski, Facility Director of
Environmental Safety and Emergency Management for Baylor Health Care System.

By joining the application and MSD process, The Meadows Foundation was a critical
part of the successful application, which was granted March 12. The City of Dallas
has approved only a few MSD applications and none involving such a large area with
multiple applicants.

"We worked closely with the city's staff to basically recreate the application
process to make this work given the large number of tracts and different
landowners," says attorney Scott Deatherage, an environmental partner at Thompson &
Knight who represented Baylor in the application. "Without a doubt, this is the
best solution to insure that the State requirements are met and that no one will be
drinking groundwater from this site."

\"The MSD process started several years ago when we presented to the City of Dallas
and then the TCEQ the idea adopted by a few states to restrict the use of urban
groundwater to avoid any potential for future consumption of the water," Mr.
Deatherage says. \"The process has been a long one, but a few years ago our Austin
lawyers successfully lobbied the Texas Legislature to adopt legislation to create
the Municipal Setting Designation Program. We then worked with the City of Dallas
to develop the MSD program in Dallas. The MSD program presents a means of
transforming Brownfield properties, which are properties contaminated by old dry
cleaners, gas stations, or other activities, so that new owners can redevelop these
properties and rejuvenate areas of the City that would not be redeveloped because of
groundwater issues, particularly those areas in or near downtown.\"

Mr. Deatherage regularly advises clients on environmental matters, including
obtaining Municipal Setting Designation Certificates. He is the author of the
popular "Law and the Environment" blog at http://lawandenvironment.typepad.com.


Web Site = http://www.tklaw.com

Contact Details = 1700 Pacific Ave., Suite 3300
Dallas, TX 75201
Becky Jackson
214.969.1478
becky.jackson@tklaw.com